March to Magdala Part 12

"Boatswain, where the devil are you?"

"Ay, ay, sir!" was the instant answer from the man, who was standing close by, but who had quite forgotten his new rank of sergeant-major.

Of an evening, if we have a halt, Jack sometimes dances. The band of the Punjaubees-between whom and the sailors there is a great friends.h.i.+p, although of course they do not understand a word of each other's language-comes over to the sailors' camp, and plays dance-music; and half-a-dozen couples of sailors stand up and execute quadrilles, waltzes, and polkas.

The scene is a very amusing one. The Punjaubees do not stand, but sit in a circle, and play away with the greatest gravity; very well they play too, for they are beyond all comparison the best band out here. The sailors dance without the least idea that there is anything comic in the business; while round stand a crowd of amused soldiers and of astonished natives of the country, to whom the whole performance is a profound mystery.

The Punjaub Pioneers still maintain the high opinion they have earned by their hard work. They are indeed a splendid regiment, and reflect the greatest credit upon Major Chamberlain, their popular commanding-officer.

Major Chamberlain's case is a particularly hard one. He was promoted to the rank of major during the mutinies, and was subsequently, for his great services, recommended no less than three times for his colonelcy. The Indian Government, however, refused, on account of his recent promotion.

Eleven years have since elapsed, and that objection must long ere this be done away with; and yet Major Chamberlain is only Major Chamberlain still.

It is to be hoped that at the end of this campaign a tardy recognition will be made of his services.

It was Major Chamberlain and his Punjaubees who found water at a short distance from Zulla. He a.s.serted, and very rightly, that as there was water at Koomaylo, it must find its way down to the sea somehow, and so he set his men to work to dig. Down he went steadily, amidst the laughter and chaff of his friends in the Engineers. Still he persevered, and at nearly sixty feet from the surface he struck water. An abundant supply is now obtainable from this well, and by this service alone he has amply earned his promotion.

The difficulties of writing since we left Lat have been greater than ever, and the manual operation of inditing an epistle is a most serious business. Of course there is nothing resembling a chair or a table,-not even a box. The only way to write is lying upon the ground, and putting one's paper upon one's pillow. Now my pillow is not a comfortable one for sleeping upon, much less for writing. It is composed of a revolver, a box of cartridges, a telescope, a bag of dollars, a packet of candles, a powder-flask, a bag of bullets, a comb, a pair of stockings, and a flannel-s.h.i.+rt,-in fact, all my worldly belongings. A most useful kit, no doubt, but uncomfortable as a pillow, inconvenient as a writing-table.

However, one gets accustomed to anything; and if this campaign lasts another month or two, we shall not improbably have learnt to dispense with much more important articles than tables and chairs; for we have only the clothes we stand in, and these are already giving unmistakable signs of approaching dissolution.

Dalanta, April 5th.

We are now getting to names which are somewhat familiar to us. The river Djedda, which the troops crossed yesterday, and the plain of Dalanta, where we are encamped to-day, were both mentioned frequently in the letters from the captives. The river Djedda was the place where Theodore was detained so long making a practicable road for his guns, and where he was represented as encouraging his men at their task by working with his own hands. Dalanta was the province or tract which was spoken of as in rebellion against him for a considerable time previously, but which submitted as soon as he had crossed the Djedda.

