ARE OUR TROUBLES NOW TO END? 329 



mountains for protection, for again none have been seen ; 

 but as it has gradually abated, I live in hope that the 

 larder may be replenished to-morrow. Tis time it 

 should be so, for our remnant of gazelle would not 

 keep over yesterday ; our men have therefore been on 

 very short commons. Having bought a fowl in the morn- 

 ing from an old woman before starting, Ranfurly has 

 been able to have some soup without touching our 

 store of Liebig, and the pickings came in very well for 

 me. An excellent lot of soldiers are at this station, 

 and they are very ready to help us, bringing us at once 

 water from a well close by, fire-wood and an angarep, 

 but to our request for dhurra we have only received 

 the same reply as before, adding that they have received 

 no rations for two months, and were entirely dependent 

 all this time upon passers-by. 



Our thoughts are now so much taken up with look- 

 ing forward to the much-desired arrival at Souakim that 

 the fine desert mountain ranges and glorious sunsets are 

 almost passed unnoticed. Not so the moon, however, 

 for with her coming began our troubles ; she remained 

 with us throughout them, and as I have watched her 

 career I have tried to be superstitious enough to hope 

 that with her present decline a brighter era might 

 commence for us. 



Dream on as we may, the fact of our crossing the 

 desert is ever forced upon our attention by the con- 



