troops were withdrawn from the pestilential town. Next morning a
larger force was marched in, and the work of disarmament completed.

The cavalry went out and scouted the country, and brought in large
numbers of prisoners. The men belonging to the tribes that had
renounced Mahdism--Jaalin and others--were at once allowed to leave for
their homes; and numbers of others, whose appearance was peaceful, and
who had at once given up their arms, were also released; but there were
still no fewer than eleven thousand prisoners, among them some of the
Khalifa's emirs.

Many of the townspeople had started, the previous evening, for the
field of battle; to bury the bodies of their friends who had fallen,
and to bring in the wounded. Of the latter, after our own men had been
attended to, fully nine thousand received aid and attention from the
British doctors.

On the morning after the occupation, the work of purification began.
Great numbers of the unwounded prisoners, and of the townspeople, were
set to work to clean the streets; and, in a couple of days, the wider
thoroughfares and avenues had been thoroughly cleansed.

Having but little to do, Gregory went into the Khalifa's arsenal. This
building was full of war material of all kinds; including a perfectly
appointed battery of Krupp guns, numbers of old cannon, modern
machine-guns, rifles and pistols; mixed up with musical instruments,
suits of chain armour, steel helmets, hundreds of battle flags, and
thousands of native spears, swords, and shields. Besides these the
collection comprised ivory, percussion caps, lead, copper, and bronze,
looms, pianos, sewing machines, boilers, steam engines, agricultural
implements, ostrich feathers, wooden and iron bedsteads, paints, India
rubber, leather water bottles, clothes, three state coaches, and an
American buggy. There were also a modern smithy, where gunpowder,
shell, bullets, and cartridge cases were made and stored; and a
well-appointed engineers' shop and foundry, with several steam engines,
turning lathes, and other tools. The machinery had been brought from
Gordon's arsenal at Khartoum, where the foreman had been employed; and
the workmen were, for the most part, Greeks.

The battle was fought on Friday, the 2nd of September. On Sunday a
flotilla of boats, containing detachments from all the British and
Egyptian regiments, and every officer who could be spared from duty,
proceeded up the river to Khartoum. The ruined and d