s who occupied the huts pointed
out the grave of the Khalifa's father and the little straw house in
which Abdullah was wont to pray during his visits. Lately, they said, he
had retired from Aigaila to Shirkela, but even from this latter place he
had made frequent pilgrimages.

At the end of the next march, which was made by day, the guides, whose
memories had been refreshed by flogging, discovered a large pool of good
water, and all drank deeply in thankful joy. A small but strong zeriba
was built near this precious pool, and the reserve food and a few sick
men were left with a small garrison under an Egyptian officer. The
column resumed their journey. On the 29th they reached Aigaila, and
here, with feelings of astonishment scarcely less than Robinson Crusoe
experienced at seeing the footprint in the sand, they came upon the
Khalifa's abandoned camp. A wide space had been cleared of bush, and
the trees, stripped of their smaller branches, presented an uncanny
appearance. Beyond stood the encampment--a great multitude of yellow
spear-grass dwellings, perfectly clean, neatly arranged in streets and
squares, and stretching for miles. The aspect of this strange deserted
town, rising, silent as a cemetery, out of the awful scrub, chilled
everyone who saw it. Its size might indeed concern their leader. At
the very lowest computation it had contained 20,000 people. How many of
these were fighting men? Certainly not fewer than 8,000 or 9,000. Yet
the expedition had been sent on the assumption that there were scarcely
1,000 warriors with the Khalifa!

Observing every precaution of war, the column crawled forward, and the
cavalry and Camel Corps, who covered the advance, soon came in contact
with the enemy's scouts. Shots were exchanged and the Arabs retreated.
The column halted three miles to the east of this position, and, forming
a strong zeriba, passed the night in expectation of an attack. Nothing,
however, happened, and at dawn Mitford was sent out with some mounted
'friendlies' to reconnoitre. At ten o'clock he returned, and his report
confirmed the conclusions which had been drawn from the size of the
Aigaila camp. Creeping forward to a good point of view, the officer had
seen the Dervish flags lining the crest of the hill. From their number,
the breadth of front covered, and the numerous figures of men moving
about them, he estimated not fewer than 2,000 Arab riflemen in the
front line. How many more were in reserve it