FOOTNOTES: 

[A] Pronounced voulee.

* * * * *

It was just as well that we did not put too much faith in the story that the war on the Indian frontier would be ended with the defeat of the Haddah Mullah.

News has reached us that the British forces have once again been checked by the tribesmen.

This time it was the Mohmads who were the victors.  These men, if you remember, professed themselves ready to submit to English rule, and when the troops arrived in their neighborhood, offered their allegiance to the British officers.

They were, however, told that to prove their good faith they must, one and all, give up their rifles.  Upon hearing this they became sulky, and refused to do anything of the sort.

The British waited the two days they had promised, and then began to destroy the villages of the rebellious tribesmen.  On one of these expeditions they were in turn attacked by the Afridis, and defeated.

In the meanwhile the Ameer of Afghanistan is uneasy over the advance of the British into the hills that form his frontier.  He is afraid that the British will not be satisfied with punishing the tribesmen, but will endeavor to take possession of lands belonging to him.  He has therefore sought the aid of Russia, and has obtained the Czar’s promise to help him in case the British attempt to encroach on Afghanistan.

He is at the same time keeping faith with the English.  He has issued a proclamation, forbidding his subjects to leave the country under penalty of a heavy fine, so that it will not be possible for them to go and join the tribesmen.  He is doing all in his power to keep faith with England, but it is said that he is much pleased that he has secured the aid of Russia to protect him in case of need.

* * * * *

In the Soudan, the English are steadily advancing on Khartoum.

The Mahdists are making a strong stand there, and it is expected that the decisive battle will be fought in the near neighborhood of that city.

A newspaper correspondent who is with the Soudan expedition writes a most interesting account of the rapid way the soldiers are building a railroad across the desert.  The road is being finished at the rate of nearly two miles a day, and when completed will enable the army to bring men and supplies from Cairo in a few days instead of the many weary weeks which are now required.

The building of the railway through the desert has been entrusted to the engineer corps.  These engineers are soldiers whose duty it is to build fortifications, railroads, bridges, or any works which the commander of the force may think necessary.

In building a railroad the first thing to be done is to prepare the road-bed, so that it will not give way under the weight of the trains that are to pass over it.  This is done by digging out or banking up the earth so that the bed shall be level.  When the earth-bank has been made as high and as solid as necessary, huge wooden beams, called sleepers, are placed across it at regular intervals, and on these sleepers the rails are laid.