76 WARS OF THE NINETIES.

Sunday morning to the fords of Hudi, wherehe couldblock an easy passage of the river and be in a position to strike at the Dervishes if they crossed higher up and tried to sweep round his position towards Berber. A hot wind, driving cloudsof sandanddust,hadbeenblowingoverthe Kenur campall through Saturday. It continued through the night and the following morning, so that the conditions of the march were very trying. Reveille soundedonthe Sunday morning at dawn,and in the British brigade the first act of the day was a generalchurch parade. Service wasread by the Anglican andPresbyterianchaplains, and mass was said for the Catholics at an marched nearest the river, formed in a laro-e square, with machine guns at the corners— a reversion to the tactics ofthefirstNilecampaign. Next,in the centre,but thrownback inechelon, came Maxwell's brigade of Soudanese and Egyptians ; and still further back, and to the left,MacDonald's brigade. The three brigades thus formed a diagonal line, like three black squareson a chess-board,and in caseof an attack the flank of one square would be able to cross its fire with the front of another. In this formidable battle-array the army marched, not along the river bank, but direct for Hudi, across the bend formed by the Atbara and the Nile, EGYPTIAN TROOPS BIVOUACKING: MAXWELL'S BRIGADE.

improvised altar by the veteran Father Brindle, the only chaplain whose military experiences included the campaign of theBayuda desert. At the close of the church parade all the soldiersof the brigade joined in singing " God Save the Queen," and then thepreparationsbegan for the advance. All the heavy baggage wasloaded on board of boatsandbarges, to be conveyedby the Nile and the Atbara to Hudi. Thus the troops wereable to move in light marching order, but every man carriedhis 120 rounds of ball-cartridge, for it was quite possible that there would be a fight withinthe next twenty-four hours. The start wasmadebetween ten and eleven in the morning. Colonel Broadwood's squadrons, with a battery and a couple of Maxims,moved in advance, forming a screen of cavalry patrols well out in the desert in the front and on the flanks of the army. Gatacre's British brigade Lewis's brigade and a battery ofartillery marching out, independently from its camp at the junction of the rivers, to meet the Sirdar near the fords. The country traversed was broken by frequent dry watercourses, and there were numerous thickets of desert thorn andlowundergrowth. Besides,the high windwas still blowing, and there were times when it was not easy for one square to see another through the driving clouds of fine sand. It would thus have been veryeasy to miss the way. A nativeguide rode with the staff, but as an additional precaution Captain Fitton,of the Intelligence Department, checked the direction with a compas- and pocket sextant, and saw that the right course waskept.

After a five hours' march, carried out as if it had been a great review, the army reached the fords of Hudi at half-past three. A large