said, in answer to Lacey, at last,
"would it all be reasoned out like that? Is hatred so logical? Dost
thou think Claridge Pasha will not go now? The troops are ready at
Wady-Halfa, everything is in order; the last load of equipment has gone.
Will not Claridge Pasha find the money somehow? I will do what I can. My
heart is moved to aid him."

"Yes, you'd do what you could, pasha," Lacey rejoined enigmatically,
"but whether it would set the Saadat on his expedition or not is a
question. But I guess, after all, he's got to go. He willed it so.
People may try to stop him, and they may tear down what he does, but he
does at last what he starts to do, and no one can prevent him--not any
one. Yes, he's going on this expedition; and he'll have the money,
too." There was a strange, abstracted look in his face, as though he saw
something which held him fascinated.

Presently, as if with an effort, he rose to his feet, took the red
fez from his head, and fanned himself with it for a moment. "Don't you
forget it, pasha; the Saadat will win. He can't be beaten, not in a
thousand years. Here he comes."

Nahoum got to his feet, as David came quickly through the small gateway
of the court-yard, his head erect, his lips smiling, his eyes sweeping
the place. He came forward briskly to them. It was plain he had not
heard the evil news.

"Peace be to thee, Saadat, and may thy life be fenced about with
safety!" said Nahoum.

David laid a hand on Lacey's arm and squeezed it, smiling at him with
such friendship that Lacey's eyes moistened, and he turned his head
away.

There was a quiet elation in David's look. "We are ready at last," he
said, looking from one to the other. "Well, well," he added, almost
boyishly, "has thee nothing to say, Nahoum?"

Nahoum turned his head away as though overcome. David's face grew
instantly grave. He turned to Lacey. Never before had he seen Lacey's
face with a look like this. He grasped Lacey's arm. "What is it?" he
asked quietly. "What does thee want to say to me?"

But Lacey could not speak, and David turned again to Nahoum. "What is
there to say to me?" he asked. "Something has happened--what is it?...
Come, many things have happened before. This can be no worse. Do thee
speak," he urged gently.

"Saadat," said Nahoum, as though under the stress of feeling, "the
cotton-mills at Tashah and Mini are gone--burned to the ground."

For a moment David looked at him without sight in his eyes, and