h?"

"Only for a time. Our fleet will soon return, and their troops here will
be cut off from their country. They may remain here for some time, but
at last they will have to go. I think that we shall send an army out to
fight against them. We shall know what their strength is, and that they
cannot be reinforced; and they will find in the long run that although
they may have captured Egypt, they are themselves but prisoners."

"And what would you advise?" the sheik asked. "You understand the ways
and customs of the Franks, while I know no more than a little child.
Thus, you see, in this matter you are the graybeard and I but a boy.
Therefore speak freely what you think will be best."

"Then I should say, sheik, that your best course would be to return at
once to your oasis. The French army will doubtless remain near Cairo.
They will send cavalry and light artillery over the country, to search
out their enemies, and to reduce all to obedience. Around Alexandria all
will be quiet, and so long as French convoys are not attacked, the force
there is not likely to interfere with peaceable people. If you return
there you will live unmolested. You can wait and see how matters go. If
there is any great rising against the French, it will be open to you to
take part in it, but at present hostilities against the French would
only bring down their vengeance. It may be that the Arabs in the great
oasis to the west will continue the war, but in the end they will be
sure to suffer by so doing."

"I think that your advice is good," the sheik said. "Sidi and you shall
return home at once with half my followers. I will ride at daybreak with
the other half. In one long day's ride I shall reach the spot where the
women and baggage have gone, and I will escort them back. The road will
certainly be safe from the Franks, who will, for some time, be occupied
with Cairo, though it is hardly likely that the town will resist.
Ibrahim, after the destruction of the Mamelukes and the defeat of the
army, cannot hope to resist a great attack; for the fortifications, like
those of Alexandria, have been suffered to decay, and the French would
assuredly soon force an entrance. However, after the march that they
have made they will need rest, and for a time the roads will be safe.
But this is not so with regard to the Arabs. The whole country will be
in confusion, and an unarmed caravan might well be plundered by any
party of Arabs who met it, though th