[12] Afterwards Field-Marshal Sir Neville Chamberlain, G.C.B., &c.
_Reveille_ was just sounding in the grey dawn of April 23rd, when three
thousand Waziris armed with swords and guns, and fired with fierce
fanaticism, boldly charged that side of the camp which was held by the
Guides. The storm first fell on the outlying picquets, who fired a
volley, and then received the great rush of white-robed swordsmen on
their bayonets. They fought with the utmost gallantry, but the weight of
numbers was against them, and in a few minutes, standing bravely at
their posts, they were practically annihilated. Yet the strife was not
in vain, for it was strong enough to cause all but the bravest of the
brave to pause before proceeding to attack the kernel of the nut, whose
shell had been so hard to crack. And thus it came about that only five
hundred of the three thousand swordsmen faced the death beyond. These,
with scarce a pause, and calling loudly on Allah to give them victory,
swept swiftly on to the camp of the Guides. In that war-seasoned corps,
half an hour before dawn, wet or dry, in freezing cold or tropical heat,
the inlying picquet, a hundred strong, falls in, and stands silent,
fully equipped, armed, and ready for all emergencies, till broad
daylight shows all clear and safe. At the first sound of the firing
Lumsden jumped to his feet, and taking this inlying picquet, rushed out
of camp at its head, and so posted it as to enfilade and hold in check
the great body of Waziris who now darkened the skyline.
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