THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN the whole of their force of about two hundred men were killed.

This was the first fight in which the Egyptian soldiers attacked the Dervishes without the support of British troops. In June, 1886, the Dervishes came back to Sarras and plundered the unfortunate inhabitants who had returned, but they did not threaten Haifa again until the following October, when they again occupied Sarras, and a body of the enemy, about 1,000 strong, marched on Haifa. This force was met by Colonel Wodehouse about seven miles south of Haifa, and was duly repulsed with loss, and the leaders of the Mahdi's movement decided to postpone the invasion of Egypt until a more fitting opportunity. Sarras, however, remained in the hands of the Dervishes, and although it was impossible for them to maintain a large number of troops there, owing to the difficulty of feeding them, it formed an ideal place as a centre from which to organize raiding expeditions on the villages which stood on the east bank between Haifa and Aswan. The British did their utmost to prevent such raids, which terrified the natives of the whole country round about, and established fortified posts along the Nile, and patrolled the river by gunboats.

The Dervishes, however, light of movement, and knowing every foot of the ground, as well as the nature and habits of the Nubians, frequently eluded the gunboats, and keeping well out of the reach of the fortified posts on the river bank, attacked village after village, and plundered the people, murdering such as resisted them, with comparative impunity. It will be remembered that the last detachment of British troops was withdrawn from Aswan in June, 1888, and this act put fresh heart into the Dervishes. In August following they made a determined attack on the fort of Khor Musa, about four and a half miles south of Haifa, and captured it. A small detachment from a body of about five hundred Dervishes succeeded in creeping up to the fort about 11 p.m. on the night of the 29th, using the river bank as cover. The sentry at one corner of the fort, hearing a noise, challenged and was promptly shot ; the corporal of the guard, hearing the report of a rifle, opened the western gate, went out, and was also shot. The Dervishes rushed into the fort through the open gate, and for two hours a fierce fight raged inside, the Egyptians getting the worst of it. On the first alarm the native Bimbashi, or Major, had telephoned to Haifa 84 i