A guard was placed
over the palace, and here, as elsewhere through the town, looting was
strictly forbidden.

All day the general expected the arrival of the king, who had sent
a messenger to say he would be in early. At two o'clock a tremendous
rainstorm broke over the town, lasting for three hours. In the evening
it became evident that he was again deceiving us, and orders were issued
that the troops, in the morning, should push on another three miles
to the tombs of the kings, where he was said to be staying. Later
on, however, the news came that the king had gone right away into the
interior, and as another storm was coming up it became evident that the
rainy season was setting in in earnest. The determination was therefore
come to, to burn the town and to start for the coast next morning.

All night Major Home with a party of Engineers was at work mining the
palace and preparing it for explosion, while a prize committee were
engaged in selecting and packing everything which they considered worth
taking down to the coast. The news of the change of plan, however, had
not got abroad, and the troops paraded next morning under the belief
that they were about to march still farther up the country. When it
became known that they were bound for the coast there was a general
brightening of faces, and a buzz of satisfaction ran down the ranks.
It was true that it was believed that a large amount of treasure was
collected at the kings' tombs, and the prize money would not have been
unwelcome, still the men felt that their powers were rapidly becoming
exhausted. The hope of a fight with the foe and of the capture of
Coomassie had kept them up upon the march, but now that this had been
done the usual collapse after great exertion followed. Every hour added
to the number of fever stricken men who would have to be carried down to
the coast, and each man, as he saw his comrades fall out from the ranks,
felt that his own turn might come next.

At six o'clock in the morning the advanced guard of the baggage began to
move out of the town. The main body was off by seven. The 42d remained
as rearguard to cover the Engineers and burning party.

Frank stayed behind to see the destruction of the town. A hundred
engineer laborers were supplied with palm leaf torches, and in spite of
the outer coats of thatch being saturated by the tremendous rains, the
flames soon spread. Volumes of black smoke poured up, and soon a huge
pile of smoke