_New York Herald_, was killed almost under my eyes, in
the paved courtyard of the Khalifa, opposite the Mahdi's tomb. Such is
the hasty record of as exciting and interesting a battle and a day's
campaigning as it ever fell to mortal man to witness. Neither in my
experience nor in my reading can I recall so strange and picturesque a
series of incidents happening within the brief period of twelve
hours.

CHAPTER XII.

STORIES OF THE BATTLE--OMDURMAN.

There are numberless incidents and details remaining untold of the
great battle and the fall of Omdurman. So singular and interesting an
action is almost without parallel. "That villainous gunpowder" of
former days was so sparingly used in the fight by the Sirdar's army
that every part of the battle-field could be plainly seen. In the
first stage the heaviest firing was by the British; the Lee-Metfords
with cordite made little or no smoke. Maxwell's men of the Khedivial
army, with their Martini-Henrys, never fired so fast as to cause any
thick white cloud to shut out the view and hang between them and the
enemy. Lewis's and Macdonald's brigades were never very heavily
engaged whilst the troops remained zerebaed. Perhaps it was the light
south wind which blew the men's rifle smoke behind us at once, but
that was not what I thought. There seemed to be none to blow away. I
recall that in the thick of the battle of Tamai with Davis's square,
and at Abu Klea, the smoke cloud that hung like a curtain before our
eyes was a source of danger. Save for the erratic, occasional whizzing
of the enemy's bullets, the thud of a hit and the dropping, weltering
in his blood, of a man here and there, watched from our firing lines
the combat enlisted and fascinated the attention with barely a
suggestion of danger to the onlooker. Few will ever see again so great
and brave a show. A vast army, with a front of three miles, covering
an undulating plain--warriors mounted and afoot, clad in quaint and
picturesque drapery, with gorgeous barbaric display of banners,
burnished metal, and sheen of steel--came sweeping upon us with the
speed of cavalry. Half-a-dozen batteries smote them, a score of Maxims
and 10,000 rifles unceasingly buffeted them, making great gaps and
rending their ranks in all directions. With magnificent courage,
without pause, the survivors invariably drew together, furiously,
frenziedly running to cross steel with us. Their ardour and mad
devotion won admiration on all