After I had sent off my letter of the 3d, intelligence arrived that Theodore had broken up his camp before Magdala, and was moving to attack us. I need hardly say that the news was untrue. The Chief, however, was bound to act upon it, and consequently we were ordered to march at seven; and instead of halting, as previously intended, upon the edge of the ravine of the Djedda, we were to cross and encamp on the other side, so as to avoid the possibility of having to take such a strong position. Colonel Milward, who had marched the evening before with the Punjaubees, and two companies of the 4th, was ordered to cross early, and General Staveley was to bring up his force to the edge of the ravine. We started punctually at the time ordered, and marched across a precisely similar country to that we had traversed for the few previous days. Some miles before we reached the edge of the Djedda the whole aspect was changed. The yellow stubble and hay, which had before stretched away upon both sides, was all burnt, and the ground was covered only with a black ash. The flocks and herds which had dotted the country were gone, and scarcely a human being was to be seen over the black expanse. The snug homesteads and villages had disappeared, and in their places were bare walls and heaps of stones. I rode up to one of these. On the floor lay the half-charred thatch of the roof; among it were portions of broken pots and baking effects. Here was a long round stone, which was used as a rolling-pin to make the flat bread; there was a large vessel of baked earth and cow-dung which had once held flour or milk. A rat scuttled away as I looked in. There was not a living soul in what had once been a large village. This was indeed the desolation of war. Presently we saw rising, apparently a few feet above the plain, at a distance of five or six miles, a long perpendicular wall of rock. This, we knew, was the upper edge of the opposite side of the Djedda. The ground then sank a little in front of us, and, riding along the slight depression, we suddenly turned a corner, and below us lay the wonderful gorge of the Djedda. Its width from edge to edge was four or five miles, its depth to the stream 3800 feet. It was a wonderful ravine. As far as eye could see either way, the upper part upon sides appeared like two perpendicular walls of perhaps a third of its total depth. Then, on either side, was a plain or shoulder of from a mile to a mile and a half in width, with a gradual slope towards the stream. The lower portion was again extremely steep, but still with a gradual descent, and not mere walls of rock like the upper edges. It was easy to imagine the whole process of the formation of this gorge. Originally it must have been an arm of the sea; a gulf of five miles across, and with perpendicular cliffs upon either side, and its depth the level of the broad shoulders. Then the land rose, and a great river ran through the centre of what was now a n.o.ble valley, gradually eating its way down until its bed attained its present enormous depth. It was this ravine which had been the cause of the immense detour we have had to make. Forty miles back, at Santarai, we were said to be as close to Magdala as we were when we stood prepared to descend into the Djedda. But the perpendicular walls barred our progress, and we have marched along nearly parallel to its course until we have reached the one spot where a break in its iron walls allow of our descent.

By this route Theodore marched, and when we saw the road he had made for us, we felt for the first time since our arrival really grateful to the Abyssinian tyrant.

It is really a wonderful road, almost as good as could have been made by our own engineers; the only difference being that they would have thrown a layer of earth over the loose stones to bind them together, and to afford a firm and level surface. The road is really constructed with great engineering skill. Blasting-tools have been freely used wherever the rock required it. Every wind and turn, every shoulder and slope, has been taken advantage of in order to make zigzags, and render the descent more gradual. It is true that in places it is fearfully steep-an incline of one and a quarter to one-which, to convey the idea more popularly, is about the slope of the bank of a railway-cutting. The leaving the road in its present state, with loose stones, may have been done with an object, for upon a solid road of this angle it would have been next to impossible to have kept heavy cannon on wheels from running down, whereas upon a very loose and heavy road the matter was comparatively easy. The length of the descent is four miles and a half, that of the ascent three miles and a half. Two miles and a half of the former, and a mile and a half of the latter, are across and partially along the shoulders, where the slope was very slight. In consequence, it may be said that actually three thousand feet of depth were on either side attained in two miles, which would give an average incline of one in three. The road is from twenty to thirty feet in width; generally it is made through basalt, which, in cooling, had crystallised, so that its surface resembles a mosaic pavement, and this readily breaks up. Parts, however, are cut through a hard stone, and portions through a conglomerate, which must have tried to the utmost the tools and patience of Theodore's army. How he achieved the task with the means at his disposal I am at a loss to understand; and the road has certainly raised Theodore very many degrees in the estimation of our men.

Upon every level s.p.a.ce in the camping-ground of his army, there are their fireplaces, and innumerable little bowers of five feet high and little more in diameter, in which his troops curled themselves up when their day's work was over. It was a long and very weary descent. Going down a steep place is comparatively easy when one carries no load; but when one has over fifty pounds upon the back it is extremely trying. At last we reached the bottom, a stony waste of a quarter of a mile wide, with a few large trees growing upon what in the rainy season are, no doubt, islands.

