up all we can eat before tomorrow, Zaki, and betake
ourselves to a diet of dried dates. There is enough water left to give
the horses a drink before we start, then we shall start as genuine
Dervishes."

They found that the calculation they had made as to distance was
correct and, before daybreak, arrived on the bank of the Nile, and at
once encamped in a grove. In the morning they could see the houses of
Metemmeh, rising from the line of sandy soil, some five miles away.

"There seems to be plenty of bush and cover, all along the bank, Zaki.
We will stay here till the evening, and then move three miles farther
down; so that you may be handy, if I have to leave the Dervishes in a
hurry."

"Could we not go into the camp, my lord?"

"It would be much better, in some respects, if we could; but, you see,
you do not speak Arabic."

"No, master; but you could say I was carried off as a slave, when I was
a boy. You see, I do speak a little Arabic, and could understand simple
orders; just as any slave boy would, if he had been eight or ten years
among the Arabs."

"It would certainly be a great advantage to have you and the horses
handy. However, at first I will go in and join the Dervishes, and see
how they encamp. They are, no doubt, a good deal scattered; and if we
could find a quiet spot, where a few mounted men have taken up their
station, we would join them. But before we did that, it would be
necessary to find out whether they came from Kordofan, or from some of
the villages on the White Nile. It would never do to stumble into a
party from El Obeid."

They remained quiet all day. The wood extended a hundred and fifty
yards back from the river, and there was little fear that anyone coming
down from Omdurman would enter it, when within sight of Metemmeh. At
dusk they rode on again, until they judged that they were within two
miles of the town; and then, entering a clump of high bushes by the
river, halted for the night.

Chapter 8: Among The Dervishes.

In the morning Gregory started alone, as soon as it was light. As he
neared the town, he saw that there were several native craft on the
river; and that boats were passing to and fro between the town and
Shendy, on the opposite bank. From the water side a number of men were
carrying what appeared to be bags of grain towards the hills behind the
town, while others were straggling down towards the river.

Without being questioned, Gregory entered Metemmeh, b