They Fell Back Immediately, But It Was
Believed That The Range Was Too Great For The Projectile To Have Harmed
Them; and it was not until two days later that the discovery on the spot
of a swollen, blistering corpse,
Clad in bright jibba, apprised the
delighted gunners of the effect of their fire. Warned by this lucky shot
the Dervishes came no more, or came unseen.
The Sirdar, accompanied by Colonel Bundle, his Chief of Staff, had left
Cairo on the 22nd of March, and after a short stay at Assuan reached Wady
Halfa on the 29th. Here he remained during the month of April,
superintending and pressing the extension of the railroad and the
accumulation of supplies. On the 1st of May he arrived at Akasha, with a
squadron of cavalry, under Major Burn-Murdoch, as his escort. It happened
that a convoy had come in the previous day, so that there were two extra
cavalry squadrons at the advanced post. Almost at the same moment that
Sir H. Kitchener entered the camp, a party of friendly Arabs came in with
the news that they had been surprised some four miles to the eastward by
a score of Dervish camel-men, and had only succeeded in escaping with the
loss of two of their number. In the belief that the enemy in the immediate
vicinity were not in force, the Sirdar ordered the three squadrons of
Egyptian cavalry, supported by the XIth Soudanese, to go out and
reconnoitre towards Firket and endeavour to cut off any hostile patrols
that might be found.
At ten o'clock Major Burn-Murdoch started with four British officers
and 240 lances. After moving for seven or eight miles among the hills which
surround Akasha, the cavalry passed through a long, sandy defile, flanked
on either side by rocky peaks and impracticable ravines. As the head of the
column was about to debouch from this, the advanced scouts reported that
there was a body of Dervishes in the open ground in front of the defile.
The cavalry commander rode forward to look at them, and found himself
confronted, not, as he had expected, by a score of camel-men, but by a
strong force of Dervishes, numbering at least 1,500 foot and 250 horse.
The cavalry, by trotting, had left the supporting infantry some distance
behind them. The appearance of the enemy was threatening. The horsemen,
who were drawn up scarcely 300 yards away, were already advancing to the
attack, their right flank protected by a small force of camelry;
and behind was the solid array of the spearmen.
Major Burn-Murdoch determined to fall back on his infantry support
and escape from the bad ground. He gave the order, and the squadrons
wheeled about by troops and began to retire. Forthwith the Dervish horse
charged, and, galloping furiously into the defile, attacked the cavalry
in rear. Both sides were crowded in the narrow space. The wildest
confusion followed, and the dust raised by the horses' hoofs hung over all
like a yellow London fog, amid which the bewildered combatants discharged
their pistols and thrust at random. The Egyptian cavalry, thus highly
tried, showed at first no disposition to turn to meet the attack.
The tumult drowned all words of command. A disaster appeared imminent.
But the British officers, who had naturally been at the head of the column
during its advance, were now at the rear and nearest the enemy. Collecting
a score of troopers, they made such resistance with their swords and
revolvers that they actually held the defile and beat back the Dervish
horse, who retired on their infantry, leaving a dozen dead upon the ground.
Two of the Egyptian squadrons continued to retreat until clear of the
defile, a distance of 700 yards; but the third and rearmost was compelled
by the British officers to face about, and, galloping with this force down
the ravine, Major Burn-Murdoch drove the Arabs pell-mell out of it.
The other two squadrons had now returned, and the whole force dismounted,
and, taking up a position among the sandhills near the mouth of the defile,
opened fire with their carbines. The repulse of their cavalry seemed to
have disheartened the Dervishes, for they made no attempt to attack the
dismounted troopers, and contented themselves with maintaining a desultory
fire, which was so ill-aimed that but little loss was caused. The heat of
the weather was terrific, and both men and horses suffered acutely from
thirst. The squadron which had escorted the Sirdar had performed a long
march before the reconnaissance and was exhausted. The cavalry, however,
held their position among the sandhills and easily defeated a feeble
attempt to turn their right. At a quarter past twelve the Dervishes began
to retire slowly and deliberately, and by one o'clock, when the XIth
Soudanese arrived, eager and agog, the last Arab had disappeared. The force
then returned to camp, bearing many spears and leading six captured horses
as trophies of victory. The intensity of the heat may be gauged by the fact
that one of the Soudanese soldiers - that is to say, an African negro -
died of sunstroke. Such was the affair of the 1st of May, and it is
pleasing to relate that in this fierce fight the loss was not severe.
One British officer, Captain Fitton, was slightly wounded. One native
soldier was killed; one was mortally and eight severely wounded.
During May the preparations for the advance on the Dervish position
at Firket continued, and towards the end of the month it became evident
that they were nearly complete. The steady accumulation of stores at Akasha
had turned that post into a convenient base from which the force might
operate for a month without drawing supplies of any kind from the north.
The railway, which had progressed at the rate of about half a mile a day,
had reached and was working to Ambigole Wells, where a four-gun fort and
entrenchment had been built.
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