f the camp by 4.30, and about two hours later
the mounted force started by the desert road. The River Column made good
progress till dark, but thereafter the advance was slow and tedious. The
track led through broken rocky ground, and was so narrow that it nowhere
allowed a larger front to be formed than of four men abreast. In some
places the sharp rocks and crumbling heaps of stone almost stopped the
gun-mules altogether, while the infantry tripped and stumbled painfully.
The moon had not risen, and the darkness was intense. Still the long
procession of men, winding like a whiplash between the jagged hills,
toiled onward through the night, with no sound except the tramping
of feet and the rattle of accoutrements. At half-past ten the head of
Lewis's brigade debouched into a smooth sandy plain about a mile to the
north of Sarkamatto village. This was the spot--scarcely three miles
from the enemy's position--where the Sirdar had decided to halt and
bivouac. The bank and foreshore of the river were convenient for
watering; all bottles and skins were filled, and soldiers and animals
drank. A little food was eaten, and then, battalion by battalion, as the
force arrived at the halting-place, they lay down to rest. The tail
of Maxwell's brigade reached the bivouac about midnight, and the whole
column was then concentrated.

Meanwhile the mounted force were also on their way. Like the River
Column, they were disordered by the broken ground, and the XIIth
Soudanese, who were unused to camel riding and mounted only on transport
saddles, were soon wearied. After one o'clock many men, both in the
Camel Corps and in the battalion, fell asleep on their camels, and the
officers had great difficulty in keeping them awake. However, the
force reached their point of concentration--about three miles to the
south-east of Firket--at a quarter to three. Here the XIIth Soudanese
dismounted from their camels and became again a fighting unit. Leaving
the extra camels under a guard, Major Burn-Murdoch then advanced towards
his appointed position on the hills overlooking Firket.

The Sirdar moved on again with the infantry at 2.30. The moon had risen
over the rocks to the left of the line of march, but it was only a thin
crescent and did not give much light. The very worst part of the whole
track was encountered immediately the bivouac was left, and the column
of nearly six thousand men had to trickle through one narrow place
in single file. Th