ers to the Government from
the prisoners, which might give them some information on the situation
in the Sudan. When I was thoroughly convinced as to his trustworthiness,
we then had a consultation, of which the upshot was that I would, with
his assistance, attempt to escape, provided he could obtain the
necessary support from Cairo; I therefore gave him a letter to our
Reverend Vicar Apostolic, Franz Sogaro, and commissioned him to
negotiate verbally with him.

The man's plan was to return when the Nile was high--that is to say,
almost a year later--escape in a boat or on a raft, which the swift
current would carry to Berber in about three days, where camels would be
in readiness to take us across the desert to Korosko. I urged him to
keep these plans absolutely secret, for their disclosure would bring
most certain punishment on our heads, and I further urged him to provide
arms for the journey.

Ahmed Hassan--for that was the man's name--went off, and, to tell the
truth, I had little hope that he would do anything more than others had
done before him. Besides, who could say what changes might not take
place in a year in Omdurman, which might entirely frustrate our plans?
The sword of Damocles was for ever hanging over our heads. Then might
not death intervene any day? Both the sisters and myself were
thoroughly debilitated by constant work and hardship, and it was always
possible that a slight fever might extinguish the spark of life which
was then burning but dimly.

A few days after Ahmed's departure the whole matter went quite out of
our heads, and before long I was again negotiating with another Arab to
assist us to escape, for I did not wish to leave a stone unturned. If it
had been a question of my flight alone, there would not have been so
much difficulty. As a man I could have stained my naturally brown
complexion, dressed in rags, and begged my way along the banks of the
Blue Nile to Abyssinia; but I could not leave the poor sisters behind,
and therefore resolved to wait patiently until a deliverer should come.

Several of the merchants who had been to Egypt told me that Archbishop
Sogaro had often sent us money _via_ Korosko, Halfa, and Sawakin; but
the dishonest Arabs had always appropriated it for themselves. In fact,
ever since 1884 our good Archbishop had never ceased in his efforts to
assist us and to make our captivity more bearable. He left no stone
unturned, and moved Moslems, Christians, the Gov