Graham guardian., 1898-11-11
HOW THE DERvIsHEs
DIED AT 0MDURMAN
From ihe Londnn MAN

SSh'ui ~ TO pupOohS
The power Of the Dervishes has
oeen broken in Egypt forever.
The great fac, has been recorded
10 the cable dispatches, but it has
been reserved for &. w. Stevens,
war correspondent of the London
Mail, to give the following magniti-
cent description of this last desper-
,te stand made by the valiant
fanatics against the invincible pow.
or of the western world: Light
stole quickly into the sky behind
us; there was no sound from the
plains or hills before us; there wac
hardly sound from our own line.
Everybody was very silent, but
very curious. Woulo they be SO
mao as to come out and run their
heads into our tirei 1t seemed be
rond hoping for; yet, certainly
they had been full of war the day
before. But most of us were ex.
pecting instantly the order to ad
vance on Omdurman.
A trooper rose out of the dimness
from benlnd the shoulder of Gebel
ourgham, grew larger and plalner,
spurred violently up to the line and
inside. A couple more were sill.
nouetted across our front. Then
The electric whisper came racing
down the line; they were com.
ing. The lsncers came in on the
left; the Egyptian mounted troops
drew like a curtain across us from
left to right. As they passed a
tlicker of white flags began to ex,
tend and fill the front in their place,
The noise of something began to
creep in upon us; it cleared and
divided into the tap of drums and
the far-awsy surf of rancous war
cries. A shiver of expectancy
thrilled along our army, and then
a sigh of content, They were com
ing on. Allah help them, they
Wcie coming ou.
1t was now $50. The flags
seemed still very distant, the roar
very faint, and the thud of our first
| gun was almost startling. 1t may
have startled them, too. They
came very fast, and they came very
straight; and then presently they
| came no further. With crash the
bullets leaped out of the British
lfles. 1t began with the guards
md the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. volleys
at 1000 yards; then, as the Der
wishes edged rightward, it rar
along the Highlanders, the Lincolns
and to Maxwells Brigade. Th,
British stood up in double rank be
| nind their zariba; the blacks lay
down IN their shelter trench; bott
poured cut death as fast as theN
could load and press the trigger
ohrapnel whistled and Maxim,
growled savagely. From all th,
line came perpetual fire, fire, fire
and shreked forth IN great gusts
OF destruction.
| And the enemy. white troop
er would have faced that torrent o
death for five minutes, but the Bag
CARA and blacks came on. Th,
torrent swept into them and hurled
them down in whole companies
you saw rigid line gather itsel
up and rush on evenly; then, before
q shiapnel shell or a Maxim, tht
line suddenly quivered and stopped
The line was yet unbroken, but il
! was quite still. But other line,
gathered up again, again, and yst
again; they went down, and yet
others rushed on. Sometimes they
came near enough to see single fig
ures quite plainly. One old mar
with a white flag started with five
comrades; all dropped, but he alon,
came bounding forward to withir
200 yards of the Fourteenth Sou
danese. Then he folded his arms
across his face and his limbs loos
rned, and he dropped sprawling to
earth beside his flag.
1t was the last day of Mahdism
and the greatest. They could new
or get near, and they refused tc
hold back. BY now the ground
before US was all white with dead
mems drapery. Rifles grew red
hot; the soldiers seized them by the
sings and dragged them back to
the reserve to change for cool ones
1t was not battle, but an execu
ton.
Thus much for the right. On
the left the British cavalry were in
the stress of an engagement, less
perfectly fought out. They left the
zariba, as yoa heard, the moment
the attack burned out, and pricked
eagerly off to 0mdurman, Verg.
ing somewhat westwardly, to the
rear OF Gebcl Suryham, they came
on some three hundred Dervishes.
Their scouts had been ever the
ground 1000 yards ahead of them,
and il was clear for charge. Only
to cut them off it was thought bet.
ter to get II little west of them
then left wheel, and thus gallop
down on them and drive them
away from their supports. The
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