Throughout the entire route fresh cavalry joined, whilst the herds of cattle which the Arabs drove along served as food, and meat was then cheap enough. Numbers of animals died during the march, and the road was plainly marked by an unbroken line of dead camels, donkeys, horses, and oxen. The route lay from Shirkeleh to Shatt, and thence to Duem. Here a halt was called for a few days to collect stragglers. All notion of working in the fields was abandoned, and agricultural pursuits were entirely dispensed with. Thus it happened that on the Mahdi's arrival at Omdurman the Dervishes were in great want of grain. The Mahdi arrived at Omdurman on the 23rd of October, 1884, but the whole of the stragglers did not reach it till early in November. Everything had been prepared. Gordon was surrounded by numerous enemies, still he did not despair. In August both Niles had risen considerably; the Blue Nile had arrived almost at its full height, while the White Nile had overflowed its low bank, and now swept past Fort Mukran and the houses in Khartum. So high was it, that a dam had to be constructed to keep the water within bounds. At high Nile the White river is very broad; and at a later date, when I crossed over from Omdurman to the roughly built fort which has long since been destroyed, I was sea-sick. But as the river fell it left the ditch full of mud, and this proved a source of great danger. When the river was high, Gordon made several successful counter-attacks. Mohammed Ali Pasha went up the Blue Nile to a place near Gereif, and on the 30th of August fell upon the Arabs, utterly defeating them. This brave leader also attacked the old Sheikh El Obeid at Halfaya, and captured a quantity of dhurra and cattle. Khartum breathed once more, and it seemed as if all would be well; the bands played in the evening, and the town was full of joy, which, alas, was soon to be turned to sadness. Mohammed Ali Pasha, emboldened by his late successes, advanced again on the Sheikh El Obeid, whom he defeated near El Eilafun; but, advancing into the desert to renew the attack on the 4th of September, he and upwards of 800 of his troops fell into an ambush and were slaughtered. This proved a very severe blow to Gordon, and Khartum being now closely invested, he decided to send a steamer north to communicate with the Government, and give them full information of the state of affairs.