The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1882-09-23
OUR FOREIGN LETTER.
From our own Correspondent

(from our own CorrespOnuent.)
Suez, Egypt, Sept 1, 1S82.-When
the gunboats Mosquito" and "Sea-
gulf departed from Suez | was for
tunate enough to be of the party.
From time to time we caught glimpses
of the land force toiling through heavy
sand; but when we neared Shaloof, a
small railway station, those with whom
we were supposed to cooperate were
no where to be seen. But to the gal
liant Captain Hastings, of the "Eury-
ais" who commanded the expedition,
this was a detail, a detachment of
soldiers was speedily landed, to discov-
er that the dam had been blown up
with dynamite, and that the liquid
which at Suez is more precious than
gold was rushing in a torrent to lose
itself in the salt stream. The ship en-
gineers were set at work at once to re-
pair the breach, while captain Hast
ings and the rest cautiously mounted
the sand ridge in hopes of discovering
the perpetrators of the outrage. Ping!
"a bullet another dozen.
The Arabs were evidently lurking in
numbers, hardly concealed by the
broken ground. The Highlanders,
divided into sections, spreading right
and left, advanced to the second ridge,
and directed a sharp fusillade at the
ambushed enemy whilst party on the
extreme right made for the locks, and
were speedily in possession.
There the happy thought occurred
to an officer named Lang, to try to
secure a boat and send it lower down,
to help the troops across the sweet
water canal. Without a moments
hesitation he Invested himself of his
raiment, swan across under the fire
of the enemy, and possessed himself of
the boat. He thereupon took what
cloths he could find, requisitioned the
boots of dead E gyptian officer, and
proceeded with his work
Meanwhile the Naval Brigade
and the Highlanders were at
tempting to drive the enemy from the
mound, or hill with fiat top, which
stands isolated on the plain, and from
this point the sight was a curious one.
Egyptian soldiers were holding up
their rifles at arms lenght overhead,
firing wildly at the gunboats' main
tops, just visible over the sand bank,
whence the gatlings were doing fear
full havoc. For three hours did the
Highlanders and the Marine Brigade
fire at the Arabs without being able
to dislodge them. Ultimately the
right hand company succeeded in TAX
ing them in flank, under Captain
Hallet, making splendid practice
at thousand yards, and the
fire becoming absolutely unbearable,
the Arabs withdrew from their stong
position rushed helter-skelter across
the open leaving a trail of dead to
mark their track. Their own firing
was astonishingly bad, which will be
readily understood when we consider
that the Seaforth men showed them
selves fearlessly, disdaining cover, and
that not man was touched, while the
Arabs left fully 100 dead behind them,
46 prisoners and SO wounded.
Five hours and half brought the
affair to conclusion, and we spent an
amusing hour in questioning the pris-
oners. At first they were terribly
frightened, having been told many
yarns concerning British atrocities, but
they soon plucked up courage, cried
for water and cigarettes, and resigned
themselves calmly to better fate
than they have endured probably for
many years. As q lot, they were old,
worn, and haggard. One man, a pri-
vate, confessed to so years Of age, and
told us that many of their troops were
brought to the field in irons to fight,
Indeed, we found some irons among
the debris on the feld-one which |
weighed, and found it ten pounds.
The dead had received horrible
wounds. They were surrounded with
ammunition, endless cartridges. and
splendid Remington rifles; and in
most instances their kits were of
sumptuous description-neat little
knapsacks, better water bottles than
ours, cambnc handkerchiefs, praying
carpets, and books.