270 WITH KITCHENEK IN THE SOUDAN noticed that a number had fallen close together, and went about examining them carefully. It would not have done to have chosen the dress of an emir, as his body might have been examined, but the ordinary dead would pass unnoticed.

I first exchanged the robe for one marked with the Mahdi’s patches. It was already smeared with blood. I then carried the body of the man whose robe I had taken off for some distance. I laid him down on his face, thinking that the absence of the patches would not be seen. Then I crawled some thirty or forty yards nearer to the Dervishes, so that it would seem that I had strength to get that far before dying.

Then I lay down partly on my side, so that the patches would show, but with my face downwards on my arm.

I had, before dyeing my skin, cut my hair close to my head, on which I placed the Dervish’s turban. The only property that I brought out with me was a revolver and this pocket-book. Both of these I buried in the sand ; the pocketbook a short distance away, the pistol lightly covered and within reach of my hand, so that I could grasp it and sell my life dearly if discovered. Soon after daylight I heard the triumphant yells of the Dervishes, and knew that my men had surrendered. Then there was a rush of horse and foot, and much shouting and talking. I lifted my head slightly and looked across. Not a Dervish was to be seen in front of me. I felt that I had better move, so, taking up my pistol and hiding it, I crawled on my hands and knees to the spot where I had hidden this book, and then got up on to my feet and staggered across the plain as if sorely wounded and scarcely able to drag my feet along. As I had hoped, no one seemed to notice me, and I saw three or four other figures also making their way painfully towards where the Dervishes had encamped.

“Here were a few camels standing untended. Everyone had joined in the rush for booty—a rush to be met with bitter disappointment, for, with the exception of the arms of the fallen, and what few valuables they might have about