from a shelf, poured some liquor into it, and
held it to the lips of the fainting man. "Drink," he said. The
Arab drank greedily, and, when he had finished, gave a long sigh of
satisfaction. "Let him sit," David added.

When the man was seated on a sheepskin, the huge Mahommed squatting
behind like a sentinel, David questioned him. "What is thy name--thy
news?" he asked in Arabic.

"I am called Feroog. I come from Ebn Ezra Bey, to whom be peace!" he
answered. "Thy messenger, Saadat, behold he died of hunger and thirst,
and his work became mine. Ebn Ezra Bey came by the river...."

"He is near?" asked David impatiently.

"He is twenty miles away."

"Thou camest by the desert?"

"By the desert, Saadat, as Ebn Ezra effendi comes."

"By the desert! But thou saidst he came by the river."

"Saadat, yonder, forty miles from where we are, the river makes a great
curve. There the effendi landed in the night with four hundred men to
march hither. But he commanded that the boats should come on slowly and
receive the attack in the river, while he came in from the desert."

David's eye flashed. "A great device. They will be here by midnight,
then, perhaps?"

"At midnight, Saadat, by the blessing of God."

"How wert thou wounded?"

"I came upon two of the enemy. They were mounted. I fought them. Upon
the horse of one I came here."

"The other?"

"God is merciful, Saadat. He is in the bosom of God."

"How many men come by the river?"

"But fifty, Saadat," was the answer, "but they have sworn by the stone
in the Kaabah not to surrender."

"And those who come with the effendi, with Ebn Ezra Bey, are they as
those who will not surrender?"

"Half of them are so. They were with thee, as was I, Saadat, when the
great sickness fell upon us, and were healed by thee, and afterwards
fought with thee." David nodded abstractedly, and motioned to Mahommed
to take the man away; then he said to Lacey: "How long do you think we
can hold out?"

"We shall have more men, but also more rifles to fire, and more mouths
to fill, if Ebn Ezra gets in, Saadat."

David raised his head. "But with more rifles to fire away your ten
thousand rounds"--he tapped the paper on the table--"and eat the eighty
hundredweight of dourha, how long can we last?"

"If they are to fight, and with full stomachs, and to stake everything
on that one fight, then we can last two days. No more, I reckon."

"I make it one day," answered David. "In three day