As the troops approached the
watch-towers the Dervish outposts fell back and the force continued to
advance until the edge of the plateau was reached. From here the whole
scene was visible.
The day was just breaking, and the mist hung low and white over the
steel-grey surface of the river. The outlines of the mud houses were
sharply defined on this pale background. The Dervish riflemen crouched in
the shelter trench that ran round the village. Their cavalry, perhaps a
hundred strong, were falling in hurriedly on the sandy ground to the south
near the ragged rocks. The curve of the hills, crowned with the dark line
of the troops, completed and framed the picture. Within this small
amphitheatre one of the minor dramas of war was now to be enacted.
At half past six the battery came into action, and after a few shells had
been fired at the loopholed houses in the left centre of the position,
a general advance was ordered. In excellent order the three Soudanese
battalions, with General Hunter, Lieut.-Colonel MacDonald, and the other
British officers on horseback in front of their line, advanced slowly
down the hill, opening a destructive fire on the entrenchment. The distance
was scarcely three hundred yards; but the crescent formation of the attack
made the lines of advance converge, and before half the distance was
covered the Xth were compelled to halt, lest the XIth Soudanese on the
right flank should fire into them.
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