2 2 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

by the sight of blood and horrors. There was one strange

incident. An unwounded Arab armed with a spear jumped up and charged an officer. The officer grasped the spear with the

left hand, and with his right ran his sword through the Arab's

body; and there for a few seconds they stood, the officer being

unable to withdraw his sword until a man ran up and shot the

Arab. It was a living embodiment of one of the old gladiatorial

fiascoes at Pompeii. It did not, strange to say, seem horrible;

rather, after what had passed, an everyday occurrence. I used to wonder before how the Romans could look on at the gladiatorial

fights; I do so no longer."

But there were sights which could not be witnessed with so much equanimity, especially at the place where the Arabs had

entered the square. Officers lay there accidentally shot dead, as it was feared, by their own men when the rear rank turned round to

fire. This, it was surmised, caused the death of Carmichael

and Gough of the Royals; but much that was said at the time and

afterwards was conjecture, as was seen when inquiries were made how the corner of the square was broken, or whether it was

actually broken at all. Some thought that it was a mistake to

place cavalry men from various regiments—detachments hurriedly

brought together—to fight like infantry in a square and with an arm

they were not accustomed to—a long rifle and bayonet instead of

a short handy carbine—and to expect the cavalry man to stand

firm when his usual practice is never to be still for a moment when

in action.

But there was one bitter and outrageous explanation of the

almost desperate position of our men during that brief and bloody

contest; when, in the few minutes that it lasted, the Arab spears

slew so many, and might have destroyed the whole force but for

the hard and determined courage of the British soldier, who will

fight while he has a weapon or can clench a fist. Numbers of the

rifles—the Martini-Henrys—were useless. The cartridges jammed,

being, as Sir Charles Wilson says, made on economical principles,

so that they would not stand knocking about. That the Gardner- gun should have got jammed or choked up with sand and grit, and