WARS OF THE NINETIES 174 little Arab and Egyptian horses enabled evenso manyof them to take part in the pursuit. For about six miles they rode through the darkness, led by a Jaalin guide. Then it was found that they were in the midst of marshes, formed by the recent heavy rains and the overflow of the Nile; so there was a halt till the moon rose, the men resting, formed in a small square, for there werearmedparties of the enemyprowling in the neighbourhood.

The counting of theDervish dead as they lay on the field gave the terrible total of 10,824. It was estimated that there were besides these about 15,000 wounded. This would mean that in about four hours' fighting every second man in theDervish army of 50,000 men waskilled or wounded. There were thousands 01 prisoners; for, when once the battle was lost, all but the fanatic few were only too ready to make their peace with thevictors. Seven thousand wounded were turned over to the care of the surgeons. Thousands of prisoners were set at libertyas soon as they had laid down their arms. Only the emirs and some of the more truculent of the Baggara were detained under guard. Among the captives were some of the Khalifa's wives. They were set free after a short interrogation by theIntelligence officers. Another prisoner was one of Slatin's former servants, who,for conniving at his escape,hadbeen kept in chains for the last three years. On the eve of the battle his chains were struck off, andhe was given a sword and buckler and forced to march with many more equally unwilling combatants. He survived the dangers of the day, and was delighted at being restored to his former master.

Not far off the camel corps were also in bivouac. So far, notwithstanding the exhausted state of men and animals, there was a hope of overtakingthefugitiveKhalifa. During the night a number of slaves and womenhad come in, whomhe had abandonedin his flight, or whohad given him the slip. They reported that he had with him about a hundred men of his owntribe, theTaaisha Baggaras. When the moon rose the pursuit was continued, and from time to timestragglers wereovertaken who said they hadbeen with theKhalifa. These,however, were now fewer and fewer,and it began to be clear that Abdullahi andhis companions hadgot a good start and were making the most ofit. Their horses andcamelshadnot,like the mounts of Broadwood's and Tudway's men, had four days of continuous and exhausting work before this forcednight march. Slatin had returned to the camp near Omdurman the day after the battle and reported that the pursuit of the Khalifa had been a failure. The Egyptian cavalry were in no condition for a long pursuit. On the day of the battle they had been in the saddle from early dawn, and had repeatedly been hotly engaged with the enemy. After the repulse of the final attack they had fallen upon the retiring Dervishes, then wheeling round they had swept past the north of Omdurman,breaking up a large body of Mahdist cavalry, and collecting and sending in nearly a thousand prisoners. A little after six o'clock, when they were preparing to bivouac near the south end of Omdurman, Slatin Pasha arrived with orders to Colonel Broadwood to start at once in chase of the Khalifa.

By sunrise thirty miles had been covered. The horses were nearly dead beat, and there was neither food for the men nor forage for their mounts. It was, under such conditions, hopeless to press on, so the tired men and horses turned towards the Nile. But the banks, coveredby the flood, were for some time inaccessible. The men had to ride for some time along the edge of a wide belt of marshes and shallows, two miles wide, till atlast,alonga point of higher ground, theygot down to the river and received some supplies from the flotilla. Then orders were reluctantly given to return to Khartoum.

Major Stuart-Wortley got his littlearmy of friendlies across the river during the morning, and they took up the pursuit of the Khalifa, but he had got such a start of them that from the first their chance of overtaking him was not very great. One of the steamersproceeded for some distance up the White Nile inthe hope of perhapscoming up with the fugitives somewhere on its banks. But the most trustworthy reportsthatcould beobtained fromthe stragglers and the riverside folk indicated that he hadnot followed the usual track of caravans near the There was no time to serve out rations or fresh forage. The men mounted and rode off, tiredandhungry as they were. They were told that one of the steamers would tow up a barge full of supplies, and meet them in the morning at some point on the river-bank. Broadwood had about 500 men and horses with him. So many of the other horses were injured, or utterly exhausted,that it was impossible to take them out. Only the wonderful endurance of the