burden, and the decision that was taken must be attributed solely to
him. He might have formed the army into a solid mass of men and animals,
arranged the infantry four deep all round the perimeter, and dug as big
a ditch or built as high a zeriba as time allowed. He might have filled
the numerous houses with the infantry, making them join the buildings
with hasty entrenchments, and so enclose a little space in which to
squeeze cavalry, transport, and guns. Instead he formed his army in
a long thin curve, resting on the river and enclosing a wide area of
ground, about which baggage and animals were scattered in open order
and luxurious accommodation. His line was but two deep; and only two
companies per battalion and one Egyptian brigade (Collinson's) were in
reserve. He thus obtained the greatest possible development of fire,
and waited, prepared if necessary to stake everything on the arms of
precision, but hoping with fervour that he would not be compelled to
gamble by night.

The night was, however, undisturbed; and the moonlit camp, with
its anxious generals, its weary soldiers, its fearful machinery of
destruction, all strewn along the bank of the great river, remained
plunged in silence, as if brooding over the chances of the morrow and
the failures of the past. And hardly four miles away another army--twice
as numerous, equally confident, equally brave--were waiting impatiently
for the morning and the final settlement of the long quarrel.

CHAPTER XV: THE BATTLE OF OMDURMAN

SEPTEMBER 2, 1898

The bugles all over the camp by the river began to sound at half-past
four. The cavalry trumpets and the drums and fifes of the British
division joined the chorus, and everyone awoke amid a confusion of
merry or defiant notes. Then it grew gradually lighter, and the cavalry
mounted their horses, the infantry stood to their arms, and the gunners
went to their batteries; while the sun, rising over the Nile, revealed
the wide plain, the dark rocky hills, and the waiting army. It was as
if all the preliminaries were settled, the ground cleared, and nothing
remained but the final act and 'the rigour of the game.'

Even before it became light several squadrons of British and Egyptian
cavalry were pushed swiftly forward to gain contact with the enemy and
learn his intentions. The first of these, under Captain Baring, occupied
Surgham Hill, and waited in the gloom until the whereabouts of
the Dervishes should be dis