A GHOST-STORY FROM ABU- HAMED.
[To TES EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."
Sin,—The enclosed extract from a letter written by an officer now serving in the Soudan may interest your readers :—
"When Major Sidney was killed at Abu-Hamed, the old blacks 'used to say : •Never mind; our brothers were killed too, and they will always stay with the Bey.' An officer in the Railway Battalion lately took up his quarters in a house about three launched yards from where the officers and men of the 10th Soudanese Battalion are buried, and in a few days his servant -came anct said he must leave. On being asked why, he said : .g Because the dead are here at night.' Further questioning brought out the following story. The night before he had gone .out towards the khor where Major Sidney, Captain Fitzclarence, and the men were killed and buried, and was challenged by some one. He walked on, and was again challenged by a Sondanese soldier standing on a knoll, and as he looked he heard, Guard, turn out !' and saw the dead men of the 10th rise and fall-in in front of the Boy's grave. Nothing would induce him to stay, and in a day or two another servant came with the same story, and finally the fellow had to leave and find another house. He made inquiries, and found that none of the natives would go near the place after dark, and that it was firmly believed that the grave of the Bey of the 10th was guarded every night by the men who were killed, and that any one who went out was always challenged, and saw the guard fall-in. I daresay it seems quite natural to these poor, simple old blacks, and it is rather a nice instance of their feelings towards their officers."
—I am, Sir, &c., B.
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