. The heat of the weather was
terrific, and both men and horses suffered acutely from thirst. The
squadron which had escorted the Sirdar had performed a long march before
the reconnaissance and was exhausted. The cavalry, however, held their
position among the sandhills and easily defeated a feeble attempt to
turn their right. At a quarter past twelve the Dervishes began to retire
slowly and deliberately, and by one o'clock, when the XIth Soudanese
arrived, eager and agog, the last Arab had disappeared. The force then
returned to camp, bearing many spears and leading six captured horses as
trophies of victory. The intensity of the heat may be gauged by the
fact that one of the Soudanese soldiers--that is to say, an African
negro--died of sunstroke. Such was the affair of the 1st of May, and it
is pleasing to relate that in this fierce fight the loss was not severe.
One British officer, Captain Fitton, was slightly wounded. One native
soldier was killed; one was mortally and eight severely wounded.

During May the preparations for the advance on the Dervish position at
Firket continued, and towards the end of the month it became evident
that they were nearly complete. The steady accumulation of stores at
Akasha had turned that post into a convenient base from which the force
might operate for a month without drawing supplies of any kind from the
north. The railway, which had progressed at the rate of about half
a mile a day, had reached and was working to Ambigole Wells, where a
four-gun fort and entrenchment had been built. The distance over which
convoys must plod was reduced by half, and the business of supply was
doubly accelerated. By degrees the battalions and squadrons began to
move forward towards Akasha. Sarras, deprived of its short-lived glory,
became again the solitary fort on a crag. Wady Halfa was also deserted,
and, except for the British battalion in garrison, could scarcely boast
a soldier. Both the Egyptian battalions from Suakin had arrived on the
Nile. The Xth Soudanese were on their way. The country beyond Akasha
had been thoroughly reconnoitred and mapped to within three miles of the
Dervish position. Everything was ready.

The actual concentration may be said to have begun on the 1st of
June, when the Sirdar started for the front from Halfa, whither he had
returned after the cavalry skirmish. Construction work on the railway
came to a full stop. The railway battalions, dropping their picks and
sho