DUTIES OF THE " SPECIAL. 59 and thence made his way to Tonquin, where hostilities had just commenced between the French and the natives. He was present at the engagement in which the former failed to carry the defences erected by the " black flags," but as no English correspondents were allowed to remain with the French forces he started on his way home. Osman Digma's forces were then threatening Suakim, and Mr. Cameron, on reaching Suez, set out for the scene of conflict, and was in time to take part in the attempt of Baker Pasha's force against the rebels. He then had a very narrow escape from being killed, but remained at Suakim till the arrival of General Graham's expedition, and accompanied it to Tokar on to the batdes of El-Teb and Tamanieb. He then returned to England, but in a few weeks was again on the way to Egypt to go up the Nile with the first boats of Lord Wolseley's expedition, to one or two brief extracts from some of the letters describing which we have already given attention. Well might the Standara say in concluding a notice of his untimely death :—" The Arab bullet which ended his brilliant yet still promising career has carried away the foremost of the little band of correspondents who daily risk their lives for the public good; it has also deprived this journal of one of the most earnest, indefatigable, and unselfish of workers, and his friends of a most genial, lovable, and kindly comrade."

One of these friends and fellow war correspondents, writing of him, says—" In camp he was independent in demeanour without any bluster, mindful of the interests of his paper without meanly trying to overreach others, sagacious without cunning. His stern face, deep voice, and vigorous bearing made him distinguished among his fellow-correspondents, while his fearless honesty, his frank confession of others' successes, his hatred of swagger and underhandedness, gained him the respect of all competitors. In times of war the ' special,' let him be never so well recommended individually to the chiefs in command, never so popular personally, finds that he has to assert himself, and often with unmistakable emphasis, if he wishes to see the interests of his paper properly respected and served: and Cameron was never backward in putting his foot down if occasion required. But the judgment which