derable distances to visit tribes or villages
situated in the interior. Sometimes the caravan was divided in two, a
portion remaining in charge of one of the sheik's followers with Ibrahim
and Rupert with the bulk of the camels and baggage, while the sheik with
his other follower and two or three camels made excursions to villages
at a distance. In that case he took but few goods with him, so as not to
tempt the cupidity of the tribesmen or of any parties of the Mahdi's men
he might come across.

By this time Rupert had made considerable progress in Arabic, thanks to
his continually conversing in that language, and his risk of detection
had greatly decreased. Once or twice a week fresh dye was applied to him
from head to foot. He was now accustomed to the scantiness of his
clothing, and had completely caught the manners and gestures of the
natives. The colour of his eyes was the sole point that even a close
observer would detect as being peculiar in his appearance, and he had
fallen into the habit of keeping them partly closed and the darkened
eye-lashes greatly lessened the chance of their colour being noticed. He
had, moreover, by the advice of one of the doctors before leaving, taken
with him a bottle of belladonna, and a small dose of this prior to
entering any populous village had the effect of enlarging the pupils and
thus of darkening the general effect of the eyes. The sheik frequently
crossed the river with one of his followers and made excursions among
the tribes on the opposite bank, but with all their inquiries no news
whatever was obtained of any white captive.

It was not until three months after leaving Korti that the caravan
approached Khartoum. It was more likely that news would be obtained here
than elsewhere, but the sheik had been unwilling to enter the town until
Rupert's Arabic would fairly pass muster; but even he now agreed that
there was little chance of his detection in any sort of casual
conversation. In Khartoum there would be people from all parts of the
Soudan, and any slight peculiarity of accent would be little likely to
be noticed; besides, in a city there would be less chance of any one
closely questioning the slave of a passing merchant than would be the
case in a village. Before going into the town one of the sheik's
followers was sent on ahead with a camel with presents for some of the
Mahdi's officials, and upon his return with a document authorizing the
sheik to enter the city and