THE BATTLE OF OMDURMAN 174 horses’ feet. But much greater resistance came from the two thousand Dervishes at the back. The confusion was terrible. Lances are not of much use in a crowd, and if our troopers had used their sabres they would have suffered less from the heavy sword blades which were hacking their bodies and hamstringing their horses. If any man was unhorsed he was as good as dead. The furious Arabs leapt upon him and slashed at his face till his features disappeared and his flesh hung in strips. Lieutenant Clerk’s charger stumbled and fell forward as it breasted the edge of the xz//ah, but most fortunately its master kept his seat, and managed to get through the méé unhurt. This officer was on September 2nd far too ill and weak for any sort of military duty, but he pluckily kept to his regiment till the day’s arduous work was over, and was then obliged to go into hospital worse than before. The fighting through the brief period of this charge —a few minutes all told from beginning to end —was wild and fierce. The Lancers never flinched in the face of an enemy six times as numerous as themselves, and, doing what they could with the clumsy lances, forced a path for 12