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Title: In Desert and Wilderness

Author: Henryk Sienkiewicz

Translator: Max A. Drezmal

Release Date: October 30, 2009 [EBook #30365]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS ***

Produced by Daniel Fromont

[Transcriber's note: Henryk Sienkiewicz (1846-1916), _In Desert and
Wilderness_ (1910), 1917 edition. The original title is: W pustyni
i w puszczy. There was also a French edition: Le gouffre noir.]

IN DESERT

AND WILDERNESS

BY

HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ

AUTHOR OF "WITH FIRE AND SWORD," "QUO VADIS," "WHIRLPOOLS," ETC.

_TRANSLATED FROM THE POLISH BY_

MAX A. DREZMAL

BOSTON

LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY

1917

_Copyright_, 1912,

BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.

_All rights reserved_

Printers

S. J. PARKBILL & Co., BOSTON, U.S.A.

PART FIRST

IN DESERT AND WILDERNESS

I

"Do you know, Nell," said Stas Tarkowski to his friend, a little
English girl, "that yesterday the police came and arrested the wife of
Smain, the overseer, and her three children,--that Fatma who several
times called at the office to see your father and mine."

And little Nell, resembling a beautiful picture, raised her greenish
eyes to Stas and asked with mingled surprise and fright:

"Did they take her to prison?"

"No, but they will not let her go to the Sudan and an official has
arrived who will see that she does not move a step out of Port Said."

"Why?"

Stas, who was fourteen years old and who loved his eight-year-old
companion very much, but looked upon her as a mere child, said with a
conceited air:

"When you reach my age, you will know everything which happens, not
only along the Canal from Port Said to Suez, but in all Egypt. Have you
ever heard of the Mahdi?"

"I heard that he is ugly and naughty."

The boy smiled compassionately.

"I do not know whether he is ugly. The Sudanese claim that he is
handsome. But the word 'naughty' about a man who has murdered so many
people, could be used only by a l