ntially the
same. It is only when you come to study the desert in terms of the
theodolite, so to speak, that you discover its mutability; that which is a
hill to-day may be a plain to-morrow.

All this had to be considered in making the railway-bed, which must have a
firm foundation of stones and a suitable embankment. To put a mile of line
down in a day and maintain that rate is, then, a fairly creditable feat.
Each company worked alternate days; sometimes one company would beat the
record by a few yards, sometimes the other; there was little to choose
between them from the point of view of efficiency.

Here is a story, which I like to think is true, of their intense rivalry
and its results.

As the railway was approaching Romani--this was just before the battle--one
company laid down a stretch of line beating the previous best by some
distance, after which they mentioned the matter casually to their rivals,
and retired to rest in the fond belief that they had effectually "put it
acrost 'em." Life is full of surprises, however. In the chill hour before
dawn the next day a band of soldiers, breathing profanity and
determination, crept across the desert to the line, and made an attack on
that record. All through the day they toiled, pausing seldom for rest or
refreshment, and oblivious to everything but their work. Towards sunset a
triumphant shout proclaimed that victory had been won. At about the same
moment from the rear came another shout, which had in it nothing of
triumph, the shout of a man anxious to do some one grievous bodily hurt.

It was a heated staff-officer who had been sent by the general to know what
the dickens they meant by getting in advance of the troops, whether they
knew that they were pushing the railway right into the Turkish lines, and
whether it was intended for our use or the Turks', etc. etc.

It had apparently taken the staff most of the day to see what was going on,
but the facts were none the less correct; for the railwaymen in their
enthusiasm had failed to notice anything but their general direction, which
was, of course, perfectly accurate; the fact that they had indeed advanced
beyond our lines had utterly escaped them! Later, the general is reported
to have written praising the keenness of the two companies, but
recommending that in future zeal should be tempered with discretion.

Whether the story be true or not is really immaterial, because the incident
could quite easily have