umpets and bugles sounded. The fires were
soon blazing again, and at half-past four breakfast had been eaten, the
camels loaded, and the column on its march again. At ten o'clock there
was a halt for two hours for dinner and a short rest; and it was not
until just as they were going to start that the rear-guard arrived,
having been delayed by the breaking down of numbers of the camels, many
of which had fallen dead as they walked, while others incapable of
movement had to be left behind to take their chance of recovering
sufficiently to browse upon the bushes and make their way back to the
wells. As the loads of those that fell had to be distributed among their
already exhausted companions the prospect was far from cheerful.

Starting at twelve, the column passed a conical hill known as Gebel El
Nur an hour later, and entered a broad valley covered with grass and
trees twenty feet high, and where, doubtless, water could be obtained
had the force been provided with little Abyssinian pumps. At five
o'clock the column halted, and as the ground was sandy passed a more
comfortable night than the one before. Every one was in good spirits.
The men found the journeys by day far less fatiguing than those at
night, and were able to obtain refreshing sleep in the cool night air.

Before daybreak they again started over a gravelly plain, hoping to
reach the wells of Abu Klea that evening. They halted at eleven in a
valley flanked by hills. The track, according to the maps, lay over a
steep hill in front and then along a pass between two hills, the wells
lying some three miles beyond the pass. Dinner was cooked, and as soon
as they had finished their meal the Hussars started for the wells, as
their horses had had no water since leaving Gakdul. The rest of the
force were stretched upon the ground taking it quietly when two of the
Hussars returned at full gallop with a message to the general, and the
order was immediately issued for the men to fall in and for the officers
to examine their arms and ammunition. Then the news spread through the
force that the enemy had been discovered in large numbers upon the hill,
and were evidently prepared to bar the way to the wells.

The change effected by the news was wonderful. It had been generally
supposed that Metemmeh would be reached without fighting, all the spies
agreeing in saying that there was no force of the enemy near the line of
march. In a moment fatigue and thirst were forgotten,