The bed of the stream is perfectly dry, except that here and there, at intervals of a quarter of a mile or so, were pools of water, very soft and unpleasant to the taste, and full of tadpoles. The troops when they arrived here were a good deal done up, having already marched thirteen miles, and it was hoped that the Chief would order a halt for the night.

He, however, considered it essential that the plateau should be gained that evening, and Milward's corps, whose rearguard left the river as we descended to it, supported. The troops were ordered to halt and rest until four o'clock, and to have their dinners, and the mules were to be unloaded, fed, and watered.

It was three o'clock before the baggage began to arrive in the valley, and it was evident that it would not be all down until dark, and that much of it could not reach the plateau above that night. Three of us, therefore, resolved upon sleeping where we were, and upon going on at daybreak. We accordingly pitched our tents under a tree, saw our horses picketed and fed, and dinner in course of preparation, and then went out for a walk to explore the valley. The temperature was very many degrees warmer than upon the plateau above, and the flora was more than proportionately luxuriant.

Here I find, among hundreds of other plants of whose names and properties I am unfortunately ignorant, the wild verbena and heliotrope, also the cuc.u.mber. Unfortunately the cuc.u.mbers had only just begun to form, and were scarcely as large as gherkins, or we might have had an unexpected addition to our fare. I also found quant.i.ties of the rare palm-fern growing in crevices of the rocks. It was altogether a splendid field for a botanist, and I think it a great pity that a learned botanist did not accompany the expedition instead of a geographer, who, although a most distinguished savant, can but tell the world nearly the same particulars of the narrow strip of country through which we are travelling as must occur to any ordinary observer. Had this gentleman merely taken advantage of the protection given by our presence in the country to travel generally through it, he might have no doubt added largely to our store of information; but keeping to the line of route followed by the army, he can, with the exception of ascertaining the precise heights over which we travel, tell us really next to nothing. I believe, however, that this staying with the army is in no degree the fault of the gentleman in question, but of the military authorities, who here appear to have the idea that a civilian is a sort of grown-up baby, who must be kept strictly under their own eyes, or else that he will infallibly get into mischief, and either come to harm himself, or else be the cause of that dreadful and mysterious thing-complications. Had King Ka.s.sa, at the time he visited us, been applied to by the Commander-in-chief, he would, no doubt, have afforded every facility to the geographer and archaeologist to have wandered as they pleased among his dominions, and the latter especially might have visited the interesting cities of Adowa and Axum, and made discoveries of an important and interesting nature, instead of wasting his time on the summit of the bleak Abyssinian mountains.

