THE MEDAL QUESTION. 307 to see them all. One great disappointment we suffered lere, and that was to hear that there was to be no separate medal for the Nile expedition nothing beyond the old blue and white Egyptian thing with one clasp for the whole expedition, another for the desert column, and another for the river column, so those who had already the medal were to have only two clasps for the whole thing ! We had had faint hopes that they might possibly give us a star (like that given to the troops in the Candahar march) for the desert fighting, but were not prepared for the crushing news that we were not even to have a distinct decoration of any sort. It seemed rather curious to wear the old medal with the sphinx and " Egypt " on it for work not done within hundreds of miles of Egypt, for Egypt stops at Wady Haifa ! However, there was no help for it. I heard more than one man say when he heard the news, " Blow me then if I ever volunteer again for this sort of business," and several re-echoed his opinions. This is a sore subject, so I'll drop it. The entertainment at Boulak Dacrour did not last long, and within the hour we were steaming away for X 2