54 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN.

some 300 who are sent out to gather fire-wood ; now they draw up in long lines under arms with colours flying and drums beating and threaten the whole town. Worse than all, the Egyptian soldiers under Gordon are almost worth¬ less. On one occasion they behaved so badly that Gordon was utterly defeated. On March the 16th, about 2000 troops were got together composed of Bashi-Bazouks, Egyptians, and regular Soudanese, and it was determined to sally forth and attack the rebel lines about eight miles from Khartoum.

As Gordon’s men approached, the enemy quietly slipped away, disappearing behind some low sand hills. On reaching these, the five chief Egyptian officers, who were leading the force, suddenly wheeled round and galloped back, breaking through their own ranks. Of course their men followed suit, and the whole army broke up and rushed back for Khartoum. The enemy now re-appeared and dashed after their retreating foe in all directions. One Arab lancer, armed with a lance and sword only, killed seven Egyptians in as many minutes. All the sword and spear wounds received by Gordon’s men were in the back. So terrified were they during the retreat that not a shot was fired nor a bayonet fixed throughout the day. The enemy captured a field piece, 58 rounds of shell, and 15,000 rounds of cartridges. This was the so-called battle of Halfiyeh. Luckily this defeat tended in no way to depre¬ ciate General Gordon’s influence ; the townspeople remained as staunch as ever. An Arab on the following day came and offered to lend the treasury a thousand guineas free of interest. Another Arab equipped, armed, and paid 200 blacks for Gordon. Fighting now took p’ace daily. The steamers were continually engaged in shelling the enemy, and heavy rifle firing was often continuously kept up. The rebels became every day bolder and bolder ; they approached the town on all sides. They fired incessantly upon the palace, Krupp ammunition was running short in the city, Gordon’s steamers were so heavily fired upon that they were obliged more than once to relinquish the objects of their expeditions. Fresh numbers were added daily to the opposing forces, and on April the 7th came the telegram : “ Khartoum is at present the centre of an enormous rebel camp. The situation is now very critical.”

Of the pass to which matters had come we may judge by the feeling of those shut up in the invested town, and by the measures they were already discussing for their relief. “The total ignorance which exists among us,” telegraphs the Times correspondent, “ as to the intentions of Her Majesty’s Government is far worse than the certainty, however bad. We have not learned that any help will be sent from without. It is now (April 2nd) four months since the English Government heard of Hicks Pasha’s disaster ; yet, except the sending of General Gordon, no step has been taken to relieve us.

Would it not be more honest of the Government, if it cannot carry out its