50 
A PATROL ON TEE ATBARA. 
few Hadendowas and four Egyptians, three of whom had been in Hick’s 
ill-fated army, the other being an escaped convict. Among the killed 
were four emirs whose names I forget. There were also captured 
twenty-six horses, twenty-seven donkeys, four camels and much loot, 
including Osman’s f jibba’ and chain mail shirt. The performance was 
undoubtedly most creditable in itself, but I found it hard to forgive 
Hassibullah for appropriating my messenger. No doubt his great an¬ 
xiety was to get all the credit of a possible capture himself, together 
with a reward I had promised if Osman were taken or killed, and as 
much loot as possible. 
After hearing all this, I decided on marching down the left bank 
sweeping the country and rejoining Hassibullah who had established 
himself in a khor on the right bank of the river some two miles north 
of Khor Lebben, where he was much hampered by prisoners. At the 
same time I had a letter written and sent to the Commandant at Asobri 
ordering him to send all the spare camels and fantasses, any provisions 
and ammunition which might have arrived and all prisoners he had 
taken, to meet me at Hassibullah’s camp. Hassibullah was to be order¬ 
ed by the messenger en route by right bank, to send his camels to 
Asobri to assist in transporting the fantasses, &c. I ordered Minni 
Ali with his thirty odd men to establish himself at Fasher until further 
orders, to patrol the country for prisoners and to forward to me any 
caravan that might arrive from Kassala. I left him four days rations. 
These arrangements being made, we set off at 8 a.m. 
I was obliged to leave behind me two strong patrols of twenty-five 
men each which I had sent out at daybreak, orders being left for them 
to rejoin me the following day by the left (west) bank so that they 
might pick up a few more prisoners. During the march it was evident 
by the tracks that a considerable body of the enemy had again gone 
round us, but I felt sure there were still plenty ahead for us to deal 
with. During the first hour or two, we picked up one or two prison¬ 
ers. We had only time for a short mid-day halt and early in the after¬ 
noon came across a body of about fifty dervishes. I endeavoured to 
get them to surrender but without success, so I took my men on to 
attack them in front and flank, and after a short contest, the dervishes 
gave ground and scattered, the survivors retreating into the thick 
country by the river, pursued keenly for some distance. I counted 
fourteen dead bodies, all Jehadieh and we took some prisoners besides. 
I was much struck with the extraordinary talent of my men for taking 
advantage of cover. They were somewhat wasteful of ammunition it 
is true, and so long as the dervishes stood did not see the necessity of 
leaving their cover for a further advance. This is not surprising as 
they had no weapon for close combat, and undoubtedly their method 
was effective in saving them from loss. The dervishes, on the other 
hand, fired boldly from a kneeling or standing position, but they were 
very bad shots. Once they drew back, my men followed most keenly 
and proved themselves most effective in pursuit. When the fight was 
over, up came Sergeant Nicklin with reserve ammunition and as soon 
as it was distributed—and such a scramble there was—on we went. 
