Troops of friendly tribesmen, in our pay, scoured the country and watched the wells along the road, farther to the east, so as to prevent any bands of Dervishes from dashing suddenly down upon the workers.
At Wady Halfa, Captain Ewart and two or three other officers left the steamer, to proceed up the line.

Gregory was very sorry to lose him.
"I cannot tell you, Captain Ewart," he said, "how deeply grateful I feel to you, for the immense kindness you have shown me.

I don't know what I should have done, had I been left without your advice and assistance in getting my outfit, and making my arrangements to come up here." "My dear lad," the latter said, "don't say anything more.

In any case, I should naturally be glad to do what I could, for the son of a man who died fighting in the same cause as we are now engaged in.

But in your case it has been a pleasure, for I am sure you will do credit to yourself, and to the mother who has taken such pains in preparing you for the work you are going to do, and in fitting you for the position that you now occupy." As the officers who had come up with them in the train from Cairo were all going on, and had been told by Ewart something of Gregory's story, they had aided that officer in making Gregory feel at home in his new circumstances; and in the two days they had been on board the boat, he had made the acquaintance of several others.
The river railway had now been carried from Wady Halfa to Kerma, above the third cataract.