No time was lost in pushing them forward; and on the 19th two of the infantry battalions reached Toski, which they proceeded to put in a state of defence.
In the meantime, Wad-en-Nejumi's force at Belanga had been strengthened by the arrival of 500 men, with 100 camels, under the command of another emir, called Makin-en-Nur. This brought the number of Wad-en-Nejumi's troops up to a total of 3,300 fighting men and 4,000 camp-followers. With these, on the 28th July, he resumed his march to the north.
Pausing for one night at a distance of ten miles from the celebrated temple of Abu Simbel, they continued on their way till the 1st August, when they took up a position in the hills four miles to the south of Toski. On the same day Wodehouse's force, which step by step had followed Wad-en-Nejumi's movements down the Nile, also reached Toski, where the whole of the Egyptian troops from Assouan, together with General Sir Francis Grenfell and the British cavalry, had concentrated the previous day.
With the exception of the British brigade, the entire Nile field force was now assembled, and General Grenfell took over the command.
On the 3rd the General, receiving information that Wad-en-Nejumi intended to resume his march northward, ordered all the mounted troops to make a reconnaissance in force, the object being to check the Dervish advance and keep Wad-en-Nejumi in his present position until the arrival of the British brigade.
Nejumi's camp was placed on the inner extremity of a range of granite hills, extending from the river inland in a westerly direction and situated about four miles south of Toski. The village consisted of scattered houses covering the land for about three miles from end to end and dotted in places with palm groves; 1,200 yards in the rear the cultivated ground disappeared in the desert which stretched away till closed in by a range of hills at a distance of six miles from the Nile. Behind these hills lay Nejumi's camp.
The desert was intercepted here and there by rocks and boulders of a height and size sufficient to afford cover to considerable numbers of men. Across this desert ground the British and Egyptian mounted troops advanced. They consisted of four squadrons of cavalry and a camel corps. Grenfell himself accompanied the force.
On nearing the enemy's position, it was seen that camels were being loaded up, and everything prepared for an immediate move. It was evident that if this was to be prevented no time was to be lost. The cavalry pushed on, and the enemy's riflemen, advancing in skirmishing order, at once opened fire. This was answered by the dismounted Camel Corps, which, taking up a position on a commanding ridge, poured volleys on the Dervishes, now coming on in considerable numbers. The fire of the latter, however, became too hot, and the Camel Corps, as well as the mounted troops generally, retired to a second position, which they were equally unable to hold. A third position, 900 yards off, was now occupied, and it being on a hill with clear ground intervening, the mounted troops were able for some time to hold their own and keep up a steady fire.
The situation at this moment was such that orders were sent back to bring up the 1st Brigade from Toski. At 8.30, before there was time for the reinforcements to arrive, the Arab spearmen in force emerged from two ravines and steadily advanced on the position. A further retirement then became necessary, and the troops took up a position at the foot of a conical hill two miles from Toski, where they were joined by two guns of the Horse Battery. At 9 a.m. the guns opened fire on the advancing column, which now, followed by a mass of camp-followers and baggage animals, turned to its left and marched steadily across the Egyptian front.