he trumpet in the rear told that the camels there were ready to
advance again. So the march continued throughout the whole night.

The ground was of hard sand or gravel, with round smooth hills of dark
stone rising from it. Near the hills the ground was covered with low
mimosa bushes and long yellow grass, and in some places the mimosa trees
rose to a length of ten or twelve feet. At five o'clock day broke, and
at half-past eight the column halted at a spot where there were a good
many trees. Here they dismounted, breakfasted, and slept for some hours.
At three in the afternoon they started again, and at half-past eight
arrived at the first wells, those of Hambok; but as they were found to
contain very little water, the march was continued to the El Howeiyat
Wells, thirteen miles further. Before they got there the watches told
that midnight had arrived, and the commencement of the new year was
hailed with a burst of cheering, and singing broke out all along the
line, and was continued for an hour, until they reached the wells.

There was but little water here, but the men carried theirs in skins.
The horses of the 19th Hussars received a bucketful apiece, which
exhausted the supply of the wells. At six o'clock in the morning they
again advanced, and after a rest of three hours at mid-day continued
their way until midnight, when a light being seen at a distance the
column was halted, and the Hussars went out and captured a caravan
loaded with dates for the use of the Mahdi troops. It was not until
eight o'clock in the morning that the weary troops and animals reached
the wells of Gakdul.

CHAPTER XI.

ABU KLEA

"Where on earth are the wells?" Skinner said to the officer who was
riding next to him; and a similar question was asked by scores of
others.

They had advanced through a narrow pass, and were now in a small flat
surrounded apparently on all sides by hills. However, as Major
Kitchener, the head of the intelligence department, and the native
guides were there, every one supposed it was all right, and set to work
to unload the camels. It was not such easy work as usual, for the ground
was strewn with large stones, upon which the camels objected strongly to
kneel. For a time there was a prodigious din--the camels grumbling and
complaining, the natives screaming, the soldiers laughing, shouting, and
using strong language. At last the loads were all off, the stores piled,
and the din quieted down.

"Wh