in slavery. You
told me you had no remembrance of him?"

"None, sir; but of course, my mother had talked of him so often, and
had several photographs of him--the last taken at Cairo, before he
left--so that I almost seem to have known him. However, I do feel it as
a relief to know that he is not, as I feared was remotely possible, a
slave among the Baggara. But I think it is hard that, after having gone
through two years of trials and sufferings, he should have been
murdered on his way home."

"No doubt that is so. Have you read your father's diary, yet?"

"No, sir; I have not had the heart to do so, and shall put it off,
until the shock that this has given me has passed away. I feel that a
little hard work will be the best thing for me. Is there any chance of
it?"

"You have just returned in time. I am going up the Blue Nile, tomorrow
morning, to clear out the villages; which, no doubt, are all full of
fugitives. I am glad that you have come back. I was speaking of you
today to General Rundle, who is in command.

"One of the objects of the expedition is to prevent Fadil from crossing
the river. He was advancing from Gedareh, at the head of ten thousand
troops, to join the Khalifa; and was but forty miles away, on the day
after we took this place; but when he received the news of our victory,
he fell back. If he can cross, he will bring a very formidable
reinforcement to the Khalifa.

"We know that Colonel Parsons started from Kassala, on the 7th, his
object being to capture Gedareh, during the absence of Fadil. He is to
cross the Atbara at El Fasher, and will then march up this bank of the
river, till he is at the nearest point to Gedareh. It is probable that
he will not strike across before the 18th, or the 20th. His force is
comparatively small, and we do not know how large a garrison Fadil will
have left there.

"Altogether, we are uneasy about the expedition. It is very desirable
that Parsons should know that Fadil is retiring, and that, so far as we
can learn from the natives, he has not yet crossed the Blue Nile.
Gedareh is said to be a strong place, and once there, Parsons might
hold it against Fadil until we can send him reinforcements.

"In order to convey this information to him, we require someone on whom
we can absolutely rely. I said that, if you were here, I felt sure that
you would volunteer for the service. Of course it is, to a certain
extent, a dangerous one; but I think that, speaking the