back if he
chose to refund the money; but he left the town soon after that, and
I've never heard from him since. Hallo! What's up now?"

A couple of horsemen were galloping down the slope, and a few minutes
later the command was passed back from the front,--

"Fall in! Examine arms and ammunition!"

The men sprang forward to the row of piled arms, and then, like an
electric current, the report passed from one to another--the enemy was
in sight!

"Cast loose one packet of your ammunition," said the commander of the
company.

Jack's fingers twitched with excitement as he pulled off the string of
the familiar little brown paper parcel, and dropped the ten cartridges
into his pouch. It was the real thing now, and no mistake!

Moving forward in line of columns, the force ascended the slope, and
after one more brief halt, while further reconnaissances were being
made, began to advance across the level stretch beyond, from which a
good view was obtained of the distant valley of Abu Klea, with the
steep hills rising on either side, and opening out at the entrance of
the pass.

"There they are!"

Far away, on the dark, rocky eminences, crowds of tiny, white-robed
figures could be clearly distinguished moving and gesticulating in an
excited manner.

Steadily the force advanced until, when within a comparatively short
distance of the mouth of the valley, the word for "close order" was
given. The camels were driven forward into a solid mass in rear of the
leading company as it halted; the men dismounted, and knee-lashed their
steeds.

There was not much time for looking about, for the order was
immediately given to build a zareba; and while some men were set to
work to cut down brushwood, Jack and his comrades were told off to
gather stones for constructing a breastwork.

"Look alive, my lads!" said Sergeant Sparks, "and get whatever you can.
Hallo!" he added; "they've begun, have they?"

Jack had heard something like the sound of the swift flight of a
swallow far overhead, but he did not understand its significance until,
a moment later, the sound was repeated, and on the ground in front of
him there suddenly appeared a mark, as though some one had struck the
sand with the point of an invisible stick, leaving behind a short, deep
groove, and causing a handful of dust to spring into the air. Far away
on the distant hillside was a tiny puff of smoke, and as he looked the
faint pop of the rifle reached his ear