At 3.30 P.M. On
The 30th The March Was Continued Eight And A Half Miles To A Spot Some
Little Distance Beyond Shebabit.
The pace was slow, and the route stony
and difficult.
It was after dark when the halting-place was reached.
Several of the men strayed from the column, wandered in the gloom, and
reached the bivouac exhausted. General Hunter had proposed to push on the
next day to Hosh-el-Geref, but the fatigues of his troops in the two night
marches had already been severe, and as, after Abu Haraz, the track twisted
away from the river so that there was no water for five miles, he resolved
to halt for the day and rest. Hosh-el-Geref was therefore not reached until
the 1st of August - a day later than had been expected; but the rest had
proved of such benefit to the troops that the subsequent acceleration of
progress fully compensated for the delay. The column moved on again at
midnight and halted at daybreak at Salmi. In the small hours of the next
morning the march was resumed. The road by the Nile was found too difficult
for the Maxim guns, which were on wheels, and these had to make a detour
of twenty-eight miles into the desert while the infantry moved ten miles
along the river. In order that the Maxims should not arrive alone at
Dakfilli, General Hunter had marched thither with the IXth Soudanese
at 11 P.M. on the previous day. The rest of the column followed a few hours
later. On the 4th, by an eighteen-mile march through deep sand, El Kab was
reached. A single shot was fired from the opposite bank of the river as the
cavalry patrol entered the village; and there was no longer any doubt that
the Dervishes knew of the advance of the column. Both the troops and the
transport were now moving admirably; nevertheless, their sufferings
were severe.
The nights were consumed in movement. Without shade the soldiers could not
sleep by day. All ranks wearied, and the men would frequently, during the
night marches, sink down upon the ground in profound slumber, only to be
sternly aroused and hurried on. But the pace of the advance continued to be
swift. On the 5th, the force, by a fourteen-mile march, reached Khula.
Here they were joined by Sheikh Abdel-Azim with 150 Ababda camel-men from
Murat Wells. Up to this point three Egyptians had died and fifty-eight men
had been left behind exhausted in depots. A double ration of meat was
issued to the whole force. The column moved on during the night,
and arrived at Ginnifab at 8 A.M. on the morning of the 6th. Here startling
news of the enemy was received. It was known that Mohammed-ez-Zein was
determined to fight, and a trustworthy report was now received that a large
force was coming down from Berber to support the Abu Hamed garrison.
In spite of the long marches and the fatigues of the troops, General Hunter
resolved to hurry on.
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