Every morning the cavalry rode out
towards the enemy's camp. All day long they skirmished with or watched
the Baggara horse, and at night they returned wearily to camp. Each morning
the army awoke full of the hopes of battle, waited during the long hours,
and finally retired to sleep in deep disgust and profound peace. And while
the army halted, the camp began to assume a more homely appearance.
The zeriba grew stronger and thicker, the glacis wider, the field kitchens
more elaborate, the pools of the Atbara more dirty. Over all the sun
beat down in merciless persistence, till all white men quivered with weary
suffering when in the open air, and even under the grass huts or improvised
tents the temperature always registered 115 degrees during the hottest hours of
the day. The nights were, however, cool and pleasant.
But although the main part of the force found the days long and tedious,
the time which the army spent at Ras-el-Hudi was by no means uneventful.
The work of the squadrons was hard, and ceased only with the night.
The continual patrolling told severely on men and horses; and the fact
that the Dervishes were far stronger in the mounted arm than the Sirdar's
army necessitated the utmost vigilance of the cavalry commander.
Employment was also found for the gunboats.
When Mahmud had left the Nile he had established a sort of depot at Shendi,
in which the wives of the Emirs and the surplus stores had been deposited.
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