vels, shouldered their Remington rifles and became the garrisons
of the posts on the line of communications. On the 2nd of June the
correspondents were permitted to proceed to Akasha. On the 3rd the Xth
Soudanese passed through Ambigole and marched south. The Horse battery
from Halfa followed. The Egyptian battalions and squadrons which had
been camped along the river at convenient spots from Ambigole to Akasha
marched to a point opposite Okma. Between this place and the advanced
post an extensive camp, stretching three miles along the Nile bank,
arose with magic swiftness. On the 4th the 7th Egyptians moved from
Railhead, and with these the last battalion reached the front. Nine
thousand men, with ample supplies, were collected within striking
distance of the enemy.

All this time the Dervishes at Firket watched in senseless apathy the
deliberate, machine-like preparations for their destruction. They should
have had good information, for although the Egyptian cavalry patrolled
ceaselessly, and the outpost line was impassable to scouts, their spies,
as camel-drivers, water-carriers, and the like, were in the camp. They
may not, perhaps, have known the exact moment of the intended blow, for
the utmost secrecy was observed. But though they must have realised that
it was imminent, they did nothing. There was, indeed, no course open
to them but retreat. Once the army was concentrated with sufficient
supplies at Akasha, their position was utterly untenable. The
Emir-in-Chief, Hammuda, then had scarcely 3,000 men around his flag.
Their rifles and ammunition were bad; their supplies scanty. Nor could
the valour of fifty-seven notable Emirs sustain the odds against them.
There was still time to fall back on Kosheh, or even on Suarda--anywhere
outside the sweep of their terrible enemy's sword. They would not budge.
Obstinate and fatuous to the last, they dallied and paltered on the
fatal ground, until sudden, blinding, inevitable catastrophe fell
upon them from all sides at once, and swept them out of existence as a
military force.

CHAPTER VI: FIRKET

June 7, 1896

Since the end of 1895 the Dervish force in Firket had been under the
command of the Emir Hammuda, and it was through the indolence and
neglect of this dissipated Arab that the Egyptian army had been able to
make good its position at Akasha without any fighting. Week after week
the convoys had straggled unmolested through the difficult country
between S