THE EASTERN SOUDAN. 
279 
heads against our brick walls and losing 500 men in the attack, our 
losses being five, a remarkable instance of the value of field fortifica¬ 
tions against savage troops without artillery. We went on to explain 
to these Dervishes that Omdurman was taken, and that the Khalifa 
had gone away, and furthermore in picking up their banners after the 
fights on the 22nd and 28th September, we read extracts inscribed on 
their Koran, saying the Khalifa was the Prophet of God, etc., whereas 
there was no Khalifa, he had run away. To these remarks they replied 
angrily to the effect that when they attacked on the 28th September, 
they knew nothing about all this, as Fedil had never told them of the 
fall of Omdurman and subsequent flight of the Khalifa. They appeared 
very irritated, and taking advantage of their animosity against Fedil, 
I asked them if they would like to follow him up, and harass him on the 
march and loot him of his cattle and impedimenta, I agreed, if they 
assented to pursue, to give them back their rifles and good Egyptian 
ammunition, instead of their bad Omdurman cartridges, stipulating 
they must leave their families behind for us to take care of and safe¬ 
guard ; we wanted them as hostages. To these conditions they readily 
consented and were off in twenty-four hours on the track of Fedil, on 
whose side they had been fighting a few days, you might almost say a 
few hours before. I heard of the!?e same men a few days afterwards ; 
they sent me in the heads of two of Fedil’s sub-lieutenants packed in 
a box. It afterwards transpired that they had been fighting and lost 
thirty men. The most recent news of them was that they had joined 
Lewis's column, and were fighting again with him at that successful 
fight that took place about last Christmas day at Rosaires. Unfortu¬ 
nately Fedil after this, his third decisive defeat, again escaped with a few 
followers, and is no doubt now with the Khalifa in the vicinity of lake 
Sherkelah, reconnoitered by Colonel Kitchener not long ago. 
summai’y of Summing up the fights on the 22nd and 28th 
Gedarif September, the Kassala force was favoured by 
fortune ; first, we were not discovered in this offen- 
operations. sive moveme rit till we had reached Mugatta. Sec¬ 
ondly, the Dervishes came out to fight us in the open instead of re¬ 
maining in their walled enclosures, out of which position we could 
never have turned them, having no guns. Thirdly, the arrival of the 
reserve ammunition from Mugatta, a few hours before the attack by 
Fedil on the 28th September came off. According to the rules of war¬ 
fare, the Kassala force ought not to have won, and so little did the non¬ 
fighting element of Kassala think of our chances of winning, that they 
on our departure migrated in numbers to the Italian colony for safety. 
This little expedition to Gedarif was noteworthy from a financial point 
of view, in that it cost nothing, that is to say, we lived in the place gra¬ 
tuitously long enough to pay for our travelling expenses and war 
losses. The losses in action were heavy, but not more than could be 
expected when we consider the disparity of the forces engaged, and 
that for two hours on the 22nd September, it was a fair stand-up 
fight in the open, rifle against rifle. 
