44 
A PATROL ON THE ATBARA. 
dough was divided up aud each piece worked into the shape of a bag. 
A hot stone was then thrown into this bag and the dough worked 
round it on all sides. This ball was thrown into the embers and 
was soon cooked from within and without. I doubt if any other 
troops could do the work these fellows did on such simple food, and 
ou one occasion, many of them had to go without even this food for 
thirty-six hours. 
I may mention here that in order to facilitate the rapid delivery of 
orders, I took an intelligent orderly from each company. These 
orderlies were with me always and each of them conveyed orders only 
to his own particular company and then returned to me. 
On the evening of the 13th, a column of smoke was seen on the 
right front in the direction of Gos Regeb, evidently in the Atbara 
valley. As the valley was practically uninhabited, it seemed likely 
that the fire was caused by Dervishes, so I sent Adlan to see if any¬ 
thing could be seen of them. He stayed out all night but on his 
return reported no Dervishes anywhere near us. Next day, more fires 
were seen, evidently much nearer us. That evening the country 
changed from a grassy waste to a flat alluvial plain, level as a billiard 
table, with a few scattered bushes, but no grass. In the clear atmos¬ 
phere a solitary mountain called Ofrek showed up above the horizon 
fifty miles to north of us, while Gebel Kassala was still clearly visible 
about the same distance to our rear. We were evidently approach¬ 
ing the Atbara and hoped to reach it that night. But when 
darkness came on, we got into some bad ground and after flounder¬ 
ing about among some small khors for an hour or so, we had to bivouac 
where we were. Several men had a thirsty night of it. As prob¬ 
ably there were Dervishes not far away, I ordered no fires to be lit 
nor light of any kind, so as not to betray our presence. Next morn¬ 
ing (15th) at dawn, just before starting there was a little mild excite¬ 
ment produced by the near sound of a shot. Every one rushed to 
arms, but it was soon discovered to be due to one of our sentries 
firing at (and missing!) one of our own men, whom in the gloom, he 
mistook for a Dervish. 
In advancing on the river, I sent out patrols well away to the right 
flank, to look for signs of Dervishes. Three-quarters of an hour of 
somewhat rough travelling enabled us to reach the river, which we 
found to be only a foot deep and with the slightest possible current. 
The point where we struck it was about thirty miles north of Asobri. 
As our march to Rera would take three days during which it would 
be inadvisable to light any fires, all hands set to work to prepare 
(l barkootas ” to last that period. While this was going on, one of 
my patrols came in with news of Dervish horsemen having been seen 
coming from the direction of the Nile. A few footprints in the sand 
of the river bed also showed that Dervishes had recently passed. I 
now sent out Hassibullah with his company to try and take a few 
prisoners. At 1 p.m., he returned having had a skirmish with about 
fifty Dervish horsemen, killed a few horses and taken three prisoners 
(Baggaras). These on being questioned, stated that Osman Digna, 
