boats exercised
the utmost vigilance. The Suakin-Berber road was again closed for
caravans, and the Sirdar himself proceeded to Berber. On the 11th of
March the remnants of the Jaalin tribe, having collected at Gakdul,
re-occupied the now abandoned Metemma, to find its streets and houses
choked with the decaying bodies of their relations. On the 13th the
Egyptian look-out station, which had been established on Shebaliya
island, was attacked by the Dervishes, and in the skirmish that ensued
Major Sitwell was wounded. On the same day the enemy were reported
moving northwards to Aliab, and it became evident that Mahmud had begun
his advance.

He started from Shendi with a force which has been estimated at 19,000
souls, but which included many women and children, and may have actually
numbered 12,000 fighting men, each and all supplied with a month's
rations and about ninety rounds of ammunition. The Sirdar immediately
ordered the Anglo-Egyptian army, with the exception of the cavalry and
Lewis's Egyptian brigade--which, with three squadrons, held the fort at
the confluence--to concentrate at Kunur. Broadwood, with the remaining
five squadrons, marched thither on the 16th; and the whole cavalry
force, with the Camel Corps in support, on the three subsequent days
reconnoitred twenty miles up the Nile and the Atbara.

Meanwhile the concentration was proceeding apace. The two Soudanese
brigades, formed into a division under command of Major-General Hunter,
with the artillery, reached Kunur on the night of the 15th. The British
brigade--the Lincolns, the Warwicks, and the Camerons--marched thither
from Dabeika. The Seaforth Highlanders, who on the 13th were still at
Wady Halfa, were swiftly railed across the desert to Geneinetti. Thence
the first half-battalion were brought to Kunur in steamers. The second
wing--since the need was urgent and the steamers few--were jolted across
the desert from Railhead on camels, an experience for which neither
their training nor their clothes had prepared them. By the 16th the
whole force was concentrated at Kunur, and on the following day they
were reviewed by the Sirdar. The first three days at Kunur were days
of eager expectation. Rumour was king. The Dervish army had crossed the
Atbara at Hudi, and was within ten miles of the camp. Mahmud was
already making a flank march through the desert to Berber. A battle
was imminent. A collision must take place in a few hours. Officers
with field-g