THE RECONOUEM OF THE SOUDAN. 145 There was a short sharp fight with spear and sword, and the enemy were driven out, losing some three hundred men, including several of the Emirs. Among them was a cousin of the Khalifa, the Emir Isa Zecharia.

in the fight. Then the friendlies ralliedto the rescue, and the remnant of the Dervish desperadoesgalloped off at full speed,only tooglad to escape.

A good position having been found on the east bank just north of the point of Tuti Island. the howitzers were placed in battery by Major Elmslie and opened fire on Omdurman, taking for their guiding mark the great white dome of the Mahdi's tomb. Keppel and the flotilla meanwhile engaged and rapidly destroyed a large fort on Tuti Island, and then crossed The enemv having been thus disposed of, the howitzer battery and its escort werelanded. Stuart-Wortley andthe range-finders set to work to find a good position for the guns on the Nilebank, for the next item on the day's prooramme was the bombardment of Omdurman.

tin- reconnoitringwas in progressStuart-HE ADVANCE OF TUB JOICLO-EGYPTIAN FORCE UI'ON OMDURMAN.

the Nile and steamed slowly along the river front of Omdurman, engaging the riverside ti.rts in succession one by one, silencing and wrecking each with a shower of shells and Maxim bullets before going on to the next.

While the}- were tackling the first forts the ships of the flotilla were exposed to a heavy fire from all the line at very short range. Bullets and shells whizzed round them and sent up geysers of spray as they struck the river. But their fire was so ill-aimed that very little damage was done. One shell crashed through the side of the Ftttteh and got at her engine room, happily without exploding or doing any damage to the machinery. The olficcr who commanded her was slightly Wortley had a narrow escape. He had an escort of fifty of the friendlies with him, but they were apparently keeping a very careless look-out, for without a word of warning the party was suddenly charged by thirty Baggara horsemen who had rallied from the Dervish rout and returned to the scene of the fight. So fierce and sudden was their onset that the friendlies weredriven back in confusion, and the officers, -Stuart-Wortley, his aide-de-camp,LieutenantWood, a son of Sir Evelyn Wood, Lieutenant Ruckle, K.A., who was doing the rangefinding, and an Egyptian interpreter, found almost alone among the enemy. They drew their revolvers and shot several of the Baggara,Ihe interpreter taking a pluckypart 10