We enjoyed our little picnic amazingly. It was such a relief to get for once out of the routine of camp, with its sentries, and its countersigns, and bugle-calls, and mules, and to lie outside our tent and enjoy the warm evening air, which we had not been able to do since we left Zulla, where there was only sand to lie on. At eight o'clock, however, the rain came on and drove us in, with the pleasant knowledge that we had chosen well in stopping, for the last of the baggage was not down the hill until past six; and although they at once started upon their weary climb, it was impossible that they could reach the camp before morning. Our camp was presently increased in size by a dozen commissariat coolies, who were driving several hundred sheep and some oxen, and who did not get to the river until nearly eight o'clock. Jackals and hyaenas were very numerous, so we piled together a good fire to keep them off our horses, and then lay down to sleep with our rifles and revolvers within reach, for it was of course just possible, although not-as some of the members of the staff to whom we had mentioned our intention to stay considered likely-probable, that some of Theodore's cavalry might come along down the valley upon the look-out for stragglers. We came up at daybreak next morning, and after a cup of sugarless tea, started for camp. It was a very severe climb, and at the shoulder we came up to many of the mules which had been unable to get up the night before. The road which Theodore has cut enables us to see very clearly the formation of the valley, and I have not the least question that coal would be found there. I do not mention this as a commercial, but as a scientific, fact; for, commercially, coal here would be of no more value than stones. But of the fact itself I have no question. The character of the formation, the stone, the bands of fireclay, and of black friable shale, are very distinct, and there is in my mind no doubt whatever of the existence of coal. On the way we pa.s.sed several dead mules and horses, and there can be no question that the journey was a most cruel one. This extreme fatigue may not cripple a man at the time, he may be ready for duty the next morning; but it must tell, and tell severely upon his const.i.tution, and there are not a few men here who will feel the effects of Mahkan, Dildee, and Dalanta, to the end of their lives. The camp is situated upon a dead-level about a mile from the top of the ascent. I find upon inquiry that the troops in general got in at nine o'clock-of course wet through-but that very many of them, and a great deal of baggage, did not come in until this morning. There were rumours of an attack, Ra.s.sam having sent in a letter warning the Chief to be particularly on his guard against night attacks. The men, therefore, went to sleep in their boots, with their rifles by their sides. No attack took place. The same precaution is used to-night. We find, as I expected, that very little is brought in by the natives. The horses and mules to-day only get two pounds of grain each. We are still upon half-rations of flour, which, by this means, and with what is bought at Tacazze and upon the way will, I hope, enable us to hold on until supplies arrive. Nothing positive has yet been heard of the native carriage. Sir Robert Napier has been out all day making a long reconnoissance. From one point which he attained the tents of Theodore's army upon the plain in front of Magdala were clearly visible. The party did not return until dark, and I have heard no particulars. Theodore is known, however, to be still there, and his efforts are directed to fortifying the hill which defends Magdala. He has several guns in position on the summit, and I apprehend that we shall have to capture it before we a.s.sault Magdala. It is not known yet whether we advance to-morrow or not, but it is believed that we shall start late, and make a short march, and that Sir Charles Staveley, who is encamped to-night at the bottom of the Djedda ravine, will come up to our present camp. It is a tremendously wet night.

Dalanta, April 7th.

We have had many surprises since we arrived in the country, but none greater, and certainly none more satisfactory, than that which we have here experienced. The letters from the captives had informed us that Theodore had burnt everything upon the plain of Dalanta; and we had in consequence imagined that we should be able to obtain nothing whatever either for ourselves or animals, and that the prospect of the latter especially was gloomy in the extreme, for we had not any corn whatever remaining for them. Captain Speedy, however, rode out to see the chief of Dalanta, with whom he had an acquaintance when residing in the country. He returned in the afternoon with the tidings that the chief had promised at least 100,000 lbs. of grain in two days. It is evident that he is a man of his word, for we have had a market to-day which has surpa.s.sed anything we have seen in the country except at Antalo. There is a crowd of people with grain, bread, fowls, &c. &c., and the four or five commissariat Pa.r.s.ees cannot pay out the dollars for the bucket-loads of grain half as fast as the natives bring them in. It is indeed quite a scramble among these latter.

This unexpected influx of grain, &c., may be said to be the turning-point which secures the success of our expedition. Had we found no grain here we must have lost all the transport-animals, as these have already been on very short commons for some days. The supplies for the men too were running extremely short, and if Magdala holds out for a week our position would have been most unpleasant; now we are safe. We have abundant grain for the animals for another week, and we are told that supplies will continue to come in in any quant.i.ties. Very large quant.i.ties of bread too have been purchased, and both officers and men have laid in a stock of fowls, eggs, &c. All anxiety is at an end. We have fairly overcome now all the difficulties of the country, and of supplies. Theodore and his men are, in comparison, contemptible foes.

Staveley's brigade came up yesterday, and are encamped at a spot about two miles beyond us. Now that supplies are coming in in abundance, and a day is no longer of vital consequence, we shall, I believe, wait for another day or two to allow the wing of the 45th, the second wing of the Beloochees, and the 3d Dragoon Guards, to come up.

