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. The distance over which convoys must plod
was reduced by half, and the business of supply was doubly accelerated.
By degrees the battalions and squadrons began to move forward towards
Akasha. Sarras, deprived of its short-lived glory, became again the
solitary fort on a crag. Wady Halfa was also deserted, and, except for the
British battalion in garrison, could scarcely boast a soldier. Both the
Egyptian battalions from Suakin had arrived on the Nile. The Xth Soudanese
were on their way. The country beyond Akasha had been thoroughly
reconnoitred and mapped to within three miles of the Dervish position.
Everything was ready.
The actual concentration may be said to have begun on the 1st of June,
when the Sirdar started for the front from Halfa, whither he had returned
after the cavalry skirmish. Construction work on the railway came to a
full stop. The railway battalions, dropping their picks and shovels,
shouldered their Remington rifles and became the garrisons of the posts
on the line of communications. On the 2nd of June the correspondents
were permitted to proceed to Akasha. On the 3rd the Xth Soudanese passed
through Ambigole and marched south. The Horse battery from Halfa followed.
The Egyptian battalions and squadrons which had been camped along the river
at convenient spots from Ambigole to Akasha marched to a point opposite
Okma. Between this place and the advanced post an extensive camp,
stretching three miles along the Nile bank, arose with magic swiftness.
On the 4th the 7th Egyptians moved from Railhead, and with these the last
battalion reached the front. Nine thousand men, with ample supplies, were
collected within striking distance of the enemy.
All this time the Dervishes at Firket watched in senseless apathy
the deliberate, machine-like preparations for their destruction.
They should have had good information, for although the Egyptian cavalry
patrolled ceaselessly, and the outpost line was impassable to scouts, their
spies, as camel-drivers, water-carriers, and the like, were in the camp.
They may not, perhaps, have known the exact moment of the intended blow,
for the utmost secrecy was observed. But though they must have realised
that it was imminent, they did nothing. There was, indeed, no course open
to them but retreat. Once the army was concentrated with sufficient
supplies at Akasha, their position was utterly untenable.
The Emir-in-Chief, Hammuda, then had scarcely 3,000 men around his flag.
Their rifles and ammunition were bad; their supplies scanty.
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