The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-10-05

Baggara had been met at last. and he was
ly, with their slippers placed under their
heads for last pillow. Some knelt cut
short in the middle of last prayer; Others
were torn to pieces. vermilion blood al
ready drying on brown skin. killed Instant
ly, beyond doubt. Others, again, seeming
preached. and rushed savagely, hurting
their spears at the nearest enemy They
were bayoneted or shot. Once again the
plain seemd empty but for the advancing
masses and the carpet OF redeemed white
and broken bodies underfoot.
1t was now twenty minutes to 10. The
British had crested a low ridge between
Gebe Surgham and the Nile. Maxwells
brigade was just ascending it. Lewis's just
coming up under the hill. Men who could
go where they liked were up with the Brit
ish, staring hungrily at Omdurman. Sud-
denly from rearward broke out heavy
erackle of fire. We thought perhaps a
dozen men or so had been shamming dead ,
We went on staring at Omdurman But
next instant we had to turn and galloped
hot-heeled back again For the crackle be-
came a crashing, and the crashing waxed
to roar. Dervisnes were firing at us from
the top of Gebel Surgham, Dervishes were
firing behind and to the right of it. The
Thirteenth Sudanese were bounding up the
hill, Lewis's brigade. had hastily faced to its
right westward, and was volleying for life
Macdonalds. beyond, still facing north
ward, was sheet of flashes and a roll of
smoke What was IT? had, they come Ell, TO
or ghosts they were on us, and the battle
was begun all again.
Understand, you must near HOW WHAT
we only heard afterward. The Dervish
army, it appeared, had not returned to
Omdurman on the night of the list, but had
bivouacked-40.0Uv or $4,000 of them-behind
Gebel Surgham. southwestward from
Agaiga The Khalifa had doubtless ex-
pected a sudden attack at daybreak. as at
Firket, at Abu Hamed, on the Atbara; as
marched by night TO our positions be-
fore Omdurman, he must have designed to
spring upon our right flank. When day
broke and no enemy appeared he divided
his army into three corps. The first, under
Osman Azrak. attacked the village; the
second, with the green banner of Ali Wad
Helu-with him Abdullahts eldest son. the
Sheik-ed-Din = moved toward kerrerl
heights to envelop our right; the third, I'M
der Abdullahi himself and his brother
Yakub. remained behind Surgham ready
as need might be, to envelop our left, or to
act as reserve and bar our road to Omdur-
man."
This is Mr.. Steevenss account of the now
famous charge of the Twenty first Lancers
"a charge whereof it must be said, as of
that of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, ut
was magnificent, but it was not war;
''verging somewhat westward. to the rear
of Gebel Surgham, they came on some 800
Dervishes Their scouts had been over the
ground a thousand yards ahead Of them, and
it was clear for a charge. Only to cut them
off it was thought better to get a little west
of them, then left wheel. and thus gallop
DOWN on them ana QrlV6 lueIn away lFOIu
their supports. The trumpets. sang out the
order, the troops glided into line, and. four
squadrons in column the TWenty-first Lam
GERS swung into their first charge.
Knee to knee they swept on till they
were but 200 yards from the enemy Then
IN be ash tbe a saw tb the
yawned suddenly a deep ravine; out of the
ravine, there sprang instantly a cloud OF
swords and ana thunder Of Savage Voices
Mahmud smiled when he heard the tale In
prison at Hafa, and said it was their favor
lite stratagem. 1t had succeeded. Three
thousand, If there was one, to a shor8 five
hundred: but it was too late to check now.
Must go through with it now. The plumbers
British glory. Knee to knee the Lancers
whirled on. One hundred yards-tifty-knee
Slap! Tt was just like that said cap
tain bringing his fist hard into his open
palm. Through the swordsmen they shore
without checking-and then came the khor.
The colonel at their head, riding Straight
through everything without sword or revolt
yer drawn. found his horse on it's head and
got the charger up again and rode on
straight, unarmed, through everything. The
squadrons followed him down the fall.
Horses plunged. Numbered. recovered, fell;
stringing cut. Officers pistoled them in
passing over as one drops stone into,
then cut; everybody went on straight
through everything.
other side they came-those that kept up or
got up in time. The others were on the
ground-in pieces by now, for the cruel
swords shore through shoulder and thigh
and carved the dead into filets Twenty
four of these, and of those that came out
scventy-four had felt sword or bullet or
spear. Few horses stayed behind among
the swords, but nearly 100 were wounded.
Lieutenant Robert Grenfells troop came on
q pace with a jump out as well as a jump
in 1t lost officer, center guide and both
flank guides, ten killed and eleven wounded.
Yet when they burst struggling out their
ofy tnouggt was 10 ye en ana g9 sa So
mangied across the face that his body was
a cascade of blood. and nose and cheeks
sergeant, you're wounded said the subal-
tern of his troop. No, no, sir; fall in! came
his saddle. Fall in, No. 2, fall in! Where
are the devils? Show me the devilsi And
No. 2 fell in-four whole men out of thirty.
'They chafed and stamped and BIAS
the colonel wisely forbade them to face the
pit anew. There were gnashings or teeth
theatrical, half brutal to tell of when blood
has cooled, yet things to rejoice over in that
ali, been civilized out of Britons. Also,
there were many and many deeds of self
abandoning heroism; of which tale the half
will never be told. Take only one. Lieut.
De Montmorency missed his troop sergeant
and rode back among the slashes to look
for him. There he found the hacked body
put 1t up on his horse, not seeing. In MS
heat, that life had drained out long since
by dozen channels The horse bolted UNI
der the slackened muscles and De Mont
morency was left alone with his revolver
and three thousand screaming fiends Capt
Kenna and Corporal Swarbrick rode out,
caught his horse and brought 1t back; the
three answered the fire of the three thou
sand at fifty yards and got quietly back to
their own line untouched
"Forbearing a second charge the iancers
dismounted and opened fire: the carbines at
short range took an opulent vengeance for
the lost Back back. back they drove them
till they came into the fire of the Thirty
second Battery. Then shrapnel flew snriek-
ing over them: the three thousand fell all
ways and died.
DERvISH BRAVERY.
The Daily News correspondent gives
thrilling picture of the scene the Der
wishes dashed forward in their first great
charge. This is it:
''At this tirne-i. e., when the Dervish
masses were bout thirteen hundred yards
away-the spectacle they presented was the
most marvellous and the most magnificent
that can be imagined. No one of us who
was present on that day will ever in his
presSive or so stirring. If typified in every
sense. the final desperate struggle of bar
barism against civilization, of logged,
fierce. unreasoning fanaticism against the
massed trumphs of modern science, the I'LL
innate protest of brute-brave ignorance
against discipline The Dervish cohorts adj
vanced. rolling forward over desert as
tidal wave might roll, or huge prairie fire
sweep over the plain. Their countless BAN
ners swayed as they moved their great
broad-bladed spears cleaned innumerable--
a sheet of silver in the sun. Their leaders
on Gxzyiff Hor CHI 70 fr1