In The Foreground The
Gunboats, Panting And Puffing Up The River, Were Surrounded On All Sides
By Spouts And Spurts
Of water, thrown up by the shells and bullets.
Again the flotilla drew near the narrow channel; again the watching
Army
held their breath; and again they saw the leading boat, the Metemma,
turn and run down stream towards safety, pursued by the wild cheers
of the Arabs. It was evident that the gunboats were not strong enough to
silence the Dervish fire. The want of the terrible Zafir was acutely felt.
The firing had lasted two hours and a half, and the enemy's resistance
was no less vigorous than at the beginning of the action. The Sirdar now
altered his plans. He saw that his flotilla could not hope to silence the
Dervishes. He therefore ordered De Rougemont - who had assumed the command
after Colville was wounded - to run past the entrenchments without trying to
crush their fire, and steam on to Dongola. To support and cover the
movement, the three batteries of artillery under Major Parsons were brought
into action from the swampy island of Artagasha, which was connected
at this season with the right bank by a shoal. At the same time three
battalions of infantry were moved along the river until opposite the Arab
position. At 9 A.M. the eighteen guns on the island opened a tremendous
bombardment at 1,200 yards range on the entrenchments, and at the same time
the infantry and a rocket detachment concentrated their fire on the tops
of the palm-trees.
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