GORDON AND THE MAHDI.

69 CAMEL ARTILLERY ON THE MARCH.

to the extremeright and left,butit was evidentthat the mainbody ofthe foe was nowconcentrated ahead. Stepping out, as if on parade, with the bagpipes playing gaily, the British troops swung on, in all the pride of physical strength, to within about 800 yards of the enemy'sposition. An old sugar-mill hadevidently once stood here— a building of sun-dried bricks, and a large three-flued boiler marking the site— with'a number of native huts; a kind of fort was also discernible. The mountedinfantry and the scouts havingdone their work andrun the foe to earth,fell back onthe remainderof the cavalry some half a mile in the rear. The square was halted. Many of the infantry sat down,quite indifferent to the presence of the rebels, whoseblack faces could be descried peeping frombehindevery knoll of sand.

The plan of attack having been decided upon, the square was again ordered to advance, the object being to turn the left of the enemy's entrenchments. As the troops got into motion the rebels opened fire with the Kruppguns taken from Baker Pasha, and which were worked, as was afterwards ascertained,by artillerymen from the very Tokar garrison which the expeditionhad been despatched to relieve. The first shell went wide over the square and threw up a cascadeof sandhalf-amilebeyondit,but the correctrange was soonfound,and shells began to break over the Square, woundingseveral men. Baker Pasha was struck inthe face by a fragment that caused anugly wound; still he kept in the saddle till the close of the fight. Besides the fire from the Krupp guns, the rebels opened arattling fusilade from their Remingtons, and bullets begau to fly around the squareby hundreds, but fortunately they were for the mostpart aimedtoohigh. Every nowandthen,however, mendropped wounded, and soon a score or more had to be carriedoff onstretchers and attended to bythedoctors who,as the advancecontinued,hadtheir hands full. The troopsmeanwhile reserved their fire till the north face of the enemy's works was passed. Then after they had moved on about a thousand yards, a halt was ordered, and the men were directed to lie down. Durino* this movement the York andLancaster regiment on theleft flank became thefront line and suffered rather severely. It was now about noon. The guns wererun out and abrisk fire openedwith these and with theMartinis, the