The Bahr-el-Zeraf 



Well, after two days of steaming and tramping 

 and steaming again, we found ourselves once 

 more at Khor Attar, my host's semi-permanent 

 station ; and whilst he busied himself in preparing 

 his mules and stores for a short journey through 

 his district, I amused myself shooting guinea- 

 fowl and a rather nice oribi. 



That evening we got up steam again for a 

 short two miles up this shallow khor. The water 

 was very low, and the channel had changed with 

 the continual silting up of the mud, consequently 

 we ran aground on several sandbanks before we 

 anchored for the night, but with no direful results 

 till next morning. A hurricane had started in 

 the night, and although we had taken all pre- 

 caution, and had moored our stern well out from 

 the bank with a couple of anchors, we found in 

 the morning that they had dragged, and that the 

 steamer was stuck, hard and fast, abeam on a lee 

 shore. 



Till the wind dropped it was no use doing 

 anything except get out a few more anchors, 

 which we did. I had to get back to Taufikia to 

 catch the Gondokoro boat, and began to grow 

 desperate about noon. Eventually, after a great 

 deal of real hard work, the sturdy fellows got us 

 afloat, and when we turned the bend into the 

 open Nile, there was my boat, the good ship 

 Amara, steaming up about a mile away. 



It was just touch and go. She was a clay 



167 



