een two rocks, where she became a total wreck. Anxious to
see if there was any chance of raising her, the officers proceeded in
the Tamai to the scene. The bottom of the vessel was just visible above
the surface. It was evident to all that her salvage would be a work
of months. The officers were about to leave the wreck, when suddenly
a knocking was heard within the hull. Tools were brought, a plate was
removed, and there emerged, safe and sound from the hold in which they
had been thus terribly imprisoned, the second engineer and a stoker.
When the rapidity with which the steamer turned upside down, with the
engines working, the fires burning, and the boilers full--the darkness,
with all the floors become ceilings--the violent inrush of water--the
wild career down the stream--are remembered, it will be conceded that
the experience of these men was sufficiently remarkable.

Search was now made for another passage. This was found on the 6th,
nearer the right bank of the river. On the 8th the Metemma arrived with
300 more men of the 7th Egyptians. Three days were spent in preparations
and to allow the Nile to rise a little more. On the 13th, elaborate
precautions being observed, the Metemma passed the cataract safely, and
was tied up to the bank on the higher reach. The Tamai followed the next
day. On the 19th and 20th the new gunboats Fateh, Naser, and Zafir, the
most powerful vessels on the river, accomplished the passage. Meanwhile
the Metemma and Tamai had already proceeded up stream. On the 23rd the
unarmed steamer Dal made the ascent, and by the 29th the whole flotilla
reached Abu Hamed safely.

After the arrival of the gunboats events began to move at the double.
The sudden dart upon Abu Hamed had caused the utmost consternation among
the Dervishes. Finding that Mahmud was not going to reinforce him,
and fearing the treachery of the local tribes, Zeki Osman, the Emir in
Berber, decided to fall back, and on the 24th he evacuated Berber and
marched south. On the 27th General Hunter at Abu Hamed heard that
the Dervish garrison had left the town. The next day he despatched
Abdel-Azim, the chief of Irregulars, and Ahmed Bey Khalifa, his brother,
with forty Ababda tribesmen, to reconnoitre. These bold fellows pushed
on recklessly, and found the inhabitants everywhere terrified or
acquiescent. Spreading extraordinary tales of the strength of the army
who were following them, they created a panic all along the river, and,