two Arabs came in, and seizing him as if he had been a package
dragged him out into the court-yard. Then he received two or three kicks
as an intimation that he could sit up; but this, roped as he was, he was
unable to accomplish, and seeing this the men pulled him against a wall
and raised him into a sitting position against it.

A fire was burning in the centre of the court-yard. On some cushions in
front of it sat a man, whom he recognized as the leader of the party who
seized him. Other Arabs were squatted on the ground or standing round.
The chief was past the prime of life, but still a powerful and sinewy
man. His features were not prepossessing; but Edgar, looking round,
thought that the expression of his face was less savage than that of the
majority of his followers.

"Does the Christian dog speak the language of the Prophet?" he asked.

"I speak a little Arabic," Edgar replied, inwardly congratulating
himself upon the trouble he had taken to pick up a little of the
language during the time he had been in Egypt.

The answer was evidently satisfactory. The chief bowed his head.

"It is good!" he said. "The Kaffir is henceforth a slave in the tents of
the Sheik Bakhat of the Jahrin tribe."

As he pointed to himself, Edgar understood that his captor intended to
keep him as his own property, at any rate for the present, and bowed his
head to signify that he understood.

"Why are the English foolish enough to come here?" the sheik asked.
"They must know that they cannot stand against the power of the Mahdi."

"They did not come to interfere with the Mahdi, but to bring back their
countryman Gordon and his friends from Khartoum."

"They will never reach Khartoum," the sheik said. "Their bones will
whiten in the desert."

Edgar did not reply, partly because his knowledge of Arabic was
insufficient for a discussion, partly because it was not worth while to
run the risk of exciting the anger of the chief by pointing out that as
they had failed to prevent a thousand men crossing the desert to
Metemmeh, they might similarly fail in preventing a force of seven or
eight times that amount marching up the banks of the river to Khartoum.
He therefore remained silent.

"The Mahdi is invincible," the sheik went on after a pause. "He will
conquer Egypt, and after that will destroy the Kaffirs and take their
city of Rome, and will capture Constantinople if the Turks deny his
authority."

"The Mahdi is a great man!"