he work of the day was over, bathing parade was the great feature
of the evening, and the margin of the strand was crowded with soldiers,
swimming, wading, diving, splashing, playing every imaginable game in
the water, for, however tired they might be, the refreshing plunge gave
them fresh life and vigour.

And, by-the-by, why is the British soldier called "Tommy Atkins?" I
believe that there are plenty of people who use the term and don't know.
The nickname arose simply from the fact that every company has a
ledger, in which each man's accounts are kept. So much pay and
allowance on the credit side, so much for deductions on the debit, with
the balance. The officer commanding the company signs to the one, the
soldier himself to the other. On the first page of this book there is a
form filled in, for the guidance of any new pay sergeant who may have to
make out the accounts, and in this the fancy name of the supposed
soldier is printed in the place where he has to sign, and this fancy
name is "Thomas Atkins." But upon the point of who was the first person
to generalise the name, and how it came about that his little joke was
taken up and came into common use, history is dumb.

This is a digression, and I suppose, according to the ideas of some
people, I ought to ask you to pardon it, for I observe that that is a
common plan upon such occasions. But I do nothing of the kind. If I
thought it needed pardon I should not have made it; and you ought to be
glad to improve your mind with a little bit of useful information. But
you knew it all before? Well, how could I tell _that_, I should like to
know.

Whether the sharks were good old-fashioned Mohammedans, who would not
bite on the side of the Mahdi, or whether the number of British soldiers
in the water together, and the noise they made, overawed them, they did
not attempt any supper in that direction, and the men enjoyed their bath
with impunity.

The work went on day after day for some time, always at high pressure,
and the men got into rare good training for marching or any other kind
of work. And they had plenty of water to drink, for the steamers in the
harbour were perpetually at work condensing the salt-water, which turns
it, as you probably know, into fresh. Pipes then conveyed it on shore,
where it was received in tanks and barrels. And the want of natural
springs, and the consequent necessity of having recourse to an
artificial supply, were not wit