The Dervishes, Although More Numerous, Were
Scattered About In Small Parties, And, Being Unable To Collect,
They Declined The Combat.
The great army, however, still advanced
majestically, pressing the cavalry back before it; and it was evident
that if the Khalifa's movement continued, in spite of it being nearly
one o'clock, there would be a collision between the main forces
before the night.
From the summit of the black hill of Surgham the scene was extraordinary.
The great army of Dervishes was dwarfed by the size of the landscape to
mere dark smears and smudges on the brown of the plain. Looking east,
another army was now visible - the British and Egyptian army. All six
brigades had passed the Kerreri Hills, and now stood drawn up
in a crescent, with their backs to the Nile. The transport and the houses
of the village of Egeiga filled the enclosed space. Neither force could see
the other, though but five miles divided them. The array of the enemy was,
without doubt, both longer and deeper. Yet there seemed a superior strength
in the solid battalions, whose lines were so straight that they might
have been drawn with a ruler.
The camp presented an animated appearance. The troops had piled arms
after the march, and had already built a slender hedge of thorn-bushes
around them. Now they were eating their dinners, and in high expectation
of a fight. The whole army had been ordered to stand to arms at two o'clock
in formation to resist the attack which it seemed the Dervishes were about
to deliver.
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