war and familiar with cavalry; and, besides, they swung sharp, heavy swords which bit deep.  The hand-to-hand fighting on the further side of the khor lasted for perhaps one minute.  Then the horses got into their stride again, the pace increased, and the Lancers drew out from among their antagonists.  Within two minutes of the collision every living man was clear of the Dervish mass.  All who had fallen were cut at with swords till they stopped quivering, but no artistic mutilations were attempted.

Two hundred yards away the regiment halted, rallied, faced about, and in less than five minutes were re-formed and ready for a second charge.  The men were anxious to cut their way back through their enemies.  We were alone together—­the cavalry regiment and the Dervish brigade.  The ridge hung like a curtain between us and the army.  The general battle was forgotten, as it was unseen.  This was a private quarrel.  The other might have been a massacre; but here the fight was fair, for we too fought with sword and spear.  Indeed the advantage of ground and numbers lay with them.  All prepared to settle the debate at once and for ever.  But some realisation of the cost of our wild ride began to come to those who were responsible.  Riderless horses galloped across the plain.  Men, clinging to their saddles, lurched helplessly about, covered with blood from perhaps a dozen wounds.  Horses, streaming from tremendous gashes, limped and staggered with their riders.  In 120 seconds five officers, 65 men, and 119 horses out of fewer than 400 had been killed or wounded.

The Dervish line, broken by the charge, began to re-form at once.  They closed up, shook themselves together, and prepared with constancy and courage for another shock.  But on military considerations it was desirable to turn them out of the khor first and thus deprive them of their vantage ground.  The regiment again drawn up, three squadrons in line and the fourth in column, now wheeled to the right, and, galloping round the Dervish flank, dismounted and opened a heavy fire with their magazine carbines.  Under the pressure of this fire the enemy changed front to meet the new attack, so that both sides were formed at right angles to their original lines.  When the Dervish change of front was completed, they began to advance against the dismounted men.  But the fire was accurate, and there can be little doubt that the moral effect of the charge had been very great, and that these brave enemies were no longer unshaken.  Be this as it may, the fact remains that they retreated swiftly, though in good order, towards the ridge of Surgham Hill, where the Khalifa’s Black Flag still waved, and the 21st Lancers remained in possession of the ground—­ and of their dead.