likewise fruit. Here and there in the low lands they chanced
upon marshes, but still covered with water, therefore not infecting the
air with their noxious exhalations. On the table-land there were none
of the mosquitoes which inoculate the blood with fever. The heat from
ten o'clock in the morning became unbearable but the little travelers
stopped during the so-called "white hours" in the deep shade of great
trees, through the dense foliage of which not a ray of the sun could
penetrate. Perfect health also favored Nell, Stas, and the negroes.

XVII

On the fifth day Stas rode with Nell on the King, for they had chanced
upon a wide belt of acacias, growing so densely that the horses could
move only on a path beaten down by the elephant. The hour was early,
the morning radiant and dewy. The children conversed about the journey
and the fact that each day brought them nearer to the ocean and to
their fathers, for whom both continually longed. This, from the moment
of their abduction from Fayum, was the inexhaustible subject of all
their conversations, which always moved them to tears. And they
incessantly repeated in a circle that their papas thought that they
already were dead and both were grieving and in spite of hope were
despatching Arabs to Khartum for news while they were now far away, not
only from Khartum but from Fashoda, and after five days would be still
farther until finally they would reach the ocean, or perhaps before
that time, some kind of place from which they could send despatches.
The only person in the whole caravan who knew what still awaited them
was Stas;--Nell, on the other hand, was most profoundly convinced that
there was nothing in the world which "Stes" could not accomplish and
she was quite certain that he would conduct her to the coast. So many
times, anticipating events, she pictured to herself in her little head
what would happen when the first news of them arrived and, chirping
like a little bird, related it to Stas. "Our papas are sitting," she
said, "in Port Said and weeping, when in comes a boy with a despatch.
What is it? My papa or your papa opens it and looks at the signatures
and reads 'Stas and Nell.' Then they will rejoice! Then they will start
up to prepare to meet us! Then there will be joy in the whole house and
our papas will rejoice and everybody will rejoice and they will praise
you and they will come and I shall hug tightly papa's neck, and after
that we shall always