wever, hoped that the tremendous losses the Arabs had
sustained would dishearten them--that they would awake to the fact that
the Mahdi was by no means invincible, and had deceived them.

As for Gordon, had they not had a message from him? "All right; could
hold out for years."

Their chivalrous dash across the desert, and the hard fighting against
enormous odds, the loss of valuable men, and the fall of their general,
were not fruitless then, since the object of the expedition would be
attained.

"Sure we will all get a bar with _Khartoum_ on it under a medal!" said
Grady.

"Medals! Bars! Yah!" cried Tarrant.

"I'd sooner have tuppence a day extra for beer."

"We've got naither the medal nor the bar nor Khartoum yet, d'ye ken?"
said Macintosh.

CHAPTER TWENTY.

BIR-HUMP.

"And when will we be after attacking Matammeh?" asked Grady, as he sat
over the bivouac fire.

"Precious soon, I should think; we can't get on to Khartoum till it's
taken," said Kavanagh.

"And for why not?" asked Grady again.

"Eh, man!" exclaimed Macintosh, "ye would na go past it and leave all
these thousands of heathens in our rear, would ye? With an army at
Khartoum in front, and the army here in our rear, we should be between
two fires, don't ye see? Never a mouthful of grub or a cartridge could
get to us, and we should be peppered on all sides at once."

"We might as well risk it and get it over," said Tarrant.

"We get nothing fit to eat as it is."

"I call that stupid, talking like that!" cried Dobbs. "I know the
rations are a deal better than ever I expected; capital, I call them."

"So they are," said Macintosh; "but if Tarrant had sheep's-head, haggis,
and whusky itsel' for dinner, he would na be contented."

"Every man to his taste," growled Tarrant; "and if a chap likes tinned
meat he's welcome. I prefer good beef and mutton, fresh-killed, with
plenty of potatoes and white bread."

"And a little tripe and onions, or a swatebread after it, with pudding
and lashings of sherry wine, I'll be bound," said Grady.

"Get along wid ye, it's Lord Mayor of London ye ought to be. Why, man,
it's fighting and not ating ye've come out here for."

"Well, I got plenty of that between Abu Klea and this, anyway," replied
Tarrant. "A bullet went through my water-bottle early on the
eighteenth, and I was without a drop for hours. I believe I have worse
luck than anybody."

"Worse luck than anybody, you ungrateful beg