The Sheikh Bakr, with his men and the rest of the irregulars, joined the victorious Soudanese, and from the cover of the sandhills, now in the hands of the troops, a terrible fire was opened upon the Dervishes crowded together on the bare and narrow promontory and on the foreshore.  Some tried to swim across the rushing river to their friends on the west bank.  Many were drowned—­among them Saadalla, who sank horse and man beneath the flood.  Others took refuge from the fire by standing up to their necks in the stream.  The greater part, however, escaped to a smaller island a little further up the river.  But the cover was bad, the deep water prevented further flight, and, after being exposed for an hour and a half to the musketry of two companies, the survivors—­300 strong—­surrendered.

By 11.30 the whole island was in the possession of the troops.  It was, however, still swept and commanded by the fire from the west bank.  The company which had been detached to subdue the Dervish riflemen were themselves pinned behind their scanty cover.  Major Fergusson was severely wounded and a third of his men were hit.  To withdraw this company and the wounded was a matter of great difficulty; and it was necessary to carry the Maxims across the river and bring them into action at 400 yards.  Firing ceased at last at three o’clock, and the victors were left to measure their losses and their achievement.

There was neither time nor opportunity to count the enemy’s dead, but it is certain that at least 500 Arabs were killed on the island.  Two thousand one hundred and twenty-seven fighting men and several hundred women and children surrendered.  Five hundred and seventy-six rifles, large quantities of ammunition, and a huge pile of spears and swords were captured.  Ahmed Fedil, indeed, escaped with a numerous following across the Ghezira, but so disheartened were the Dervishes by this crushing defeat that the whole force surrendered to the gunboat Metemma at Reng, on the White Nile, on the 22nd of January, and their leader was content to fly with scarcely a dozen followers to join the Khalifa.

The casualties among the troops in the action amounted to 41 killed and 145 wounded, including Major Fergusson; and the Xth Soudanese, on whom the brunt of the fighting fell, suffered a loss of 25 non-commissioned officers and men killed, 1 British officer, 6 native officers, and 117 non-commissioned officers and men wounded, out of a total strength of 511.  The rest of the loss was among the irregulars, 495 of whom took part in the engagement.

CHAPTER XIX:  THE END OF THE KHALIFA