s to fight the whites as they advanced against
Metemmeh, the captive might be anywhere beyond the point reached by the
expedition, and it would be better to search regularly on their way up,
as they might otherwise leave him behind them.

Another advantage was that the regular caravan track left the Nile a
hundred miles below Dongola, and struck across the desert to the elbow
of the river below Berber, and that when he got upon that route it would
be supposed that he had travelled all along by it, and he would thereby
avoid the suspicion of having been trading with the British camp. Rupert
quite agreed with the justice of this reasoning. The sheik selected a
route that led them through a desolate country, and they reached the
elbow of the Nile without encountering any natives, save two or three
small parties at wells, from the time they left camp. This course was
dictated not only by the reason that he had given Rupert, but by a fear
for the safety of the caravan.

The tribes along the main routes of travel respected the traders that
passed along them; free passage was essential to all the towns and
peoples lying further in the interior, and any interference with the
caravan routes would have been resented and punished; but the tribes
lying within the great loop formed by the bend of the river were true
Ishmaelites, whose hand was against every one, and who regarded all
passing through their territory as lawful prey. The sheik therefore
conducted the march by routes but little traversed even by the natives,
avoiding all localities where they were likely to be met with, and he
was greatly pleased when, after ten days' travel, they encamped on the
banks of the river just above the elbow. The main caravan track lay upon
the opposite side, but at this season of the year, when the Nile was
very low, it was fordable at several points, and caravans often selected
the western bank of the river for their passage. They were now again in
a comparatively populous country; villages surrounded by belts of
cultivated land occurred at short intervals, and at these they were
received with a hearty welcome, for since the war had begun trade had
come almost to a stand-still.

Two or three of the camels were loaded with merchandise specially fitted
for the wants of the natives: cheap cottons, tinware, trinkets, iron
heads of tools, knives, cheap silk handkerchiefs and scarves for the
women. These had been bought from some enterprising tr