own prospects seemed desperate, but for the time he was more
concerned at the thought that the man who was perhaps his father was
lying helpless in the wood vainly expecting his return. But he did not
consider his case altogether hopeless. As soon as the troops were all
assembled on the river bank they would be sure to move forward against
Metemmeh; and even if they did not pass through the wood the sergeant
might gain sufficient strength to reach its edge, get sight of them, and
join them. Unless one or other of these alternatives took place, he was
lost. As to himself, he could not blame himself for the misfortune that
had befallen him. He had taken what seemed by far the safest course, and
had it not been for the accident that one of the Arabs had been standing
at the moment at the edge of the river, he would have got through
safely.

His captors had evidently no fear of being attacked. Probably the column
that had gone out to fetch in the baggage had not yet returned, and the
small force left at the zareba on the river bank would certainly not
undertake any offensive operation until it came back. He was sorry now
that he had not persisted in his own opinion and remained with the
sergeant, as in another day or two some scouting party might have passed
near the grove in which they were concealed. However, it might have made
no difference. The Arabs were evidently swarming about the country, and
parties would be likely to occupy that wood just as they occupied the
one nearer to the English camp.

As they approached the village the Arabs raised shouts of triumph, and a
crowd gathered as they entered the street, gesticulating and screaming
so furiously that Edgar thought he would be torn to pieces. However, his
captors forced their way through the crowd, turned off from the street,
and entered a court-yard, in the centre of which stood a house of larger
size than the majority of those that composed the town. Edgar's legs
were again tied, and he was thrown into an outhouse, where he lay for
hours. He could hear almost continuous talking in the house, and the
voices occasionally rose into angry altercation.

He was surprised that he had not been killed as he entered the place,
for the Arabs, if they fought with the same courage as those engaged at
Abu Klea, must have suffered very heavily before they fell back, and the
friends and relatives of those who had fallen would be thirsting for
vengeance upon any European who f