I 94 WITH THE CAMEL CORPS UP THE NILE.

back, but there was no help for them ; the best werej picked out and saddled, and by eight o'clock we werej all ready to start.

I must say things looked rather bad for those whd were to remain ; but still, if they were attacked, we knew they could hold out as long as there were walls to cover them. The chief thing to fear was heavyj artillery ; and we heard the enemy were bringing upj big guns from Khartoum. It seemed quite on thei cards that we might find the Gubat garrison in small] pieces when we came back. But it was no good being dismal about it yet ; time enough for that when it happened.

The convoy got off by 9 p.m., and in a very short time we had got out of sight of Metemmeh and any stray Arabs that might be prowling about to intercept us.

My post was in command of the rear-guard, and this entailed a good deal of irritating work. Every five minutes!

you would see a dark mass lying on the ground, whilst the column rapidly disappeared amongst the bushes and hillocks. The rear-guard's particular duty was to set this mass on its legs again, and flog it up, not allowing