96 THE WAR IN THE SOUDAN.

“ The frequent stoppages and the necessity of towing the boats for dis¬ tances varying from 400 yards to three miles afforded excellent exercise for the men, and were looked on by them as constituting quite one of the pleasant features of the excursion. On these occasions the different boat parties dis¬ played great spirit of rivalry and some most exciting struggles for best place animated each band of trackers. The officers were quite as interested in the result as were their men, and it was amusing at more than one difficult point in the latter part of the voyage to see Colonel Stewart, the new Commandant of Dongola, and the various members of his staff, with coats off and shoes full of black mud, hauling, in the midst of the soldiers and the native crews, on to a grass hawser, which almost invariably snapped suddenly and overthrew the whole party. The struggle over, the first boat round the difficult point would sail triumphantly away, the soldiers on board cheering and railing at the less fortunate occupants of the other boats still plodding wearily on the bank. The labour ended, and all the boats save some one laggard, well under way again, the soldiers would sit, as Tommy Atkins will always sit when he gets a chance, with their pipes upside down in their mouths and their legs hanging over the sides of the boats and almost touching the water, and as one nuggar now and again over-hauled another a volley of chaff would be exchanged between the occupants of the two crafts. Shortly before dusk the halt would be signalled from the Major’s boat, and all the crafts would, if possible, join and moor up to the bank. Then, as scon as guards were placed, all the men were allowed on shore with, however, strict orders to keep out of the village if there happened to be one near. Orders were also given to spare the date palms, but strict compliance with such a mandate was hardly to be expected, and the punishment to poor Tommy Atkins was sufficiently heavy, when, after laboriously clambering to the top of a palm to fill his pockets at ease, he dis¬ covered that an officer or a sergeant was awaiting his descent at the foot of the tree in order to take his name and number. Sometimes when the wind failed altogether, or was so adverse as to render towing absolutely unpracticable, the halt was necessarily called quite early in the afternoon. Then was Thomas Atkins in his element. He bathed in some shallow part of the stream, took his tea comfortably and at his ease reclining on the tank, and then, attired in his favourite off-duty undress, lounged about the bank enjoying the inevitable pipe and the jokes and conversation of his friends. Comfort in costume to the British soldier is represented as follows. His jacket and shirt are replaced by his great coat, the cuffs of which are turned back. His trousers, unbraced are rolled up to his knees. His boots are unlaced, his pipe, of course, upside down, and bis helmet is put on wrongside before. Has he been able to obtain some particularly uncouth head-dress—such as an old and mangy rabbit or rat skin cap, a battered tarboosch, or broken-down and brimless felt hat—he dons