harem. Although he knew that he should miss Zaki greatly, he was very
glad that he had been sent away; for he felt that, although for the
time he had been reprieved, his position was very precarious, and that
his servant's would have been still more so. A white prisoner was a
personage of some consequence, but the death of a Jaalin was a matter
that would disturb no one. Thousands of them had been massacred; and
one, more or less, could not matter at all. But, however much the
Dervishes might hate a white infidel, it would be a serious matter for
even the most powerful Emir to harm a prisoner under the protection of
the harem of the Khalifa's son.

Mahmud had been very popular among them, but his position had been
gravely shaken by the events of the last six months. Having unlimited
confidence in themselves; the Baggara had seen, with increasing fury,
the unopposed advance of the Egyptians. They could not understand why
they should not have been allowed, after the capture of Metemmeh, to
march across the desert to Merawi, and annihilate the infidels
assembled there. It was true that these had repulsed the force
defending Dongola, but this was a comparatively small body; and it was
the gunboats, and not the Egyptian troops, who had forced them to
evacuate the town.

The fall of Abu Hamed had added to their discontent, and they were
eager to march with all speed to Berber, to join the five thousand men
comprising its garrison, and to drive the invaders back across the
Nile.

But they had been kept inactive, by the orders of the Khalifa and by
the want of stores. They had, for months, been suffering great
privations; and while remaining in enforced inactivity, they had known
that their enemy's strength was daily increasing; and that what could
have been accomplished with the greatest of ease, in August, had now
become a very serious business.

Mahmud had chafed at the situation in which he found himself placed, by
his father's refusal to support him or to allow him to take any action.
This had soured his temper, and he had taken to drinking heavily. He
had become more harsh with his men, more severe in the punishment
inflicted for any trifling disobedience of orders. Although no thought
that the rule of the Khalifa could be seriously threatened entered
their minds, fanatical as they were, they could not but feel some
uneasiness at the prospect.

A great army was gathering at Berber. Kassala was in the hands of the
B