stry. Stores were sorted and piled as they came up by
rail.

Three gunboats arrived in sections, and these were put together. They
were stronger, and much better defended by steel plates than the first
gunboats; and each of them carried two six-pounder quick-firing guns, a
small howitzer, four Maxims, and a searchlight. They were, however,
much slower than the old boats, and could do very little in the way of
towing.

Besides these, eight steel double-deck troop barges were brought up, in
sections, and put together. Three Egyptian battalions came up from
Merawi to aid in the work, which not only included building the
gunboats and barges, but executing the repairs to all the native craft,
and putting them in a thoroughly serviceable state.

In June the railway reached the Atbara, and for the first time for two
years and a half, the officers who had superintended its construction
had a temporary rest. The stores were now transferred from Abadia to
the Atbara, and two trains ran every day, each bringing up something
like two hundred tons of stores.

In the middle of July two Egyptian battalions left Atbara and proceeded
up the Nile, one on each bank, cutting down trees and piling them for
fuel for the steamers. As the river rose, four steamers came up from
Dongola, together with a number of sailing boats; and in the beginning
of August the whole flotilla, consisting of ten gunboats, five unarmed
steamers, eight troop barges, and three or four hundred sailing boats,
were all assembled.

By this time the reinforcements from home were all at Cairo, and their
stores had already been sent up. It was arranged that they were to come
by half battalions, by squadrons, and by batteries, each one day behind
the other. To make room for them, two Egyptian battalions were sent up
to the foot of the Shabluka cataract.

The six black battalions left Berber on July 30th, and arrived at
Atbara the next day. There were now four brigades in the infantry
divisions instead of three, two battalions having been raised from the
Dervishes taken at the battle of Atbara. These were as eager as any to
join in the fight against their late comrades.

This was scarcely surprising. The Baggara, the tyrants of the desert,
are horsemen. The infantry were, for the most part, drawn from the
conquered tribes. They had enlisted in the Khalifa's force partly
because they had no other means of subsistence, partly from their
innate love of fighting. They