IIO EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

A warning shout from the bank reached them, saying that the town had fallen and that Gordon had been killed two days before; but the steamers were in for it now, and fighting soon began in earnest. Sir Charles Wilson went with the commander and the interpreter into the midship turret, whence he could give orders at once to the captain, the reis, and the engineer; while the commander crouched in a corner out of the way of the bullets.

Halfiyeh was reached, but it was a scene of desolation, almost utterly destroyed; and then began a feu cTenfer from guns and musketry, answered from both boats in turn as they passed through the hail of shots and bullets, the black gunners naked, except for a cloth round their waists, their captains directing the laying and firing of the brass pieces, the Soudanese keeping up a fusillade, the Sussex men sending volley after volley at the batteries. Both steamers passed through the terrible ordeal without much damage; the native soldiers and sailors were in a frenzy of excitement; and in a momentary lull all eyes were turned towards the government house at Khartum, which could be seen above the trees. But there was no flag flying on the top of it, and Khashm-el-Mus at once declared that the place must have been taken, as Gordon kept the flag always floating above that roof. The truth had to be learned at any cost, and the steamers went on their course only to be again assailed by two guns and a heavy rifle fire from both banks just after passing Shamba, and all the way to Omdurman, while at the edge of Tuti Island a long ditch protected a line of men who kept up a continuous discharge at about i6o yards.

At first Sir Charles Wilson thought that the island was in the hands of Gordon, for the bullets of these men behind the ditch went across to the other bank, where the enemy's sharpshooters were stationed, and he actually gave orders to cease firing, and to run nearer to the bank that they might shout an inquiry. He even got outside the turret in the eagerness of his belief that these were men sent by Gordon to help the steamers; but a storm of bullets drove him back again to give the order to go on to Khartum, which might be still holding out against the enemy. Khashm was already certain that all was over, and that they