Had they all fled?  Would there be no opposition?  Should we find Omdurman deserted or submissive?  These were questions which occurred to everyone, and many answered them affirmatively.  Colonel Martin had meanwhile heliographed back to the Sirdar that all the ground was up to this point clear, and that there were no Dervishes to be seen.  After some delay orders were signalled back for one squadron to remain till sunset in observation on the hill and for the rest to return to camp.

With two troops thrown out a mile in front we waited watching on the hill.  Time passed slowly, for the sun was hot.  Suddenly it became evident that one of the advanced troops was signalling energetically.  The message was spelt out.  The officer with the troop perceived Dervishes in his front.  We looked through our glasses.  It was true.  There, on a white patch of sand among the bushes of the plain, were a lot of little brown spots, moving slowly across the front of the cavalry outposts towards an Egyptian squadron, which was watching far out to the westward.  There may have been seventy horsemen altogether.  We could not take our eyes off those distant specks we had travelled so far, if possible, to destroy.  Presently the Dervish patrol approached our right troop, and apparently came nearer than they imagined, for the officer who commanded—­Lieutenant Conolly—­ opened fire on them with carbines, and we saw them turn and ride back, but without hurrying.

The camp to which we returned was a very different place from the one we had left in the morning.  Instead of lying along the river-bank, it was pitched in the thinner scrub.  The bushes had on all sides been cut down, the ground cleared, and an immense oblong zeriba was built, around which the six brigades were drawn up, and into which cavalry, guns, and transport were closely packed.

Very early next morning the advance was continued.  The army paraded by starlight, and with the first streak of the dawn the cavalry were again flung far out in advance.  Secure behind the screen of horsemen and Camel Corps, the infantry advanced in regular array.  Up to the 27th of August the force marched by divisions; but on and after the 30th of August the whole force commenced to march in fighting formation.  The British division was on the left, the Egyptian army on the right.  All the brigades marched in line, or in a slight echelon.  The flank brigades kept their flank battalions in column or in fours.  Other British battalions had six companies in the front line (in company column of fours) and two companies in support.  The Egyptian brigades usually marched with three battalions in the front line and one in reserve, each of the three in the front line having four companies in front and two in support.