GORDON AND THE MAHDI. 51 caughtina trap:for, after a pursuit ofupwards of half a mile,he found himself confronted by spearmen, who jumped out of the brushwood. Here the Arabs had the best of the tactics. After ahot chase, the rebels escaped, but as the Turks rode back again towards the column, they again showed themselves, and this time galloped across the front,andround to the left. Whilst attention wasdistractedby this incident,a sudden commotionarose in the midstof the cavalry skirmisherson theleft flank, who had beentakenby surprise, though warningsof the comingcatastrophemight have beendetected previously. The vedettes on theleft had for sometime been drawing closer to the mainbody. They weregettingout of order, anditseemed as if the responsible officers had forgotten their very existence.

The rebels, who must for some timehave been lying concealed close by, now sprang to their feet, and, with wildcries,chargedtheEgyptianhorsemen. These at once turnedrein,andcamegalloping inin a wildand very disorderly fashion. The order was at once given for the infantry to form square— a manSuvre in which they had been daily drilled for weeks, but which at this crisis the half-disciplined mass failed to accomplish. Three sides were formed after a fashion, but on the knelt down, raised their clasped hands, and prayed for mercy. The rebels seized them by the neck, speared them throughthe back, and thencut theirthroats. The yells of the Arabs and the criesof theirEgyptian victims wereappalling. In eight minutes from the beginningof the Arab rush the whole force wasinhopeless flight, and theEgyptiancavalry, withmanyriderless horses, rushed past ina stream, perfectly wildwith terror.

When the charge was made on the left flank of the column, GeneralBaker with Colonel Hay and the rest of his staff wereout with the cavalry in front. Uponriding back they foundthat the enemyhad already got between themand the column. They at once charged, and cut their way through,but not withoutseveral of thembeing killed, amongst others AbdulRusac, the chiefEgyptian staff officer. His horse was hamstrung, and as it fell he was instantly spearedby the Arabs. The General and Colonel Hay had anarrow escape from the spears thrown at them. On nearing the square the former had to run the gauntlet of the fire of the Egyptians in front, who, regardless of what was going on around, were blazingaway before them. When Baker Pasha reached the square the enemyhad already broken it up, andit wasclear that all was lost. Colonel Sartorius with his staff wereinside the squarewhenthe enemyburst intoit. Theyin vain tried to rally the panic-stricken Egyptians, and were so closelycooped in by the huddled mass of soldiers that, for a time, they were unable to extricate themselves. When the Arab spearmenhad thinned the throng of Egyptians, theysucceeded inbreaking out and fourth side two companies of the Alexandria regiment, seeing the enemy coming on, leaping and brandishing theirspears,stoodlike apanic-stricken flock of sheep,and nothingcould get them to move into theirplaces. This was the state of things when the rebels, numbers of whom, in spite of the vigilance of the cavalry vedettes and scouts, had concealed themselves in the brushwood, rushed down withloudyells,deliveringtheir chiefattack upon the left side of the square and the left portionof the front line. The frantic efforts of the Egyptians to get into proper formation, the confused din of orders, and thechaos in the rear, where three hundred camels, with the whole of the transport and commissariat, were struggling to force their way inside the square, defies description. As amatter of fact, whatshouldhave been therear side was anirregularoutbulging mass of horses, mules, camels, and men tightly wedged together, aud extending towards the centre of the square. The Soudaneseblacks, whocomposed both the left sideof the square and aportion of the front, stood wellfor a short time, butweresoondemoralised by the inrush of fellowsoldiersandthecamelmenfrombehind. Intothegapthus left in the square the enemyhotly poured,and at once allbecame panic andconfusion. The troopsfired indeed, butfor the most part straight into the air. The right side of the square was not at first assailed,and the men kept up a continuous fire towards the front, with the rresult of killingmany of their own cavalry. The Turks lost several men by their fire, while BakerPasha himself, being outside the square, narrowly escaped being shot.

LieutenantCavalieri waskilledin this way.

Nothing could well surpass the wild confusion which the mass presented— camels and gunsmixed up together, soldiers firingin the air,while wild Arabs, theirlonghair .streamingbehind them, darted among them, buskingand thrusting with their spears. They displayed the most profound contempt for the Egyptian troops,and clear y regarded themselves as invincible. Asingle manwould fall upon a score of infantry,and a mounted Arab rode single-banded at atroop of cavalry. He slashed on the back and severely wounded the Egyptian commander, who wastoofrightenedeventoattempt to defend himself; and the Arab at last fell,shot by an English officer.

The scene finally became one of pure savagemassacre. 'The Egyptian infantry, throwing away their weapons, MORICE BEY.

in cutting their way through their assailants. Dr. Leslie,Morice Bey,CaptainForestier-Walker, and Lieut. Carroll, werelast seen standingin a group close to the guns, in the front face of the square,and surroundedby the enemy. Theyhad beencut off from the main body by the inrush of the Arabs,and were defending themselves with their revolvers and swords. Their quiet demeanour was as a ray of light anddivinehopeinthat hellof fierce triumph and cringingdespair. MoriceBey, after receiving a spear thrust through the side,killed