crossing of the river, which our Arab
friends in Omdurman had warned us would be one of the most critical and
dangerous parts of our plan. We were in the saddle again at dawn, and
continued our journey over a stony plateau which our guides did not
recognize. Then all day we marched through narrow valleys, full of large
stones washed down by the torrents. At length towards evening we sighted
the river again, and descended towards it through a narrow gorge, where
we had to dismount, as the camels could scarcely make their way across
the great boulders which blocked the path. Once on the plain, our guides
recognised the road, and we found ourselves near the village of Benga,
where we hoped to be able to secure boats to take us across.

We advanced now very cautiously, looking round in every direction; and I
espied three camelmen setting off evidently in the direction of Abu
Hamed. I at once called Ahmed's attention to this; and although they
were some way off, they could have seen us, so Ahmed advised us to
alight at once, which we did, and concealed ourselves in a khor amongst
some bushes.

Ahmed and his companions were, I could see, not a little alarmed by the
appearance of the camelmen, and began to speak to each other in their
own dialect; but I guessed by the expressions on their faces what they
thought--viz. that our flight had been discovered, news had been sent to
Berber, and now the camelmen were on their way to warn the emir of Abu
Hamed to intercept us. I endeavoured to prove to them that it was quite
impossible for the news to have reached Berber yet, even if our flight
had been reported to the Khalifa the morning after we had left. It was
most unlikely that the pursuit would have been begun before the evening,
and we had thus got a good twenty-four hours' start. We were then just
four hours north of Berber, and had been three and a half days out from
Omdurman. Our pursuers therefore, even if they had ridden as rapidly and
as persistently as we had, could not possibly have reached Berber yet.
But my calculations by no means convinced our guides; and after a long
consultation, Ahmed and Awad went towards the river about four miles
distant, while Hamed stayed behind to look after the camels.

Now was the time to take a few hours' sleep before night came on. During
the three and a half days we had been on the journey we had had only
four hours' sleep. We were quite worn out; our simple meals of biscuit
and water