CHAPTER XV:  THE BATTLE OF OMDURMAN

SEPTEMBER 2, 1898

The bugles all over the camp by the river began to sound at half-past four.  The cavalry trumpets and the drums and fifes of the British division joined the chorus, and everyone awoke amid a confusion of merry or defiant notes.  Then it grew gradually lighter, and the cavalry mounted their horses, the infantry stood to their arms, and the gunners went to their batteries; while the sun, rising over the Nile, revealed the wide plain, the dark rocky hills, and the waiting army.  It was as if all the preliminaries were settled, the ground cleared, and nothing remained but the final act and ‘the rigour of the game.’

Even before it became light several squadrons of British and Egyptian cavalry were pushed swiftly forward to gain contact with the enemy and learn his intentions.  The first of these, under Captain Baring, occupied Surgham Hill, and waited in the gloom until the whereabouts of the Dervishes should be disclosed by the dawn.  It was a perilous undertaking, for he might have found them unexpectedly near.  As the sun rose, the 21st Lancers trotted out of the zeriba and threw out a spray of officers’ patrols.  As there had been no night attack, it was expected that the Dervish army would have retired to their original position or entered the town.  It was hardly conceivable that they would advance across the open ground to attack the zeriba by daylight.  Indeed, it appeared more probable that their hearts had failed them in the night, and that they had melted away into the desert.  But these anticipations were immediately dispelled by the scene which was visible from the crest of the ridge.

It was a quarter to six.  The light was dim, but growing stronger every minute.  There in the plain lay the enemy, their numbers unaltered, their confidence and intentions apparently unshaken.  Their front was now nearly five miles long, and composed of great masses of men joined together by thinner lines.  Behind and near to the flanks were large reserves.  From the ridge they looked dark blurs and streaks, relieved and diversified with an odd-looking shimmer of light from the spear-points.  At about ten minutes to six it was evident that the masses were in motion and advancing swiftly.  Their Emirs galloped about and before their ranks.  Scouts and patrols scattered themselves all over the front.  Then they began to cheer.  They were still a mile away from the hill, and were concealed from the Sirdar’s army by the folds of the ground.  The noise of the shouting was heard, albeit faintly, by the troops down by the river.  But to those watching on the hill a tremendous roar came up in waves of intense sound, like the tumult of the rising wind and sea before a storm.