Yesterday almost every officer in camp went to the edge of the ravine to have a look at Magdala. It is a ride of a little over two miles, and the ravine goes down in an almost unbroken precipice of 500 or 600 feet from the upper edge. The view is one of the finest, if not the very finest, we have had in Abyssinia. It is grand in the extreme. At our feet was the perpendicular precipice, then a short shoulder, and then another sharp fall down to the Bachelo, which is 3900 feet below us. This side of the ravine is very similar, but steeper, to that of the Djedda. Upon the other side, however, the character is altogether different. In place of a corresponding ascent, as at the Djedda, the ground rises in a succession of billows one behind another, higher and higher, to the foot of some very lofty mountains, which form the background forty miles away. Such an extraordinary sea of hills I never saw. It was most magnificent, and stretched away east and west as far as the eye could reach. Above all this Magdala rose like a great s.h.i.+p out of the surrounding billows. There was no mistaking it, with its precipitous sides, its frowning aspect, and the cl.u.s.ter of tents clearly discernible upon its summit. As the crow flies it was about eight miles distant.

I will endeavour to give as clear a description of it as possible, in order that our future operations may be readily understood. From the bed of the Bachelo the ground rises in a ma.s.s of rounded hills, with somewhat flat tops; down through these, deep ravines convey the streams from the distant hills into the Bachelo. One of these ravines comes down nearly direct from Magdala, and it is up this that the road goes, until it gets within about two miles of Magdala, when it leaves the ravine and goes up on to the flat hill-tops from the midst of which Magdala rises. Magdala, from here, appears like a three-topped mountain with almost perpendicular sides. Two of the summits, which together resemble a saddle with high flat peaks, face this way. The hill to the right is Fahla; that on the left, which is some hundred feet higher, is Salamgi. The road winds up the face of Fahla to the saddle between the two, and it is evident that Fahla will be the first position to be attacked. There are apparently very few huts upon Fahla. The road, we hear, after reaching the top of the saddle, turns to the left, and crosses over Salamgi. Salamgi is tremendously strong; it is a series of natural scarps, of great height; and upon the terrace formed by these scarps a great portion of Theodore's force is encamped.

Salamgi, if well defended, even by savages, will be a most formidable position to a.s.sault. The third top of this singular fortress is Magdala itself. This, like Fahla, has a flat top, which is completely covered with large huts. We see only the top of Magdala, over the saddle between Salamgi and Fahla. It is apparently lower than Salamgi, but higher than Fahla. It is, we hear, connected with Salamgi by a flat shoulder. It appears to be about a mile distant from the summit of this mountain, and when, therefore, we have taken Salamgi, our light guns will not be of much utility in bombarding Magdala at so great a distance.

I have now given an idea of the scene in which the great drama, which will commence to-morrow or next day, will be played. My next letter will, at any rate, give you the opening scene, and possibly even the entire drama.

Before Magdala, April 11th.

Although it was evident when I last wrote to you that the last act of our long drama was approaching, I certainly did not imagine that my next letter would convey the tidings that all was over-that the captives were free, their prison captured, their oppressor punished, and general triumph amidst a blaze of blue fire. But so it is; for although Magdala has not yet fallen, it will undoubtedly do so before the post closes, and a more gratifying termination to our expedition than has eventuated could not have been desired by the most sanguine. I had better continue my letter in a narrative form from the date when I last wrote-for if I describe the final events first it would deprive the rest of the matter of all interest.

I wrote last on the evening of the 7th from Dalanta. The following day brought in largely-increased supplies, and the market was completely thronged with the country people. In the three days we were there we purchased over 100,000 lbs. of grain, besides quant.i.ties of bread, &c.

&c., and nowhere, even at Antalo, did supplies flow in with such rapidity as at this place, where we expected to find a desert.

On the afternoon of the 8th the wing of the 45th marched into camp, having done the distance from Scindee. The authorities had thoughtfully sent down mules to the Djedda river to carry up their coats and blankets, and the men consequently arrived comparatively fresh. The sailors of the Naval Brigade turned out as they came into camp, and saluted them with three hearty cheers. The 45th are a remarkably fine body of men.

