nd was bad; the enemy's force was overwhelming; the
Egyptian troopers were prepared to obey--but that was all. There was no
exalted enthusiasm such as at these moments carries sterner breeds
to victory. Few would return. Nevertheless, the operation appeared
inevitable. The Camel Corps were already close to the river. But
thousands of Dervishes were running swiftly towards them at right
angles to their line of retreat, and it was certain that if the
camelry attempted to cross this new front of the enemy they would be
annihilated. Their only hope lay in maintaining themselves by their fire
near the river-bank until help could reach them, and, in order to delay
and weaken the Dervish attack the cavalry would have to make a desperate
charge.

But at the critical moment the gunboat arrived on the scene and began
suddenly to blaze and flame from Maxim guns, quick-firing guns, and
rifles. The range was short; the effect tremendous. The terrible
machine, floating gracefully on the waters--a beautiful white
devil--wreathed itself in smoke. The river slopes of the Kerreri Hills,
crowded with the advancing thousands, sprang up into clouds of dust and
splinters of rock. The charging Dervishes sank down in tangled heaps.
The masses in rear paused, irresolute. It was too hot even for them.
The approach of another gunboat completed their discomfiture. The
Camel Corps, hurrying along the shore, slipped past the fatal point of
interception, and saw safety and the zeriba before them.

Exasperated by their disappointment, the soldiers of Osman Sheikh-ed-Din
turned again upon the cavalry, and, forgetting in their anger the mobile
nature of their foe, pursued the elusive squadrons three long miles to
the north. The cavalry, intensely relieved by the escape of the Camel
Corps, played with their powerful antagonist, as the banderillo teases
the bull. Colonel Broadwood thus succeeded in luring this division of
the Dervish army far away from the field of battle, where they were
sorely needed. The rough ground, however, delayed the Horse battery.
They lagged, as the Camel Corps had done, and caused constant anxiety.
At length two of their guns stuck fast in a marshy spot, and as several
men and horses were shot in the attempt to extricate them Broadwood
wisely ordered them to be abandoned, and they were soon engulfed in
the Dervish masses. Encouraged by this capture, the horsemen of
Osman's command daringly attacked the retreating cavalry. But