The position of the next camp was a strong one, on a high swell of
open ground which afforded a clear field of fire in every direction.
Everyone that night lay down to sleep with a feeling of keen expectancy.
One way or the other all doubts would be settled the next day. The cavalry
would ride over the Kerreri Hills, if they were not occupied by the enemy,
and right up to the walls of Omdurman. If the Dervishes had any army--
if there was to be any battle--we should know within a few hours.
The telegrams which were despatched that evening were the last to reach
England before the event. During the night heavy rain fell, and all the
country was drenched. The telegraph-wire had been laid along the ground,
as there had been no time to pole it. The sand when dry is a sufficient
insulator, but when wet its non-conductivity is destroyed. Hence all
communications ceased, and those at home who had husbands, sons, brothers,
or friends in the Expeditionary Force were left in an uncertainty as great
as that in which we slept--and far more painful.
The long day had tired everyone. Indeed, the whole fortnight
since the cavalry convoy had started from the Atbara had been a period
of great exertion, and the Lancers, officers and men, were glad to eat a
hasty meal, and forget the fatigues of the day, the hardness of the ground,
and the anticipations of the morrow in deep sleep.
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