There Were Already Signs Of The Approach Of Dawn; The Dervish Camp
Was Near; The Sirdar And His Staff Began To Look Anxious.
He sent many
messages to the leading battalions to hurry; and the soldiers, although
now very weary, ran and scrambled through the difficult passage like sheep
crowding through a gate.
By four o'clock the leading brigade had cleared
the obstacle, and the most critical moment seemed to have passed.
Suddenly, a mile to the southward, rose the sound of the beating of drums.
Everyone held his breath. The Dervishes were prepared. Perhaps they would
attack the column before it could deploy. Then the sound died away, and
but for the clatter of the marching columns all was again silent. It was
no alarm, but only the call to the morning prayer; and the Dervishes, still
ignorant that their enemies approached and that swift destruction was upon
them, trooped from their huts to obey the pious summons.
The great mass of Firket mountain, still dark in the half-light,
now rose up on the left of the line of march. Between it and the river
stretched a narrow strip of scrub-covered ground; and here, though
obstructed by the long grass, bushes, palm-trees, and holes, the leading
brigade was ordered to deploy. There was, however, as yet only room for the
Xth Soudanese to form line, and the 3rd and 4th Egyptians contented
themselves with widening to column of companies - the 3rd in rear of the
right of the Xth, the 4th in rear of the centre.
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