Thus reinforced Sir Robert Napier determined to move forward and to encamp before Magdala, even if he decided upon delaying the a.s.sault until the other wing of the Beloochees and the 3d Dragoon Guards joined us. The order was accordingly issued for a march the next day to the edge of the Bachelo ravine, to which the second brigade, which were now two miles ahead of us, were also to proceed. We started at ten o'clock, and were soon upon our camping-ground, which was only five miles distant. Here the second brigade joined us, and together we formed a larger camp than any we have had since our landing at Zulla. From the front of the camp we had an excellent view of Magdala, which stood up, with Salamgi and Fahla, a thousand feet above the surrounding hills. We could now see that the ridge connecting Salamgi with Fahla was longer than it had appeared from our previous point of view, the distance from one end to the other of the saddle being apparently over half a mile.

The first brigade was ordered to advance at daybreak. The Commander-in-chief and his head-quarters were to move with the second brigade at ten o'clock, so as to allow the baggage of the first brigade to get first to the bottom of the ravine. The first brigade were to march to within two or three miles of Magdala. The second were to encamp upon the river, and to march on early the next morning. There was then not the slightest intention on the part of Sir Robert Napier that any attack should take place, and indeed, as I have before said, it was considered very probable that we should await the arrival of the troops hurrying up from behind before any a.s.sault was made upon Magdala. However, I determined to go on early, as it was quite possible that something would take place, and I had afterwards good reason to congratulate myself upon having so done, as several others who had not started until ten o'clock lost the exciting scene at the end of the day.

Sir Charles Staveley was in command of the advance, and Colonel Phayre, as quartermaster-general of the army, went on in front with six companies of the Bombay and Madras Sappers to prepare the road, should it be necessary.

At half-past five the next morning (Good Friday) we were in motion, and at once entered upon the steep descent to the Bachelo. It is a ravine of about the same depth as the Djedda, namely, 3800 feet, and the road, as made by Theodore, is a wonderfully good one. It is shorter, but at the same time scarcely so precipitous as parts of that down to the Djedda, and can hardly have presented quite so many difficulties, that is, there were fewer places where the basalt had to be cut through with blasting-tools.

Still, it was a fatiguing descent to the Bachelo, and the sun, when it rose, came down with tremendous power. The men had had but a scanty supply of water the night before, and hardly any before starting; they therefore looked forward eagerly for the welcome stream at the bottom. It turned out, however, a disappointment, for although there was an abundance of water, the river being eighty yards wide, and nearly waist-deep, the water was of a consistency and colour which would have rendered it perfectly undrinkable except to men suffering from great thirst. I do not think I ever saw such muddy water in a stream. It was the colour of coffee with milk in it, and perfectly opaque with mud. It looked like nothing so much as the water in a dirty puddle in a London street, just as it has been churned up by the wheels of a pa.s.sing omnibus. However, there was no help for it, and, dirty as it was, everyone had a drink, and the soldiers filled their canteens, for it was probable that no more water would be obtainable during the day.

From the Bachelo a broad ravine with a flat bottom ran nearly straight to Salamgi, and along this Theodore's road was made. It was believed, however, that guns had been laid to command this road, and it was not improbable that Theodore might make a sudden attack. It was therefore determined that the mountain guns, rocket trains, and baggage should proceed by this road, preceded by the six hundred Sappers and Miners; and that the infantry should at once climb the hills to its right, and should march along them, so as to clear them of any possible enemy. To cross the river the men had to wade, the first time that they have had to do so since they landed. Some wisely took off their trousers, others thinking vainly that the water would not reach above their knees, merely rolled their trousers up, and, of course, got thoroughly wet. Most of them took off shoes and stockings, but many stopped in the middle and put their boots on again, for the stones were so extremely sharp that wet shoes were preferable to cut feet. At last the troops were across, and after a short halt moved forward, the Sappers having gone on an hour previously with Colonel Phayre. After proceeding up the valley we prepared to climb the hill. On crossing it the 4th formed the advance, the men loading before they started, as it was impossible that we could tell when we might be attacked. Sir Charles Staveley, with General Schneider, the able and popular officer commanding the first brigade, with their staffs followed; and after them came the 4th-the little party of Engineers under Major Pritchard, the Beloochees, the Punjaubees, and two companies of the 10th Native Infantry; also a squadron of the 3d Native Cavalry, the only cavalry we had with us. We have had some stiff climbing since we entered Abyssinia, but this altogether surpa.s.sed any of our previous experience.

