THE WEEK BEFORE THE BATTLE _ 127 of the huts had been destroyed by fire. The ground was strewn with fragments of earthenware cooking - pots, which the poor creatures had carefully broken up before they fled away to the dubious protection of the Omdurman walls. Close beside one of the deserted huts a tiny donkey stood and gazed upon us—the sole surviving occupant of the village. One of the servants, with a keen eye for loot, immediately annexed the little donkey ; but I refused to take it, as I thought it would be happier amid its native surroundings, where it could eke out a precarious living amongst the herbage on the river bank. As I rode past several of the huts I noticed inside some strips of leather rudely embroidered with cowries, which had been used to suspend a gourd of water. The workmanship was so rough that I did not think this loot worth taking, though several Lancers thought differently, for I afterwards saw similar trophies hung over their saddles. _ Towards the middle of this day’s march a rather amusing incident occurred. A small party of Lancers scouting in one of the deserted villages suddenly came across an Arab.