192 THE DOWNFALL OF THE DERVISHES and kicked out occasionally with their hoofs in unpleasant proximity to my head. _ After half an hour’s halt the onward march was resumed, and we saw the troops in front about two hundred yards away actually marching through a mirage of water, rocks, and bushes! Cross tried to photograph the curious scene, but the result did not prove a success. Why does one never get a decent photograph of a mirage in the desert? Men still fell out of the ranks from sheer exhaustion.

One would see a soldier totter on for some yards, trying to pull himself together, and then suddenly step to one side and sink down on the sand, saying, “It’s no good; I can't go on.”

On two occasions when this happened, the exhausted man had drained the entire contents of his bottle, which had been full an hour ago, and not a drop of water was to be got from any of the soldiers near! I mention this to show the utter lack of self-control in the matter of drink which prevailed amongst the ‘‘Tommies.” My own bottle was the only one within reach that contained any water at all, and of course I did what everyone else would have done, and divided what remained between