The transport and the houses
of the village of Egeiga filled the enclosed space. Neither force could see
the other, though but five miles divided them. The array of the enemy was,
without doubt, both longer and deeper. Yet there seemed a superior strength
in the solid battalions, whose lines were so straight that they might
have been drawn with a ruler.
The camp presented an animated appearance. The troops had piled arms
after the march, and had already built a slender hedge of thorn-bushes
around them. Now they were eating their dinners, and in high expectation
of a fight. The whole army had been ordered to stand to arms at two o'clock
in formation to resist the attack which it seemed the Dervishes were about
to deliver. But at a quarter to two the Dervish army halted. Their drill
was excellent, and they all stopped as by a single command. Then suddenly
their riflemen discharged their rifles in the air with a great roar--
a barbaric feu de joie. The smoke sprang up along the whole front of their
array, running from one end to the other. After this they lay down on the
ground, and it became certain that the matter would not be settled
that day. We remained in our position among the sandhills of the ridge
until the approach of darkness, and during the afternoon various petty
encounters took place between our patrols and those of the enemy, resulting
in a loss to them of about a dozen killed and wounded, and to us of one
corporal wounded and one horse killed.
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