GORDON AND THE MAHDI. 139 however, and forced to the ground, when his life was saved by Major Carmichael of the 5th Lancers, whose dead body, as well as those of three Arabs, fell across him. For ten minutes a part of the square wasin confusion. The Gardner gun was jammedby the extractor of the secondbarrelfrom the right pulling the headoff the emptycylinder ofacartridge which hadbeen fired. The cylinder remaining in the barrel necessarily prevented the new cartridge from being forced home to its place.* Meanwhile a desperate struggle raged from the left rear to the centre of the square. The Ameer of Matamah, whohad so far escaped thefire of theMartinirifles, was shot down insidetheBritish ranks. SirHerbertStewart's horse fell deadunder him;and, as the General himself sank for a moment to the ground,his orderly was killed besidehim. Several camels were speared by the rebels, and the interiorof the squarepresented a mass of falling animals and struggling men, but partially visible amid the dense smoke and dust which enveloped the savage scene. Meanwhile shots and sword strokes answered each spear thrust of the foe, and the Guards, whose line was still as steady as a rock, faced about, rescued the Heavies, and drove the rebels from the square, discharging such volleys upon them that every manin the leading division felldead amidthe British ranks.

Three hearty cheers were givenas the square closedup again and moved on about a hundredand twenty yards to more levelground, whereSir HerbertStewart elected to make a final stand. Then once more did the sable warriors charge, nothing daunted by their first repulse. This time, also, they did considerable execution,but not so much as bofore, for the fire from the square was so deadly that line after line fell as it advanced,until at last the survivors were driven back pell-mell into the long grass, where the guns didheavy work amongthem for a mile andmore. Beatenoff the}*did not ventureupon a third attack, but retreated sullenly,numbers springing up from among the dead and rushing past the square, whence a well-directedfire brought most of them to the groundnever to rise again.

More than a thousand bodieslay upon the scene of the engagement, horse and rider, camel and foot soldier, friend and foe in one red ruin blent. The victory had been dearly purchased. The British losses were nine officers killedand nine wounded,and sixty-five non-commissionedofficersand menkilled, andeighty-fivewounded. The enemy,it was officially reported,had left no fewer than 800 dead around the square, and prisoners stated that the number of their wounded was quite exceptional. Inadditionto the Ameer ofMatamah, theyhad also lost the sheikh of the Baggara tribe. On the British side, one-half of the loss was borne byr theHeavy Camel Corps alone,and this resulted undoubtedly fromthe gallant but rash advance which Colonel Burnaby had impulsively ordered,forgetting that he was simply a staff officer, and hadnodirect authorityover the men. It was a grievous blunder and might have led to a terrible defeat. But Burnabyhad everbeen a man of dash and daring with a proud disdainfor adverse odds. The Heavies obeyedhis rash orderto their own cost, and he himself fell fighting sword inhandlike the gallant soldier that he was. The columnhad also lostLieutenantsPigottandDelisleof the Naval Brigade who fell when the Gardner gun was jammedand the enemyrushed upon it. On the other hand the screw guns under CaptainNortonof theRoyal Artillery haddonedeadlyexecutionthroughouttheaction, especially when the rebel cavalry formed for the charge, and again when a renewed attack was threatened. Altogetherthe battery fired thirty-eight shrapnels,nineteen common shell, and six case, the latter when the rebelsrushed to close quarters. At that momentgunner' Smith behaved most gallantly. All his comrades were drivenback, when snatching up a hand-spike he vigorouslyrepelled the Arabs and saved Lieutenant Guthrie, whohadbeenseverely wounded.

The enemy was already drawing off to the rocky rugged hills around the valley, when the Hussars, who hadbeen detached to prevent a flank attack, came up and receivedorders to march forwardto Abu Kleawells, now buta shortdistanceahead. The forcehadbeensufferingagoniesof thirst withno means of appeasing them. Themoans of the woundedwerepiteousin the extreme, and there was hardly a drop of water to give them. Everythingthat was possible was done however by Dr. Ferguson and his colleagues,andbefore three o'clock all wasready for the advance,the woundedbeingcarried on camellittersand on stretchers to the wells,which were finally occupied at five o'clock withoutfurther opposition beyonda few shots from flyingnatives.

At night volunteers werecalledfor to fetchthe convoy fromthe zereba,and the positionroundthe wells washeld until the followingmorning,the menbeingfoodless,ifnot waterless, andthe night againbeingbitterly cold. Some parties of the enemy who made au attack uJ.on the zereba weredrivenback with a lossof nearly a hundred men, andthen theremainder of the foe streamed out of the wady and over the hills. " Had there been oneregiment of cavalry," wrote Mr. Charles Williams to the Daily Chronicle," wemight have exterminated or taken prisoners these fellows, who to the last maintained a defiant appearance. Theyjumped out of the long grass and closed with individual soldiers for hours after the fight was ovei*, and two of them in ghazi's uniform excited admirationby the cool wayin which they walked off* for a distance of half a mile, regardless of all the rifles, yet Iam told as many as 20 to 30 per cent, of the men found their rifles jammedand useless. Had the jammingof the cartridges not takenplaceon so extensivea scale and at the critical moment it did, Ifeel assured the Mahdists would neverhave been able to have borne down in a mass upon our square that day, and many a brave soldier would not have gone to a grave in the Soudan. Amid thehubbub and excitement of such a conflict there were officers who, like Captain Crabbe, of the 3rd Grenadiers, went about with sticks, with which, taking the jammed rifles from their men's hands, they struck thelevers and ejected the cartridges. That the complex, ill-shapenBoxer cartridge was the cause of most of the jamming that occurred at AbuKlea there isscarcely room to doubt." * Lord Charles Beresfordin his reportmakes the following allusion to this incident:— "The Gardner gun jammed after firingabout thirty rounds. The enemy were then about two hundred yards from the muzzle of the gun. The captain of the gun, Will Rhoods, chief boatswainmate, andmyself, unscrewed the plate to clear the barrel, or take thelock of the jammedbarrel out, when the enemy were upon us. Rhoods waskilled witha spear. Walter Miller, armourer,Ialso saw killed with a spear at the same moment on my left. Iwas knocked down in the rear of the gun, but uninjured, except a small spear scratch on the left hand. The crowd and crush of the enemy were very great at this point, and, asIstruggled up, Iwas carried against the face of the square, which was literally pressed back by sheer weight of numbers about twelvepaces from the position of the gun. The crush was so great that at the moment few on either side werekilled, butfortunately this flank of the square had been forced up a verysteep little mound, which enabled the rear rank to open a tremendous fire over the heads of the front rank men;this relieved the pressure and enabled the front rank to bayonet or shoot those of the enemy nearest them. The enemy then, for some reason, turned to their right along the left flank of the square, and streamed awayin numbers along the rearface of it. In a very few minutes the terrific fire from the square told onthe enemy. There was amomentary waver and they then walked quietly away. Iimmediately manned the Gardner, and cleared the jam as soon asIcould. This, however, was not doneintime to be of much use in firing on the slowly retreating enemy as they had got back into the nullah andbehind the mound attempts to pot them.'*" V>UV«"J j »*»■--"* *■ beforeitwas ready."