54 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

And so the first thing to do on halting was to examine the skins that contained our precious supply; and then by the friendly bivouac of the mounted infantry detachment on rear-guard, we lay on the sand to try and snatch some sleep ere the bugles sounded. For the waning moon would rise at half-past one, and at that hour General Stewart had ordered the start to be made.

Apparently the last fire to remain alight had only flickered out and silence had but reigned for a few minutes, when the beautiful but weirdlike r6veille of the British army startled us unwillingly into life again. Once or twice only during my campaigning experiences have I heard the rdveille sound with feelings of satisfaction. The last occasion was the morning of the battle of Tamai. All night we had lain silent while the enemy cracked volleys of musketry into us from the bush outside our zereebah.

But with the first note of the rdveillc we sprang to our feet as one man, glad all of us to think that now our turn had come. And before the bugles ceased the Arabs, too, had stopped their firing and retired to the ambush from which they subsequently sprang upon us. With very different disposition do we listen here in the desert to the morning call; for it is the signal to jump up with unwilling energy and load our moaning camels, and prepare to jog on again wearily in the dark. To load a camel properly, even in daylight, is a work of art. The cargo must be balanced exactly, one half on either side of his back, otherwise it will inevitably, sooner or later, tumble off, and there is nothing more heartbreaking than to see one's baggage tumble off on the line of march-particularly when in an enemy's country. The last rope had hardly been fastened when the 'fall in' sounded, and then for an hour men and camels groujed into their places in the dark; and at half-past two we moved off our ground, the pebble-strewed desert glistening in the dim moonlight as if it were covered with a coat of yellow shining varnish. Frequently would the bugles sound the halt in rear, to allow time for stragglers to close up, for the officer commanding the rearguard had the usual orders to leave nothing behind. With him were the spare camels, and if a loaded one tumbled, or lay down to die, as they