58 SERVICE AND SPORT IN THE SUDAN 



husbands to carry home their belongings. It was still 

 very cold, but that helped on the building of the 

 station, which made El Eddaiya — when we arrived 

 a tiny hamlet — look now an important town. 



But now I was obliged to take my turn for leave. 

 So, in the middle of February, I left No. i Company, 

 little thinking that I would never see it again ; for on 

 my return I was selected for transfer to the Civil 

 Administration, the most fascinating branch open to 

 the Egyptian Army. My orders were to catch the 

 first available boat at El Dueim. I therefore deter- 

 mined to lose no time en route. In less than seventy- 

 two hours I was in El Obeid, a distance of 190 miles. 

 Hamza Eff. accompanied me most of the way, but 

 the men of the escort I left behind at Abu Seneita (a 

 swamp in the rains), taking only my orderly and bugler 

 with me. As we rode along Hamza Eff. told me 

 many a story of the dervish days, and of the difficulties 

 in the early days of our occupation. 



At El Obeid I found that I had been misinformed 

 as to the dates of the boat departures, so, at the 

 Mudir's suggestion, I halted there two days. I was 

 not altogether sorry. My camels could do with a rest, 

 and I, having neglected to swathe myself in the broad 

 Camel Corps belt, found my shoulder blades so sore 

 that I could barely hold my head straight. 



Leaving El Obeid I took the Um Bosha road, and 

 reached El Dueim, a distance of 160 miles, in seventy- 

 six hours. A part of the way was very trying. It lay 

 over ridges a couple of hundred yards apart, with a 

 sharp dip of twenty feet or so between them. Having 



