him.

Idris also did not sleep. From the previous day he had felt unwell and,
besides, after the conversation with Nur el-Tadhil he lost many of his
delusions, and gazed at the future as though through a thick veil. He
was glad that on the morrow they would be transported to Omdurman,
which was separated from Khartum only by the width of the White Nile;
he had a hope that he would find Smain there, but what further? During
the journey everything had presented itself to him somewhat more
distinctly and far more splendidly. He sincerely believed in the
prophet and his heart was drawn all the more to him because both came
from the same tribe. But in addition he was, like almost every Arab,
covetous and ambitious. He had dreamed that he would be loaded with
gold and made an emir at least; he had dreamed of military expeditions
against the "Turks," of captured cities and spoils. Now, after what he
had heard from el-Tadhil, he began to fear whether in the presence of
far greater events, all his acts would not fade into insignificance,
just as a drop of rain disappears in the sea. "Perhaps," he thought
with bitterness, "nobody will pay attention to what I have
accomplished, and Smain will not even be pleased that I have brought
those children to him;" and he was gnawed by this thought. The morrow
was to dispel or confirm those fears; so he awaited it with impatience.

The sun rose at six o'clock, and the bustle among the dervishes began.
Nur el-Tadhil soon appeared and ordered them to prepare for the
journey. He declared at the same time that they would go to the ferry
on foot, beside his horse. To Stas' great joy, Dinah led Nell from an
upper floor; after which they proceeded on the rampart, skirting the
whole city, as far as the place at which the ferry boats stopped. Nur
el-Tadhil rode ahead on horseback. Stas escorted Nell by the hand;
after them came Idris, Gebhr, and Chamis, with Dinah and Saba, as well
as thirty of the emir's soldiers. The rest of the caravan remained in
Khartum.

Stas, gazing around, could not understand how a city so strongly
fortified, and lying in a fork formed by the White and Blue Niles, and
therefore surrounded on three sides by water and accessible only from
the south, could fall. Only later did he learn from a Christian slave
that the river at that time had subsided and left a wide sandy strip,
which facilitated access to the ramparts. The garrison, losing hope of
relief and reduced by hunge