AFTER GAZELLE. 99 end, twenty-four feet of it. That was deep enough for anybody, so after a delicious swim in the cool water, I got out, and the sun dried me in less than half-a-minute.

The pool we calculated to be about twenty yards by twelve, with an average depth of at least eighteen feet big enough to last a big force some time. A shout from N now announced he had discovered another one higher up the rocks, situated immediately above the big pool, and about half its size. So far, so good ; if the Gakdul wells gave out, we might depend on this as a last extremity, but the question how we were to get the camels up, or the water down to the plain, we left to a future occasion : as it happened, these reserve wells were never used. We fully intended to go there some night and wait for gazelle, but, somehow 7 , never did ; we had enough nights out of bed as it was.

Sometimes, when on outpost during the day, a sentry would (according to orders) report a gazelle in the distance, and any officer within hail would proceed to stalk it, but hardly any were got this way ; they were fearfully shy beasts, and the ground was rather H 2