e, but
nothing could be done, in the thick undergrowth in which the latter was
lurking; and he therefore remained, waiting for the next move on the
part of the Dervish commander, while the gunboats patrolled the Blue
river up to Rosaires.

Six weeks passed. His force, and all the garrisons on the river,
suffered severely from heat, thirty percent of the troops being down
together. The cavalry had suffered particularly heavily. Of the four
hundred and sixty men, ten had died and four hundred and twenty were
reported unfit for duty, a month after their arrival at Karkoj; while
of the thirty white officers on the Blue Nile, only two escaped an
attack of fever.

At the end of the month, Colonel Lewis was joined by the Darfur Sheik
and three hundred and fifty of his men. He had had many skirmishes with
Dervish parties, scouring the country for food, and his arrival was
very welcome.

Gregory was recommended to take a river trip, to recover his health;
and left on a steamer going up with stores, and some small
reinforcements, to Colonel Lewis. They arrived at Karkoj on the 14th of
December, and learned that the little garrison at Rosaires had been
attacked by the Dervishes.

The fifty fever-stricken men who formed the garrison would have had no
chance of resisting the attack, but fortunately they had, that very
morning, been reinforced by two hundred men of the 10th Soudanese, and
two Maxims; and the Dervishes were repulsed, with considerable loss.
Two companies of the same battalion had reinforced Colonel Lewis, who
marched, on the day after receiving the news, to Rosaires. The gunboat
went up to that point, and remained there for some days.

Gregory went ashore, as soon as the boat arrived, and saw Colonel
Lewis, to whom he was well known.

"I am supposed to be on sick leave, sir; but I feel quite strong now,
and shall be glad to join you, if you will have me."

"I can have no possible objection, Mr. Hilliard. I know that you did
good service with Colonel Parsons, and it is quite possible that we
shall find ourselves in as tight a place as he was. So many of our
white officers have been sent down, with fever, that I am very
short-handed, and shall be glad if you will temporarily serve as my
assistant."

On the 20th, the news came that Fadil was crossing the river at
Dakhila, twenty miles farther to the south. He himself had crossed, and
the women and children had been taken over on a raft. On the 22nd, the
Darfu