shes; who might, at any moment,
swoop down across the plain.

Had the Sirdar had the resources of England at his back, the work would
have been easier, for he could have ordered from home new engines, and
plant of every description; but it was an Egyptian work, and had to be
done in the cheapest possible way. Old engines had to be patched up,
and makeshifts of all kinds employed. Fortunately he had, in the chief
engineer of the line, a man whose energy, determination, and resource
were equal to his own. Major Girouard was a young officer of the Royal
Engineers and, like all white officers in the Egyptian service, held
the rank of major. He was a Canadian by birth, and proved, in every
respect, equal to the onerous and responsible work to which he was
appointed.

However, labour was cheap, and railway battalions were raised among the
Egyptian peasants, their pay being the same as that of the soldiers.
Strong, hearty, and accustomed to labour and a scanty diet, no men
could have been more fitted for the work. They preferred it to
soldiering; for although, as they had already shown, and were still
further to prove, the Egyptian can fight, and fight bravely; he is, by
nature, peaceable, and prefers work, however hard. In addition to these
battalions, natives of the country and of the Soudan, fugitives from
ruined villages and desolated plains, were largely employed.

The line had now been carried three-quarters of the distance to Abu
Hamed, which was still in the hands of the Dervishes. It had been
constructed with extraordinary rapidity, for the ground was so level
that only occasional cuttings were needed. The organization of labour
was perfect. The men were divided into gangs, each under a head man,
and each having its own special work to do. There were the men who
unloaded the trucks, the labourers who did the earth work, and the more
skilled hands who levelled it. As fast as the trucks were emptied,
gangs of men carried the sleepers forward, and laid them down roughly
in position; others followed, and corrected the distance between each.
The rails were then brought along and laid down, with the fish plates,
in the proper places; men put these on, and boys screwed up the nuts.
Then plate layers followed and lined the rails accurately; and, when
this was done, sand was thrown in and packed down between the sleepers.

By this division of labour, the line was pushed on from one to two
miles a day, the camp moving forwa