SOUTHWARD 69 In spite of this, however, it found its way in. It settled everywhere : clothes and hair became white with it ; it worked its way down the neck, where the perspiration changed it into mud. It covered the face as if with a cake of flour. At first Gregory attempted to brush it off his clothes as it settled upon them, but he soon found that there was no advantage in this. So he sat quietly in his corner, and, like the rest, looked like a dirty white statue. There were occasional stops, when they all got out, shook themselves, and took a few mouthfuls of fresh air. Gregory’s plan for keeping out the dust from the food turned out a great success, and the meals were eaten in the open air during the stoppages. On arriving at Assouan they all went to the transport department to get their passes for the journey up the Nile as far as Wady Haifa.

The next step was to go down to the river for a swim, and by dint of shaking and beating to get rid of the accumulated dust. Assouan was not a pleasant place to linger in, and as soon as they had completed their purchases Captain Ewart and Gregory climbed on to the loaded railway train and were carried by the short line to the spot where, above the cataract, the steamer that was to carry them was lying. She was. to tow up a large barge and two native craft. They took their places in the steamer with a number of other officers—some new-comers from England, others men who had been down to Cairo to recruit. They belonged to all branches of the service, and included half a dozen of the medical staff, three of the transport corps, gunners, engineers, cavalry, and infantry. The barges were deep in the water with their cargoes of stores of all kinds, and rails and sleepers for the railway, and the steamer was also deeply loaded.

The passage was a delightful one to Gregory. Everything was new to him. The cheery talk and jokes of the officers, the graver discussion of the work before them, the calculations as to time and distance, the stories told of what had taken place during the previous campaign by those who shared in it