GORBON AND THE MAHDI. 50 here and there werepatches of scrub and thornymimosa and other prickly shrubs, which should be at least as impenetrable for naked savages as for well-clad men.

The scrub grew thicker as the armyadvanced, but the crround was still open enough for the operations of cavalry. Shortly after eight o'clock parties of the enemy weresighted. Theseretired slowly upon the approachof the cavalry skirmishers,butafterwards showed more and more thickly. At half-pasteight the columnhalted. A Krupp gun wasbrought forward and unlimbered, and a few rounds of shell were fired. It was hardly to be expected that any execution would be done upon the scattered parties of Arabs, but the effect was to cause them again to fall back. The morning was dull, with heavyshowers, andjust at this time a rainstorm burst upon the Egyptian army, and greatly obscured the view of the country in front. This was an advantagefor the direction from the mainland. On this peninsula the Egyptian camp was formed and strongly fortified. At the landward end of the peninsula was a shallowlagoon about three miles broad, which it was necessary to traverse in order to advance inland, and which proved very difficult for cavalry and artillery to cross.

The Egyptian forces remained encamped for several days, whileBaker Pasha was anxiouslyawaitingthe anticipatedarrivalfrom Agig, on the coast betweenTrinkitat andMassowah,ofsome chiefs whom he hadinvitedto cooperate withhimin thereliefof Tokar. Duringthis time theblack troopswereregularly trainedinriflepractice,and several cavalryreconnaissances wereundertaken,notably one to the neighbourhood of some hills where Osman Digna was supposedto be lurking, when a largenumber ot bullocks and sheep werecaptured. Suddenly the men found themselves confronted by a considerable body of QUESTIONING WOUNDED PRISONERS AT TRINKITAT.

Arabs,many of them mountedupon camels, and had to fall back with a loss of five men. On other occasions parties ofrebels wereengaged, whenone or twowounded prisonerswere taken and closely interrogated on being broughtinto camp.

OnFebruary2 amoveforward wasmade fromTrinkitat, and a fort constructed three or four miles to the south. Thither the remainderof the army advanced across the lagoon on the following day, and in the evening the entire force encamped on carefully chosen ground, a vigilant watchbeingkept against surprise. A few shots were from time to time firedby Arab scouts,but otherwise the night passed quietly. On the morningof the 4th the troops were paraded before daybreak, and by half-past seven the three hundred baggagecamels were ladenand ready to moveforward. The formationwas as follows:— Three infantry battalions in echelon, and inarching in columns of companies;the artillery and cavalry on the front and flanks, and cavalry vedettes extending all round at points a mile distant from the main body, thus effectively protecting it, it was thought,from any sudden attack. The Turkish cavalry were in reserve. The country was open, but scattered rebels, who probably regarded it as an interpositionof Allahin their favour.

They gathered thickly and approached nearer, and at nineo'clock show-edin considerableforce on some slightly rising ground, near the water springs, whilst, on the column'sleft front,clumpsof spearswith banneretscould be seen, partially concealed amidst the hillocks and bushes. The guns again opened fire ; but the shells passed over the enemy's heads. The force was now ordered to advance; but, no sooner had it got into movement, than the clumps of spears were no longer visible. The cavalry skirmishers, however, were soon hotly engaged, and could be seen firing wildly in all directions from the saddle. Presently about a dozen Arabs, ridingbarebacked on wiry littlehorses, appeared from behind a hillock, and coolly galloped round the right flank, withinthree hundredyards of the cavalry on that side,runningthe gauntletof the latter'sfire. Thev passed scatheless, and as they still kept alongparallel to the column, with the evident intention of gauging its strength and disposition, Baker Pasha ordered Major Giles,commanding the Turkish cavalry, to charge the Arabhorse, which he did incapital style, but wasnearly