his natural chief, now
that his service in the gunboat was over.

The list of casualties was now being brought in. The Camerons, who had
led the attack in line, had lost most heavily. They had fifteen killed
and forty-six wounded, among them being two officers killed, and one
mortally wounded. The Seaforths had one officer killed and one mortally
wounded, and four others less severely; in all, six killed and
twenty-seven wounded. The Lincolns had one killed and eighteen wounded;
the Warwicks two killed and eighteen wounded. Many of the wounded
afterwards died.

The Egyptians had lost more heavily. The casualties among them were
fifty-seven killed; and four British and sixteen native officers, and
three hundred and sixty-seven non-commissioned officers and men,
wounded.

The Dervish loss was terrible. Three thousand men were killed, among
whom were nearly all the emirs; and two thousand were taken prisoners.
The rest were hopeless fugitives, and a vast number of these must have
been wounded.

There was but a short rest for the troops. When the wounded had been
collected, and carried to a neighbouring palm grove, where the surgeons
did all that could then be done for them; and the trophies of the
fight--banners and spears, guns of all sorts, swords and knives--had
been gathered, principally by the exultant Soudanese and Egyptians, the
force prepared for a start.

"May I ask, General, what is to be done with the women?" Gregory said.

"I have been speaking to the Sirdar about them, and I was just going to
ask you to go with me to them. They are, of course, not to be
considered as prisoners. They cannot stay here, for they would die of
hunger. Therefore they had best follow the troops, at any rate as far
as the Atbara camp. They will have food given them, and must then
decide for themselves what they are to do. It is a difficult question,
altogether. The only thing that can, at present, be settled is that
they mustn't be allowed to die of hunger, and they must be protected
against molestation.

"The troops will march at four o'clock. The Egyptian brigade have
volunteered to carry the wounded. They will start later. The women had
better follow them. No doubt, some of them will find their husbands
among the prisoners, so that there will be no trouble about them."

"What will be done with the men, sir?"

The General smiled.

"Tomorrow they will probably enlist in our service, to a man, and will
fight just as stur