that distance whence Ebn Ezra Bey and his men must come, the
moon above tranquil and pleasant and alluring, and the desert beneath,
covered as it was with the outrages and terrors of war, breathing
softly its ancient music, that delicate vibrant humming of the latent
activities. In his uncivilised soul Mahommed Hassan felt this murmur,
and even as he sat waiting to know whether a little army would steal out
of the south like phantoms into this circle the Saadat had drawn round
him, he kept humming to himself--had he not been, was he not now, an
Apollo to numberless houris who had looked down at him from behind
mooshrabieh screens, or waited for him in the palm-grove or the
cane-field? The words of his song were not uttered aloud, but yet he
sang them silently--

"Every night long and all night my spirit is moaning and crying
O dear gazelle, that has taken away my peace!
Ah! if my beloved come not, my eyes will be blinded with weeping
Moon of my joy, come to me, hark to the call of my soul!"

Over and over he kept chanting the song. Suddenly, however, he leaned
farther forward and strained his ears. Yes, at last, away to the
south-east, there was life stirring, men moving--moving quickly. He
got to his feet slowly, still listening, stood for a moment motionless,
then, with a cry of satisfaction, dimly saw a moving mass in the white
moonlight far over by the river. Ebn Ezra Bey and his men were coming.
He started below, and met David on the way up. He waited till David had
mounted the roof, then he pointed. "Now, Saadat!" he said.

"They have stolen in?" David peered into the misty whiteness.

"They are almost in, Saadat. Nothing can stop them now."

"It is well done. Go and ask Ebn Ezra effendi to come hither," he said.

Suddenly a shot was fired, then a hoarse shout came over the desert,
then there was silence again.

"They are in, Saadat," said Mahommed Hassan.

.......................

Day broke over a hazy plain. On both sides of the Nile the river mist
spread wide, and the army of Ali Wad Hei and the defending forces were
alike veiled from each other and from the desert world beyond. Down the
river for scores of miles the mist was heavy, and those who moved within
it and on the waters of the Nile could not see fifty feet ahead. Yet
through this heavy veil there broke gently a little fleet of phantom
vessels, the noise of the paddle-wheels and their propellers muffled
as they moved slowly