8q GENERAL GATACRE : A "SNAP-SHOT.

CHAPTER XVII.

rHE SIRDAR'S MARCH TO MEET MAHMOUD THE armywith which SirHerbert Kitchener marchedto the battle of the Atbara was the strongestandbest equipped thathad yetbeen seen following the Egyptian standard on the Upper Nile. If we notehere its general organisation it will be easier to follow the story ofthe fight.

The infantry were divided into four brigades, composed as follows :— BritishBrigade.— Brigadier-GeneralGatacre: ist Cameron Highlanders ;ist Seaforth Highlanders ;ist Lincolnshire ; ist Royal Warwickshire, and six Maxims.

Egvftian Infantry Division.— General Archibald Hunter (threebrigades). /*/ Brigade.— Brigadier-General H. Mac-Donald: 2nd Egyptians; 9th, 10th, and nth Souda\ 2nd Brigade.— Brigadier-General Maxwell: ftth Egyptians; 12th, 13th, and14th Soudanese.

Jrd Brigade.— Brigadier-General Lewis: 3rd, 4th, and7th Egyptians. Ihe cavalry consisted of eight Egyptian squadrons under Colonel Broadwood. They had with them a battery of Maxim guns 011 galloping carriages, with teams of mules.

The artilJery had four batteries, Captain Young's horse battery of six Krupp guns, and el Long's division of three batteries, each of six (4-pounder Maxim-Nordenfeldt quickfirers,representing the very latest development of modem field artillery. All the gunners and most of the officers in these batteries were Egyptians. There was also a detachment of Egyptian gunners, with a 24-pound rocket-tube, under the commandof LieutenantBeatty,R.N. Altogether the Sirdar had about 12,000 men present on the field.

Inprevious battles the advantageof numbers had been on his side. Here, if Mahmoud had his full force with him. the Dervishes would have three men to every two of the Sirdar's army, and, moreover, they held a strongly entrenched camp. But the Sirdar had the overwhelming advantage given by superior armament and superior traininganddiscipline. The ih of armies cannot be estimated by merely counting heads.

At five 011 the Thursday evening the infantry march out of camp, and, moving to the left of the zereba, formed up on the hard pebbly desert outside the wide belt of thorny scrub. Gatacre's brigadeof British infantry and Hunter's division of Egyptian and Soudanese battalions were to march off first. The cavalry were to supply two squadrons to cover their advance. The rest of the mounted troops and the artillery wereto follow some hours later, and catch up with the foot soldiers during the night.

As in all the previous marches, the army moved inbattle array. The manSuvrehadbeen