Upon Lord Wolseley's arrival we heard the rumour of the murder of Colonel Stewart at El-Kamar, and of the slaying of his companions. Ultimately, the news was confirmed. Stewart, with three steamers, had left Khartoum on 10th September. After shelling the forts at Berber, two of the steamers returned; while Stewart, in the Abbas, which was towing two boats carrying refugees, went on to Abu Hamid, where the natives opened a heavy fire. The boats were cast adrift and their passengers captured. Stewart went on; his steamer was wrecked near the village of Hebbeh, at which, having been induced to land by treachery, Stewart, M. Herbin, French Consul at Khartoum, Mr. Power, _Times_ correspondent, and a number of Greeks and Egyptians, were slain. It was a pitiful end to all Colonel Stewart's gallant service with Gordon. During the first part of my time at Wady Halfa I was engaged under Lord Wolseley's instructions in the inspection of the transport up and down the river, often riding more than forty miles in a day upon a camel. Wady Halfa was then being formed into the base camp preparatory to the general advance: and troops and stores were arriving daily. The railway ran along the east bank of the river to Sarras, 33 miles distant. One day, when Sir Evelyn Wood and a party of soldiers were going by train to Sarras, and Commander Hammill and I were accompanying them, the engine broke down half-way. The Egyptian engineer and stoker being helpless, Hammill and I examined the locomotive, Hammill taking the top part, while I lay on my back underneath, close to the furnace, where the sensation was like being baked in an oven. The bearings were overheated, a lubricating tube having become unscrewed. After two hours' hard work, we managed to reverse the tube end for end and to refix it. Sir Evelyn Wood helped to pull me from under the engine, {227} and laughed till he cried. I was covered with black grease from top to toe, and my clothes were scorched to tatters. Hammill was in no better case, his suit being drenched with oil. The spectacle may have been very amusing to the general; but neither Hammill nor I had more than two suits, and here was one of them destroyed entirely.