The cavalry had come into touch with the Dervish patrols, but the latter, although numerous, avoided combat.
In one of the deserted villages was found one of Wingate's spies, in Dervish attire.

He had left Omdurman thirty hours before, and brought the news that the Khalifa intended to attack at Kerreri.

This place had been chosen because there was current an old prophecy, by a Persian sheik, to the effect that English soldiers would one day fight at Kerreri, and be destroyed there.

It had, therefore, become an almost holy place to the Mahdists, and was called the death place of all the infidels; and, once a year, the Khalifa and his followers made a pilgrimage to it.
A few shots were fired during the night, and fires blazed on the hills to notify, to Omdurman, our precise position.

The troops started again soon after daylight, facing now to the right and marching westward, to leave the bush and broken ground, and get out in the open desert, stretching away to Omdurman.