stances, exposure to withering heat during the day and stifling
heat during the night; to thirst that seems unquenchable, and fatigue
from prolonged duty that seems irreparable; to fits of sickness that
appear to eliminate from stalwart frames all the strength they had ever
possessed; and fits of the "blues" that render the termination of life a
subject of rather pleasant contemplation than otherwise. But all these
things he found out at Suakim!

Moreover, it had not occurred to him to think deeply on the fact that
fighting meant rushing at a fellow-man whose acquaintance he had not
made before; against whom he had not the slightest feeling of ill-will,
and skewering him with a bayonet, or sending a bullet into him which
would terminate his career in mid-life, and leave a wife and children--
perhaps a mother also--disconsolate. But he also found that out at
Suakim!

We repeat that Miles had no desire to fight, though, of course, he had
no objection. When the officer in command sent him and his comrades to
their station--after the ball-cartridge supply just referred to--and
told them to keep a sharp look-out, for Osman Digna was giving them a
great deal of trouble at the time, and pointed out where they were to go
if attacked, and warned them to be ready to turn out on the instant that
the bugle should sound the alarm, Miles was as full of energy and
determination to fight and die for his country as the best of his
comrades, though he did not express so strong a wish for a "brush with
the enemy," as some of them did, or sympathise much with Corporal Flynn
when he said--

"It's wishin' I am that Osman an' his dirty naygurs would come down on
us this night, for we're fresh an' hearty, just off the say, burnin' for
fame an' glory, ivery mother's son of us, an' fit to cut the black
bastes up into mince-meat. Och! but it's thirsty I am!"

"If ye spoke less an' thocht mair ye wadna be sae dry, maybe," remarked
Saunders, in a cynical tone.

"Hoots, man, let the cratur alane," said Macleod, as he busied himself
polishing up some dim parts of his rifle. "It's no muckle pleesure
we're like to hae in this het place. Let the puir thing enjoy his
boastin' while he may."

"Sure an' we're not widout consolation anyhow," retorted the corporal;
"for as long as we've got you, Mac, and your countryman, to cheer us wid
your wise an' lively talk we'll niver die o' the blues."

As he spoke a tremendous explosion not far off caus