64 WITH THE CAMEL CORPS UP THE NILE.

In order to test the steadiness of our camels as regarded noise and firing, the iQth Hussars one day, at brigade drill, charged down on the unprotected mass of camels, cheering and yelling. Everybody expected to see them break their ropes, and career wildly over the desert. The only result was that one solitary camel struggled to his feet, looked round, and knelt down again ; the others never moved an eyelid. That was satisfactory ; and as firing into them with blank cartridge, and over them with ball, had already been tried at Shabadud with no visible results, the general opinion was that they would stand charging niggers or anything else in creation with equanimity. Sad to say, we came to the conclusion that it was want of brains, pur et simple, that caused our steeds to behave thus docilely ; any other animal with a vestige of mind would have been scared to death, but, as it was, no one regretted their deficiency.

Another way of occupying spare time was going on outpost duty at night in the scrub, half-a-mile out of camp. Barring the difficulty of finding your picquet