than tents. The sun was getting low, and the Soudanese
troops were all occupied in cooking, mending their clothes, sweeping
the streets between the rows of huts, and other light duties. They
seemed, to Gregory, as full of fun and life as a party of
schoolboys--laughing, joking, and playing practical tricks on each
other.

The physique of some of the regiments was splendid, the men averaging
over six feet in height, and being splendidly built. Other regiments,
recruited among different tribes, were not so tall, but their sturdy
figures showed them to be capable of any effort they might be called
upon to make.

One of the officers came out of his tent, as he passed.

"You are a new arrival, I think, sir?" he said. "We have so few white
officers, here, that one spots a fresh face at once."

"Yes, I only arrived two or three hours ago. My name is Hilliard. I am
not attached to any regiment; but, as I speak the languages well,
General Hunter is going, so he said, to make me generally useful. I
only received my commission a few days before leaving Cairo."

"Well, come in and have a soda and whisky. The heat out here is
frightful. You can tell me the last news from Cairo, and when we are
going to move."

"I shall be happy to come in and have a chat," Gregory said, "but I do
not drink anything. I have been brought up in Cairo, and am accustomed
to heat, and I find that drinking only makes one more thirsty."

"I believe it does," the other said, "especially when the liquid is
almost as hot as one is, one's self. Will you sit down on that box?
Chairs are luxuries that we do not indulge in here. Well, have you
heard anything about a move?"

"Nothing; but the officers I have spoken to all seem to think that it
will soon begin. A good many came up with me, to Wady Halfa and the
stations on the river; and I heard that all who had sufficiently
recovered were under orders to rejoin, very shortly."

"Yes, I suppose it won't be long. Of course we know nothing here, and I
don't expect we shall, till the order comes for us to start. This is
not the time of year when one expects to be on the move; and if we do
go, it is pretty certain that it is because Kitchener has made up his
mind for a dash forward. You see, if we take Abu Hamed and drive the
Dervishes away, we can, at once, push the railway on to that place;
and, as soon as it is done, the troops can be brought up and an advance
made to Berber, if not farther, during the co