Mahmud carrying a rifle passes on Capt. Adrian Ryce-Pepper’s message that he is under fire from the fort.  Binky and Cynthia confer beside the oasis as to a suitable course of action.  Henry Jones, drawn by the sound of firing spots some movement over by the fort.

This sounds like trouble!  So Binky orders the Nordenfelt and the Hales rockets to be broken out.  Meanwhile, Gerald Ridd and his party check out the ruins and pass on towards what seems to be a gap in the cliffs.

From the base camp, the guards can see almost nothing of what is happening.  Unfortunately, they can hear some rifle fire and begin to get a bit jittery.  Cdr Chaudchat orders the quartermaster to “Splice the Main brace” and restores morale.  Well his own at least.

Cdr Chaudchat sends out the trusted Abdul with a scouting party and the message comes back that there is a golden idol not far away.  As an aside Abdul mentions that the fire seems to be coming from the fort.  The two main parties that he could see are moving in on the fort.

Meanwhile, one of Capt Ryce Pepper’s men finds a dead body and an injured man at the foot of the cliffs.  As he treats the injured man the whole party come under fire from the cliff top.  Capt Ryce-Pepper, with deadly accuracy kills the two Dervish tribesmen at the top of the path while his flanking party moves round to the left.  A brisk fire comes from the roof of the fort forcing him to keep his head down. 

With enemy fire from his left and front Capt Ryce Pepper is concerned about his right flank.  He can only spare one man and sends him off as a vedette. The others take the precaution of securing the Oasis before moving on.

The gallant but nervous Ramsden investigates a cave.  A few feet in he finds that it has a fireplace, of all things, with a chimney.  It looks as if it has not been used in a long time.

The party are not aware that some local tribesmen have spotted them. They creep up upon Capt Ryce Pepper’s party from the right flank and stab the sentry leaving him for dead.  Once they see the strength of the rest of the party they prudently retire.

A constant, if inaccurate, fire from the roof of the fort and from two loopholes suppresses the flanking party.  However, the defenders fail to notice the approach of the main body in the gully behind them.

Their attention focussed on the audacious Captain the Dervishes fail to see Binky and his men deploy forward a single barrelled Nordenfelt and a Hale Rocket launcher.  Binky then orders his men forward past a pile of bodies.  The vultures scream into the sky drawing the attention of a Dervish sentry in the fort.  His shot is wild and misses.    Joel, the Nordenfelt gunner blasts away at the door.  He scores so many hits that the door is shattered.

Gerald Ridd (Brian) moves his troops up in support of Binky while Ramsden goes tentatively down the cave.  He is beginning to realise that it is a tunnel.  Gerald’s troops deploy their Nordenfelt and fire on the door as well.  A Hales rocket screams into the air blasting against the fort wall.  Suddenly the firing from the fort ceases.  Gerald rushes forward and storms the fort.  He takes 4 prisoners, captures a green flag and releases 3 captive Egyptian soldiers.  Dashed exhilarating!

Still concerned about his flank and the sentry, Captain Ryce-Pepper sends out a patrol to investigate.  They attract a few inaccurate arrows from the local tribesmen.  They find the severely wounded man just in time to save his life.  As they carry him off a few are hit but none too seriously.

The Arab slave-traders hoping to pass the trouble by are observed by some baboons and take no notice.  Abdul is still out here though and watches them as they stop to assess the situation.  Abdul is not quite certain what to do.

A few local tribesmen attempt to barter from a distance for rifles in exchange for information.  Sam keeps them talking while Binky advises him from below.

Ramsden decides that the tunnel is far too dangerous a place to wander about in alone.

About this time Cynthia quietly tells Binky that she found a giant and extremely rare black orchid.  She has never seen it before but will check her notes when they return to camp.  Binky and Gerald move forward again towards the pyramid.

Having found the severely injured sentry the patrol sets off back for support.  Just in time too, as they come under some effective fire from the dervishes on the heights.  Two Askaris are wounded and another crippled.  Things are getting desperate!  Capt Ryce-Pepper goes forward under fire and collects him.  Then he scans the surrounding area.  A dust cloud not far away attracts his attention.  A horde of Dervishes is rushing forward.  He orders a swift withdrawal to a depression he saw earlier as a strong defensive position.  Ever the professional!

Capt Ryce-Pepper (Andrew) surveys the dervish advance guard from the relative safety of his new position.  In it he finds a runaway slave who is only too keen to assist with the injured men.

Capt Ryce-Pepper engages the advancing dervishes wounding two.  But on they come!

But, the stalwart Capt Ryce-Pepper, after all, defends it.  Waiting until he can sere the whites of their eyes Capt Ryce-Pepper delivers a controlled volley inflicting severe casualties.  Almost immediately the Nordenfelt machine guns open up and the Dervish advance melts away. Binky (Slim) is fairly pleased with what is going on.  However the main body is held up by the discovery of a partly decomposed body hanging from a stake and the severed head of a white man on another.   

That was as much as we could manage on the first evening's play.  More Here!