Mahmud Was Himself Captured.
Having Duly Inspected His Defences And Made His Dispositions, He Had
Sheltered In A Specially Constructed Casemate.
Thence he was now
ignominiously dragged, and, on his being recognised, the intervention of
a British officer alone saved him from the fury of the excited Soudanese.
Still the advance continued, and it seemed to those who took part in it
more like a horrible nightmare than a waking reality. Captains and
subalterns collected whatever men they could, heedless of corps or
nationality, and strove to control and direct their fire. Jibba-clad
figures sprang out of the ground, fired or charged, and were destroyed at
every step. And onwards over their bodies - over pits choked with dead and
dying, among heaps of mangled camels and donkeys, among decapitated or
eviscerated trunks, the ghastly results of the shell fire; women and little
children killed by the bombardment or praying in wild terror for mercy;
blacks chained in their trenches, slaughtered in their chains - always
onwards marched the conquerors, with bayonets running blood; clothes,
hands, and faces all besmeared; the foul stench of a month's accumulated
filth in their nostrils, and the savage whistle of random bullets
in their ears.
But at about twenty minutes past eight the whole force, with the Seaforth
Highlanders well forward on the left, arrived at the bank of the Atbara,
having marched completely through the position, and shot or bayoneted all
in their path. Hundreds of Dervishes were still visible retiring across the
dry bed of the river, and making for the scrub on the opposite bank.
The leading companies of the Seaforth Highlanders and Lincolns, with such
odd parties of Camerons as had been carried on with the attack, opened a
murderous fire on these fugitives. Since they would not run their loss was
heavy, and it was a strange sight - the last vivid impression of the day -
to watch them struggling through the deep sand, with the dust knocked up
into clouds by the bullets which struck all round them. Very few escaped,
and the bodies of the killed lay thickly dotting the river-bed with heaps
of dirty-white. Then at 8.25 the 'Cease fire' sounded, and the battle
of the Atbara ended.
Forthwith the battalions began to re-form, and in every company the roll
was called. The losses had been severe. In the assault - a period not
exceeding half an hour - eighteen British, sixteen native officers and 525
men had been killed or wounded, the greater part during the passage of
the zeriba.
The actual pursuit was abortive. Colonel Lewis, with his two battalions,
followed a line of advance which led south of the zeriba, and just before
reaching the river bank found and fired upon a few Dervishes retreating
through the scrub. All the cavalry and the Camel Corps crossed the Atbara
and plunged into the bush on the further side. But so dense and tangled
was the country that after three miles of peril and perplexity they
abandoned he attempt, and the routed Arabs fled unmolested. The Baggara
horse had ridden off during the action, headed by the prudent Osman Digna
- whose position in the zeriba was conveniently suited to such a
manoeuvre - and under that careful leadership suffered little loss.
The rest of the army was, however, destroyed or dispersed. The fugitives
fled up the Atbara river, leaving many wounded to die in the scrub,
all along their line of retreat. Of the powerful force of 12,000 fighting
men which Mahmud had gathered at Metemma, scarcely 4,000 reached Gedaret
in safety. These survivors were added to the army of Ahmed Fedil, and thus
prevented from spreading their evil tidings among the populace at Omdurman.
Osman Digna, Wad Bishara, and other important Emirs whose devotion and
discretion were undoubted, alone returned to the capital.
As soon as the troops were re-formed, the zeriba was evacuated and
the army drew up in line along the neighbouring ridge. It was then only
nine o'clock, and the air was still cool and fresh. The soldiers lit fires,
made some tea, and ate their rations of biscuits and meat. Then they lay
down and waited for evening. Gradually, as the hours passed, the sun became
powerful. There was no shade, and only a few thin, leafless bushes rose
from the sand. The hours of a day, peculiarly hot, even for the country
and season, dragged wearily away. The sandy ridge beat back the rays till
the air above was like the breath of a furnace and the pebbly ground
burned. The water in the fantasses and bottles was hot and scarce. The pool
of the Atbara was foul and tainted. In spite of the devoted efforts of the
few medical officers who had been allowed to accompany the force,
the wounded officers and soldiers endured the greatest miseries, and it is
certain that several died of their wounds who might in happier
circumstances have been saved.
Several hundred prisoners were taken. They were mostly negroes - for the
Arabs refused to surrender, and fought to the last or tried to escape.
The captive blacks, who fight with equal willingness on either side,
were content to be enlisted in the Soudanese regiments; so that many of
those who served the Khalifa on the Atbara helped to destroy him
at Omdurman. The most notable prisoner was the Emir Mahmud - a tall,
strong Arab, about thirty years old. Immediately after his capture he was
dragged before the Sirdar. 'Why,' inquired the General, 'have you come into
my country to burn and kill?' 'I have to obey my orders, and so have you,'
retorted the captive sullenly, yet not without a certain dignity. To other
questions he returned curt or evasive answers, and volunteered the opinion
that all this slaughter would be avenged at Omdurman. He was removed in
custody - a fine specimen of proud brutality, worthy perhaps of some better
fate than to linger indefinitely in the gaol at Rosetta.
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