So, week in, week out, the work went on.  Every few days saw a further advance into the wilderness.  The scene changed and remained unaltered—­ ‘another, yet the same.’  As Wady Halfa became more remote and Abu Hamed grew near, an element of danger, the more appalling since it was peculiar, was added to the strange conditions under which the inhabitants of Railhead lived.  What if the Dervishes should cut the line behind them?  They had three days’ reserve of water.  After that, unless the obstruction were removed and traffic restored, all must wither and die in the sand, and only their bones and their cooking-pots would attest the folly of their undertaking.

By the 20th of July a hundred and thirty miles of line had been finished, and it became too dangerous to advance further until Abu Hamed had been cleared of the Dervish force.  They were still a hundred miles away, but camels travel fast and far, and the resources of the enemy were uncertain.  It appeared that progress would be checked, but on the 7th of August General Hunter, marching from Merawi along the river bank, attacked and took Abu Hamed—­an operation which will be described hereafter.  Work was at once resumed with renewed energy.  The pace of construction now became remarkable.  As much as 5,300 yards of track was surveyed, embanked, and laid in a single day.  On the 1st of November Abu Hamed was reached, and by the banks of the Nile the men who had fought their way across the desert joined hands with those who had fought their way along the river.

The strain and hardship had not, however, been without effect on the constructors.  Two of the Engineer subalterns—­Polwhele and Cator—­out of the eight concerned in the laying of the Dongola and the Desert railways had died.  Their places were eagerly filled by others.

The completion of the line was accelerated by nearly a month through the fortunate discovery of water.  At the beginning of July a well was sunk in what was thought to be a likely place at ‘No. 4 Station,’ seventy-seven miles from Halfa.  After five weeks’ work water was found in abundance at a depth of 90 feet.  A steam-pump was erected, and the well yielded a continual supply.  In October a second well was sunk at ‘No. 6 Station,’ fifty-five miles further on, whence water was obtained in still greater quantity.  These discoveries modified, though they did not solve, the water question.  They substantially increased the carrying capacity of the line, and reduced the danger to which the construction gangs were exposed.  The sinking of the wells, an enterprise at which the friendly Arabs scoffed, was begun on the Sirdar’s personal initiative; but the chronicler must impartially observe that the success was won by luck as much as by calculation, for, since the first two wells were made, eight others of greater depth have been bored and in no case has water been obtained.

As the railway had been made, the telegraph-wire had, of course, followed it.  Every consignment of rails and sleepers had been accompanied by its proportion of telegraph-poles, insulators, and wire.  Another subaltern of Engineers, Lieutenant Manifold, who managed this part of the military operations against the Arabs, had also laid a line from Merawi to Abu Hamed, so that immediate correspondence was effected round the entire circle of rail and river.