was uncertain what Fate had in store for him he groaned and lamented,
but once he knew the worst he thought it was no use bothering, and
proceeded on his way in apparent content.

Indeed, that seemed to be his one aim and object, to be always going
straight on to some place a long way off and never arriving, like the
Wandering Jew. As for his appearance, you have probably often seen a
camel in the Zoological Gardens or a wild beast show, and know his
weird, shapeless, uncanny look, with the beard on his upper lip, and the
hard natural pads on all parts of him which touch the ground when he
subsides for loading or unloading; his chest, knees, and so on. An
experienced man has described his motion when he trots in this
way:--"Put a horse into a cart without springs, in the cart put a
rickety table; on the table place a music-stool screwed up as high as it
will go. Now seat yourself on the music-stool and gallop over a
ploughed field, and you will have a very correct notion of the sensation
of riding a trotting camel." But with practice the motion is much
easier, and with so many hours in the day in the saddle the troops had
plenty of practice.

The position at Gakdul was naturally strong, and with the aid of art was
made perfectly impregnable, forming a place to fall back upon in case of
need. The camels, it has been explained, utterly declined all friendly
advances, but the affections of the company Kavanagh belonged to were
not on that account destined to grow utterly rusty for want of use,
since a dog had attached himself in every sense of the word to it.
Where the dog came from and to whom he belonged originally were matters
as mysterious as his breed, which seemed to partake of several
varieties, amongst which the native sheep dog was the most perceptible.

But his virtues were manifold. He joined on that day of the march when
the towing commenced, and posted himself, as no one did it for him, and
he was enlisted under the name of _Hump_, not because of any personal
deformity, but after the distinguishing characteristic of the camel.
When the battalion took to riding, and, though still following the
course of the Nile, often lost sight of it for some hours, either
because the track was better or to cut off a corner, Hump carried his
own water-bottle, ingeniously constructed for him by a man named Thomas
Dobbs, out of an old preserved meat tin covered with a bit of felt, to
prevent its becoming too hot; and th