ROOSEVELT'S RETURN TO CIVILIZATION 437 



of rival correspondents to be the first to reach the Dal. The Cairo 

 was much the fastest of the two boats, but Mr. WeHman, who had 

 chartered it, nearly lost the race by over confidence, wasting time by 

 tying up at nights. The Pasha drove on night and day, burning fuel 

 to the stick. It was an old boat, with broken paddles and pounding 

 engines, but six blacks stoked the furnace in a tropical sun, sparks 

 streaming through the funnels and the timbers cracking, while the 

 steam gauge was kept at the top-notch, as in the old days on the 

 Mississippi when a negro boy held down the safety valve. In the 

 end both boats reached the Dal at the same time, but the Tribune 

 correspondents on the Pasha were the first to get the telegraph wire 

 at Renk, and their dispatch was the first to reach America. 



Another story of interest to the traveler which they had to tell 

 was that Mrs. Roosevelt and her daughter Ethel had left New York 

 on February 15, en route for Khartum, which they hoped to reach 

 on March 14, the day on which the husband and father expected to 

 arrive at the outpost town. They had sailed from Naples for Cairo 

 on March 4, and on reaching there would take the railroad up the 

 Nile. 



Everything turned out as proposed. The Dal, though it had 

 been delayed by the unusual turbulence of the waters of the Nile, 

 reached Khartum in the afternoon of March 14, within one hour of 

 the scheduled time, and after a brief halt at the palace Colonel Roose- 

 velt hurried away to the railway station to meet his wife and daughter 

 on the train looked for at 5 o'clock. With a courteous appreciation 

 of the situation, the officials of the city had so arranged affairs that 

 the family reunion after a separation for a year was in strict privacy. 

 After a few moments of seclusion, the reunited family emerged from 

 the station, evidently very happy at meeting again. 



Never in the history of this outpost of civilization had Khartum 

 seen so many vessels as on that day. Every kind of river craft had 

 been brought there, loaded with officials, tourists and correspondents. 

 Many of these vessels had gone up the stream to escort the Dal back ; 

 among them that of Sir Francis Wingate, the Sirdar, with his official 

 staff. For miles the river looked like a maritime parade. From the 

 desert a steady stream of native chieftains, with barbarically splendid 



