sible, and Harry asked the reis what place that was.

"That is Um Durma, where the camp is," he replied.

"And what is the camp for? It seems a very large one."

"Yes, O traveller, it is large! Seven thousand foot soldiers, a
thousand of them that fight on horseback; many cannon, many camels to
carry powder, shot, provisions, water; thousands of those who fight not
themselves, but load and lead the baggage camels, sell things to the
soldiers, and live upon the camp. In all a large encampment, and must
cost the Khedive much money."

"Who commands the force, and what is it collected for?" asked Harry.

"Hicks Pasha commands it; he is an Englishman, and his principal
officers are also English; the men are Egyptians and Bashi-Bazooks."

The reis paused. He was a Soudanese; and a smile played over his face
as he added, "They are going to do wonderful things; to take El Obeid
back again, to destroy the Soudan army, take the Mahdi, and carry him to
Cairo in a cage, I believe. Oh! But they are great warriors, and the
Mahdi's days are numbered."

"Is El Obeid in the Mahdi's hands, then?" asked Harry; for the last time
he had heard news of that part of the country it had been still held by
the Egyptians; and Mahomet Achmet, or the Mahdi, as he professed himself
to be, had been repulsed with such heavy loss when he attacked it as to
oblige him to sheer off, this being his first defeat. But he had
returned in the January of that year, and taken the place after a
fortnight's siege.

"Yes," said the sarcastic reis; "he holds it just for the present, till
the warriors of Hicks Pasha find it convenient to walk across and take
it from him."

After the disappointment at Berber, Harry did not feel the same
confidence in finding his man that he had previously done. He began to
be disheartened, and to think luck was against him; and to settle the
matter quickly was a more important matter than ever it had been. If El
Obeid was taken by the Mahdi, the insurrection of the Soudanese against
the Egyptian yoke must be a very serious thing, and the country would be
in a disturbed state for a long time, so that the Nile route would be
closed against travellers, and passage across the desert to the sea
would be equally difficult. If then he caught his man and recovered the
will, he would not be able to get out of the country with it.

He had little doubt that Sheikh Burrachee's signet-ring and the
parchment in the silver case,