THE BATTLE OE ATBAKA 185 speedily avenged. Two days passed, when the news came that the Egyptians had advanced to Umdabieh, seven miles nearer, and on the following morning the Dervish camp was disturbed early. There was joy in every face, and renewed vigour in the bearing of the men. Scouting Dervishes had brought in word that the infidels had marched during the night, and were now halting but a mile and a half away. The hour had come at last. They were confident in themselves, and their trust in their leader was renewed. The fight two days before had shown them that the guns of the white men were terrible on the plain, and that it was, after all, wise to await them in the position which had been made impregnable, and against which the foe would hurl themselves in vain; then they were to pour out and annihilate them.

The slave came to Gregory’s tent at daybreak, Fatma is praying to Allah for your safety,” he said. There was no time for more, for already the tents were being pulled down, and soon the women were hurried away to the rear. Four men surrounded Gregory and led him to the edge of the camp, and there fastened him to the stump of a tree that had been cut off six feet from the ground, the upper portion being used in the construction of the zareba. Ten or twelve men were similarly fastened in a line with him. These had been detected in trying to sneak away. Gregory had not seen anything of the camp before, and as he was taken along he was astounded at the amount of work that had been done. Everywhere the ground was pitted with deep holes capable of sheltering from fifteen to twenty men. The hedge was a high one, and was formed for the most part of prickly bushes. The position was indeed a formidable one, manned as it was by nearly twenty thousand desperate fighters.

At six o’clock the first gun was fired, and for an hour and a half the camp was swept with shell, shrapnel, and Maxim bullets. Most of the Baggara were lying in the pits. Many, however, walked about calmly, as if in contempt of the fire. More than half of the wretched men bound to the trees were