34:0 WITH KITCHENER IN THE SOUDAN his men to roam over the country, for there can be little doubt that a good many of them would desert as soon as they got fairly beyond his camp.”

don’t think there is any fear of that, sir; and as my camels will have had ten days’ rest, I should have very little fear of being overtaken even if they did sight us.”

“We are off again, Zaki,” Gregory said. “We will go down to the yard where the animals we captured are kept, and choose a couple of good donkeys. I am to carry a despatch to Omdurman, and as time is precious we will make a straight line across the desert; it will save us fifty or sixty miles.”

“I am glad to be gone, master; the smells here are as bad as they were at Omdurman when we went in there.”

“Yes, I am very glad to be off too.” An hour later they started, and arrived at Mugatta at eight o’clock in the evening. The native with whom the camels had been left had taken good care of them, and after rewarding him and taking a meal Gregory determined to start at once. The stars were bright, and there was quite light enough for the camels to travel. The water was emptied from the skins and filled again. They had brought with them sufficient food for four days’ travel, and a sack of grain for the camels. An hour after arriving at the village they again started.

“We will follow the river bank till we get past the country where the bushes are so thick, and then strike west by north.

I saw by Colonel Parsons’ map that that is about the line we should take.”

They left the river before they reached El Easher, and continued their journey all night and onward till the sun was well up; then they watered the camels (they had this time brought with them a large half-gourd for the purpose), ate a good meal themselves, and after placing two piles of grain before the camels, lay down and slept until five oclock in the afternoon.