being forwarded on to Suakin. There were about two thousand or more of these animals, and a great number had been already sent on.
We had no time to go ashore, and only just managed to get our first letters from England before we were off again. While we were in harbour three other transports came in, and as we steamed out again about seven o'clock, the troops on board these cheered lustily, rockets were sent up, blue lights burnt, and trumpets and bugles sounded the "Advance" and the "Charge." Of course we cheered back again till we were all as hoarse as crows.
We had been the first ship to leave England, and were very keen to be the first to arrive at Suakin; so our disappointment may be imagined when we suddenly discovered that we were going dead slow, and that something was wrong with our boilers. By the next morning these were repaired, and though we had lost a good bit of our start, we were still ahead of the other transports. We all began to feel the heat very much, and what little wind there was happened to be right behind us, so we regularly panted for breath in the middle of the day. Going down the Gulf of Suez, we had the coast in view the whole while. It is a fine, rugged outline, but
