Khartoum and Omdurman 



the reasons why the cavalry looked so level and 

 smart at the review in their trot, canter, and 

 gallop past, with the bay troop wedged in be- 

 tween the outer ones of greys. 



In quick succession came a ball at the palace, 

 followed by a sand-grouse shoot in the early 

 morning. All the rank and fashion of Khartoum 

 took the floor and footed it hot and strong 

 till the small hours, when we departed in 

 peace on a steam-launch for Omdurman ; the 

 jokes and jests gradually died away to a mur- 

 mur as we slipped down the sleeping river 

 under the stars. I, with the orderlies and 

 gun-bearers, whom I had brought with me 

 from my battalion in Uganda for the trip with 

 Mr. Churchill, were living with the loth Su- 

 danese, and a merry time they gave us ! Right 

 good fellows all ! Many thanks to them for their 

 kindness to me and mine, and may the best 

 of luck attend them when they come to be 

 strangers in a strange land ! 



We had not to get up so very early the next 

 morning for the sand-grouse, as 7.45 a.m. was 

 the time fixed for the rendezvous, to which we 

 made our way each on his patient moke. Up 

 the White Nile for about three miles we ambled, 

 till the time came for us to take action. The 

 mode of procedure was as follows. The guns, 

 each with a little native boy to act as retriever, 

 sat themselves down some thirty yards from the 



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