It has always been our rule, in order to obtain accurate pictures, to entrust the illustration of our stories only to artists who have actually visited or lived in the various countries referred to, and are consequently familiar with the conditions of life prevailing there. The result of this custom is that our artistic staff is composed of men who have travelled extensively, roughing it in many remote parts of the world. In the course of their journeyings our illustrators have themselves met with exciting and unusual experiences, some of the most interesting of which are here given, each artist depicting his own adventure. II. Mr. Charles M. Sheldon, the well-known war artist, who has done splendid work for THE WIDE WORLD, has had several exciting experiences in the course of his career. He was the special artist for _Black and White_ during the Dongola Campaign in 1896, and received the Khedivial medal with two clasps awarded to the correspondents. He went through the Spanish-American War in Cuba, was dispatched to South Africa at the time of the Jameson Raid, and has also represented his paper in India. Mr. Sheldon has a studio full of interesting souvenirs of his various campaigns. [Illustration: MR. CHARLES M. SHELDON, WHOSE JOURNEY DOWN THE HANNOCK CATARACT ON THE SIDE OF A CAPSIZED BOAT IS HERE DESCRIBED. _From a Photograph._] It was during the Dongola Campaign that Mr. Sheldon met with his most exciting adventure, and the fact that he is alive to-day is more owing to good fortune, he says, than to any skill on his part on that occasion.