WARS OF THE NINETIES. 26 delay. Even the infantryhad to moveacross it warily in single file,and the mounted men had to dismountandlead their animals. Looking at the place afterwards in broad daylight, it was difficult to realise that nine battalions, twobatteries, the staff with their horses, and some two hundred camels conveying the reserveammunition and the field hospital, had been safely and silently got across such a place in almost complete darkness, for there was no moon,and the stars gave but a scanty light.

camp with his artillery as soon as he heard the fire of the main attack, which was timed to begin at five a.m. He was to use his cannon and machine-guns to break up from the flank any attempt of the enemy to mass for a charge. When Ferkeh was taken he was to have the cavalry and camel corps ready to fall on the flank of the retiring Dervishes, and he was to pursue them to the southward,preventing any attempt torally. He was to push boldly on and capture first Koyekeh and then Suarda, at both of which places the Intelligence Department reported that the enemy had only small Arrived at Sarkamatto, the three brigades lay down for a short sleep on the sandy ground between the hills and the belt of palms along the river. A screen of outposts covered the bivouac, and the men had their arms beside them, but the short halt passed without any alarm. At this point a messenger, who had come across the hills from the desert column, reached the bivouac of the staff and informed the Sirdar that all was going well with Burn-Murdoch's force.

garrisons.

The river column, under the personal command of Sir Herbert Kitchener,was about7,coo strong. It was made up of two mule batteries (twelvelightmountain-guns), two machine guns, mannedby the Connaught Rangers,andHunter Pasha's infantry division of nine battalions, organisedin three brigades as follows:— 1st Brigade— Major Lewis, 3rd and 4th Egyptians, 10th Soudanese. As morning approached there was noreveille sounded. A whispered word of commandroused the soldiers from their sleep and marshalled the column for battle. Lewis, with the first brigade, was to march along the river bank, making for the north end of the Ferkeh village. Mac-Donald, with his three Soudanese battalions, was to form the left attack nearer the hills. Many of MacDonald's men had fought against us inprevious battlesundertheMahdist banners, for the black troopsof theDervish army,mostly recruited as slaves for the Khalifa's service, were only too glad after a defeat to accept the better treatment offered them as regulars in the Soudanese regiments of the Egyptian army. They likedfighting for its own sake, and they likedit all thebetter when they wereon the winningside. Maxwell,with the third brigade, composed entirely ofFellahin soldiers, was held in reserveat the outset,but was to take post betweenthe two otherbrigades as opportunity offered. The long line was then to pivot on its right, wheeling round against the desert front of the village,its extremeleft getting touch with Bum-Murdoch's desert column on the hills. Such was the plan of the battle.

znd Brigade— Major MacDonald, 9th, nth, and13th Soudanese.

yd Brigade— Major Maxwell, 2nd, 7th, and ■8th Egyptians.

The column was to march fromAkasha late on Saturday afternoon, and,movingin the darkness across the difficult ground of the river route, they were to bivouac in silence and without fires near Sarkamatto, about three miles from the enemy's position. There was to be no noise of any kind,andnolights— not somuch as a burning cigarette tip. If by chance any of the enemy's scouts were met with,they were to be disposed of with the bayonet. The troops were to moveoff from their bivouacbefore sunrise, and be ready to attack Ferkeh at 5 a.m. The sun rose that day at 5.14 a.m., and the twilight in the Soudan is very short, so that the actual attack was to begin in the half darkness before the dawn.

The enemy (as was subsequently ascertained from prisoners taken in the battle)had sent a patrol in dose to Akasha during the Saturday -afternoon. But it returned to Ferkeh with the report that all wasquiet in the Egyptian camp, so that Hannnuda and' Osman Azrak had not the remotest expectation of the coming attack. The discipline of the troops during the night march was beyond all praise. There was absolute silence, and even the difficult defile above the Dal Cataract was passed without noise and confusion, though it necessarily caused a long Up to five o'clock all was silent in front, and to many there came the dispiriting thought that the enemy had got news of the advance,andhad quietly slipped away from Ferkeh. But a few minutes after five there was the sharp crack of rifles,as thefirst shots werefired fromaDervish outpost, stationed in a small enclosure of low