ve him,
too, other commands. That the Hakim and his people were to be protected
at all costs, for they were friends; and that if there was danger from
the wild and fierce dervishes who might attack the palace because it was
not strongly enough guarded, the Hakim and his people were to be mounted
upon camels and were to be taken away."

"Where to?" said the doctor.

"To Khartoum, with the Emir's wives and slaves."

The officer returned to his duties, and soon after Ibrahim announced
that he was making preparations, two score of camels being got in
readiness for instant flight if the danger should come.

"Can we escape in the confusion?" said the professor.

"We will try, Excellency. I have, as you know, everything ready, and
now I will go and learn all I can about the Egyptian army's advance up
the river, for there is no doubt about its being near. Whether sick or
not I cannot say."

"Sick or well, they will fight," said Harry, with a warlike flash of the
eyes.

"I pray so, Excellency," said the Sheikh, and he too left.

But the day glided by and the night had come, a day and night of wild
turmoil and anxiety; and in this great emergency the Sheikh did not
return.

His absence at this extremely critical time came upon the party like a
shock, for it was only now that they fully realised the full value of
the services he had rendered, and surmises as to the cause of his
absence were discussed one after the other.

One of the first things proposed when night closed in was to consult the
officer of the guard. But here a difficulty arose at once--their
interpreter was missing. The professor's knowledge of Arabic was
extensive and he had picked up a few words of the dialect used by the
Baggara; but he got on with the guard with the greatest difficulty, and
the Sheikh's young men were completely wanting in the lingual powers of
their chief.

"You must let me question him," said Harry. "He seems to have no
suspicion of our having been friends."

"I don't know that," said Frank and the professor, almost in a breath.

"But we have been most careful over keeping up my character of the
Hakim's patient."

"Yes," said Frank, "but this man is wonderfully quiet and observant. I
half fancy that he is suspicious, after all."

"He cannot be," said Harry. "He knows that I was sent here, and can by
no means have the most remote idea of why you came."

"I don't know," said the professor, shaking his head.

"I fe