running direct for the guns and the
Camel Corps. Colonel Broadwood formed his cavalry up to charge, and
Major Mahan led his regiment of "Gippy" troopers forward. But a
detachment of the Camel Corps under Captain Hopkinson pluckily stood
their ground, covering the retirement of their comrades and the
batteries down the very rough slope. Unfortunately, Captain Hopkinson
was severely wounded, and a native officer and a number of men were
killed. Falling back along the east and north sides of the hill the
force was sorely pressed by the enemy, and a series of brave and
bristling hand-to-hand encounters took place. Near the crest of a
hill, one of the "wheelers" of the horse battery was shot. The traces
could not be cut in time, so the gun had to be abandoned. At the
critical moment another gun collided with it, and was upset beside the
first, so both pieces, with, later on, a third, fell temporarily into
the dervishes' hands. They did nothing with them. Colonel Broadwood,
on finding the enemy pushing so determinedly, as though they had
struck the whole of the Sirdar's army, directed the Camel Corps to
retire to the zereba. Luckily, two of the gunboats, getting sight and
range of the eager dervishes who were hunting the camelmen, began
firing with every piece of armament they could bring to bear. I
assume they saved the situation, for the Camel Corps were hard
pressed, and lost eighty men before they got to the river and into a
safe position under the shelter of the gunboats and Macdonald's
brigade, which was at the north end of the zereba. The myth of a Camel
Corps as a useful fighting unit had been exploded. Meantime, Colonel
Broadwood's troopers rode away to the north, trying to shake off
outflanking parties of dervishes. The Sheikh Ed Din and Khalil
continued to pursue the cavalry with great eagerness and venom.
Several times bodies of 200 and 300 Baggara horsemen threatened to
charge, but Majors Mahan and Le Gallias turning upon these riders sent
them flying back helter-skelter. For five miles the cavalry was, so to
speak, driven from pillar to post by the dervish infantry. When the
pursuit had been pressed four miles, and more, north of the zereba,
Major Mahan succeeded in clearing the flanks, whereupon the dervishes
gave up the chase and sat down to rest. One advantage came of the
hot-headed pursuit; it led two columns of the enemy away, and only a
portion of those dervish commands got back in time to engage in the
a