s terrible; the road, in any direction, is likewise
terrible; who knows, however, whether such a boy as you will not save
yourself and that child from this gulf."

"If Nell only will be well, then I shall do whatever I can," exclaimed
Stas.

"But spare yourself, for the task which you have before you is beyond
the strength of a mature person. Do you know where you are at present?"

"No, I remember that after our departure from Fashoda we crossed, near
a great settlement called Deng, some kind of a river."

"Sobat," interrupted Linde.

"In Deng there were quite a number of dervishes and negroes. But beyond
Sobat we entered into a region of jungles and proceeded whole weeks
until we reached the ravine, in which you know what happened--"

"I know. Afterwards you went along the ravine until you reached this
river. Now listen to me; it appears that after crossing the Sobat with
the Sudanese you turned to the southeast, but more to the south. You
are at present in a locality unknown to travelers and geographers. The
river, near which we are at present, runs northwest, and in all
probability falls into the Nile. I say in all probability, for I myself
do not know and now cannot satisfy myself upon that point, though I
turned from the Karamojo Mountains to investigate its source. After the
battle, I heard from the dervish prisoners that it is called Ogeloguen,
but even they were not certain, as they venture into this region only
for slaves. The Shilluk tribe occupy this generally sparsely settled
country, but at present the region is desolate, as the population
partly died of smallpox, partly was swept away by the Mahdists, and
partly sought refuge in the Karamojo Mountains. In Africa it often
happens that a region thickly settled to-day becomes desolate
to-morrow. According to my calculations you are a hundred and
eighty-six miles, more or less, from Lado. You might escape to the
south to Emin, but as Emin himself is in all probability besieged by
the dervishes, that is not to be thought of."

"And to Abyssinia?" Stas asked.

"That is also about the same distance away. Yet you must bear in mind
that the Mahdi is waging war against the whole world and, therefore,
against Abyssinia. I know also from the prisoners that along the
western and southern frontiers greater or smaller hordes of dervishes
are prowling and you might therefore easily fall into their hands.
Abyssinia indeed is a Christian empire, but the savage sout