After having made a hearty meal, Gregory related the adventure with the Arabs in the desert, merely saying that they had found there were no Dervishes at Gakdul.
"But why didn't you go straight back, instead of coming down here ?" "I wanted to see whether this line was open, and whether there were any wells on it.

We only found one, and it took us four or five hours' hard work to get at the water.

It is lucky, indeed, that we did so; for our horses were getting very done up, and I had begun to think that they would not reach our destination alive." In the afternoon, the adventurers started with the boats going up to Merawi and, the next morning, arrived at the camp.

The Dervish patches had been removed from their clothes, as soon as they arrived at Ambukol.

Gregory could have borrowed a white suit there; but as the stain on his skin, although somewhat lighter than when first put on, was too dark, he declined the offer.
"No one may notice me as I land, now," he said, "but everyone would stare at a man with a brown face and white uniform." Leaving Zaki to get the horses on shore, Gregory went straight to the General's quarters.