t,
charged and cut into the tail of the enemy's disordered array. The
Arabs, however, stood their ground, and, firing their rifles wildly in
all directions, killed and wounded a good many horses and men, so that
the squadrons were content to bring up their right still more, and
finally to ride out of the hornet swarm, into which they had plunged,
towards Surgham Hill. The pursuit was then suspended, and the Egyptian
cavalry joined the rest of the army by the Nile.

It was not until four o'clock that the cavalry received orders to ride
round the outside of the city and harry such as should seek to escape.
The Egyptian squadrons and the 21st Lancers started forthwith, and,
keeping about a mile from the houses of the suburbs, proceeded to make
the circle of the town. The infantry had already entered it, as was
evident from a continual patter of shots and an occasional rattle of
the Maxim guns. The leading Soudanese brigade--Maxwell's--had moved
from Khor Shambat at 2.30, formed in line of company columns and in the
following order:--

^ Direction of Advance ^
XIVth XIIth Maxims 8th 32nd XIIIth
Soudanese Soudanese Egyptians Field Battery Soudanese

The Sirdar, attended by his whole Staff, with the Black Flag of the
Khalifa carried behind him and accompanied by the band of the XIth
Soudanese, rode in front of the XIVth battalion. The regiments were soon
enveloped by the numberless houses of the suburbs and divided by the
twisting streets; but the whole brigade pressed forward on a broad
front. Behind followed the rest of the army--battalion after battalion,
brigade after brigade--until all, swallowed up by the maze of mud
houses, were filling the open spaces and blocking and choking the
streets and alleys with solid masses of armed men, who marched or pushed
their way up to the great wall.

For two miles the progress through the suburbs continued, and the
General, hurrying on with his Staff, soon found himself, with the band,
the Maxims, and the artillery, at the foot of the great wall. Several
hundred Dervishes had gathered for its defence; but the fact that no
banquette had been made on which they could stand to fire prevented
their resistance from being effective. A few ill-aimed shots were,
however, fired, to which the Maxim guns replied with vigour. In a
quarter of an hour the wall was cleared. The Sirdar then posted two guns
of the 32nd F