The sight which the army witnessed was thrilling.  Beyond the flood waters of the river, backed against a sky of staring blue and in the blazing sunlight, the whole of the enemy’s position was plainly visible.  The long row of shelter trenches was outlined by the white smoke of musketry and dotted with the bright-coloured flags waving defiantly in the wind and with the still brighter flashes of the guns.  Behind the entrenchments and among the mud houses and enclosures strong bodies of the jibba-clad Arabs were arrayed.  Still further back in the plain a large force of cavalry—­conspicuous by the gleams of light reflected from their broad-bladed spears—­wheeled and manoeuvred.  By the Nile all the tops of the palm-trees were crowded with daring riflemen, whose positions were indicated by the smoke-puffs of their rifles, or when some tiny black figure fell, like a shot rook, to the ground.  In the foreground the gunboats, panting and puffing up the river, were surrounded on all sides by spouts and spurts of water, thrown up by the shells and bullets.  Again the flotilla drew near the narrow channel; again the watching army held their breath; and again they saw the leading boat, the Metemma, turn and run down stream towards safety, pursued by the wild cheers of the Arabs.  It was evident that the gunboats were not strong enough to silence the Dervish fire.  The want of the terrible Zafir was acutely felt.

The firing had lasted two hours and a half, and the enemy’s resistance was no less vigorous than at the beginning of the action.  The Sirdar now altered his plans.  He saw that his flotilla could not hope to silence the Dervishes.  He therefore ordered De Rougemont—­who had assumed the command after Colville was wounded—­to run past the entrenchments without trying to crush their fire, and steam on to Dongola.  To support and cover the movement, the three batteries of artillery under Major Parsons were brought into action from the swampy island of Artagasha, which was connected at this season with the right bank by a shoal.  At the same time three battalions of infantry were moved along the river until opposite the Arab position.  At 9 A.M. the eighteen guns on the island opened a tremendous bombardment at 1,200 yards range on the entrenchments, and at the same time the infantry and a rocket detachment concentrated their fire on the tops of the palm-trees.  The artillery now succeeded in silencing three of the five Dervish guns and in sinking the little Dervish steamer Tahra, while the infantry by a tremendous long-range fire drove the riflemen out of the palms.  Profiting by this, the gunboats at ten o’clock moved up the river in line, and, disregarding the fusillade which the Arabs still stubbornly maintained, passed by the entrenchment and steamed on towards Dongola.  After this the firing on both sides became intermittent, and the fight may be said to have ended.