2 THE DOWNFALL OF THE DERVISHES

shown by subsequent events. War corre- spondents in the recent campaign had little to. complain of on the score of any curtailment of their liberty of movement, though the

Sirdar's subsequent refusal to take any press- men to Fashoda may have provoked some unreasonable criticism.

A day or two after the receipt of the Sirdar’s permit I happened to meet at dinner an old

college acquaintance, Mr. Henry Cross, who had rowed: five in the ’Varsity boat of 1889. When I told him of my intended visit to

the Sudan, he was all eagerness to join me; but as he was utterly inexperienced in the sort of travel that would fall to our lot be-

fore Khartum was reached, I did my best

to dissuade him from making any rash resolves

of the sort on the spur of the moment. The daily round of a war. correspondent’s life amid a charming environment of scenery and climate is simply delightful, when to the joys

of an open-air existence and abundant exercise there is added the pleasant excitement which springs from a risk of danger. Such delights

as these I had experienced during the Cretan

troubles in the spring of 1897, but from what

‘