used his assailants heavy loss, while had he
awaited our attack in Omdurman the siege might have presented many
difficulties. As it was, over-confident in the fanatic courage of his
followers, and their superior numbers, he threw his host upon our fire,
verily "Quem deus vult perdere prius dementat" was true in his case.

The black flag of the Khalifa and the huge host of the Arabs was soon
seen approaching, and at 6:30 a.m. the firing commenced. First the
Maxims and 15-pounder field-guns, 2800 yards; then the Lee-Metford
rifles. The air was full of shot and bullet, shrapnel and shell, mowing
out great gaps in the charging masses, who never faltered in their
movement. Thousands upon thousands fell, and were succeeded by
thousands upon thousands who likewise fell; and of all that host never a
man reached the zareba. Nothing could exceed the courage of the
dervishes. Following their old tactics, they meant to rush the zareba,
piercing, as they hoped, the line of fire by sheer force of numbers.

"Stormed at by shot and shell,
Bravely they fought and fell."

A large body of horse tried to break through the centre, and were
annihilated. At length human endurance could do no more, and the
shattered remnants of what had been but an hour before a mighty host,
withdrew behind Gabel Surgham. So ended the first act, with a loss of a
few hundred in killed and wounded; 10,000 dervishes were slain.

It was at first thought when the last dervish disappeared behind the
high ground that the fight was over, and that Omdurman lay open; and
after a delay occupied in removing the wounded to the steamers, and
replenishing ammunition, the army, about 9:30, re-formed for marching,
moved out of the camp. Lyttleton's and Wauchope's brigade, turning by
the left, moved round the bottom of Gabel Surgham; Maxwell passing on
their right, while Lewis and Macdonald moved away much farther on the
right; and thus the brigades became at some distance apart.

And now took place one of the most stirring events of this eventful day.
The 21st Lancers, trotting ahead a mile or more beyond Gabel, came upon
a small body of dervishes hiding in a hollow; and Colonel Martin having
decided to cut them off, the regiment charged in line, led by Colonel
Martin. Within 200 yards of the enemy the horsemen saw the trap that
had been laid for them; instead of 200 or 300 men in a hollow, 2000 or
more dervishes lay in wait for them in a narrow and rather de