THE RECONOUEST OF THE SOUDAN. 135 nine islands." When the Nile is falling it is a dangerousplace, as Sir Charles Wilson foundbv sad experience in i88<5. But now theriver was running so full that the only difficulty was to work the engines against the strong current. There was plenty of deep water everywhere between the islands. The central gorge,about a mile long,is describedby those who traversed it as one of the most splendid sights on the Nile. The great rocks come sheer down to the river, forming a narrow V-shaped passage, through which the Nile rages like a mill-race. The abandoned Dervish batteries on either side were inplaces floodedby the river.

Readers of Slatin's book will recollect the terrible story which he tells of the wholesale execution of the Batahin at Omdurman some years before by the Khalifa's orders. It was no wonder Hassan and his men, remembering how their fellow-tribesmen had been tortured and slain on the execution ground by the Mahdi's tomb, took the first opportunity to throw in their lot with the army qf deliverance.

There was no long stay at El Hajir. On the morning of Sunday, August 28th, the advance wasresumed, and now the armymarched prepared for battle, for the cavalry wasin touch with ths enemy. Stuart-Wortley's friendlies wereagain moving down the east bank, and in the afternoon they were joined by some more refugeesfromOmdurman. One of them brought a letter from one of Wingate's spies in the enemy's capital. Amongst other items of information the letter conveyed the news that a messenger had reached the Khalifa from the Upper Nile, bringingaFrench flag and an offer from someFrench officer to take himunder the protection of the tricolour. This item of news came to the knowledge of a veteran among the correspondents, Mr. Charles Williams, but he was told that it was not to be sent on bv wireto England. It suggested too many awkward possibilities to be made public property till a later date. It was also reported that the Khalifa had sent two steamers up the river to Fashoda, and that he was trying to place torpedoes in the Nile near Omdurman.

GeneralRundle, the chief of the staff, was on his wayup to join the Sirdar at El Hajir. He had remained behindat the Atbaracamp to see to the forwardingof troops andsupplies, and to make sure that the line of communications from railhead was in good working order. He was travelling up on boardof Commander Keppel's flagship, the gunboat ElZafir, when,on Friday, the 20th, just after passing Shendy, the boat suddenly sprang a leak. She was headed for the bank,but before she reachedit she sank in the Nile,in water so deep that her upper deck was awash. Rundle and Keppel had a narrow escape of drowning, as the ship partly turned over as she went down. Luckily, a crowd ot native crafthastened to the rescue, and no lives were lost. The sinking of this gunboat, one Oi the finest on the river, was the onepiece of bad luck in the whole expedition. The officers on b<ari lost all their personal belongings, except the uniforms they were actuallywearing. Arrangements were made for securing the where she lay,in order to raise her at lowNile. Meanwhile her Maxim guns were removedfrom her upper works and transferred to other steamersin the flotilla.

The next camp was on the westbank,opposite Um Teref. TheEgyptian divisionmarchedfrom Wad El Obeid on the Sunday morning. The British followedin the cool of the evening,and marching by moonlight reachedUm Terefcamp in the small hours of the morning on Monday, the 29th. During this moonlit night a few Dervishes crept into the Egyptian outpost line. There was analarm, and they were fired on, but got away, although the foremost of them had ventured far enough to defiantly hurl a spear into the camp. The further advance was delayed on the Monday by a storm of winddrivingdense clouds ofdust and sand, and making the Nile so rough that it was impossible for the gunboats to tow the barges and native boats that contained thebaggage.

On the Saturday,the sameday that the Sirdar joinedthe camp,Major Stuart-Wortley, withhis motley array of friendlies, about 1,700 strong, appearedon the opposite bank,belowthe slope of Jebel Royan. They had made a two days' march by the desert route, sweeping round to the eastward of the Shabluka Hills. Abdul Azim, with the Ababdeh camel men,had scouted well ahead, and had come on the tracks of the retiring Dervish patrols. On theprecedingclay, when camped near Shabluka village, Stuart-Wortley had been joined by eighty-six of the hin Arabs, under their Sheikh Hassan. had deserted in a body from the Khalifa, and brought in thirty-six rifles with them.

The cavalry were out scouting, notwithstanding the storm. It made their work doubly difficult, not only by obscuring the view from timeto time, but also by covering the tracks of the enemy's scouts with dust blown from the