*72 WITH THE CAMEL CORPS UP THE NILE.

At that moment there was a joyful shout of " Gordon's steamers ; " and in truth we saw the Egyptian flag at four mast-heads, just above the dhurra stalks towards the river. Not a moment was lost by our gallant allies ; they ran their guns on shore, and hastened towards us, about 200 of them. They were all fine men, mostly coal-black negroes, attired in a fez, a shirt, a cartridge-belt, and a rifle. Nothing could have exceeded their readiness to fight, and they were disgusted on learning we did not intend to take the town yet. It was marvellous to see what good soldiers Gordon's genius had made out of this rough material ; their little brass guns were hard at work alongside ours in less than three minutes from their appearance, whilst their Infantry spread out and kept up a hot fire on the town, not in the least minding the continual whiz of the bullets all round them.

We all felt much cheered by the steamers arriving it seemed next thing to meeting Gordon himself, whilst finding these keen allies after our late hard work was morally a great relief ; besides this, they formed a valuable addition to our small force. The news the