WARS OF THE NINETIES. 70 i Intelligence Department said he had not yet received all the reinforcements he was expecting from Omdurman. MacDonald, withhis brigade of Soudanese battalions,held the point of land at the junction of the Atbara and the Nile, where a strong fort hadbeen built andthe camp solidly entrenched. He had fourofthe gunboats to co-operate in the defence, so that ifMahmoud moved there would be plenty of time to bring up the British brigade and other reinforcements whilehe was "knocking his headagainst a stone wall" atDakhila,oppositeEdDarner,ortrying to get roundit byalong desert march. As Suakin was now perfectly safe, the 4th Egyptian Regimentingarrisontherewasmarched up to Berber by the olddesert route so long closedby Osman Digna. Precautions were taken against small parties of Dervish raiders molesting travellers on this route,posts of Friendliesholding the few wells, so that if the raiders came they could not get any water for their camelsor themselves. Il the wells are few, nothing is easier than to hold a desert track in this way.

head of the First Cataract, so that, changing trains at Luxor (where thereis a break of gauge in the line),thetroopscouldberunthroughto the point just above Assouan,where they embarked on bargesand stern-wheelers for Wady Haifa.

The regiments were replaced at Cairo by the Seaforth Highlanders from Malta, the ist Battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers from Burmah (alreadyunder orders for Egypt, and on the way),and a battalion oftheNorthumberland Fusiliers fromGibraltar. A number of medical officers and a strong draft of the Medical Staff Corps went out from England. General Gatacre waschosen to commandtheBritish brigade concentrating at Wady Haifa. He was one of the few officers on the list of generals who were junior to the Sirdar,and thus his presence at the front wouldraiseno awkwardquestions of seniority. But, apart from this, there were excellent reasonsfor his selection. He had already madehismarkincommand of oneof the brigades in the campaign for the relief of Chitral in 1895, and when he was ordered to the Soudan he was in command of the ist brigade atAldershot. As soon as he reachedWady Haifa he set to work training hisbrigade for active service in the most practical fashion. Route marches in the desert, attack-drills, field-firing, went on day after day; so that whenat last, after long waiting, theday of battle came, the regiments had learned to work well together, and the men were— to use the popular phrase— " hardas nails."

Allthrough January the Dervishes made only one move in advance. On the 18th a small party of camel-men from Shendy reached the Atbara at the forts of Hudi, some miles above Ed Darner, crossed the river there and raided thevillageof Kenur, carrying off some women anddriving awavthecattle. But the newsreached Dakhila camp very quickly, and the camel corpsandcavalry were soon on the track of the Dervishes. They overtook themon their first day's march,killed anumber, dispersed the rest rescued the captives, and brought back all the cattle. Afterthis sharp lesson Mahmoud'scamelmen gaveup the idea that raiding ontheAtbara could be a profitable business.

On the ist of January thegunboats had made another runup to Metemneh. They were fired on fromboth banks, andreported that the camp on the Shendy side was no larger than it had been when first noticed. Mahmoud'smain force was still round Metemneh,and the agents of the KASSALA.