THE RECONOUEST OF THE SOUDAN. 11

gradually degenerated into rout, and then the great wave of the advancing enemy, now wild

with excitement andflushed with victory,poured over the ridges and down upon Arimondi's brigade. De Bormida made an attempt to rein-

force the centre; butMenelek could now spare some thousandsof spears and rifles, to hold the Italianright incheckuntilArimondi wasdisposed of. Ellena sent upsomereinforcements,but they came too late. The centre shared the fate of the left, and it was

sell their lives as dearly as they could. "Ican stand no longer," said one officer ;and seated on a rock,revolver in hand,he waited to have a last shot at the approaching rush of Shoan spearmen.

Some 25,000 men had marched out on the Saturday afternoon; less than 10,000 ralliedon

the road to Adigrat on the Sunday evening. All the artillery had been lost,and with it most of the transport and stores. Fully 10,000 had

fallen on the field and now De Bormida's inthepursuit. Of the turn to feel the full force of the torrent that had swept away thetwoother brigades.

generals oneonivhad escaped; of the bat-

talion commanders, out of seven colonels two were killed and one a prisoner, and of the twenty- four majors, fifteen were killed. The Italian regulars had suffered mostseverely. Of these, <i,ooo had gone into action, 6,000 had been killed and wounded,and400

were prisoners. It was the greatest disaster that had ever befallen a European army in Africa.

Back towards Adi- grat the wreck of the Italian army was driven by the vic- torious Abyssinians. Desperate knots of men stood back to back and sold their lives dearly, fighting hand-to- hand with bavonet, sword, and revolver. DeBormida and Arimondi were killed;Albertone was carried wounded from

the field,protectedby a little escort of de- voted friends. Then Ellena was wounded.

The only general un- touched was the com- mander-in-chief. But

there was no longer anarmy to command. The retreat had be

Baratieri did not stop his retreat at Adigrat. He left there a smallgarrison, which was promptly besieged by Menelek.

The rest of his army- he concentrated at Asmara, bringing up fresh troops from Massowah, and asking for reinforcementsfrom Italy. come a hopeless flight. For a while the Abyssinians gave no quarter. The Italians had fired away all,or nearly all,their cartridges. Further resistance was hopeless. It blazing hot afternoon, and the weary men fell

from sheer exhaustion, and died under the spears of the pursuers. One officer whoescaped

told how for a whilehe encouraged his company by telling them that on the next hill they would

find some of the reserve waiting to protect their retreat,but when the hill was reached at last it

was found that the reserve had already retired ; and while some of the men continued the re-

treat,many gave up the struggle and waited to

Bad news travels fast. In a few days it was known at Omdurman thatMenelek had driven

the Italian army from the field and slaughtered thousands of the white soldiers and their allies. No help could be sent to Kassala, andnow that it seemed that fortune was declaring against the Europeans,the Khalifa hurriedly despatched an

armyto attempt the recaptureof hislost fortress. At the same time friendly spies in the Dervish camp brought news that, encouraged by the

tidings of Adowa,the Mahdists were preparing to renew on a large scale the raids on the