It was true that these had repulsed the force defending Dongola, but this was a comparatively small body; and it was the gunboats, and not the Egyptian troops, who had forced them to evacuate the town.
The fall of Abu Hamed had added to their discontent, and they were eager to march with all speed to Berber, to join the five thousand men comprising its garrison, and to drive the invaders back across the Nile.
But they had been kept inactive, by the orders of the Khalifa and by the want of stores.

They had, for months, been suffering great privations; and while remaining in enforced inactivity, they had known that their enemy's strength was daily increasing; and that what could have been accomplished with the greatest of ease, in August, had now become a very serious business.
Mahmud had chafed at the situation in which he found himself placed, by his father's refusal to support him or to allow him to take any action.
This had soured his temper, and he had taken to drinking heavily.

He had become more harsh with his men, more severe in the punishment inflicted for any trifling disobedience of orders.

Although no thought that the rule of the Khalifa could be seriously threatened entered their minds, fanatical as they were, they could not but feel some uneasiness at the prospect.
A great army was gathering at Berber.

Kassala was in the hands of the British, and the forces that had been beleaguering it had been defeated, with heavy loss.