A VOICE FROM THE DEAD 261 We shall be there about five o’clock,—at any rate I think you may safely reckon on catching the morning train. It goes, I think, at eight.”

I am sure to catch a train soon, for orders have been sent down that railway materials shall be sent up as quickly as possible, as it has been decided that the railway shall be carried on at once to Khartoum. I expect that as soon as the Kile falls they will make a temporary bridge across the Atbara.”

It was six in the morning when the steamer arrived at Abu Hamed. Gregory at once landed, paid his four men, went up to the little station, and an hour later was on his way to Atbara Fort. He had but two hours to wait there, and reached Omdurman at three o’clock on the following afternoon. As he landed he met an officer he knew. “ Is there any news ? ” he asked. “ Nothing but Fashoda is talked about. It has been ascertained that the force there is undoubtedly French. The betting is about even as to whether France will back down or not. They have made it difficult for themselves by an outburst of enthusiasm at what they considered the defeat of England. Well, of course, that does not go for much except that it makes it harder for their government to give in.”

‘‘And has any news been received of the whereabouts of the Khalifa?”

“ No. Broadwood with two regiments of Egyptian cavalry and the camel corps started in pursuit of the Khalifa and Osman an hour after it was found that they had got away.

Slatin Pasha went with them. But as the horses had been at work all day they had to stop at half-past eight. They could not then get down to the water, and bivouacked where they had halted. At four in the morning they started again, and at half-past eight found a spot where they could get down to the river; then they rode fifteen miles farther. They were now thirty-five miles from Omdurman. One of the gunboats had gone up with supplies, but owing to the Kile having