'Thank you most deeply also, Lord Cromer!' Gregory said with a bow, and then left the room. Captain Ewart remained there for another ten minutes. When he came out he nodded to Gregory. ' Will you come with me 1' he said. ' I am going to the bank. I shall not be there many minutes, and we can then have a talk together.'
'Thank you, sir! I am going to the bank too. It was Mr. Murray who first spoke to Lord Cromer about me.'
' You could not have had a better introduction. Well, you won't have very long to get ready for the start—that is, if you have not begun to prepare for it. However, there is no rush at present, therefore I have no doubt you will be able to get your khaki uniforms in time. As for other things, the. e will be no difficulty about them.'
'You have been up at the front before, sir?'
'Yes, my work is on the railway. I had a touch of fever, and got leave to come down and recruit before the hot weather came in. I dare say you think it hot here sometimes, but this is an ice-house in comparison with the desert.'
They talked until they arrived at the bank. 'You may as well go in first and see Murray. I suppose you won't be above two or three minutes. I shall be longer, perhaps a quarter of an hour, so if you wait for me we will go to Shepherd's and talk your business over in some sort of comfort.'
' I am pleased indeed,' Mr. Murray said, when Gregory told him of his appointment. ' It is better than I even hoped. It is bad enough there in the position of an officer, but it would be infinitely worse in any other capacity. Do you want to draw any money?'
' No, sir; I have fifty pounds by me and that will be enough, I should think, for everything.'
'More than ample. Of course you have plenty of light underclothing of all sorts, and a couple of suits of khaki will not cost you anything like so much as they would if you got them at a military tailor's in London. However, if you want more you will be able to draw it.'
'Thank you very much, sir! I will not detain you any longer now, but will, if you will allow me, come in to say good-bye before I start. Captain Ewart is waiting to speak to you. He came with me from Lord Cromer's.'
Captain Ewart then went in, and after settling the business on which he had come, asked Mr. Murray questions about Gregory and received a sketch of his story.
' He seems to be a fine young fellow,' he said, ' well-grown and active, not at all what one would expect from a product of Cairo.'
' No, indeed; of course you have not seen him to advantage in that black suit, but in his ordinary clothes I should certainly take him, if I had not seen him before, to be a young lieutenant freshly come out to join.'
'Did you know the father?'
'No, I was not here at that time; but the mother was a lady every inch. It is strange that neither of them should have friends in England. It may be that she preferred to earn her living here and be altogether independent.'
'She had a pension, hadn't she?'
'A small one, but she really earned her living by teaching. She gave lessons to the ladies in English, French, and music, and had classes for young boys and girls. I once asked her if she did not intend to go back and settle in England, and she saidPossibly, some day'. I fancy that there must have been some mystery about the affair—what, I can't say; but at any rate we may take it that such a woman would not have married a man who was not a gentleman.'
'Certainly the boy looks a well-bred one,' Captain Ewart said, 'and I am sure that the Sirdar must have been taken with him. You don't know any more about his father than you have told me?'
' Very little. Once, in talking with his wife, she told me that her husband had been in a commercial house in Alexandria for a year, but the place was burned down at the time of the bombardment. Being thus out of harness he became an assistant to one of the army contractors, and when things settled down at Cairo obtained a berth as interpreter, with the temporary rank of captain on Hicks Pasha's staff, as he also spoke Arabic fluently. I can tell you no more about him than that, as I never saw him, though no doubt he came here with his wife when her account was opened. I was interested in her. I looked up the old books and found that two hundred pounds was paid into her account before he left. I may say that she steadily increased that amount ever since, but a few years ago she had the sum then standing transferred to the boy's name, telling me frankly at the time that she did so to save trouble in case anything happened to her. I fancy from what she said that for the last year or two she had been going downhill. I had a chat with her the last time she came in. She told me that she had been consumptive, and that it was for the sake of her health they came out here.'
' That accounts for it, Murray. By the date, they were probably only married a year or so before they came out, and a man who loved a young wife and saw no other way of saving her would throw up any berth at home in order to give her the benefit of a warm climate. Still, it is a little curious that if he had only been out here a year or so before Hicks started, he should have learned Arabic sufficiently well to get a post as interpreter. I have been in the country about three years, and can get on fairly well with the natives in matters concerning my own wor?, but I certainly could not act as general interpreter.
' Well, I am glad to have heard this, for you know the sort of men interpreters generally are. From the lad's appearance and manner there is no shadow of doubt that his mother was a lady. I thought it more than probable that she had married beneath her and that her husband was of the ordinary interpreter class. Now, from what you have said I see that it is probable he came of a much better family. Well, you may be sure that I shall do what I can for the lad.'
Gregory joined him as he left the bank. ' I think, Hilliard, we had best go to the tailor first; his shop is not far from here. As you want to get your things in three days, it is as well to have that matter settled at once.'
The two suits, each consisting of khaki tunic, breeches, and putties, were ordered. ' You had better have breeches,' he said. ' It is likely you will have to ride, and knickerbockers look baggy.'
This done, they went to Shepherd's Hotel. ' Sit down in the verandah,' Captain Ewart said, ' until I get rid of my regimentals. Even a khaki tunic is not an admirable garment when one wants to be cool and comfortable.'
In a few minutes he came down again in a light tweed suit, and, seating himself in another lounging chair, two cooling drinks were brought in; then he said: 'Now we will talk about your outfit, and what you had best take up. Of course you have got light underclothing, so you need not bother about that. You want ankle boots— and high ones—to keep out the sand. You had better take a couple of pairs of slippers, they are of immense comfort at the end of the day; also a light cap to slip on when you are going from one tent to another after dark. A helmet is a good thing in many ways, but it is cumbrous; and if there are four or five men in a tent and they all take off their helmets, it is difficult to know w T here to stow them away. Most likely you will get a tent at Dongola, but you can't always reckon upon that, and you may find it very useful to have a light tente d'abri made. It should have a fly, which is useful in two ways. In the first place, it adds to the height and so enlarges the space inside; and in the next place, you can tie it up in the daytime and allow whatever air there is to pass through; then, with a blanket thrown over the top, you will find it cooler than a regimental tent. Of course you will want a sword and a revolver, with a case and belt. Get the regulation size and a hundred rounds of cartridges; you are not likely ever to use a quarter of that number, but they will come in for practice. Now as to food. Of course you get beef, biscuit, or bread, and there is a certain amount of tea, but nothing like enough for a thirsty climate, especially when—which is sometimes the case—the water is so bad that it is not safe to drink unless it has been boiled; so you had better take up four or five pounds of tea.'
' I don't take sugar, sir.'
'All the better; there is no better drink than tea poured out and left to cool, and drunk without sugar. You might take a dozen tins of preserved milk, as many of condensed cocoa and milk, and a couple of dozen pots of jam. Of course you could not take all these things on if you were likely to move, but you may be at Dongola some time before there is another advance, and you may as well make yourself as comfortable as you can; and if, as is probable, you cannot take the pots up with you, you can hand them over to those who are left behind. You will have no trouble in getting a fair-sized case taken up, as there will be water carriage nearly all the way. A good many fellows have aerated waters sent up, but hot soda-water is by no means a desirable drink— not to be compared with tea kept in porous jars, so I should not advise you to bother about it. You will want a water-bottle; get the largest you can find. It is astonishing-how much water a fellow can get down in a long day's march. Oh! as to your boots, get the uppers as light as you can—the lighter the better; but you must have strong soles—there are rocks in some places, and they cut the soles to pieces in no time. The sand is bad enough; your foot sinks in it, and it seems to have a sort of sucking action, and very often takes the sole right off in a very short time. I suppose you
