his orders, and
sustained such an attack with the loss of but one man wounded, and he
doing well, was a legitimate source of satisfaction. It is true that he
was not out of the wood yet; the Arabs who had chased Strachan might
belong to a large body that had seized Shebacat.

This proved not to be the case, however, and a halt was called at the
wells there. First the men were supplied, and Strachan's horse had a
good satisfactory drink, and then the camels got an instalment of water.
Then they mounted again, and pushed on to Abu Klea, where they arrived
at sunrise, and Reece reported himself to the officer in command with a
feeling of intense relief. He had got well out of it, at any rate, and
Tom Strachan also had accomplished his mission satisfactorily; and next
day he returned to head-quarters, not, however, without having seized
the opportunity of a short unnoticed interview with his old chum
Kavanagh before he started.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE.

THE CONVOY.

Kavanagh and his friends had no long rest at Abu Klea; they were soon
off again across the Desert, making for the Nile. It was not a cheerful
duty they were performing, for they were convoying a body of sick and
wounded to Korti, and that was rather too close a connection with the
wrong side of the theatre of war. I expect that hospital nurses take
quite a different view of a campaign from that entertained by high-
spirited subalterns. And this present business was worse than the
scenes in a hospital. Do what you will to lighten his sufferings, the
transport of a wounded man must always be a painful operation.

These were being conveyed on camels. You have seen the seats in which
little children often ride on ponies, one on each side, with a board for
the feet to rest on. There were similar affairs on camels' backs, with
two wounded men sitting back to back. Others, whose hurts were more
serious, or of a nature which prevented their sitting up, were slung in
a species of litter.

But, in despite of depressing influences, the escort were lightening the
journey with chat and jest, when they were called to seriousness by the
word--

"Attention!"

Silence fell upon the escort, and every man was in his proper place in a
second. Arabs had been seen in the mimosa bushes to the right of the
convoy, and it was impossible to keep quite clear of them, though, of
course, the object of such a party is to avoid collision with the enemy
as much as possib