p. To-morrow,
before sunrise, we will make a detour round the south side of the city
and approach the eastern gate, and then decide whether to enter the town
or not."

In a few minutes there was silence in the camp, but long before the sun
rose everyone was astir. The women were to be left with the boys and old
men. The preparations were of the simplest character; each of the
thirty-eight men going hung a bag of dates at his saddle-bow, looked to
his firearms, and mounted. As the oasis was situated to the south-west
of the city, they did not strike the old bed of Lake Mareotis until
half-way along what had been its south shore. At present all was silent
in the distant city, and the sheik said shortly, "We will wait till we
see what is going to be done." Presently two or three Arabs were seen
galloping across the cultivated ground. They belonged to the Henedy
tribe, one of the wildest and most savage of the people of the desert.
When they saw the group of horses they made their way towards them. As
the sheik advanced a few paces, one of them leapt from his saddle and
came up to him.

"What has happened, brother?" Ben Ouafy asked.

"Last evening the Franks began to land, and all night they continued to
come ashore. At midnight Koraim, the commander of the town, went out to
see what they were doing, at the head of twenty Mamelukes, and fell upon
a company of their skirmishers, charged them, killed many, and carried
the head of their captain in triumph into the town. At five this morning
our tribe arrived. We rode up near them, and saw that they had neither
horsemen nor cannon. They were divided into three columns, and were
marching towards the town. We dashed in between the columns and cut down
many of their skirmishers, but we were only five hundred, and dared not
attack the column, which opened such a heavy fire that we were forced to
draw off. Our sheik ordered us to ride south to carry the news to
Ramanieb that the Franks had landed. They may have sent the news from
the town, but he thought it best to make sure."

"'Tis well!" the sheik said, and the Arab threw himself into the saddle
again, and with his companions rode south at a gallop. "You see," the
sheik went on to Edgar, "the Franks cannot mean to attack the town. What
could they do without cannon?"

"It would assuredly be a desperate enterprise, sheik, but I think that
they may attempt it, seeing that it is all-important to them to obtain
possession of the