Slatin knew from experience that the rocky, brushy rise on his left meant trouble, so he detached the bazingers to search it out. They moved over and scrambled up the steep, covered side of the hill. Sure enough, as they topped the rise and dashed into the cover of the rocks, they were met by a poorly directed fusillade from the brush across the hilltop. It inflicted no casualties, but the bazingers were pinned.

Fire from both sides on the following turn was blistering, six 6s being rolled on 9 dice! The bazingers weathered it without a casualty, but the bandits were not so lucky, losing their commander and another spearman. They dropped behind their cover and prayed. Slatin could clearly hear the firing but the ansar position was too far from his own rifles and shielded by the curve of the knoll. Reassured by the sight of his bazingers holding their ground, he advanced. 

The bazingers continue to pour fire into the ansar position, but without noticeable effect. Slatin advances in open order, only to suddenly draw fire from ansars waiting behind the zeriba. Fortunately for the 1st company, they are spared casualties by their open formation. They are not so lucky on the following turn, however, when a sergeant and a private are both killed by the fire. Their return fire wounds one ansar, who begins limping to the safety of the buildings. 

The ansars in the brush, seeing that they are about to be hit by flanking fire, decide the best course to follow leads toward the back of the zeriba, and they scamper to the rear. But the sight of the enemy flag retiring along the zeriba causes the 2nd company to become frenzied and charge in pursuit, taking them across the front of the zeriba and behind the brushy knoll! This is not what Slatin intended. It does, however, allow the bazingers to move into excellent firing positions among the rocks and brush on the knoll.

The men of 1st company, finding themselves without support, are heartened by Slatin riding in to join them. They are not so keen about his orders to advance and begin hacking through the hotly defended zeriba by themselves.

At this point Slatin should have the initiative by virtue of winning a melee, but the bandit chief steals it away by declaring a charge from his last and elite black flag rub under Awad Saeed Ahmed, with riflemen concealed atop the buildings and spearmen behind. The riflemen score no hits but the sudden fire checks the Egyptians. The bazingers in the rocks return fire, wounding one rifleman and killing a wounded man who was seeking shelter.

Sheltered behind the building, Dhaheri begins rallying his men under the green flag. Unable to fire into the melee at the zeriba, the rooftop riflemen fire instead into the disordered 2nd company. Incredibly, nine firers roll five 6s, killing one NCO, seriously wounding an officer, an NCO, and a private, and lightly wounding another private. It's little wonder these men are the elite of the bandit tribe. Badly shaken, the 2nd gathers up its wounded and dashes back into the brushy cover near the doughty bazingers.

The initiative shifts back to Slatin in what may be the most crucial turn of the game. His men dash through the second breach to take the black flag in the flank and Slatin himself squares off against Ahmed. The bazingers rush the zeriba under cover of halfhearted fire from the remnants of the 2nd company and manage to reach it without suffering casualties from the black flag riflemen who are still sniping from the rooftops.

Meanwhile, another probability-busting volley from the bazingers kills half the remaining riflemen on the rooftops and drives the rest of them inside, seeking cover.

Given a respite by the bazingers' incredible marksmanship from what would have been murderous fire from the rooftops, Slatin hurriedly knocks the 1st Egyptians back into a semblance of a line and orders a charge into the disordered black flag ansars who are falling back from the melee. Exhorted by Awad Saeed Ahmed, they foolishly stand their ground only to be slaughtered by Slatin's advance. At last, reduced to just eight men of his original 20, and with no more heart for this fight, Ahmed and his remaining spearmen turn and run. They scoop up the few riflemen as they pass, who are only too glad to be away from the awful death-dealing rifles of the bazingers.

But during the melee, the bazingers had worked their way around the zeriba until they were in positions behind the ansars. As Dhaheri's men surged forward, the bazingers' rifle balls tore into their backs as the weakened but still dangerous fire of the Egyptians hit them from the front. The combined barrage was too much for the bandits, and they turned and scattered over the zeriba, seeking safety in flight across the rocky ground beyond. There the mounted infantry will hunt them down.

The heroes of the battle were Rashid Al Shamsi's bazingers, whose luck at shooting was unprecedented. With the exception of one turn, their dice rolling was almost too good to believe; they rolled three to five 6s on eight dice at least four times, and usually at crucial junctures. Without that, the bandits might well have dealt Slatin a humiliating drubbing.

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