nd their men playing
savage, barbarous strains upon hideous instruments; and as they came on
they shouted in their pride and folly, little thinking what was to come.
For the new Mahdi had come down from Khartoum mounted upon a jet black
horse whose eyes blazed fire, whose mane and tail streamed out like the
wind-swept sand in a storm; and he had with his chosen joined all his
Emirs and wisest generals--a mighty host greater than the desert sands--
and then with standards flying and drums beating he had, in the name of
the Prophet, joined battle with the infidel. He had opened out the
fore-front of his host as the Christian dogs cowered back in fear,
forming his attack in the shape of the crescent moon, and then to the
war-cry of "Allah il Allah!" they had swept down upon their enemies as
the sand of the desert sweeps down in a storm. The spears and swords
flashed as they drank the infidels' blood and rode on, crushing them
into the sand, till the Mahdi's conquering host stood breathless upon
the banks of the river Nile, into which the Christian and the Egyptian
armies had been driven, and not one was left to tell the tale.

The Emir's chief of the guard bore the first account to Ibrahim, and
told it stolidly, his forehead in lines; but within two hours he came
again and told him the second tale.

But his face bore no trace of elation. He merely told the tale as it
had been brought to him, finishing by saying--

"If the battle is won, my master, the Emir, will soon be back."

"Then he did not believe the account?" said the professor coolly.

"I thought not at the time, Excellency. Perhaps he knows what his
people can say. But what does his Excellency think? The camels are all
healthy and strong; my young men are ready; and the great Hakim has but
to give the word. Then we could lift the two brothers upon the swiftest
camels, taking nothing but the few poor things we need, and fly as soon
as it is dark, for there is no moon now."

"Let us hear what my brother says," said Frank, who was listening to all
that had been said. "What do you think, Hal--could we escape?"

"No," was the decisive answer. "The country round swarms with armed
men--bloodthirsty savages, panting like the jackal and hyaena for blood
and spoil. We could not go a mile without being stopped, and if we were
the next hour we should all be slaves, or the camels would be driven off
while the sand was soaking up our blood."

"You hear, Ibrahi