Page:H. D. Traill - From Cairo to the Soudan Frontier.djvu/194

 rifles—Remingtons, we afterwards learnt, a weapon with which the Mahdi's soldiers were known to be equipped. Everything, in fact, whether in the appearance of the raiders or in the mode of their advance, attack and retreat, unmistakably pointed to the existence among them of military discipline and organisation; and this last detail about the rifles completed the proof of their identity. It was no longer possible even for the most sceptical to doubt that they were followers of the Khalifa acting under orders from headquarters, and executing what probably was as much a planned demonstration against the English protectors of Egypt as a mere adventure after "loot."

Not but that the raid would have been well worth making for plunder alone. To those who are unfamiliar with the habits of an Oriental peasantry, the amount of the spoil carried off by the robbers from this little settlement of mud cabins may seem well-nigh incredible. It has been estimated