The Dash for Khartoum | Page 2

out of the difficulty in
other ways.
Yours sincerely,
G. A. HENTY

CONTENTS.
CHAP. Page
I. MIXED! 11
II. AT CHELTENHAM, 27
III. GONE, 47
IV. BACK AT SCHOOL, 65
V. ENLISTED, 84
VI. EGYPT, 97
VII. EL-TEB, 116
VIII. TAMANIEB, 134
IX. THE CAMEL CORPS, 144
X. AN UNEXPECTED MEETING, 165

XI. ABU KLEA, 183
XII. METEMMEH, 201
XIII. ABU KRU, 218
XIV. A SLAVE, 235
XV. BAD NEWS, 253
XVI. IN DISGUISE, 270
XVII. A RUNAWAY SLAVE, 288
XVIII. THE ZAREBA, 306
XIX. A LONG SEARCH, 325
XX. FOUND! 340
XXI. HOME! 359

ILLUSTRATIONS.
Page
"THE WOMAN PLACED HERSELF IN HIS WAY," 50
"EDGAR STRUCK HIM WITH ALL HIS STRENGTH," 102
"WITH A DESPERATE RUSH THEY REACHED THE SAILORS,"
123
TOWING THE BOATS UP THE NILE, 163
AT THE WELLS OF GAKDUL, 184
"THE ARABS WITH WILD YELLS CHARGED UPON THE

SQUARE," 196
"GOOD-BYE, LAD, AND GOD BLESS YOU!" 210
"A SHOT HAD PASSED THROUGH HER BOILER," 263
THE ARMY OF HICKS PASHA ON THE MARCH, 342
"IT IS RUPERT'S VOICE, BUT IT CANNOT BE RUPERT!" 357
* * * * *
Plan--Port of Suakim, 122
" Battle of El-teb, 29th Feb. 1884, "
" Battle of Abu Klea, 17th Jan. 1885, 138
" Battle of Tamai, 13th Mar. 1884, "

THE DASH FOR KHARTOUM: A TALE OF THE NILE
EXPEDITION.
CHAPTER I
MIXED!
In a room in the married non-commissioned officers' quarters in the
cantonments at Agra, a young woman was sitting looking thoughtfully
at two infants, who lay sleeping together on the outside of a bed with a
shawl thrown lightly over them. Jane Humphreys had been married
about a year. She was the daughter of the regimental sergeant-major,
and had been a spoilt child. She was good looking, and had, so the
wives and daughters of the other non-commissioned officers said, laid
herself out to catch one of the young officers of the regiment, and was
bitterly disappointed at the failure of her efforts.

The report may have been untrue, for Jane Farran was by no means
popular with the other women, taking far too much upon herself, as
they considered, upon the strength of her father's rank, and giving
herself airs as if she were better than those around her. There were girls
in the regiment just as good looking as she was without any of her airs
and tempers. Why should she set herself up above the rest?
When, however, Sergeant-major Farran died suddenly of sunstroke
after a heavy field-day, whatever plans and hopes his daughter may
have entertained came to an end. Her name and that of her mother were
put down among the women to be sent, with the next batch of invalids,
home to England, and she suddenly accepted the offer of marriage of
young Sergeant Humphreys, whose advances she had previously
treated with scorn. They were married six weeks later, on the day
before her mother was to go down by train with a party of invalids to
Calcutta. The universal opinion of the women in the regiment was that
the sergeant had got a bad bargain.
"No man of spirit," one of them said, "would have taken up with a girl
who only accepted him because she could not do any better. She has
got her temper written in her face, and a nice time of it he is likely to
have."
It may have been true that Jane Humphreys had during her father's
lifetime had her ambitions, but she was a clever woman and adapted
herself to her circumstances. If, as the sergeant-major's daughter, she
had given herself airs, and had thrown herself in the way of the young
officers, and had been light and flighty in her manner, all this was
changed as soon as she was married, and even the most censorious
were obliged to admit that she made Sergeant Humphreys a better wife
than they had expected. His home was admirably kept, the gay dresses
that had been somewhat beyond her station were cut up and altered, and
she dressed neatly and quietly.
She was handy with her fingers, her things always fitted her well, and
she gained the approbation of the officers' wives, who had previously
looked upon her with some disfavour as a forward young person. She
made every effort to get on good terms with the wives of the other

non-commissioned officers, and succeeded at last in overcoming the
prejudice which, as Jane Farran, she had excited. There was no doubt
that she was a clever woman, and it was equally beyond doubt that she
completely managed her husband. She was much his superior in
education, and possessing far greater abilities could twist him round her
little finger, although she did it so cleverly that he never suspected that
he was the