and a
heavy and sustained fire from three sides soon drove the enemy out in
disorder. Some 500 dervishes were slain, and the remainder numbering
several thousand fled across the desert toward Handub--closely pursued
by the British Hussars and the Egyptian cavalry.

This was only the first of many such actions. Further and further
south the rebels were driven. Kitchener pushed a light railroad across
the desert as he advanced, so that he would not suffer from the same
mistake which had ended Gordon--getting cut off from his base of
supplies.

And in the thick of it was Haig--learning the actual trade of war in
these frequent brushes on the desert--riding hard by day, sleeping the
sleep of exhaustion at night. On more than one occasion the Chief sent
him on a special quest with important messages, and always Haig got
through. He seemed to bear a charmed life. "Lucky Haig," the men
began to call him, and the title stuck.

Entering the desert as a Lieutenant, he was promoted to Captain, then
brevetted a Major. He was mentioned in the despatches for bravery, and
won a medal from the Khedive.

All this was not done in a few short months. The Egyptian campaign
stretched into years, and at times must have seemed fearfully
monotonous to these soldiers so far removed from home comforts. Here
is the way one writer describes the Soudan:

"The scenery, it must be owned, was monotonous, and yet not without
haunting beauty. Mile on mile, hour on hour, we glided through sheer
desert. Yellow sand to right and left--now stretching away endlessly,
now a valley between small broken hills. Sometimes the hills sloped
away from us, then they closed in again. Now they were diaphanous blue
on the horizon, now soft purple as we ran under their flanks. But
always they were steeped through and through with sun--hazy, immobile,
silent."

One of the culminating battles of the campaign was that of Atbara,
where the backbone of the dervish rebellion was broken. It is
estimated that here 8,000 dervishes were killed, 2,000 wounded, and
2,000 made prisoners. The battle began with a bombardment by the field
guns. Then came the British cavalry at a gallop--the Camerons in
front, and columns of Warwicks, Seaforths, and Lincolns behind.
Bugles, bagpipes, and the instruments of the native regiments made
strange music as the army pressed forward intent on reaching the river
bank.

The native stockades were reinforced with thorn bush