"CLARIDGE PASHA"
It was a rhetorical document couched in the phraseology they best
understood; and if it begat derision, it also begat anger; and the
challenge David had delivered would be met when the mists had lifted from
the river and the plain. But when the first thinning of the mists began,
when the sun began to dissipate the rolling haze, Ali Wad Hei and his
rebel sheikhs were suddenly startled by rifle-fire at close quarters, by
confused noises, and the jar and roar of battle. Now the reason for the
firing of the great guns was plain. The noise was meant to cover the
advance of David's men. The little garrison, which had done no more than
issue in sorties, was now throwing its full force on the enemy in a last
desperate endeavour. It was either success or absolute destruction. David
was staking all, with the last of his food, the last of his ammunition,
the last of his hopes. All round the field the movement was forward, till
the circle had widened to the enemy's lines; while at the old defences
were only handfuls of men.
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