loor, and leaning
his back against the wall; "it do seem to me, as you putt it, Stevenson,
that the charge ought to be all the other way; for we, who make no
purfession of religion at all, thinks ourselves so far righteous that
we've got no need of a Saviour. Suppose, now, as we've got to as low a
state o' the dumps as men can well come to, we all sits down in a row
an' have a palaver about this matter--Parson Stevenson bein' the chief
spokesman."

They all readily agreed to this proposal. Indeed, in the circumstances,
any proposal that offered the faintest hope of diverting their minds
from present trouble would have been welcome to them at that moment.
The marine was nothing loath to fall in with the fancy of his
irrepressible comrade, but we do not propose to follow them in the talk
that ensued. We will rather turn at once to those events which affected
more immediately the fortunes of the captives.

On the morning after their arrival in the city there was assembled in
the principal square a considerable concourse of Soudan warriors. They
stood chatting together in various groups in front of a public building,
as if awaiting some chief or great man, whose richly caparisoned steed
stood in front of the main entrance, with its out-runner standing before
it.

This runner was a splendid specimen of physical manhood. He was as
black as coal, as graceful as Apollo, and apparently as powerful as
Hercules,--if one might judge from the great muscles which stood out
prominently on all his limbs, he wore but little clothing--merely a pair
of short Arab drawers of white cotton, a red fez on his head, and a
small tippet on his shoulders. Unlike negroes in general, his features
were cast in a mould which one is more accustomed to see in the
Caucasian race of mankind--the nose being straight, the lips
comparatively thin, and the face oval, while his bearing was that of a
man accustomed to command.

The appearance of a few soldiers traversing the square drew the eyes of
all in their direction, and caused a brief pause in the hum of
conversation. Our friends, the captives, were in the midst of these
soldiers, and beside them marched the negro interpreter whom they had
first met with in the prison.

At the door of the public building the soldiers drew up and allowed the
captives to pass in, guarded by two officers and the interpreter.
Inside they found a number of military men and dignitaries grouped
around, conversing w