where I stood, was the whole dervish army. Clearly they had
moved out from the city, and were organised as a force prepared for
instant battle. Their tents, camels, and impedimenta had been left
behind. Only a few low shelter-tents marked the lines in which the
Khalifa's army lay in the sparse bush. There were flags and banners by
hundreds, indicating the position of the leaders, chiefs and lesser
emirs. The Khalifa's great black banner, with its Arabic lettering
sewn in the same material, was displayed from a lofty bamboo pole,
planted in the dense central part of the force. To the left of it,
our right, were green and blue flags of the Shereef, or second
Khalifa, and Osman or Sheikh Ed Din, the Khalifa's son and
generalissimo of his army. Osman, we heard, had been reinstated in
parental favour, for he had fallen from grace for advising his father
to make peace with the Sirdar. As in a daisy-pied field, there were
dervish battle flags everywhere among the thick, swart lines that in
rows barred our way to Omdurman. The banners were in all colours and
shades, shapes, and sizes, but only the Khalifa's was black. The force
was apparently drawn up in five bodies or divisions. Abdullah's, in
the centre, must have numbered fully 10,000 men. Counting as carefully
as I could, I estimated the enemy who were to be seen as at least
numbering 30,000, and, perhaps, 35,000 men. Horsemen and camelmen
could be seen moving about their lines, and here and there others
riding, native fashion, on donkey-back. It seemed to be a
well-organised, intelligently-handled enemy we had in front.

Thereafter I rode onward and joined the farthest Lancers' outposts.
Small parties of dervishes, mostly Jaalin and blacks, who were caught
by the troopers, but had perhaps purposely given the Khalifa the slip,
were rounded up and sent back under escort as prisoners. Meanwhile
both the British and Khedivial mounted troops kept pushing on, driving
in the enemy's scouts. By noon there had been a series of attempts on
our side to charge, but the foemen always gave way. The Egyptian
cavalry under Colonel Broadwood and the camelry under Major Tudway,
making a wide detour, got close to the dervish left, and engaged the
enemy occasionally with rifles and Maxims. But the enemy's horse came
out in strength, supported by footmen, and threatened them, so
Broadwood's men had to fall back.

Four of the Sirdar's gunboats, which had meanwhile steamed ahead, were
briskly