ltogether."

"Four may have got away," Edgar said; "they must have left their horses
in the direction in which they fled. I suppose they feared that some of
us might crawl out and hamstring them did they picket them near their
camp. When I first saw our friends on the hill my first thought was that
we had done wrong not to bid them secure the horses before they
attacked. Now I see that they could not have found them; and it was well
you sent no such orders, for had you done so they might have lost time
looking for them and have arrived late."

For half an hour those unwounded of the party were occupied in bandaging
up the wounds of the others. At the end of that time the men who had
pursued the fugitives had arrived.

"Have you caught them?" the sheik asked as they approached.

"We overtook two and killed them, but the others reached the horses. A
man was waiting there in charge of them, and the three rode off leading
the fourth horse; but never fear, our men will catch them at the next
wells."

The bodies of the fallen dervishes had been examined, and it was found
that among the fallen were all the leaders, these being distinguishable
by their gay garments from the others, who simply wore the long white
shirt that formed, with a coloured straw skull-cap, the uniform of the
Mahdi's men. The two men who had escaped belonged to the rank and file.
The joy of the Arabs was extreme. They loaded and fired off their
muskets, yelled, danced, and gesticulated. They did not believe in the
Mahdi, but his followers had come to be considered among them as
invincible. It was therefore a triumph indeed for the tribe that this
invading party had been annihilated.

The new-comers were surprised at finding a white man among the defenders
of the fort; and the sheik was so proud of his possession that he did
not hesitate to say that their successful defence was chiefly due to the
advice of this slave, whom he described as being, although so young, a
great captain. Preparations were now made for a start. The camels of the
new-comers were brought up from the spot where they had left them on
advancing to take part in the fight. The six wounded men each mounted a
camel behind its rider. The sheik and three of his principal followers
mounted behind the riders of the other four camels. The rest proceeded
on foot, two men being left behind at the fort with instructions that
when the eight men who had gone on to the other wady returned with