, and Colonel Broadwood's troopers were trying to shake off
flanking parties of the enemy as they rode to the north, towards our
previous camp. Our batteries were still pounding the Khalifa's main
body, which had got to within 1400 yards of the south-western angle of
the zereba. Wavering, and driven before the murderous tornado of
exploding bombs and pitiless lead, they too swung round and made for
cover beyond range, flying towards the west and slightly to the rear.
Yacoub and Melik followed the black flag in the same direction, and
the dervish left wing edged off to Um Mutragan. They had come, first
of all, direct, as if intending to assault the western angles of the
zereba. Then Yacoub and Melik had led them to the right, so that they
covered Surgham and came on in front of the British division. Blindly
they had stumbled into the impassable fire from the south face of our
lines and ultimately relinquishing the task had hastened, as I have
stated, across our front towards their main body. The guns and Maxims
withal of Wauchope's and Maxwell's infantry, must have weakened the
hope in the Khalifa's breast of closing with us. Although the range
was longer, the central columns had been subjected to almost as
destructive a cannonading as the dervishes on Surgham's slopes got. So
far it had been a gunner's day, and to the artillery in the
preliminary stages, if not--with one exception--in the later, belonged
the full honours of the fight. At length with one mind, banner-bearers
and all, swiftly the dervish columns, remaining intact, faced to the
left, and moved behind the western hills. There was a pause, a respite
for some minutes, which their jehadieh and others left upon the field
of battle profited by to crawl upon their stomachs to within 800 yards
less or more of the zereba, and open a sharp rifle fire upon us.
Volley firing and shell firing dislodged many of them, but others kept
potting away, increasing our casualty returns, particularly in the
1st, or Wauchope's brigade. Just then the battle broke out with
greater fury than ever. What happened in the dervish army may be
guessed. Out of immediate danger and re-formed, the Khalifa and Yacoub
determined upon a second attack. With a rush like a mountain torrent
three columns spouted from shallow ravines, and at a break-neck run
came forward. Part of Wad Melik's men uprose from the west sides of
Surgham, the Khalifa and Yacoub came upon us from the south-west, and
a smal