A CITY WORTH CONQUERING.

255

But the lines mattered little: it was to the hill behind it that eyes turned. Now we were on the very brink, and could look over it to forecast the great day. Should we see dervishes coming on, or should we see dervishes streaming away? We must see something, and we scrambled up, and at last, and at last, we saw Omdurman. We saw a broad plain, half sand, half pale grass; on the rim by the Nile rose a pale yellow dome, clear above everything. That was the Mahdi's tomb, divined from Gebel Royan, now seen. It was the centre of a purple stain on the yellow sand, going out for miles and miles on every side-the mud-houses of Omdurman. A great city-an enormous city-a city worth conquering indeed!

A while we looked; but this was a reconnaissance. The thing was to look nearer and see if there were any enemy. The Lancers had gone on towards some villages along the river, between our hill and another three or four miles on. The Egyptian mounted troops turned south-westward, inland. We did not altogether know what we were going to do or see: perhaps it was that dark patch halfway between our line of advance and the British, which might be trees or might be men. But Broadwood Bey knew very well where we were going, and what we were going to see. We began to march towards a clump of hills that drew in north-westward within three miles of the outskirts of Omdurman; the map calls it Gebel Feried. We came

into swamps deepened by the last night's rain; we crossed soft-bottomed streams; it would have been desperate ground to be attacked in, but still the leader rode on and the heavy columns rode behind him. At last we came behind the south-easternmost hill, and the squadrons halted and the guns wheeled into line and the camels barracked. We went up the hill and again we saw.

Omdurman was nearer, more enormous, more worth conquering than ever. A gigantic tract of mudhouses; the Mahdi's tomb rising above them like a protecting genius; many other roofs rising tall above the wont of the Sudan, one or two with galvanised iron roofs to mirror the sunlight. With its huge extent, its obvious principal buildings, its fostering cathedral, the distant view of Omdurman would have disgraced no European capital: you might almost expect that the hotel omnibus would meet you at the railway station.

But once more we were on reconnaissance; we were there to look for men. In front of the city stretched a long white line-banners, it might be; more likely tents; most likely both. In front of that was a longer, thicker black line-no doubt a zariba or trench. Then they did mean to fight after all. Only as we sat and ate a biscuit and looked-the entrenchment moved. The solid wall moved forward, and it was a wall of men.

Whew! What an army! Five huge brigades of it

THE KHALIFA'S ARMY.

257

-a three-mile front, and parts of it eight or ten men deep. It was beginning to move directly for our hill, and-tum, tum, tum-we heard the boom of a wardrum of higher calibre than yesterday's. Now they seemed to halt; now they came on. The five corps never broke or shifted, the rigid front never bent; their discipline must be perfect. And they covered the ground. The three miles melted before them; our scouts and the Lancers' and theirs were chasing each other to and fro over the interval; we saw a picket of the Lancers fire. "We'll go back now," said the serene voice of the leader. The force formed up, and we started on the eight-mile walk between ourselves and support.

The sun had hardened the swamp underfoot, but the guns and camels still made heavy going of it. We had not been moving twenty minutes before we saw a black mass of the enemy watching us from the hill whence we had watched them. And their line was still coming on, black over a ridge not a mile behind us. Tum, tum, tum-they were getting nearer; now we heard their shouts, and saw their swords brandishing in the sun. Tum, tum, tum-roar -brandish - how slowly the camels moved! The troopers in the long column of our outside flank were beginning to look over their shoulders. Then the doctor came galloping like mad from behind. "Where's Broadwood?"-and we saw the rear-guard squadron faced about and galloping towards the enemy. The

R

bugle snapped out and the troops of the flanking regiment whipped round and walked towards the enemy too. They were within a thousand yards.

Now

It was only a dismounted trooper they were fetching back. The troops turned again, and we walked into camp. It was a perfect reconnaissance,-not a man lost, not a shot fired, and everything seen.

XXXII.

THE BATTLE OF OMDURMAN.

OUR camp, for the night of September 1, was in the village of Agaiga, a mile south of Kerreri Hill. On our left front was another hill, higher, but single-peaked and rounder-Gebel Surgham. In front the ground was open for five miles or so-sand and grass broken by only a few folds—with a group of hills beyond.

The force had formed up in position in the afternoon, when the Dervishes followed the cavalry home, and had remained under arms all night; at half-past five in the morning, when the first howitzer-shell from opposite Omdurman opened the day's work, every man was in his place. The line formed an obtuse angle; the order of brigades and battalions, counting from the left, was the following: Lyttelton's 2nd British (Rifle Brigade, Lancashire Fusiliers, Northumberland Fusiliers, Grenadier Guards); Wauchope's 1st British (Warwicks, Seaforths, Camerons, Lincolns); Maxwell's 2nd Egyptian (14th, 12th, 13th Sudanese,