The Mounted
Forces, With Four Batteries Of Artillery, Waited In Camp Until Two O'clock
The Next Morning, And Did Not Break Their March.
The distance from the
river bank to the open plain was perhaps a mile and a half, and the whole
infantry force had cleared the scrub by six o'clock.
The sun was setting,
and the red glow, brightening the sandy hillocks, made the western horizon
indefinite, so that it was hard to tell where the desert ended and the sky
began. A few gazelle, intercepted on their way to the water by the
unexpected movement of troops, trotted slowly away in the distance -
white spots on the rosy-brown of the sand - and on the great plain 12,000
infantry, conscious of their strength and eager to encounter the enemy,
were beautifully arranged in four solid masses. Then the march began.
The actual distance from the camp to the Dervish position was scarcely
seven miles, but the circle necessary to avoid the bushes and the gradual
bends of the river added perhaps another five to the length of the road.
The pace of the advance was slow, and the troops had not gone far when the
sun sank and, with hardly an interval of twilight, darkness enveloped
everything. In the stillness of the night the brigades moved steadily
forward, and only the regular scrunching of the hard sand betrayed
the advance of an overwhelming force upon their enemies.
No operation of a war is more critical than a night-march.
Over and over again in every country frightful disaster has overtaken
the rash or daring force that has attempted it. In the gloom the shape
and aspect of the ground are altered. Places well known by daylight appear
strange and unrecognisable. The smallest obstacle impedes the column,
which can only crawl sluggishly forward with continual checks and halts.
The effect of the gloom upon the nerves of the soldiers is not less than
on the features of the country. Each man tries to walk quietly, and hence
all are listening for the slightest sound. Every eye seeks to pierce the
darkness. Every sense in the body is raised to a pitch of expectancy.
In such hours doubts and fears come unbidden to the brain, and the marching
men wonder anxiously whether all will be well with the army, and whether
they themselves will survive the event. And if suddenly out of the black
silence there burst the jagged glare of rifles and the crash of a volley
followed by the yell of an attacking foe, the steadiest troops may be
thrown into confusion, and a panic, once afoot, stops only with the
destruction or dispersal of the whole force. Nevertheless, so paramount
is the necessity of attacking at dawn, with all the day to finish
the fight, that in spite of the recorded disasters and the known dangers,
the night-march is a frequent operation.
For more than two hours the force advanced, moving across smooth swells
of sand broken by rocks and with occasional small bushes. Several shallow
khors traversed the road, and these rocky ditches, filled with a strange,
sweet-scented grass, delayed the brigades until the pace was hardly
two miles an hour. The smell of the grass was noticed by the alert senses
of many, and will for ever refresh in their minds the strong impression of
the night. The breeze which had sprung up at sundown gradually freshened
and raised clouds of fine sand, which deepened the darkness with
a whiter mist.
At nine o'clock the army halted in a previously selected space,
near the deserted village of Mutrus and about two miles from the river.
Nearly half the distance to Mahmud's zeriba was accomplished, and barely
four miles in the direct line divided the combatants; but since it was not
desirable to arrive before the dawn, the soldiers, still formed in their
squares, lay down upon the ground. Meat and biscuits were served out to
the men. The transport animals went by relays to the pools of the Atbara
bed to drink and to replenish the tanks. All water-bottles were refilled,
pickets being thrown out to cover the business. Then, after sufficient
sentries had been posted, the army slept, still in array.
During the halt the moon had risen, and when at one o'clock the advance
was resumed, the white beams revealed a wider prospect and, glinting on
the fixed bayonets, crowned the squares with a sinister glitter. For three
hours the army toiled onwards at the same slow and interrupted crawl.
Strict silence was now enforced, and all smoking was forbidden.
The cavalry, the Camel Corps, and the five batteries had overtaken the
infantry, so that the whole attacking force was concentrated.
Meanwhile the Dervishes slept.
At three o'clock the glare of fires became visible to the south,
and, thus arrived before the Dervish position, the squares, with the
exception of the reserve brigade, were unlocked, and the whole force,
assuming formation of attack, now advanced in one long line through the
scattered bush and scrub, presently to emerge upon a large plateau which
overlooked Mahmud's zeriba from a distance of about 900 yards.
It was still dark, and the haze that shrouded the Dervish camp
was broken only by the glare of the watch-fires. The silence was profound.
It seemed impossible to believe that more than 25,000 men were ready to
join battle at scarcely the distance of half a mile. Yet the advance had
not been unperceived, and the Arabs knew that their terrible antagonists
crouched on the ridge waiting for the morning; For a while the suspense
was prolonged. At last, after what seemed to many an interminable period,
the uniform blackness of the horizon was broken by the first glimmer of
the dawn. Gradually the light grew stronger until, as a theatre curtain is
pulled up, the darkness rolled away, the vague outlines in the haze
became definite, and the whole scene was revealed.
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