SAFELY BACK 139 you will accompany Ahmed Bey; the Arabs are always more steady if they have an English officer with them. They will be ready to start in an hour. A signaller from the 11th Soudanese shall go with you, and you can notify to us the approach of any strong party of the enemy and their direction, so that the gun-boat can send a shell or two among them as a hint that they had better keep out of range.”

As his baggage-camel was by no means a fast one, Gregory at first decided to leave it behind in charge of Zaki, but on going across to the Arab camp Ahmed Bey at once offered to place a fast one at his disposal. He accordingly sent his own animal into the transport yard, committed the heavy wooden case with the greater portion of his remaining stores to the charge of the sergeant of the mess, retaining only three or four tins of preserved milk, some tea, four or five tins of meat, a bottle of brandy, and a few other necessaries ; to these were added half a sheep and a few pounds of rice.

These, with his tent and other belongings, were packed on the Arab camel, and Zaki rode beside it with great satisfaction, for he had been greatly cast down when his master first told him that he would have to remain behind. All the preparations were made in great haste, but they were completed just as Ahmed Bey moved out of his camp with his two hundred picked men and camels.

Five minutes later a whistle from the steamer told them that General Hunter and the party with him were also on the point of starting. The distance to be traversed to Berber was a hundred and thirty miles, and the expedition was undoubtedly a hazardous one. Even if the news was true that the five thousand Dervishes who had been holding Berber had evacuated the town, it was quite possible that a part of the force had been sent down the river to oppose any advance that might be made, or, if unable to do this, to carry the news of the advance to Mahmud. The Arabs were to keep abreast of the gun-boat, and would, where the shores were fiat, be covered by its guns. But at spots where the ground was high