All the troops in Dongola,
with the exception of scanty garrisons in Merawi, Korti, and Debba, were
massed at Berber. The infantry and guns, dropping down the river in boats,
entrained at Kerma, were carried back to Halfa, then hustled across the
invaluable Desert Railway, past Abu Hamed, and finally deposited at
Railhead, which then (January 1) stood at Dakhesh. The whole journey by
rail from Merawi to Dakhesh occupied four days, whereas General Hunter
with his flying column had taken eight - a fact which proves that,
in certain circumstances which Euclid could not have foreseen, two sides
of a triangle are together shorter than the third side. The Egyptian
cavalry at Merawi received their orders on the 25th of December, and the
British officers hurried from their Christmas dinners to prepare for their
long march across the bend of the Nile to Berber. Of the eight squadrons,
three were pushed on to join Lewis's force at the position which will
hereinafter be called 'the Atbara encampment,' or more familiarly 'the
Atbara'; three swelled the gathering forces at Berber; and two remained
for the present in the Dongola province, looking anxiously out
towards Gakdul Wells and Metemma.
The War Office, who had been nervous about the situation
in the Soudan since the hasty occupation of Berber, and who had a very
lively recollection of the events of 1884 and 1885, lost no time in the
despatch of British troops; and the speed with which a force, so suddenly
called for, was concentrated shows the capacity for energy which may on
occasion be developed even by our disjointed military organisation.
The 1st Battalions of the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, of the Lincoln
Regiment, and of the Cameron Highlanders were formed into a brigade
and moved from Cairo into the Soudan.
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