236 WITH THE CAMEL CORPS UP THE NILE.

the dark, beaten, and robbed of his camel and mailbag. We were particularly annoyed ; for, having nothing much to do, we had all written heaps of letters home. B had written nine and I five, and all the others several apiece ; but there was no chance of any civilised person ever seeing them again. We soon got instructions, per heliograph, from General Wood at Gakdul, to send out camel-patrols by day and night, to search the road, and shoot or capture any outlying niggers we found. We caught none, for they kept well out of the way ; but no more robberies were reported, for they had a wholesome fear of us.