nown that Gordon
was going to remain as their sheikh; but where was the use of joining a
sheikh who was leaving to-morrow against another who was sure to stop?"

He was a shrewd fellow, this prisoner of Grady's, and knew how to trim
his sails to the prevailing wind. The marches of the convoy were slow,
as the patients could not bear the jolt of a camel's trot; and the old
medical direction, "When taken to be well shaken," would have been death
to most of them, so the halts were fixed at various intermediate wells,
where zerebas had been formed and held till the last load had passed,
when the detachment performing that duty likewise retired. The body of
Binks was carried on to the bivouac for that night, and decently buried
there.

On the following morning the captured Arab was nowhere to be seen, and
it was at first feared that he had escaped in the night. But he was
soon discovered, the cause of his disappearance being that he had
discarded his Mahdi uniform, which was now a little bundle about the
size of a cocoa-nut, hanging from a projection of a camel's harness.
Such clothing as he wore fitted well, nature herself having measured him
for it; and since he was still a young man, there were no wrinkles in
it. You know how difficult it is to recognise a fellow if you come upon
him down a back-water bathing, and will understand why the prisoner was
missed at first. He came up presently and offered to take service, and
tend a camel. It appeared to him that he had to go along with the party
anyhow, and might as well improve the shining hour and earn a little
money.

Earlier in the march one of the natives in charge of camels had been
killed by one of the scattered volleys which every now and then harassed
them on their journey, and two others had taken the opportunity of
deserting, so that the new volunteer's services were gladly accepted.
And there was the little bundle, ready to be shaken out and put on again
should the fortune of war land him to-morrow amongst the adherents of
the Mahdi. Quite a man of the world, this Arab.

In the course of his long talk with the interpreter the day before,
Kavanagh, who was riding at his side, rifle in hand, having been made
responsible for his safe custody, heard a name repeated several times
which struck him as familiar, and which he yet could not associate with
anything in particular. _Burrachee_! Whereon earth had he ever heard
the word Burrachee? He had dreamt it,