field; and some of them half raised themselves, and saluted the
Sirdar and his staff as they passed along.

Presently, there was a commotion in the crowd. The wall of the great
granary had been breached, by some of the lyddite shells, and the grain
had poured out into the street. The natives near ran up to gather it;
and, finding that they were not molested by the British, the news
spread rapidly. The crowds in the streets melted away; and the
inhabitants, for the most part half starved, made a mad rush to the
spot, where in a short time many thousands of men, women, and children
were hard at work, gathering and carrying off the grain.

In the meantime the Sirdar, with a party of Maxwell's brigade, passed
along by the side of the great wall enclosing the buildings, and square
mile of ground, in which were the Khalifa's house, the tomb of the
Mahdi, the arsenal, storehouses, and the homes of the principal emirs.

As soon as they had turned the corner of the wall, in view of the tomb
and the Khalifa's house, a brisk fire was opened by the garrison.
Fortunately, the wall was not loopholed, and they had to get on the top
of it, or on to the flat roofs of the houses, to fire. Maxwell's men
soon silenced them, and on the troops passing in through the breaches,
and along the wall, most of the Dervishes at once surrendered.

For a time, further advance was barred by an inner wall, that still
intervened between them and the Khalifa's house. After the gunboats'
fire had cleared away a number of the Dervishes clustered outside the
south wall, the Sirdar and his staff entered by a gateway, and moved
towards the Khalifa's house. This was searched by Slatin Pasha, and
several officers and soldiers; but, to the general disappointment, it
was found that the Khalifa had escaped but a short time before,
carrying with him his treasure; his wives having been sent off, as soon
as he returned from the field of battle.

The Mahdi's tomb was a ruin. A large portion of the dome had been
knocked away, and the falling fragments had smashed the iron railings
that surrounded the tomb, itself.

There was nothing more to be done. The pursuit of the Khalifa, mounted,
as he would be, on fresh horses, was out of the question. It was
already almost dark, and men and horses had been at work since before
daybreak. The town was in a very disturbed state--large numbers of the
Dervishes were still possessed of their arms, and the greater portion
of the