THE SITUATION. 89 Herbert Stewart should occupy Metammeh; but Sir Herbert Stewart was dangerously and, as it afterwards turned out, fatally wounded, and was kept on board the small steamer, where he occupied the roomy stern cabin. Sir Charles Beresford was to command the naval brigade which would man the steamers conveying Sir Charles Wilson to Khartum with a small escort of troops; but Sir Charles Beresford was so ill that he could not walk without help, and all the officers of the naval brigade were either killed or wounded: Wilson was to leave Colonel Burnaby in command, and Burnaby had been killed at Abu-Klea. More than a tenth of the force had been lost, and there were about lOO wounded who were not only unable to fight, but who had to be protected; provisions would soon be wanted, and when the camels were able to travel they must be sent to fetch them : the horses were useless except for reconnoitring at short distances, and it was reported that the enemy's forces were advancing both from the north and the south.

Sir Charles Wilson, however, announced his intention of going to Khartum, so handing over the executive command to Boscawen, he prepared to go down the river the next morning (the morning after reading Gordon's letters) for the purpose of seeing whether any force was coming up from Berber, for he considered it to be important to discover whether the comparatively small camp at Abu-Kru was likely to be attacked, and a body of the enemy was reported to be at Sayal below Metammeh. All Gordon's journals and letters were sent on board the steamers for safety, and it was arranoed that Major Barrow's hussars should reconnoitre as far as they could go up the river, and that if they reported that they could see nothing of the force under Feki Mustafa's command, Sir Charles Wilson would at once go down the river with two steamers and two companies of the mounted infantry and reconnoitre in that direction for the rest of the day.

It now became a question how to send despatches to Lord Wolseley, for though Captain Pigott of the mounted infantry was selected for the duty of carrying them, there was not a horse that could go so far, the camels were in no better state for a quick