WARS OF THE NINETIES. 74 reservists formed in 1896. Three large boats laden with grain were crossing the river, a fourth was tied to the bank in shallow water, and just beyond it was a shelter trench manned by two hundred Dervish riflemen to cover the crossing. Keppel ran close in with onegunboat and drove the Dervishes out of the trench with a hail of bullets from his Maxim guns. Meanwhile,the other gunboat had sunk one of the Dervish vessels and taken the two others in tow, their crews jumpinginto the river and swimmingashore. Then a party ofthe 15th infantry boldly landed on the right bank, fired on and drove off the Dervishes who came out serving a Maxim on board the gunboat Fateh, and oneof thenative crew was alsohit. It was said that the reason why Mahmoudneverfired a shell at the steamerswasthat hehoped to capture them uninjured and send them up to Khartoum as trophies after the fall of Berber. He felt quite certain thatBerber wouldbe taken, andhe considered that after that the flotilla,unable to get away downthe river on the lowNile,would be starvedinto surrender.

On March 16 the Sirdar had his army concentrated at Kenur, fifteen miles south ofBerber, and nine miles from the Atbara. It will make the subsequent narrative clearer if wenotehere thecomposition and strength of the force at his disposal, its distribution, and his arrangements and plans for the comingcampaign.

TheBritish brigadeunder General Gatacre was made up of the Cameron and Seaforth Highlanders, and the Lincolns andWarwicks, with a battery of four Maxims— in all,some 3,500 men.

Besides these, there were assembled at Kenur two brigadesof General Hunter's Egyptian infantry division.

These were commanded by Colonel Hector MacDonald and Colonel Maxwell, and each was composedof three from the camp, cut the anchored boat adrift, and brought her out of the shallows. Keppel then took the soldiers on board and steamed downthe river with his threeprizes.

When at last the Dervishes begantomarch northwards the gunboats came into action again. Every day one ortwo of them appeared on the river on the flank of Mahmoud's line of march,andharassed thelong columns of men,horses and camels by sending from time to time a shell whistling through the belt of palms on the riverbank, and out BRIGADIER-GENERAL HECTOR MACDONALD (Photo: Munro,Dmgwall.) into the desert. The Dervishes werethus forced tokeepfurtherandfurther away from the river, and must have had some difficulty inobtaining anything like an adequate supply of water. At Aliab, twenty-two miles from Ed Darner and the Atbara camp,they left the Nile bank, marching off to the westward through the desert. Prisoners subsequently taken said that, at Aliab,Mahmoud thought of" pushing straight on and attacking the Atbara camp, but Osman Digna suggested the desert march, and his opinion was accepted by the Dervish general as the more practicable plan.

Although Mahmoud had some Krupp guns withhim, it was noticed that during the march alongtheNile to Aliab he never madeeven an attempt to use them against the gunboats which were so persistently harassing him. Sometimes the Dervishes would fire a few volleys at aboat that came close in. A sergeant of the Royal Marine Artillery was woundedin this waywhile Soudaneseand oneEgyptian battalion. A third brigade under Colonel Lewis, formed entirely of Egyptian battalions, held the camp and fort at the junction of the Atbara and Nile. There were three Egyptian batteries at Kenur, under Colonel Long,R.A. One was armed withheavyKrupp guns, and two with newly-arrived Maxim-Nordenfeldt quick-firers, throwingtwelve and a half pound shells. Another battery was at the Atbara fort. ColonelTudway's camel corps was on the Atbara, and between the Atbara and Kenur was anEgyptian cavalry brigade ofeight squadrons,underColonelBroadwood. Altogether the Sirdar had some 10,000 Soudanese and Egyptian troops ready to move to meet Mahmoud.

Besides these,hehadleft anEgyptianbattalion to hold Berber, where a large base hospital had been prepared to receive the wounded. Halt a battalion held Geneitetti, just above the Fifth