i;o WITH THE CAMEL CORPS UP THE NILE.

would have been to get round the town and rush it from the undefended side on the east ; but we could not afford to run the risk of being cut off from Gubat and our stores, so had to content ourselves with getting within a thousand yards and peppering it with our little guns. For a short time a company of Mounted Infantry and a few Sappers were told off with the guns to take up a position between two huts on a knoll from whence to shell the enemy out of his defences, but the little seven-pounders made no visible impression. Accordingly they were withdrawn, and the whole formed up in square and moved in a southerly direction round the town, in order to find a practicable place for assault. As far as could be seen, the enemy had loopholed all the walls, and had even constructed a round fortlet on our side, from whence they kept up a spattering fire. A company was therefore extended in front of the square, as skirmishers, but could not do much in the way of keeping the fire down, as none of the enemy were visible. Our shells, too, did very little damage, for they went through the walls like paper, not meeting