THE WEEK BEFORE THE BATTLE § 143 into quite shallow water. This is due, | believe, to the fact that the animal’s feet, if wetted, have a tendency to crack in the sun and become very painful.

How servants contrive to light fires with slush all round and rain ‘pouring down in torrents I cannot imagine, but Ali brought me a cup of hot cocoa and some biscuit—a delicious meal when one is draped in soaking garments.

Villiers awoke from the heavy sleep into which the raw spirit had driven him, and he and I set out to march with the troops, who were now Streaming from the zeriba. He still suffered from a semi-paralysis of the left side; but despite this and a general weakness caused by the virus, he kept up on foot with the infantry battalions. | September Ist, drizzling rain and thick mud! The familiar collocation, helped out by an occasional covey of sand-grouse in lieu of partridges, brought one’s thoughts back to the joys of English stubble and turnip-field left four thousand miles behind us! As the sun rose higher in the sky the rain gradually ceased, and as we dried our spirits rose. The bushes along the line of our march were full