The orders of the cavalry were to reconnoitre Omdurman;
of the gunboats to bombard it.
As soon as the squadrons of the 21st Lancers had turned the shoulder of
the steep Kerreri Hills, we saw in the distance a yellow-brown pointed
dome rising above the blurred horizon. It was the Mahdi's Tomb, standing
in the very heart of Omdurman. From the high ground the field-glass
disclosed rows and rows of mud houses, making a dark patch on the brown of
the plain. To the left the river, steel-grey in the morning light, forked
into two channels, and on the tongue of land between them the gleam of a
white building showed among the trees. Before us were the ruins
of Khartoum and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles.
A black, solitary hill rose between the Kerreri position and Omdurman.
A long, low ridge running from it concealed the ground beyond. For the rest
there was a wide-rolling, sandy plain of great extent, surrounded on three
sides by rocky hills and ridges, and patched with coarse, starveling grass
or occasional bushes. By the banks of the river which framed the picture on
the left stood a straggling mud village, and this, though we did not
know it, was to be the field of Omdurman. It was deserted. Not a living
creature could be seen. And now there were many who said once and for all
that there would be no fight; for here we were arrived at the very walls
of Omdurman, and never an enemy to bar our path.
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