llowers to gather around him.

The two wounded men were brought into a tent, where, in a few
minutes, one of them--the man who had been shot by one of his
companions--breathed his last. He had also received a wound from the
first shot that had been heard, his right arm having been shattered by a
musket-ball.

The spine of the other guard had been broken by a bullet, so that
recovery was clearly impossible.

He had evidently heard the first shot fired at his companion from the
opposite side of the camp: and was turning his back upon the foe that
had attacked himself.

The light of day soon shone upon the scene, and they were able to
perceive how their enemies had approached so near the camp without being
observed.

About a hundred paces from where the guards had been standing at the
time the first two shots were fired, was a furrow or ravine running
through the soft sand.

This ravine branched into two lesser ones, including within their angle
the Arab camp, as also the sentinels stationed to guard it.

Up the branches the midnight murderers had silently stolen, each taking
a side; and in this way had got within easy distance of the unsuspecting
sentries.

In the bottom of one of the furrows, where the sand was more firmly
compacted, was found the impression of human footsteps.

The tracks had been made by some person hurriedly leaving the spot.

"Dis be de track ob Golah," said the Krooman to Harry, after he had
examined it. "He made um when runnin' 'way after he fire da musket."

"Very likely," said Harry; "but how do you know it is Golah's track?"

"'Cause Golah hab largess feet in all de world, and no feet but his make
dat mark."

"I tell you again," said Terence, who overheard the Krooman's remark,
"we shall have to go with Golah to Timbuctoo. We belong to him. These
Arabs are only keeping us for a few days, but they will all be killed
yet, and we shall have to follow the black sheik in the opposite
direction."

Harry made no reply to this prophetic speech. Certainly, there was a
prospect of its proving true.

Four Arabs out of the eleven of which their party was originally
composed, were already dead, while still another was dying!

Sailor Bill pronounced Golah, with his son and brother-in-law, quite a
match for the six who were left. The black sheik, he thought, was equal
to any four of their present masters in strength, cunning, and
determination.

"But the Arabs have us to help them," rema