Fire and sword in the Sudan; a personal narrative of fighting and serving the dervishes, 1879-1895 Translated by Wingate Popular ed . he waited in vain—not a man came to him, nordid he ascertain a word of news. On quitting Rahad headvanced to Aluba in Dar Ghodayat, in the hope of obtain-ing an abundant supply of water there; and on the 3rdNovember he reached Kashgeil, some thirty miles south-east of El Obeid. Meanwhile the Mahdi had worked up his fanatical fol-lowers to a pitch of the wildest enthusiasm, and had toldthem the Prophet had announced to him that on the day ofbattle they would
Fire and sword in the Sudan; a personal narrative of fighting and serving the dervishes, 1879-1895 Translated by Wingate Popular ed . he waited in vain—not a man came to him, nordid he ascertain a word of news. On quitting Rahad headvanced to Aluba in Dar Ghodayat, in the hope of obtain-ing an abundant supply of water there; and on the 3rdNovember he reached Kashgeil, some thirty miles south-east of El Obeid. Meanwhile the Mahdi had worked up his fanatical fol-lowers to a pitch of the wildest enthusiasm, and had toldthem the Prophet had announced to him that on the day ofbattle they would be accompanied by twenty thousandangels, who would attack the unbelievers. On the 1st ofNovember he quitted El Obeid for Birket, where his fol-lowers, uniting with the force previously despatched towatch the square, now worried the tired and thirsty Egyp-tians incessantly. On the 3rd November Abu Anga andhis Black Jehadia, concealed in the thick forest and brokenground, poured a continuous fire on the square, which wasforced to halt and zariba; and here human beings andanimals, huddled together, offered a target which none could. HICKS PASHAS EXPEDITION 133 fail to hit. Every moment a weary man, horse, camel, ormule would fall to the bullet of an invisible enemy ; and forhours this decimation continued, whilst the wretched troopssuffered agonies from thirst, and were unable to move inany direction. It was not till the afternoon that the enemydrew off, just out of rifle range, and from this position keptcareful watch on the square, as a cat would play with amouse. Their losses had been insignificant; one or twoEmirs, amongst them the son of Elias Pasha, had fallen—and no wonder ! his fanaticism had induced him to dash up,almost alone, to within a yard of the zariba. How terriblemust have been the feelings of poor Hicks! Instead ofwater, his wretched men received a hail of lead—yet only amile off there was a large pool of rain-water; but none inthat doomed square knew the c
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