RETREAT TO GAKDUL.

. 207 slaughtered Arabs. On our approach great numbers of carrion birds rose lazily from their sickening feast. They continued to hover around, however, until our departure. The corpses had already been shrivelled by the great heat and the dry air of the desert to the proportions and semblance of mummies, with this difference, that they lay twisted in every variety of contortion. In many instances the white bones, stripped of their covering by the foul birds, stared up at the beholder. Truly a sickening sight, and one to be remembered with a shudder. I am glad to record that our brave fellows remain undisturbed in their desert graves, a fact which will, I trust, afford some small comfort to their sorrowing friends at home. Having seen the convoy well on its way, some of us returned to this camp to await the final start north of this column. The convoy would have rested here awhile before starting on its return journey had it not been necessary to hasten their departure in consequence of increased signs of the enemy in more than one direction."

As the riflemen on the hills continued their harassing fire General Duller had opened a fire upon them with shells and the Gatling gun, and these were so accurately brought to range that the Arabs were for a time smitten with consternation as the shells burst among them, and wounded a considerable number. At the same time Major Wardrop, who was on his way back to Gakdul with three hussars as escort, reverted successfully to the ingenious tactics by which he had on a former occasion done such excellent service, and by making a circuit and firing upon the rear of the enemy first from one ridge and then from another during a rapid ride, and keeping well out of sight as he moved swiftly from point to point, he impressed the Arabs with a notion that they were being surrounded by a considerably extended force. This in conjunction with the shell-fire so alarmed them that they abandoned their position and went towards Metammeh, so that General Duller was able to occupy some part of the high ground. It was soon evident, however, that the further retirement of the column to Gakdul had better be hastened. Khashm-el-Mus had already been sent thither by the general, and though it was his opinion