ant Emirs were detached from the army before
Khartoum and marched northward eager for the slaughter of 'the enemies
of God.' At Metemma the main strength of the Jaalin tribe was collected.
With the reinforcements from Omdurman the total force of the Arabs
actually at hand was not less than 10,000, and behind were many
thousands more. They permitted the little column to advance until their
retreat, if defeated, was impossible, and then, confident of victory,
offered battle near the wells of Abu Klea.

The Camel Corps remained halted during the morning of the 16th, and
built a small fort, in which they placed their reserve of stores, and
made some arrangement for the reception of wounded. At one o'clock they
moved leisurely forward, passed through the rocky defile which led into
the valley of Abu Klea and bivouacked. Early the next morning the force
moved out in square formation and advanced upon the enemy. The most
savage and bloody action ever fought in the Soudan by British troops
followed. Notwithstanding the numbers and the valour of the Arabs, that
they penetrated the square, and that they inflicted on the troops a
loss of nine officers and sixty-five men killed and nine officers and
eighty-five men wounded--10 percent of the entire force--they were
driven from the field with great slaughter, and the Desert Column camped
at the wells.

On the morning of the 18th they rested, placed their wounded in the
small fort they had built, and buried their dead. In the afternoon they
continued their advance, marched all through the night, and, having
covered twenty-three miles, halted exhausted, almost within sight of the
river, at daylight on the 19th. Meanwhile the enemy had again collected
in great strength, and an effective rifle fire was opened on the column.
Sir Herbert Stewart received the wound of which a few weeks later he
died. The command devolved upon Sir Charles Wilson. The position was
desperate. Water was running short. The Nile was only four miles away;
but the column were impeded by their wounded and stores, and between
the river and the thirsty men lay the Dervish army, infuriated by their
losses and fully aware of the sore straits to which their astonishing
enemy was now reduced.

It now became necessary to divide the small force. Some must remain to
guard the baggage and the wounded; the others must fight their way to
the water. At three o'clock in the afternoon of the 19th, 900 men left
the hastily made