Identifier: fireswordinsud00slat (find matches)
Title: Fire and sword in the Sudan; a personal narrative of fighting and serving the dervishes, 1879-1895. Translated by F.R. Wingate. Popular ed
Year: 1897 (1890s)
Authors: Slatin, Rudolf Carl
Subjects:
Publisher: London E. Arnold
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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the followingday. I now took out the hammers from the percussion-guns belonging to the killed, which lay heaped up in themiddle of the zariba, and threw them into a rain-pool; butof the stocks I made a bonfire. The filled shells for thegun I threw into the water, and as much ammunition aspossible was distributed amongst the soldiers, each mancarrying from sixteen to eighteen dozen rounds ; but all thepercussion-gun ammunition I was obliged to destroy, incase it should fall into the hands of the enemy ; the lead inthe cartridges was removed, and some of the very severelywounded having just died, I placed it in the open graves,over which we laid the bodies of our poor comrades, asguardians of our precious metal. It was on a Saturday, the seventh day after our disaster,and just after sunrise, that we marched out of the zariba,and, forming up in square with flank and rear guards, webegan our retreat. The only two camels remaining drewthe gun in the middle of the square, and I sent out two
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A Dervish Emir. EFFORTS TO STEM THE TIDE OF MAHDISM 97 Arab horsemen as far as possible on each side to scout.We had one hundred and sixty wounded inside the square,and as many of them as could march did so ; but the mostsevere cases we mounted on the few remaining horses, eachhorse carrying two or three men. I myself was prepared towalk, but, at the urgent request of my officers, I mounted,so as to obtain a better view over the country. We all knewthat when we had marched some distance from the zaribawe should most certainly be attacked ; I therefore had thegun loaded, and we resolved to sell our lives dearly. Wewell understood the Arab mode of fighting, and were confi-dent that if we succeeded in driving back the first two orthree attacks, we should not be further molested. It wasdecided the line of direction should be north-east, as theground was more open ; but we were ignorant of the rain-pools, as our guides were either killed or had deserted. Before we had been on the march an

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