30 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

the front and right sides never moved, and though from some descriptions of this fight it would appear as if the square travelled some distance during the melee, I can confidently assert that the front face was in exactly the same position when all was over as when first halted to receive the charge. Setting their feet apart for better purchase, our men refused to budge one inch; we put our rear rank right about; and they shot down or bayoneted every Arab that came near them, and then, to my surprise, I saw the forest of flag-poles (bare by now) and spears halt, waver, and slowly move back. Then began the most indiscriminate firing of the whole time, and I fear at this time many of our poor fellows lost their lives. Among my own men I was surrounded by representatives from nearly every regiment in the force, who all began firing into the square at the retreating enemy. I should think twenty or thirty rifles went off just in my ear, fired over my head, past my head, anywhere. . . .

I shall never forget the slow sullen way in which the Arabs retired, every now and then turning round to look and stop as if anxious to come on again, and often ten or twelve would jump up from the ground and rush on till the rattle of rifles stopped them for ever. At last three or four would rush on the square, and finally one man alone. When 500 yards off we got the guns on them with grape, and this hastened the retreat and left us in possession of the ground."

It should not be forgotten that, though the march across the Bayuda was not strictly speaking a " desert" march, the necessity for going slowly to spare the camels and yet of moving continuously, not only greatly fatigued the men, but made it necessary to carry food and water, of which only a small quantity could be served in rations. The allowance of water was two pints a man per day, and it may therefore be understood with what avidity the soldiers, no less than the camels and horses, sought to slake their thirst at the wells, where the water was mostly of the consistency of pease-soup. Nor had the experiences of those soldiers who had marched from Wady Haifa and followed the expedition from Korti been less arduous. An