he went in pursuit, and coming up with them killed two, the
third he pulled off his horse, and capturing the horses brought them
back to camp. In spite, however, of such a gallant example, the men were
listless and out of heart; the long marches had thoroughly exhausted
them.

[Illustration: COLONEL ARTHUR FARQUHAR.

(_Chief of the Staff._)]

At Rahad, Gustav Klootz, a native of Berlin, deserted the army. He was
Baron Seckendorf's servant; but at Shirkeleh he quitted his master's
service, and became the servant of Mr. O'Donovan, correspondent of the
_Daily News_. Klootz had certain socialistic tendencies, which caused
him to change masters, and there is no doubt that these ideas had much
to do with his desertion. He and a native of Saxony determined to escape
secretly, and on the plea of gathering wood outside the camp, these two
men succeeded one evening in passing the outposts. No sooner had they
gone beyond the line than they heard firing, and the Saxony man, fearing
a sudden attack, at once turned back to camp, whilst Klootz continued
his flight. When he had gone a short distance he fired two shots, one to
make the Egyptians believe that the enemy was close to them, and the
other to make the enemy think that they were close to the Egyptian
outposts. When night came on he lay down under a tree to sleep,
regardless of the fact that he was between two enemies; and the next
morning he began to debate with himself whether, after all, it would not
be better to return. He would not have hesitated for an instant had he
not thought that perhaps the Saxony man had betrayed his desertion. At
length he decided there was nothing for it but to go on towards the
Dervishes.

After going some distance he saw three dirty-looking men who pointed
their rifles at him; but he signed to them that he was not coming as an
enemy, and to further reassure them, he threw down his rifle and
revolver on the ground, and advanced towards them. The Arabs also
approached; but Klootz, who did not understand a word of Arabic, called
out, "Dervish--where is the Dervish?" (by "Dervish" he meant the Mahdi.)
The Arabs understood perfectly what he wanted to say, but at that moment
they were thinking much more of the loot they saw before them than of
the Mahdi; so they seized the little money Klootz had, and took
possession of his watch, rifle, revolver, and even his boots. Klootz
soon realised into whose hands he had fallen, for these Arabs, having
ta