"We've got naither the medal nor the bar nor Khartoum yet, d'ye ken?" said Macintosh. CHAPTER TWENTY. BIR-HUMP. "And when will we be after attacking Matammeh?" asked Grady, as he sat over the bivouac fire. "Precious soon, I should think; we can't get on to Khartoum till it's taken," said Kavanagh. "And for why not?" asked Grady again. "Eh, man!" exclaimed Macintosh, "ye would na go past it and leave all these thousands of heathens in our rear, would ye? With an army at Khartoum in front, and the army here in our rear, we should be between two fires, don't ye see? Never a mouthful of grub or a cartridge could get to us, and we should be peppered on all sides at once." "We might as well risk it and get it over," said Tarrant. "We get nothing fit to eat as it is." "I call that stupid, talking like that!" cried Dobbs. "I know the rations are a deal better than ever I expected; capital, I call them." "So they are," said Macintosh; "but if Tarrant had sheep's-head, haggis, and whusky itsel' for dinner, he would na be contented." "Every man to his taste," growled Tarrant; "and if a chap likes tinned meat he's welcome. I prefer good beef and mutton, fresh-killed, with plenty of potatoes and white bread." "And a little tripe and onions, or a swatebread after it, with pudding and lashings of sherry wine, I'll be bound," said Grady. "Get along wid ye, it's Lord Mayor of London ye ought to be. Why, man, it's fighting and not ating ye've come out here for." "Well, I got plenty of that between Abu Klea and this, anyway," replied Tarrant. "A bullet went through my water-bottle early on the eighteenth, and I was without a drop for hours. I believe I have worse luck than anybody." "Worse luck than anybody, you ungrateful beggar!" cried Smith. "And how about Richardson, your rear rank man, who got the same bullet which spoilt your bottle into his body, and died in pain that evening? I suppose you would rather _his_ water-bottle had been hit and _your_ inwards!" Tarrant busied himself in stuffing and lighting his pipe, and made no reply. "Well, for my part, I hope we shall have a cut in at Matammeh to- morrow," said Kavanagh, "so as to get on up the river at once." "Aye, I hope we may," echoed half a dozen voices in chorus. "Gordon and the poor chaps with him must be pretty well sick of waiting to be relieved, hemmed in all the time by those blood-thirsty savages." "Eh, but it must have been bad last March, when our people won the victory at Tamai, and they thought at Khartoum that they were coming across to them," said Macintosh. "And then to hear they had gone awa again, and left them without a bit of help but themselves." "Sure, won't they be glad when they hear our guns!" cried Grady. "And won't they come out and tackle the naygurs that have been bothering them on the one side, while we pitch into them on the other! We'll double them up and destroy them entoirely."