g he repeated in substance to Kali.

At the leave-taking, however, a multitude of tears were shed of which
even Stas was not ashamed, for he and Nell had passed with Kali through
many evil and good moments and not only had learned to appreciate his
honest heart, but had conceived a sincere affection for him. The young
negro lay long at the feet of his "Bwana kubwa" and the "Good Mzimu."
Twice he returned to look at them for a while, but finally the moment
of separation came and the two caravans started in opposite directions.

It was only during the journey that the narrative of the adventures of
the two little travelers began. Stas, at one time prone to be a trifle
boastful, now did not brag at all. He simply had performed too many
great deeds, he had undergone too much, and was too developed not to
understand that words should not be greater than acts. There was, after
all, enough of deeds, though related in the most modest manner. Each
day during the scorching "white hours" and at evening during the stops
there glided before the eyes of Captain Glenn and Doctor Clary
pictures, as it were, of those occurrences and incidents through which
the children had passed. So they saw the kidnapping from
Medinet-el-Fayum and the awful journey on camel-back across the
desert--and Khartum and Omdurman, resembling hell on earth, and the
ill-boding Mahdi. When Stas related his reply to the Mahdi, when the
latter tried to induce him to change his faith, both friends rose and
each of them warmly shook Stas' right hand, after which the captain
said:

"The Mahdi is not living!"

"The Mahdi is not living?" Stas repeated with astonishment.

"Yes," spoke out the doctor. "He choked himself with his own fat, or,
in other words, he died of heart trouble, and the succession of his
government has been assumed by Abdullahi."

A long silence ensued.

"Ha!" said Stas. "He did not expect when he despatched us for our
destruction to Fashoda that death would first overtake him."

And later he added:

"But Abdullahi is still more cruel than the Mahdi."

"For that reason mutinies and massacres have already begun," the
captain replied, "and the whole edifice which the Mahdi reared will
sooner or later tumble down."

"And after that who will succeed?"

"England," the captain answered.* [*The reign of Abdullahi continued
for ten years. The decisive blow to the dervish power was delivered by
Lord Kitchener, who almost totally annihilated the