the true
Moslems.

All except those on duty were abed by last post on 30th August at
Sheikh el Taib camp. Lights were ordered out, and the camp for a time
relapsed into darkness and silence. Headquarters and all other tents
had been struck and packed. During the night there was shooting, the
crack of the musketry sounding relatively near, but occasioning little
annoyance. The bullets were badly aimed if directed against the
British quarters. Whether the firing was really meant for "sniping" by
the dervishes, or was only a note of warning to their friends of our
presence, was not easy to decide with any degree of certainty. There
was no big roll of wounded to test the enemy's intent by, and a later
incipient alarm caused in another part of the camp in the small hours
was possibly all a mistake. One thing the dervishes did do. After the
manner of hill-men, they lit beacon fires on the rocky ridges around
us to warn the Khalifa of our whereabouts.

[Illustration: ARTILLERY GOING TOWARDS OMDURMAN.]

That night the camp lines had been drawn still closer than ever, only
260 yards' front being given to each battalion. On the morning of 31st
the troops were early astir. By 5.30 a.m. the main body, following the
mounted troops, had faced to the right, and were marching to the
westward so as to clear the bush and get out upon the open desert
tracks leading to Omdurman. The ground the army passed over was
broken, and there was scrub with several small khors to cross, so the
force proceeded slowly and cautiously. Four of the gunboats steamed up
the river, keeping abreast of our widely spread out cavalry. About six
o'clock the Lancers had again ascended to the top of El Taib, a hill
from which at that hour I was enabled to get a view of the dervish
camp. It appeared to be about ten miles due south. The Mahdists were
disposed in three long dense lines, at almost right angle to the
river. They were partly hidden among the low scrub west of Kerreri
town or village, their right being quite 2000 yards from the Nile,
which showed they had a wholesome respect for the gunboats. Flags and
helios were speedily busy in the hands of our signalmen sending back
information to the Sirdar. Seeing groups of dervishes within range, as
well as bands of Baggara horsemen, the gunboats opened fire from their
15-pounders and Maxims shortly after 7 a.m., driving the enemy's
nearest patrols into hiding or out of range.

In one of the numberless village