part of the river's course between Sarras and Dongola
was broken up by rapids, the railway and the camel had at first to
perform nearly the whole of the transport duties for which the Nile was
there unsuited. The work of repairing the railway from Wady Haifa to
Sarras, and thenceforth of constructing it through rocky wastes, amidst
constant risk of Dervish raids, called into play every faculty of
ingenuity, patience, and hardihood. But little by little the line crept
on; the locomotives carried the piles of food, stores, and ammunition
further and further south, until on June 6, 1897, the first blow was
dealt by the surprise and destruction of the Dervish force at Ferket.

There a halt was called; for news came in that an unprecedented
rain-storm further north had washed away the railway embankments from
some of the gulleys. To make good the damage would take thirty days, it
was said. The Sirdar declared that the line must be ready in twelve
days; he went back to push on the work; in twelve days the line was
ready. As an example of the varied difficulties that were met and
overcome, we may mention one. The work of putting together a steamer,
which had been brought up in sections, was stopped because an
all-important nut had been lost in transit. At once the Sirdar ordered
horsemen to patrol the railway line--and the nut was found. At last the
vessel was ready; but on her trial trip she burst a cylinder and had to
be left behind[412]. Three small steamers and four gunboats were,
however, available for service in the middle of September, when the
expedition moved on.

[Footnote 412: _Ibid_, p. 54.]

By this time the effective force numbered about 12,000 men. The
Dervishes had little heart for fighting to the north of Dongola; and
even at that town the Dervishes made but a poor stand, cowed as they
were by the shells of the steamers and perplexed by the enveloping moves
which the Sirdar ordered; 700 were taken in Dongola, and the best 300 of
these were incorporated in the Sirdar's Sudanese regiments (Sept.
23, 1896).

Thus ended the first part of the expedition. Events had justified
Gordon's statement that a small well-equipped expedition could speedily
overthrow the Mahdi--that is, in the days of his comparative weakness
before the capture of Khartum. The ease with which Dongola had been
taken and the comparative cheapness of the expedition predisposed the
Egyptian Government and the English public to view its extensi