hen he saluted, and asked if he
could come.

He felt rather scared on the Dervishes opening fire so suddenly, when
the General's impatience had led him to ride forward, without waiting
for Major Kincaid's report. After the troops rushed into the town, the
General maintained his position at the edge of the dip, for the narrow
streets were so crowded with men that a group of horsemen could hardly
have forced their way in, and it would be impossible to see what was
going on, and to issue orders.

Mahomed Zein had not followed the example of some of his followers, and
died fighting to the last. He was found hiding under a bed, and was
brought before General Hunter; who asked him why he fought, when he
must have known that it was useless; to which he replied:

"I knew that you had only three times as many as I had, and every one
of my men is worth four of yours. You could not fire till you were
quite close up, and at that range our rifles are as good as yours."

The General asked what he thought Mahmud would do, to which he replied:

"He will be down here in five days, and wipe you out!"

It was necessary to halt at Abu Hamed, until stores came up. Captain
Keppel, Royal Navy, and the officers commanding the gunboats were
toiling at the cataracts to bring them up. Nevertheless one of these
was capsized, and only three got through safely. Major Pink, with a
large number of troops from Merawi, succeeded in hauling the sailing
boats through.

A large column of laden camels was, at the same time, being pushed
forward by the caravan route from Korosko. It was a time of much
anxiety, till stores began to arrive; for, had Mahmud advanced at once,
the passage up the river would have been arrested, and the land column
cut off; in which case the little force would have been reduced to sore
straits, as they must have stood on the defensive until reinforcements
reached them.

There was, too, some anxiety as to the safety of the forces at Ambukol
and Korti; for Mahmud, on learning that the garrisons had been weakened
by the despatch of troops to Abu Hamed, might have crossed the desert
with all his force and fallen upon them. Mahmud had indeed, as it
turned out, believed that the expedition to Abu Hamed was only
undertaken to cover the flank of the Egyptian army from attack, from
that quarter; and still believed that it was from Merawi that the main
British force would advance against him.

Before the supplies had all arrived,