sible, I yelled to him:
'Halt! we are pursuing men who kidnapped two white children, and soon
the whole pursuit will be here!' The boy was young and foolish, so he
believed us; only he ordered us to swear on the Koran that such was the
case. We got off our camels and swore--"

"The Mahdi will absolve us--"

"And bless you," said Idris. "Speak! what did you do afterwards?"

"Now," continued the Bedouin, "when we swore, I said to the boy: 'But
who can vouch that you yourself do not belong to the outlaws who are
running away with the white children, and whether they did not leave
you here to hold back the pursuit?' And I ordered him also to take an
oath. To this he assented and this caused him to believe us all the
more. We began to ask him whether any orders had come over the copper
wire to the sheiks and whether a pursuit was organized. He replied:
'Yes!' and told us that a great reward was offered, and that all khors
at a two days' distance from the river were guarded, and that the great
'baburs' (steamers), with Englishmen and troops are continually
floating over the river."

"Neither the 'baburs' nor the troops can avail against the might of
Allah and the prophet--"

"May it be as you say!"

"Tell us how you finished with the boy?"

The one-eyed Bedouin pointed at his companion.

"Abu-Anga," he said, "asked him whether there was not another sentinel
near-by, and the sentinel replied that there was not; then Abu-Anga
thrust his knife into the sentinel's throat so suddenly that he did not
utter a word. We threw him into a deep cleft and covered him with
stones and thorns. In the village they will think that he ran away to
the Mahdi, for he told us that this does happen."

"May God bless those who run away as he blessed you," answered Idris.

"Yes! He did bless us," retorted Abu-Anga, "for we now know that we
will have to keep at a three days' distance from the river, and besides
we captured a rifle which we needed and a milch she-camel."

"The gourds," added the one-eyed, "are filled with water and there is
considerable millet in the sacks; but we found but little powder."

"Chamis is carrying a few hundred cartridges for the white boy's rifle,
from which we cannot shoot. Powder is always the same and can be used
in ours."

Saying this, Idris nevertheless pondered, and heavy anxiety was
reflected in his dark face, for he understood that when once a corpse
had fallen to the ground, Stas' intercession woul