previous, a merchant with five slaves had
been captured, but had been set free again on depositing the value of
the slaves. The guard then asked Ahmed if he had brought any slaves, to
which he replied in the affirmative.

The guard now insisted that Ahmed should go to Abu Hamed to see the emir
there, and no amount of argument would convince him that it was
unnecessary to do so. Hamed now came and told me about the occurrence,
but, being somewhat confused, he happened to say we were lost. These
words reached the ears of one of the sisters, and so startled her that
she fell off her camel, and might have been very seriously injured had
we not caught her.

I gave Hamed my long knife, and told him to do what he could to win the
man over with money, but that if he found this was useless, "Well! we
were four men to one." Hamed quite understood what I meant, and then
returned to the others. The conversation still continued for a long
time. At length our Arabs returned; we put the sisters on the camels at
once, and then mounted ourselves. Our fatigue had fled; even the camels
seemed to scent danger, for we set off at a quick pace and were soon out
of sight.

This episode served to remind us very forcibly that we were still in the
Khalifa's territory. Strange thoughts passed through my mind in quick
succession: Omdurman, the Khalifa, the Saier, unbearable insults, then
death. All these awaited us if we failed in our attempt; but then I
comforted myself with the thought we should never be taken alive; we had
solemnly agreed never to submit. It was in this frame of mind that we
quitted Meshra Dehesh and rode for our lives night and day; the poor
camels were reduced to skeletons, and we ourselves were nothing but skin
and bone.

Ahmed told me that when the guard recognized him he showed himself
kindly disposed, and promised not to betray us; but Ahmed did not trust
him, and would not, therefore, let him go until he had accepted some
money; he had pressed twenty dollars into his hand. The guard accepted
the money after extracting a solemn promise from Ahmed and his
companions that they would not attempt to revenge themselves on him or
his tribe--the Monasir--on their return to Korosko. The guard also swore
solemnly that he would not betray or pursue us, and moreover agreed to
prevent the patrols going into the desert for three days, so as to keep
us out of danger's way; they had then embraced and kissed each other as
a sign of