the enemy the rifle puffs shot out continuously, but, undaunted by danger, the 42nd scaled the rocks, and at the point of the bayonet drove them from their shelter. Colonel Bayly of the 42nd, who commanded the left-half battalion, has favoured us with the following account {100} of Wauchope's intrepid daring in this action. 'Kirbekan,' he says, 'was one of the last fights at which I was present with him. He was in command of a company of my half battalion in the attack on the Arabs' position, a high, precipitous rocky range rising from the river's bank. We were fully engaged, when Wauchope, asking my leave, descended the precipitous bank of the river, then in full flood. Returning in a few minutes, he said he could take the company over the rocks, and with perhaps a little wading he could turn the flank of the kopje held by the enemy. This he did, and rolled the enemy up to their final stand, a roughly built stone shanty, where General Earle (who was in command) and Colonel Coveny met their deaths. And here Wauchope himself was badly wounded.' Meanwhile the cavalry had captured the enemy's camp, and the Staffordshire regiment had gallantly stormed the last remaining ridge. The battle of Kirbekan was won on the 11th February. Wauchope was assisted down from among the high rocks by his friends Captain Stewart and Mr. Mactaggart, the chaplain, and had his wound attended to by Dr. Harvey and Dr. Flood. They found his shoulder very much shattered, and were of opinion that his arm would have to be amputated. He himself was apparently not conscious that he was dangerously wounded, and endeavoured to treat the matter lightly. Having persuaded the doctors to delay the operation till next day, we are told he seemed after a little to be more concerned about the condition of his brother officer, Lord Alexander Kennedy, who had also been severely wounded in the action, than about himself. After further consultation, to the great relief of Wauchope, it was determined to give him a chance of saving his arm. The wound was carefully and successfully {101} dressed. This disablement, however, reduced him from the position of an active leader in the expedition to that of a mere spectator. He was quite laid aside for a time, and compelled to remain in one of the boats floating on the Nile--no pleasant experience for one of his active temperament. Still keeping Khartoum, with its noble defender, in view, the expedition, though yet more than 450 miles from their destination, pushed on with vigour. Passing Hebbath, the scene of poor Colonel Stewart's murder by the chief of the Monassir tribe a few months before, thence to El Kab, where the current is very swift, the 215 boats of the force arrived at Huella, not far from Abu Ahmed, with its beautiful green sward on the banks of the river. [Sidenote: Death of Gordon]