the enemy, and in a moment the rear face of the square was
driven in, and a hand-to-hand fight was going on between the soldiers,
mixed up with the struggling camels and the Arabs. All order was for a
time lost; the voices of the officers were drowned by the din of
musketry, the yells of the Arabs, and the shouts of the men. Each man
fought for himself; but their bayonets were no match for the long spears
of the Arabs, and they were pressed back until the throng of camels
pushed hard against the Guards in front of the square.

The rear ranks of the Mounted Infantry on the left and the Marines on
the right were faced round, and opened a terrible fire into the crowded
mass of natives, while the Heavies with bayonets and clubbed muskets
fought singly, man to man, with their foes. The combat did not last
long. Mowed down by the fire on both flanks the assailants withered
away, and it was not long before silence succeeded the terrible din of
battle. In the interior of the square the last Arab of those who had
pierced the square had fallen, and the fire of the outside faces of the
square had prevented them from receiving any reinforcement from their
friends, and these now fell back sullenly before the leaden hail. As
soon as they had done so there was time to investigate what had taken
place in the centre of the square.

A terrible sight presented itself. The ground was strewn with bodies of
the natives, mingled with those of men of the corps that had formed the
rear face of the square, the 4th and 5th Dragoon Guards, Naval Brigade,
1st and 2d Life Guards, and the Sussex. Among them lay camels which had
been hamstrung or speared by the natives, broken cacolets, and water
tanks and skins, medical stores, and a confusion of articles of all
kinds.

Although forced back by the sheer weight of the native attack, the
Heavies had never been completely broken up. They maintained their
resistance to the end, jammed up as they were against and among the
camels, and thus enabled the men on the two sides of the square to
concentrate their fire on the Arabs.

A loud cheer had broken from the square as the enemy retreated, and they
were prepared to resist another onslaught; for only a portion of their
foes had yet been engaged with them. However, the enemy contented
themselves with keeping up a distant fire from the hills, and then,
doubtless as the news spread how terrible had been the loss of those who
had charged the square, they g