Luckily It Did Not Explode,
The Dervishes Having Forgotten To Set The Fuse.
Three shells struck the
Metemma.
On board the Tamai, which was leading, Commander Colville was
severely wounded in the wrist; Armourer-Sergeant Richardson was killed at
his Maxim gun, and on each boat some casualties occurred. So hot was the
fire that it was thought doubtful whether to proceed with the bombardment,
and the Tamai swung round, and hurried down the river with the current and
at full steam to report to the Sirdar. The other gunboats remained
in action, and continued to shell the Dervish defences. The Tamai soon
returned to the fight, and, steaming again up the river, was immediately
hotly re-engaged.
The sight which the army witnessed was thrilling.
Beyond the flood waters of the river, backed against a sky of staring blue
and in the blazing sunlight, the whole of the enemy's position was plainly
visible. The long row of shelter trenches was outlined by the white smoke
of musketry and dotted with the bright-coloured flags waving defiantly
in the wind and with the still brighter flashes of the guns. Behind the
entrenchments and among the mud houses and enclosures strong bodies of the
jibba-clad Arabs were arrayed. Still further back in the plain a large
force of cavalry - conspicuous by the gleams of light reflected from their
broad-bladed spears - wheeled and manoeuvred. By the Nile all the tops of
the palm-trees were crowded with daring riflemen, whose positions were
indicated by the smoke-puffs of their rifles, or when some tiny black
figure fell, like a shot rook, to the ground.
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