rd with the line. Six tank trucks
brought up the water for the use of the labourers, daily, and
everything worked with as much regularity as in a great factory at
home. Troops of friendly tribesmen, in our pay, scoured the country and
watched the wells along the road, farther to the east, so as to prevent
any bands of Dervishes from dashing suddenly down upon the workers.

At Wady Halfa, Captain Ewart and two or three other officers left the
steamer, to proceed up the line. Gregory was very sorry to lose him.

"I cannot tell you, Captain Ewart," he said, "how deeply grateful I
feel to you, for the immense kindness you have shown me. I don't know
what I should have done, had I been left without your advice and
assistance in getting my outfit, and making my arrangements to come up
here."

"My dear lad," the latter said, "don't say anything more. In any case,
I should naturally be glad to do what I could, for the son of a man who
died fighting in the same cause as we are now engaged in. But in your
case it has been a pleasure, for I am sure you will do credit to
yourself, and to the mother who has taken such pains in preparing you
for the work you are going to do, and in fitting you for the position
that you now occupy."

As the officers who had come up with them in the train from Cairo were
all going on, and had been told by Ewart something of Gregory's story,
they had aided that officer in making Gregory feel at home in his new
circumstances; and in the two days they had been on board the boat, he
had made the acquaintance of several others.

The river railway had now been carried from Wady Halfa to Kerma, above
the third cataract. The heavy stores were towed up by steamers and
native craft. Most of the engines and trucks had been transferred to
the desert line; but a few were still retained, to carry up troops if
necessary, and aid the craft in accumulating stores.

One of these trains started a few hours after the arrival of the
steamer at Wady Halfa. Gregory, with the officers going up, occupied
two horse boxes. Several of them had been engaged in the last campaign,
and pointed out the places of interest.

At Sarras, some thirty miles up the road, there had been a fight on the
29th of April, 1887; when the Dervish host, advancing strong in the
belief that they could carry all before them down to the sea, were
defeated by the Egyptian force under the Sirdar and General Chermside.

The next stop of the train wa