now, at any moment, throw his troops.

David's heart sank as he saw the danger. From the palace he had sent
an orderly with a command to an officer to move forward and secure the
position, but still the gap was open, and the men he had ordered to
advance remained where they were. Every minute had its crisis.

As Lacey and himself left the town the misery of the place smote him in
the eyes. Filth, refuse, debris filled the streets. Sick and dying men
called to him from dark doorways, children and women begged for bread,
carcasses lay unburied, vultures hovering above them--his tireless
efforts had not been sufficient to cope with the daily horrors of
the siege. But there was no sign of hostility to him. Voices called
blessings on him from dark doorways, lips blanching in death commended
him to Allah, and now and then a shrill call told of a fighter who had
been laid low, but who had a spirit still unbeaten. Old men and women
stood over their cooking-pots waiting for the moment of sunset; for it
was Ramadan, and the faithful fasted during the day--as though every day
was not a fast.

Sunset was almost come, as David left the city and galloped away to
send forces to stop the gap of danger before it was filled by the foe.
Sunset--the Three Pashas were to die at sunset! They were with Achmet,
and in a few moments they would be dead. As David and Lacey rode hard,
they suddenly saw a movement of men on foot at a distant point of the
field, and then a small mounted troop, fifty at most, detach themselves
from the larger force and, in close formation, gallop fiercely down on
the position which Achmet had left. David felt a shiver of anxiety and
apprehension as he saw this sharp, sweeping advance. Even fifty men,
well intrenched, could hold the position until the main body of Ali Wad
Hei's infantry came on.

They rode hard, but harder still rode Ali Wad Hei's troop of daring
Arabs. Nearer and nearer they came. Suddenly from the trenches,
which they had thought deserted, David saw jets of smoke rise, and
a half-dozen of the advancing troop fell from their saddles, their
riderless horses galloping on.

David's heart leaped: Achmet had, then, left men behind, hidden from
view; and these were now defending the position. Again came the jets of
smoke, and again more Arabs dropped from their saddles. But the others
still came on. A thousand feet away others fell. Twenty-two of the fifty
had already gone. The rest fired their rifle