an outstretched arm
pointing at the ridge--an order, and we were all scrambling into our
saddles and straightening the ranks in high expectation. We started at
a trot, two or three patrols galloping out in front, towards the high
ground, while the regiment followed in mass--a great square block
of ungainly brown figures and little horses, hung all over with
water-bottles, saddle-bags, picketing-gear, tins of bully-beef, all
jolting and jangling together; the polish of peace gone; soldiers
without glitter; horsemen without grace; but still a regiment of light
cavalry in active operation against the enemy.

The crest of the ridge was only half a mile away. It was found
unoccupied. The rocky mass of Surgham obstructed the view and concealed
the great reserve collected around the Black Flag. But southward,
between us and Omdurman, the whole plain was exposed. It was infested
with small parties of Dervishes, moving about, mounted and on foot,
in tens and twenties. Three miles away a broad stream of fugitives, of
wounded, and of deserters flowed from the Khalifa's army to the city.
The mirages blurred and distorted the picture, so that some of the
routed Arabs walked in air and some through water, and all were
misty and unreal. But the sight was sufficient to excite the fiercest
instincts of cavalry. Only the scattered parties in the plain appeared
to prevent a glorious pursuit. The signalling officer was set to
heliograph back to the Sirdar that the ridge was unoccupied and that
several thousand Dervishes could be seen flying into Omdurman. Pending
the answer, we waited; and looking back northwards, across the front
of the zeriba, where the first attack had been stopped, perceived
a greyish-white smudge, perhaps a mile long. The glass disclosed
details--hundreds of tiny white figures heaped or scattered; dozens
hopping, crawling, staggering away; a few horses standing stolidly
among the corpses; a few unwounded men dragging off their comrades.
The skirmishers among the rocks of Surgham soon began to fire at the
regiment, and we sheltered among the mounds of sand, while a couple of
troops replied with their carbines. Then the heliograph in the zeriba
began to talk in flashes of light that opened and shut capriciously.
The actual order is important. 'Advance,' said the helio, 'and clear
the left flank, and use every effort to prevent the enemy re-entering
Omdurman.' That was all, but it was sufficient. In the distance the
ene