uld go
mad. To die, even here, one could put up with that without overmuch
regret; but to go mad!" and he shivered. "If this man with the matches
proves false to us, Feversham, I shall be near to it--very near to it. A
man one day, a raving, foaming idiot the next--a thing to be put away
out of sight, out of hearing. God, but that's horrible!" and he dropped
his head between his hands, and dared not look up until Idris crossed to
them and bade them go about their work. What work they did in the
factory that day neither knew. They were only aware that the hours
passed with an extraordinary slowness, but the evening came at last.

"Among the storehouses," said Trench. They dived into the first alley
which they passed, and turning a corner saw the man who had brought the
matches.

"I am Abdul Kader," he began at once. "I have come to arrange for your
escape. But at present flight is impossible;" and Trench swayed upon his
feet as he heard the word.

"Impossible?" asked Feversham.

"Yes. I brought three camels to Omdurman, of which two have died. The
Effendi at Suakin gave me money, but not enough. I could not arrange
for relays, but if you will give me a letter to the Effendi telling him
to give me two hundred pounds, then I will have everything ready and
come again within three months."

Trench turned his back so that his companion might not see his face. All
his spirit had gone from him at this last stroke of fortune. The truth
was clear to him, appallingly clear. Abdul Kader was not going to risk
his life; he would be the shuttle going backwards and forwards between
Omdurman and Suakin as long as Feversham cared to write letters and
Sutch to pay money. But the shuttle would do no weaving.

"I have nothing with which to write," said Feversham, and Abdul Kader
produced them.

"Be quick," he said. "Write quickly, lest we be discovered." And
Feversham wrote; but though he wrote as Abdul suggested, the futility of
his writing was as clear to him as to Trench.

"There is the letter," he said, and he handed it to Abdul, and, taking
Trench by the arm, walked without another word away.

They passed out of the alley and came again to the great mud wall. It
was sunset. To their left the river gleamed with changing lights--here
it ran the colour of an olive, there rose pink, and here again a
brilliant green; above their heads the stars were coming out, in the
east it was already dusk; and behind them in the town, drums w