In fact, when we got near the summit of the first range, we came to a spot which was almost impa.s.sable even for infantry, and quite so for the horses of the staff. Two or three officers endeavoured to drag their horses up, but the animals, although pretty well accustomed by this time to stiff places, were quite unable to get up, and one or two tumbled backwards and were nearly killed. The infantry therefore clambered up to the top; but we had to wait where we were for half-an-hour, until the Punjaub Pioneers cleared a sort of track up which we were able to scramble. When on the first level we had a halt for half-an-hour, for the troops were all very much exhausted by their climb, under one of the hottest suns I ever felt.

They were now, too, beginning to suffer much from thirst, and the muddy water in the skins was drunk most eagerly. It tasted muddy, but was not otherwise bad; but we had to shut our eyes to drink it. While we were waiting here a messenger arrived from Colonel Phayre, saying that he held the head of the valley with the Sappers and Miners, and that the road was quite practicable. Sir Charles Staveley at once sent off an aide-de-camp to Sir Robert Napier, saying that the baggage and guns, which were waiting at the river for the receipt of this intelligence, might move forward in safety. We then marched four miles farther up a succession of rises to the place where it was hoped from the native accounts that we should find water; but there was only one small pool of very dirty water, with which, however, three or four skins were filled. The disappointment of the men, who were now suffering severely, was very great, but there was no help for it. Here, however, we met with a surprise, which to the commanding-officers quite dispelled any thought of thirst or discomfort; for here, to the astonishment and dismay of Sir Charles Staveley, he found Colonel Phayre and the 800 Sappers and Miners, who were supposed to be holding the head of the valley below us. This was now, we knew, crowded with our artillery, ammunition-baggage and supplies. This valley, as I before stated, ran straight to Magdala, and of course was visible for its whole length to the garrison of that fortress.

The whole of the baggage was therefore open to an attack from Magdala, and we upon the hill-top were powerless to give them the slightest a.s.sistance.

Had Theodore made an attack at this period, it is not too much to say that the whole of our guns, ammunition, and stores must have fallen into his hands, for their whole guard was only eighty or a hundred men of the 4th scattered over a long line. What Colonel Phayre meant, or how he accounted for this extraordinary conduct, I know not; but a more stupendous blunder never was made, and had we had the most contemptible European force to deal with instead of savages, we must have sustained a crus.h.i.+ng disaster.

General Staveley at once sent off an officer to acquaint Sir Robert Napier with the state of affairs, and then ordered the troops to advance at once.

Another couple of miles brought us to our camping-ground, which lay a little behind the crest of a hill, and was not visible from Magdala. Here the tired troops threw themselves down, while the General advanced with his staff to the edge of the rising ground. As the scene before it was destined, although we were at the time ignorant of it, to become our battle-field, I will endeavour to give as accurate a description of it as possible, in order that the fight may be better understood.

We stood on the edge of a sort of plateau. At our feet was a small ravine or valley, dividing us from another plateau, which extended to the foot of Fahla and Salamgi. This plateau was a hundred feet or so below the spot upon which we stood, and would have been completely commanded by our guns.

This plateau was bounded both to the right and left by ravines, the one to the left being the head of the valley in which was our baggage. The little valley which divided us from the plateau widened out to the left, the spot where it fell into the main valley being half a mile distant; and here we could see the spot where our baggage would arrive when it had climbed up from the valley beneath.

Sir Charles Staveley at once despatched the Punjaub Pioneers to this point; that done, there was nothing for it but to wait the event; and this waiting was painful in the extreme.