"Our camels are no burden to the army," Gregory said; "they only have a few pounds of grain a day, and get their living principally on what they can pick up. When they go on now, they will each carry fifty pounds of private grain. They get five pounds when there are no bushes or grass, so that the grain will last them for a fortnight."
"I suppose you think that the Dervishes mean fighting?"
" I think there is no doubt about it. All the fugitives that come in say that the Khalifa will fight, but whether it will be in the defence of Omdurman, or whether he will come out and attack us at Kerreri, none can say. The Khalifa keeps his intentions to himself."
"By the bye, Hilliard, I don't think you know my right-hand neighbour; he only joined us an hour before we started, having been left behind at Cairo sick. Mr. Hartley, let me introduce you to Mr. Hilliard—I should say Bimbashi Hilliard; he is on General Hunter's staff."
The young lieutenant placed an eye-glass in his eye and bowed to Gregory.
" Have you been in this beastly country long?" he asked.
"If you include Lower Egypt, I have been here eighteen years."
"Dear me!" the other drawled; "the climate seems to have agreed with you."
"Fairly well," Gregory replied; "I don't mind the heat much, and one doesn't feel it while one is at work."
" Hartley has not tried that yet," one of the others laughed; "work is not in his line. This most unfortunate illness of his kept him back at Cairo, and he brought such a supply of ice with him when he came up that he was able to hand over a hundredweight of it to us when he arrived. I don't think, Major, that in introducing him you should have omitted to mention that but for a temporary misfortune he would be the Marquis of Langdale; but in another two years he will blossom out into his full title, and then I suppose we shall lose him."
Gregory, whose knowledge of the English peerage was extremely limited, looked puzzled.
" May I ask how that is?" he said. " I always thought that the next heir to a title succeeded to it as soon as his father died."
"As a rule that is the case," the Major said, "but the present is an exceptional one. At the death of the late marquis the heir to the title was missing. I may say that the late marquis only enjoyed the title for two years. The next of kin, a brother of his, had disappeared, and up to the present no news has been obtained of him. Of course he has been advertised for, and so on, but without success. It is known that he married, but as he did so against the wish of his father he broke off all communication with his family, and it is generally supposed that he emigrated. Pending any news of him the title is held in abeyance.
"He may have died; it is probable that he has done so, for he could hardly have escaped seeing the advertisements that were inserted in every paper. Of course, if he has left children they inherit the title. After a lapse of five years Mr. Hartley's father, who was the next heir and who died five years ago, applied to be declared the inheritor of the title, but the peers or judges or someone decided that twenty-one years must elapse before such an application could be even considered. The income has been accumulating ever since, so that at the end of that time it is probable that Mr. Hartley will be allowed to assume the title.
" Will the estates go with the title, Hartley?"
"Oh, I should say so, of course!" the other drawled; "the title would not be of much use without them."
"Nonsense, my dear fellow!" another said; "why, a fellow with your personal advantage and a title would be able to command the American market and to pick up an heiress with millions."
The general laugh that followed showed that Hartley was by no means a popular character in the regiment.
"The fellow is a consummate ass," the man on Gregory's left whispered. "He only got into the service as a Queen's cadet; he could no more have got in by marks than he could have flown. No one believes that he had anything the matter with him at Cairo; but he preferred stopping behind and coming up by himself without any duties, to taking any share in the work. He is always talking about his earldom, —that is why the Major mentioned it, so as to draw him out."
"But I suppose he is really heir to it?"
" Yes, if no one else claims it. For aught that is known, there may be half a dozen children of the man that is missing, knocking about somewhere in Canada or Australia; if so, they are safe to turn up sooner or later. You see, as the man had an elder brother he would not have counted at all upon coming to the title. He may be in some out-of-the-way place where even a colonial newspaper would never reach him, but sooner or later he or some of his sons will be coming home and will hear of the last earl's death, and then this fellow's nose will be put out of joint. I am sure every one in the regiment would be glad, for he is an insufferable ass. I suppose, when he comes into the title he will either cut the army altogether or exchange into the Guards."
The party presently broke up, having finished the last bottle of wine they had brought up. Gregory remained seated by the Major, discussing the chances of the campaign and the points where resistance might be expected. The other officers stood talking a short distance off. Presently Gregory caught the words—
" How is it that this young fellow calls himself Bimbashi, which, I believe, means major?"
"He does not call himself that, although that is his rank. All the white officers in the Egyptian army have that rank, though they may only be lieutenants in ours."
"I call it a monstrous thing," the drawling voice then said, " that a young fellow like this, who seems to be an Egyptian by birth, should have a higher rank than men here who have served fifteen or twenty years."
The Major got up and walked across to the group.
"I will tell you why, Mr. Hartley," he said in a loud voice. "It is because, for the purpose of the war in this country, they know infinitely more than the officers of our army. They talk the languages, they know the men. These blacks will follow them anywhere to the death. As for Mr. Hilliard, he has performed feats that any officer in the army, whatever his rank, would be proud to have done. He Avent in disguise into the Dervish camp at Metemnieh, before Hunter's advance began, and obtained invaluable information. He jumped overboard from a gun-boat to save a drowning Dervish woman, although to do so involved almost certain capture and death at the hands of the Dervishes. In point of fact his escape was a remarkable one, for he was tied to a tree in the first line of the Dervish defences at Atbara, and was only saved by what was almost a miracle. He may not be heir to an earldom, Mr. Hartley, but he would do more credit to the title than many I could name. I hear him well spoken of by everyone as an indefatigable worker, and as having performed the most valuable services. Captain Keppel, on whose gun-boat he served for two or three months, spoke to me of him in the highest terms, and General Hunter has done the same. I fancy, sir, that it will be some years before you are likely to distinguish yourself so highly. His father was an officer who fell in battle, and if he happened to be born in Egypt, as you sneeringly said just now, all I can say is that, in my opinion, had you been born in Egypt you would not occupy the position which he now does."