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The mine near Dolligrip in the Kadbribar Hills was an important source of revenue for for the British. Operated by the Imperial Excelsior, Dumble & Lightfoot Mining Company, the ingots mined from its rich veins of silver were regularly shipped up the Nile via the garrison town of Gohar. However the Amir of Kadbribar Ali Khemkeel had always felt that the silver was rightly his, and now, with the British in disarray, he felt that the time was right to reclaim his inheritance. 
The village of Dolligrip was the base for the workers and the unit of sepoy sentries that had been "seconded" to the mining company. Also present nearby was an archeological expedition led by the ubiquitous Gerald Utterleigh-Barkynge, who was about to get into trouble again. Sir Gerald was first to notice Ali Khemkeel's dervishes approaching and sent out the armed guards provided by the mining corporation to meet them and sound the alarm.  This awoke the sepoys in Dolligrip who rapidly found their building surrounded by the dervish hordes. The battle was on.  Captain Ramble, arriving on the scene with more guards, marched rapidly to relieve the beleaguered sepoys...  ...but they broke and ran from a ferocious dervish charge. Ramble rallied the sepoys and began falling them back from the village.  Doggedly the sepoys resisted the dervish attacks, forcing Ali Khemkeel to concentre his full force on them. This bought time for Sir Gerald and his men to escape through the hills to the open desert.  Ramble managed to extract his troops and retreat to the mine, barricading himself in. With Sir Gerald lost in the desert and Ramble's men beseiged, Ali Khemkeel was pleased with his day's work. With no word of the attack reaching the Gohar garrison, he was free to plunder as he pleased... But what would happen when the British finally did respond ?...
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