ollow him to the
fight always to kill and destroy, to make slaves, and to pass like a
flight of locusts across the land, and the new prophet eats and drinks
and makes merry till he dies like the thousands he has killed; but he
does not carry out his boast, and another arises and cries, `Lo, I am
the chosen of the prophet. Upon me does the Mahdi's mantle fall.'
Excellency, I am a man of the desert, but there is wisdom even amongst
the sand, and I have picked up some, enough to know when false prophets
come amongst the people. No; I do not believe the new Mahdi is the
chosen one. He is only another man of blood. Why does my master ask?
Why does he wish to run where there is danger to him and his friends--
danger to us who would be his guides?"

"Listen," said the professor, and in a few well-chosen words he told the
old Sheikh of Harry Frere's unhappy fate.

"Hah!" ejaculated the old Arab, after hearing the speaker to the end.
"Yes; I have heard of this before. With mine own eyes I saw the German
who escaped, and it was said that there was a young Englishman out
yonder, a slave. And he is your brother, my lord?" he continued,
turning quickly upon Frank.

"Yes; my brother, whom I have come here to save."

"It is good," said the Arab slowly. "But I hear that an army is going
south to fight the Khalifa."

"Yes," said Frank bitterly; "but it will be months or years before they
reach the place, and before then my brother may be dead. Sheikh," said
Frank, in a low, hoarse voice that bespoke the emotion from which he
suffered "he is a slave, and in chains. I must go to his help at once."

"The young Excellency's words are good, and they make the eyes of his
servant dark with sorrow; but it will not be freeing his brother from
his chains if he goes as a young man would, to rashly throw away his
life. It is so easy away out there. Here there is law, and if a man
steals or raises his hand against his brother man, there is the wise
judge waiting, and the judgment bar. But out yonder they make their own
laws, and it is but a thrust with a spear, a stroke with a sharp sword,
and the sand is ever athirst to drink up the blood, the jackals and the
unclean birds to leave nothing but a few bones. Has the young
Excellency thought of all this?"

"Yes," said Frank hoarsely, "and I have seen in the darkness of the
night when I could not sleep, my brother's hands stretched out to me,
and have felt that I could hear his voi