ON THE ISLAND. II9 his Steamer should start at 2 p.m. this day, which he did, for the island. Boscawen, who had been ill for some time, not being well enough for the press of work entailed by the new aspect of affairs, now resigned the command to Colonel Mildmay Willson, Scots Guards, being the next senior officer."

The situation of the small expedition on the island was critical, for there was but a handful of Englishmen, and nobody knew how far the natives might be trusted; indeed it was pretty evident that some of them could scarcely be trusted at all. Khashm, however, was loyal, and exerted his influence by haranguing the men in obedience to the orders of Sir Charles Wilson. The interpreter, too, was not only a true, but a brave and accomplished fellow; and there was also Bakhit Agha, captain of the Soudan regulars, who had been one of Sir Samuel Baker's famous " Forty Thieves," and had worked his way up to be an officer in the pay of the khedive.

Abdullah Effendi, the gunner who had so skilfully worked the gun in the turret of Omdurman, was a Saidi or fellah of Upper Egypt, and had been for years in the Soudan; and the one-eyed Hamid Effendi, also a Saidi, had been captain of the Mansoiirah, one of Gordon's steamers, which was sunk off Shendy. He had no business with the expedition, but had stowed himself away when it left Gubat and had only come out of hiding to offer himself for hard work whenever it was wanted. AH Agha, the Kurd, captain of the Bashi Bazouks, too was firm. These men with Khashm-el-Mus were all certain to be killed or made slaves if they went back to the Mahdi, and they, at all events, had nothing to gain by desertion; so that as they could influence the men under their command or authority, there was some reason to suppose that more than half the natives would stand by the English; but it was necessary so to dispose them on the island as to make each company of men a check on the other when the seriba was finished and all were camped on the larger island, except about twenty natives who guarded the sandy islet against the probable landing of the enemy's riflemen. The river was now very low, and the steep bank of the island, from 25 to 35 feet high, was covered by a broad band of thicket or bush, which served as a screen from the