"

"I would rather stay with my master. Cannot you let him go, too?"

"That is impossible," Mahmud said shortly. "It is known throughout the
camp that I have a white man here. The news will travel fast to the
Khalifa. My actions have already been misrepresented to him, and were I
to let this officer go, my father might recall me to Omdurman and send
another to command here.

"He must stay, but you may go without harm. You can scarcely have been
noticed yet, and I can well declare, should the Khalifa hear of you,
that you have escaped."

"May I speak with my master?" Zaki said. "If he says stay, I shall
stay, though it might cost me my life. If he says go, I must go."

"You may speak to him," Mahmud said.

Zaki went round to Gregory's tent, and told him what Mahmud had said.

"Go, certainly, Zaki. You can do me no good by remaining here, and
might even do me harm; for if you were killed I also might be murdered.
Moreover, I wish to send the news of my capture, and how it occurred. I
do not think any, save yourself, noticed that I was missing; and when
the fight was over, and they found that I was absent, they might
suppose that I had been shot and had fallen overboard.

"I will write a note for you to carry. It is, in all respects, better
that you should go. Were we to be seen talking together, it might be
supposed that we were planning some way of escape, and I should be more
closely watched. As it is, I see that Mahmud will have difficulty in
protecting me. Were you to ride about with him, as he says, your
presence would remind his followers that he has a white man a captive
here; whereas, if I remain almost in concealment near the harem, the
fact that there is a white man here will pass out of the minds of those
who know it, and will not become the common talk of the camp.

"Mahmud is running some risk in having spared my life, and I do not
wish to make it harder for him. Go, therefore, and tell him that you
will leave tonight. I cannot write now; my pocketbook is soaked
through. But I will tear out some leaves and dry them in the sun; and
write what I have to say, before you start. I shall speak highly of you
in my letter, and recommend you to Colonel Wingate; who will, I have no
doubt, give you employment.

"I hope I shall see you again, before long. I am very sorry that we
must part, but it is best for us both."

Very reluctantly, Zaki returned to Mahmud.

"My master says I must go, Emir; and I must o