ake it, can only have been given under an entire misconception of
the circumstances, and of the strength of the army under Fadil, that
they would almost certainly be called upon to encounter. This was the
more probable, as all the women and the property of his soldiers had
been left at Gedareh, when he marched away; and his men would,
therefore, naturally wish to go there, before they made any endeavour
to join the Khalifa.

Such, indeed, was the fact. Fadil concealed from them the news of the
disaster at Omdurman, for some days; and, when it became known, he had
difficulty in restraining his troops from marching straight for
Gedareh.

"Do you go on with us, Mr. Hilliard?" Colonel Parsons asked, when they
had decided to start for Gedareh.

"Yes, sir. My instructions are to go on with you and, if the town is
besieged, to endeavour to get through their lines, and carry the news
to General Hunter, if I can ascertain his whereabouts. If not, to make
straight for Omdurman. I have two fast camels, which I shall leave
here, and return for them with my black boy, when we start."

"We shall be glad to have you with us," the Colonel said. "Every white
officer is worth a couple of hundred men."

As they sat and chatted, Gregory asked how the force had crossed the
Atbara.

"It was a big job," Colonel Parsons said. "The river was wider than the
Thames, below London Bridge; and running something like seven miles an
hour. We brought with us some barrels to construct a raft. When this
was built, it supported the ten men who started on it; but they were,
in spite of their efforts, carried ten miles down the stream, and it
was not until five hours after they embarked that they managed to land.
The raft did not get back from its journey till the next afternoon,
being towed along the opposite bank by the men.

"It was evident that this would not do. The Egyptian soldiers then took
the matter in hand. They made frameworks with the wood of the mimosa
scrub, and covered these with tarpaulins, which we had fortunately
brought with us. They turned out one boat a day, capable of carrying
two tons; and, six days after we reached the river, we all got across.

"The delay was a terrible nuisance at the time, but it has enabled you
to come up here and warn us about Fadil. Fortunately no Dervishes came
along while we were crossing, and indeed we learned, from the prisoners
we took yesterday, that the fact that a force from Kassala had crosse