SLAIN IN THE DESERT. 35

Obeid. His army bore the character more of a mob than of disciplined soldiers, and although consisting of some 11,000 men it seemed to all a sort of forlorn hope to attempt to vie with the hosts of the Mahdi, especially in such a country.

Worse than all, they could never be sure that they were free from treachery. Indeed, as the sequel will show, this it was that brought on the almost unparalleled disaster of which I am about to speak.

On November 3rd, the army entered a sort of defile. Unsuspecting danger they entered fearlessly, but when fairly enclosed, suddenly they found themselves absolutely surrounded by the enemy. It was an ambuscade. The guide had deceived them. And now alone in the desert, encompassed by thousands of wildly fanatical rebels, scarce of water, and with no path by

which to advance or retreat, there was nothing for it but to stolidly fight it out to the bitter end. And this they did. For three days did that army under the inspiring valour of their magnificent leader, repel the onslaughts of their foes. Day and night they fought though parched with thirst and with aching limbs. Night only brought fears of surprises, and dawn only showed the numbers of the enemy augmented with fresh and vigorous reinforcements- Ammunition ran short; the foe pressed closer. A third of the Egyptian troops surrendered, and the remainder, with the courage of despair, resolved to die in a last charge upon the foe. The last cartridge was fired. Bayonets were fixed, and recklessly they threw themselves against the dark wall of men before them. It was useless. The bullets of the opposing forces mowed them down by hundreds ; and of that army of eleven thousand men it is said that one man only escaped to record the dauntlessness of his fellows. Hicks Pasha himself was found dead, a bloody sword grasped in one hand, and in the other

a pistol. With him fell Mr. O’Donovan, correspondent of the Daily News, famous for his adventures in Merv ; Alla-ed-Deen Pasha, Governor-General

of the Soudan, and several British officers, pashas, and beys.

Such a victory naturally set the whole Soudan in a blaze. The fiction of the Mahdi’s divine mission required no further confirmation, and additional thousands rallied to his standard.

• . /T"

The history of the events which led up to the war in the Soudan would have been incomplete without special mention of this expedition and its sad termination. This, more perhaps than any other success achieved by the Mahdi, tended to spread his fame far and wide. The consternation even at Cairo was profound. If the false prophet continued upon his path of victory what hindered his marching on the very palace of the Khedive? He had myriads at his beck, and the fate of those sent against him showed the com¬ parative uselessness of the Egyptian soldiery when pitted against men fighting