bugle snapped out and the troops of the flanking regiment whipped round and walked towards the enemy too. They were within a thousand yards. Now It was only a dismounted trooper they were fetching back. The troops turned again, and we walked into camp. It was a perfect reconnaissance,—not a man lost, not a shot fired, and everything seen. XXXII. THE BATTLE OF OMDURMAN. OUR camp, for the night of September 1, was in the village of Agaiga, a mile south of Kerreri Hill. On our left front was another hill, higher, but single-peaked and rounder-Gebel Surgham. In front the ground was open for five miles or so-sand and grass broken by only a few folds—with a group of hills beyond. The force had formed up in position in the afternoon, when the Dervishes followed the cavalry home, and had remained under arms all night; at half-past five in the morning, when the first howitzer-shell from opposite Omdurman opened the day's work, every man was in his place. The line formed an obtuse angle; the order of brigades and battalions, counting from the left, was the following: Lyttelton's 2nd British (Rifle Brigade, Lancashire Fusiliers, Northumberland Fusiliers, Grenadier Guards); Wauchope's 1st British (Warwicks, Seaforths, Camerons, Lincolns); Maxwell's 2nd Egyptian (14th, 12th, 13th Sudanese, and 8th Egyptian in support). Here came the point of the angle; to the right of it were: Macdonald's 1st Egyptian (11th, 10th, 9th Sudanese, 2nd Egyptian supporting); Lewis's 3rd Egyptian (4th, 15th, and 3rd and 7th Egyptian, in column on the right flank). Collinson's 4th Egyptian Brigade (1st, 5th, 17th, and 18th Egyptian) was in reserve in the village. All the Egyptian battalions in the front were in their usual formation, with four companies in line and two in support. The British had six in line and two in support. On the extreme left was the 32nd Field Battery; the Maxims and Egyptian field-guns were mounted at intervals in the infantry line. The cavalry had gone out at the first streak of grey, British on the left, as usual, Egyptian with camel-corps and horse-battery from the right moving across our front. The gunboats lay with steam up off the village. Light stole quietly into the sky behind us; there was no sound from the plain or the hills before us; there was hardly a sound from our own line. Everybody was very silent, but very curious. Would they be so mad as to come out and run their heads into our fire? It seemed beyond hoping for; yet certainly they had been full of war the day before. But most of us were expecting instantly the order to advance on Omdurman. A trooper rose out of the dimness from behind the shoulder of Gebel Surgham, grew larger and plainer, |