It was resolved
to lay one mine first. On the 17th of August the Dervish steamer Ismailia
moved out into the middle of the Nile, carrying one of the boilers fully
charged and equipped with pistol detonator. Arrived at the selected spot,
the great cylinder of powder was dropped over the side. Its efficiency as
a destructive engine was immediately demonstrated, for, on the string being
pulled by accident, the pistol discharged itself, the powder exploded,
and the Ismailia and all on board were blown to pieces.
Undeterred by the loss of life, and encouraged by the manifest power
of the contrivance, the Khalifa immediately ordered the second of the two
boilers to be sunk in the stream. As the old Egyptian officer had been
killed by the explosion, the Emir in charge of the arsenal was entrusted
with the perilous business. He rose, however, to the occasion, and, having
first taken the precaution of letting the water into the boiler so as to
damp the powder, he succeeded in laying the second mine in mid-stream,
to the joy and delight of Abdullah, who, not understanding that it was
now useless, overwhelmed him with praise and presents.
Beguiled with such stories and diversions, the day of rest at
Wady el Abid passed swiftly. Night brought beetles, bugs, and ants,
and several men were stung by scorpions - a most painful though not
dangerous affair. Towards morning it began to rain, and everyone was
drenched and chilled when the sun rose across the river from behind a great
conical hill and dispersed the clouds into wisps of creamy flame. Then we
mounted and set out. This day the army moved prepared for immediate action,
and all the cavalry were thrown out ten miles in front in a great screen
which reached from the gunboats on the river to the Camel Corps
far out in the desert.
When we had advanced a little further, there arose above the scrub
the dark outlines of a rocky peak, the hill of Merreh. The whole of
the 21st Lancers now concentrated, and, trotting quickly forward, occupied
this position, whence a considerable tract of country was visible. We were
hardly twenty-five miles from Khartoum, and of that distance at least ten
miles were displayed. Yet there were no enemy. Had they all fled?
Would there be no opposition? Should we find Omdurman deserted
or submissive? These were questions which occurred to everyone, and many
answered them affirmatively. Colonel Martin had meanwhile heliographed
back to the Sirdar that all the ground was up to this point clear,
and that there were no Dervishes to be seen. After some delay orders were
signalled back for one squadron to remain till sunset in observation on
the hill and for the rest to return to camp.
With two troops thrown out a mile in front we waited watching on the hill.
Time passed slowly, for the sun was hot. Suddenly it became evident that
one of the advanced troops was signalling energetically. The message was
spelt out. The officer with the troop perceived Dervishes in his front.
We looked through our glasses. It was true. There, on a white patch of sand
among the bushes of the plain, were a lot of little brown spots, moving
slowly across the front of the cavalry outposts towards an Egyptian
squadron, which was watching far out to the westward. There may have been
seventy horsemen altogether. We could not take our eyes off those distant
specks we had travelled so far, if possible, to destroy. Presently the
Dervish patrol approached our right troop, and apparently came nearer than
they imagined, for the officer who commanded - Lieutenant Conolly -
opened fire on them with carbines, and we saw them turn and ride back,
but without hurrying.
The camp to which we returned was a very different place from the one
we had left in the morning. Instead of lying along the river-bank,
it was pitched in the thinner scrub. The bushes had on all sides been cut
down, the ground cleared, and an immense oblong zeriba was built,
around which the six brigades were drawn up, and into which cavalry, guns,
and transport were closely packed.
Very early next morning the advance was continued. The army paraded
by starlight, and with the first streak of the dawn the cavalry were again
flung far out in advance. Secure behind the screen of horsemen and Camel
Corps, the infantry advanced in regular array. Up to the 27th of August
the force marched by divisions; but on and after the 30th of August the
whole force commenced to march in fighting formation. The British division
was on the left, the Egyptian army on the right. All the brigades marched
in line, or in a slight echelon. The flank brigades kept their flank
battalions in column or in fours. Other British battalions had six
companies in the front line (in company column of fours) and two companies
in support. The Egyptian brigades usually marched with three battalions in
the front line and one in reserve, each of the three in the front line
having four companies in front and two in support.
The spectacle of the moving army - the grand army of the Nile - as it
advanced towards its goal was especially wonderful in the clear air of the
early morning; a long row of great brown masses of infantry and artillery,
with a fringe of cavalry dotting the plain for miles in front, with the
Camel Corps - chocolate-coloured men on cream-coloured camels - stretching
into the desert on the right, and the white gunboats stealing silently up
the river on the left, scrutinising the banks with their guns; while far
in rear the transport trailed away into the mirage, and far in front the
field-glass disclosed the enemy's patrols. Day after day and hour after
hour the advance was maintained.
