squadron. As senior major, you
have, of course, the right to the chance. I congratulate you."

Mrs. Horsley turned a little pale as she read it, and her lip quivered
as she said, "Well, Robert, no doubt you are glad of the opportunity,
and as a soldier's wife I will not say anything to damp your pleasure.
It is natural that you should wish to go. If I were a man I should wish
so too. Anyhow, it will only last a very short time. You said you
thought that they would be back again in a month, and surely there can
be no very great danger in a fight with these savages."

"The smallest amount in the world, Emma. It is not like Baker's force,
which was composed of these cowardly Egyptians; and it is ridiculous to
suppose that these wild tribesmen, brave as they may be, can stand
against British troops armed with breech-loaders. I am afraid that all
our share of the business will be to do a little scouting before the
fight begins, and a little pursuing practice afterwards, so there will
be really no occasion whatever for you to be at all uneasy, child; and I
must own that I am extremely glad of the opportunity of taking part in
this little expedition against these fanatics. Well, I must go across
and see the colonel."

Mrs. Horsley indulged in a quiet cry while he was away, for although she
did not apprehend any real danger, the thought that her husband was
going to run some risk of his life for the first time since she married
him was a trial. However, she looked bright and cheerful when he
returned, and at once set to work to pack up the kit required for the
expedition.

The next morning the detachment of the 1st Hussars, eighty strong,
marched down to the station with one hundred men of the 10th Hussars.
They took train for Suez. Here they found another two hundred and
twenty-eight men of the 10th who had come on by an earlier train, and
the work of embarking the horses on board the steamer that was to take
them down to Suakim at once began. It was continued until nightfall and
recommenced again at daybreak, for the operation of getting horses on
board a ship and slinging them down into the hold is necessarily a slow
one; but by mid-day all was concluded, the baggage on board, and the
troops in readiness for a start.

It was just sunset when the vessel steamed away from the wharf, the
troops on board joining in a hearty cheer as she started. The ship was
far more crowded than would have been the case had she been starti