334 WITH KITCHENEK IN THE SOHDAN wider than the Thames below London Bridge, and running something like seven miles an hour. We brought with us some barrels to construct a raft. When this was built it supported the ten men who started on it, but they were, in spite of their efforts, carried ten miles down the stream, and it was not until five hours after they embarked that they managed to land. The raft did not get back from its journey till the next afternoon, being towed along the opposite bank by the men. It was evident that this would not do. The Egyptian soldiers then took the matter in hand. They made frameworks with the wood of the mimosa scrub, and covered these with tarpaulins which we had fortunately brought with us. They turned out one boat a day capable of carrying two tons, and six days after we reached the river we all got across.

The delay was a terrible nuisance at the time, but it has enabled you to come up here and warn us about Eadil. Fortunately no Dervishes came along while we were crossing, and indeed we learned from the prisoners we took yesterday that the fact that a force from Kassala had crossed the river was entirely unknown, so no harm was done.”

The sheik of the little village took charge of Gregory’s camels. Some stores were also left there under a small guard, as it was advisable to reduce the transport to the smallest possible amount. The next morning the start was made. The bush was so thick that it was necessary to march in single file. In the evening the force halted in a comparatively open country. The camel-men reconnoitred the ground for some little distance round, and saw no signs of the enemy; they camped, however, in the form of a square, and lay with their arms beside them in readiness to resist an attack.

The night passed quietly, and at early dawn they moved forward again. At six o’clock the camel-men exchanged a few shots with the Dervish scouts, who fell back at once. At eight a village was sighted, and the force advanced upon it in fighting order. It was found, however, to have been