THE CROWNING VICTORY 355 fonvard to the assault. It was so in all the fights down by the Red Sea; it was so in the attacks on Lord Wolseley’s desert column; it succeeded against Hicks’s and Baker’s forces; and even now they do not seem to have recognized that the Egyptians, whom they once despised, have quite got over their dread of them, and are able to face them steadily.”

There was only the faintest light in the sky when firing broke out -in front. Everyone leapt to his feet and stood listening intently. Was it merely some Dervish scouts who had come in contact with our pickets, or was it an attacking force? The firing increased in volume, and was evidently approaching. The pickets, then, were being driven in, and the Dervishes were going to attack. The men were ordered to lie down in the position in which they were to fight. In five minutes after the first shot all were ready for action, the pickets had run in, and in the dim light numbers of dark figures could be made out. The guns and Maxims at once spoke out, while the infantry fired volleys. It was still too dark to make- out the movements of the enemy, but their reply to our fire came louder and louder on our left, and it was apparent that the intention of the Dervishes was to turn that flank of our position.

Colonel Wingate sent Gregory to order the guns to turn their fire more in that direction, and other ofiicers ordered our right to advance somewhat, while the left were slightly thrown back and pushed farther out. The light was now getting brighter, and heavy bodies of Dervishes, shouting and firing, rushed forward, but they were mown down by grape from our guns, a storm of Maxim bullets, and the steady volleys of the infantry. They wavered for a moment, and then gradually fell back. The bugles sounded the advance, and with a cheer our whole line moved forward down the gentle slope, quickening their pace as the enemy retired before them, and still keeping up a heavy fire towards the clump of trees that concealed the Dervish camp from sight.

The enemy’s fire had now died out; at twenty-five minutes