liberation of
the captives. To this no answer was sent. On the 8th of April, two
brigades of the British army encamped on the Delanta plateau, in full
view of the heights of Magdala. By the night of the 9th all
preparations were completed for storming the fortress. Theodore had
posted his army, consisting of 3000 soldiers armed with percussion guns,
a host of spearmen, and several pieces of ordnance, on the flat-topped
hill of Fala. Here he had come to conquer, as he thought it possible,
with his cherished guns, or to die should he meet with defeat. Between
the armies was the plain of Arogye. In front rose, more than 1000 feet
above it, the lofty stronghold of the tyrant. To the left of Fala
appeared the lofty peak of Sallasye, the two being connected by a lower
saddle. The British army consisted of 3733 men, of whom 460 were
cavalry. They had two batteries of steel mountain guns, a battery of
four Armstrong 12-pounder guns, and two mortars, besides which many of
the troops were armed with the deadly Snider rifle, against which the
weapons of the Abyssinians were almost useless. The Naval Brigade of 80
men were armed also with deadly rockets, especially calculated to create
a panic among such troops as the Abyssinians. The greater part of the
day had passed, and Sir Robert had no intention of commencing an action,
when, at forty-two minutes past four in the afternoon of the 10th of
April, a gun was fired from the crest of Fala, 1200 feet above the
Arogye plain. A few rounds followed, plunging into the ground close to
the British, when several thousand men, the flower of Theodore's army,
rushed impetuously over the crest of the hill down the precipitous
slopes, yelling defiance, led by their chiefs on sure-footed Galla
ponies. While the main body advanced across the plain, a large
detachment hastened to attack the baggage train of the British on one
side.

Immediately the Naval Brigade opened upon them with their rockets, while
Sir Charles Staveley moved the infantry of his brigade down to the
plain, the Snider rifles keeping up a fire against which the Abyssinians
could not for a moment stand. Unable to get within range themselves,
they were mown down in lines. Their old general, Fitaurari Gabriye, led
them on again and again, but he soon fell, shot through the head; and
night coming on, the shattered remnant retired towards the Fala saddle,
still shouting defiance. Colonel Milward, who accompanied Penn