362 WITH KITCHENEK IN THE SOUDAN So they parted ; and Gregory rode back to the camp with a feeling of much happiness that he had been enabled in some way to repay the kindness shown to his dead father.

CHAPTER XXIII AN UNEXPECTED DISCOVERT T he victory had been a decisive one indeed. Three thousand prisoners, great quantities of rifles, swords, grain, and cattle had been captured, together with six thousand women and children. A thousand Dervishes had been killed or wounded; all the most important emirs had been killed, and the Sheik Ed Din, the Khalifa’s eldest son and intended successor, was, with twenty-nine other emirs, among the prisoners. Our total loss was four men killed and two officers and twenty-seven men wounded in the action.

“ I am much obliged to you, Mr. Hilliard,” Colonel Wingate said to him that evening, “ for the valuable services you have rendered, and shall have the pleasure of including your name among the officers who have specially distinguished themselves. As it was mentioned by General Rundle and Colonel Parsons—by the former for undertaking the hazardous service of carrying despatches to the latter, and by Colonel Parsons for gallant conduct in the field—you ought to be sure of promotion when matters are arranged here.”

Thank you very much, sir! May I ask a favour? You know the outline of my story. I have learned by the papers I obtained at Hebbeh, and others which I was charged not to open until I had certain proof of my father’s death, that the name under which he was known was an assumed one. He had had a quarrel with his family, and as, when he came out to Egypt, he for a time took a subordinate position, he