TACTICS OF THE ENEMY. 205 scouting round the camp, the riflemen afterwards crossing to the hills to the east and north-east of the seriba, whence they l-cept up a continuous fire at long range, by which two men were killed and fourteen wounded. This was on the i6th of February, and the condition of affairs continued for some days. During that time it was necessary to deepen the wells, and such numbers of the enemy were marching at no great distance that it was thought necessary to wait for the return of the guards' camel division, and the mounted infantry, who had been sent to Gakdul with the convoys of wounded. The position of General Duller at Abu-Klea was apparently safe from attack by the enemy, who, numerous as they were, had no relish for a fight with the victors of Abu-Klea and Gubat. On one occasion a large body of the Arabs made a move northward, probably for the purpose of ascertaining the strength and composition of the convoy from Gakdul, which was then on its way back to the camp, but finding the route occupied by a chain of our pickets and some of our scouting parties they returned to the place from which they had started rather than come to close quarters.

The increasing number of the enemy made it evident that had an attack been made upon Metammeh it would have been at a very heavy loss, which would have left the already diminished column (had the town been taken) in a state of siege and cut off from their communications by the surrounding enemy, while the advance of the Mahdi would have ensured the rising of the tribes, and would thus have rendered it almost impossible to maintain communication across the desert. As it was, the retirement of General Duller with the column to Abu-Klea had been effected without molestation from the enemy, and it soon became known by message from Korti that on the first opportunity the return should be completed by a march to Gakdul, which could only be made slowly, as the camels were already pretty well exhausted, and the greater part of the troops would have to go on foot.

The Arabs seem to have made some attempt to resort to their treacherous artifices, for on the 20th a white flag was seen to be flying in their camp, and this flag was soon made out to be, not