' ON THE ROAD TO KHARTOUM. ' 497 Soudan, admirably directed by Colonel Sir Francis Wingate, ascertained that the Khalifa was retracing his steps towards the West Nile; that the island of Abba was probably his objective point ; and that a large force of Dervishes, under the command of Ahmed Fedil, had been seen in the neighbourhood of the riven Colonel Wingate was thereupon despatched on a third expedition to disperse Ahmed Fedil's army, and, if possible, to discover the Khalifa s whereabouts. After having defeated Ahmed Fedil's forces, the Anglo- Egyptian force tracked Abdullah El Taashi to his lair at a village called Om Debrikat, where he was waiting in order to effect a junction with his lieutenant, of whose recent defeat and rout he was still in ignorance. Retreat was impossible ; the Khalifa was brought to bay ; and, as his last chance of escape, he resolved to lead the attack on the Egyptian force, the greater part of which consisted of Soudanese troops, commanded by British officers. The Dervishes advanced with their habitual contempt for death ; but here, as at Omdurman, the Maxim guns mowed them down rank by rank. In the end, seeing that the battle was lost, the Khalifa determined to avoid the shame of capture, and, gathering his Emirs round him, made a final charge, which only ended when the asssailants, one by one, had met their death. The end was not unworthy of the part the Khalifa had played in the history of the Soudan ; and the gallantry he evinced in a forlorn hope cannot but create an impression, to 2 K