to engage the enemy
doubtless lending special interest to their field-day. The camp, as
all camps ever were, was full of strange yarns--"shaves" about what
was going on at Omdurman, and the Khalifa's intentions. "Abdullah
would fight? No, he would run away; he was laying down mines in the
Nile to blow up our gunboats. A Tunisian had devised a torpedo, but as
it was being lowered from a dervish boat, the machine exploded, and
the engineer was hoisted with his own petard." Then there were stories
of extraordinary discoveries of precious minerals--gold mines by the
score. Two young officers, who wished some fun with a distinguished
military gentleman not unconnected with South Africa, persisted in
finding diamonds, pieces of rock-crystal, which, with an air of
mystery and importance, they submitted to his contemptuous inspection.
But a Major had the better of the expert on one occasion. He vowed he
had found diamonds, genuine diamonds, upon the open desert, as good as
any in South Africa or anywhere else; that he would be sworn to
forfeit L50 if the expert did not endorse his judgment. He had picked
up in one small spot no less than five. Burning with impatience to see
these precious jewels, the expert begged for just one peep at them.
The Major gratified him with some feigned reluctance; produced a "five
of diamonds," a castaway from some "Tommy's" pack of cards.

On the night of the 23rd of August Wad Hamid camp was swept by a
fierce storm of wind and rain. The temperature dropped 22 deg., and it
became positively chilly. As we were within the rainy belt, which
extends up to 17 deg. North, visitations of that sort during the summer
were to be expected. The troops bore the discomfort of cold and wet
clothes uncomplainingly, waiting for daybreak, and the tardy sun, to
get dry and warm. Bugle calls were a work of supererogation on the
morning of Wednesday, 24th August, everybody having been astir long
before reveille. It had been given out in general orders--one of those
gracious niceties of military courtesy never exhibited to the
correspondents in these later Soudan campaigns--that the Khedivial
troops were to proceed that day to the south of Shabluka Cataract. The
journey thither was to be made by the army in two stages, and the
British division was to follow on Thursday. Wad Bishari, about
half-way, was the first portion, and there the men were to bivouac one
night. Next day they were to complete the distance, making a