The next patient was the young Arab suffering from the broken limb, and over this the Hakim's examination, after the poor fellow had limped by the help of a stick to a rough couch in one of the smaller tents, was long and careful.

"The youth is healthy and strong," the doctor said to the Sheikh and the young man's brother, "but the leg will never mend while it is like this. There is diseased bone."

"Then the Hakim cannot cure him?" said the Sheikh sadly, and the sufferer lay watching anxiously, gazing from one to the other, longing intensely to know the meaning of the words spoken in what was, in spite of the people of his tribe being so much in touch with the English who came to Cairo, an unknown tongue.

"Oh, yes, I can certainly cure him if he is willing to bear some pain, which I will alleviate all I can, and will undertake to wait patiently afterwards until the broken bones have knit together."

"Ah, then," cried the Sheikh, "cure him. He must bear the pain."

"Ask his consent first," said the doctor.

"His?" said the Sheikh, looking wonderingly at the doctor; "he is one of my people. I give you my permission."

"Never mind that. Ask him if he is willing. Who is this?"

"His brother, Excellency."

"Ask him too."

The words were interpreted, and the anxious look on the brothers' faces gave place to one of eager hope and pleasure as they heard and replied—

"Yes, Excellency, we beg that you will do what is right, no matter what pain he suffers. He prays you to make him a man instead of the useless cripple he remains—useless to himself, a trouble to his friends."

The Hakim bowed and turned to Frank.

"You will have to help me," he said. "I will not ask you if you have the nerve. There is diseased bone, which must be removed, and he must be kept under an anaesthetic, for he could not bear the pain, and his sufferings would hinder me."

Half an hour later, by the Sheikh's orders, everyone was sent to a distance from the tent, into which the Hakim was watched with looks full of awe, as he disappeared therein, followed by Frank and the Sheikh, the brother sitting by waiting, and both looking reverently at the man whose knowledge was something tremendous in their eyes.

"Are you going to stay, Sheikh?" said the Hakim. "It would be better that you and this young man should go."

"I should like his brother to stay and see what is done, Excellency, while I—I am the father and chief of my tribe; the people look to me, and it is through me that you are going to do this thing. My people would not be contented if I did not stay."

"Very well," said the doctor quietly, and for the next half hour he was busily employed, finishing the securing of the last bandage within that time, while when the patient had fully recovered his consciousness, the calm look of content and satisfaction with which he smiled up in his surgeon's face on being told that all was done, augured well for a quick recovery.

The Hakim's reputation had been planted that day like so much seed thrown into fertile soil; and as they left the tent after the last patient had sunk into a calm sleep, Frank, who had seen the brother steal out before, now noticed how the people of the tribe were standing about waiting to see the Hakim return to his own tent, one and all eager to catch his eye and make obeisance after their fashion to this man, who seemed greater to them than any chief.



CHAPTER ELEVEN.

THE NOMAD LIFE.

It was settled that a stay of three days was to be made at the encampment, a period that seemed grievously long to Frank; but there were excellent reasons for the delay.

The Sheikh said it would take that time to make all the preparations necessary for the start; and he advocated the wisdom of the three who were not accustomed to camel-riding, going out twice each day with some of the young men, so as to grow more at ease.

On the other hand, the Hakim said that it would be absolutely necessary for him to stay that time with his patients, so as to ensure good following his operations, and this was unanswerable.

"We shall not be losing time, Excellencies," said the Sheikh, "for you must now take at once to the native dress, and assume the characters of those you are to represent."

"But your people here," said Frank quickly; "is it wise for them to know?"

The Sheikh smiled.

"Oh, yes," he said; "why not? They must know. It is to ensure the safety of you all from the wild and savage followers of the Mahdi, I have told them, and they feel that it is good. No harm can come from their knowing all this."

"Forgive me," said Frank quickly. "I feel now that my suspicions were unworthy."

"Only natural, Frank," said the professor quietly. "You do not know Ibrahim and his people as I do."

"That is my misfortune," said the young man, smiling. "I am going to know them as well."

That evening Sam came to the Hakim's tent to ask if he could do anything for his master.

He found him sitting at the tent door talking with Frank and the professor, and the three exchanged glances.

"Well, no, Samuel," said the Hakim quietly. "You are tired out with your long ride."

"Yes, sir; I ache all over, and my hands are quite shaky."

"I shall want nothing more. Go and rest yourself, and go to your bed in good time, so as to get a long night's rest."

"Thankye, sir; I'm much obliged, sir. I think that is about what I want to set me right."

Sam went back to the little tent set apart for him, and lost no time in throwing himself down upon a rug, to lie listening to the bleating of the sheep and goats, mingled with which came at times the moaning and complaining of the camels.

As soon as his back was turned the doctor had laughed softly.

"I meant to have set him to work to-night," he said, "over my head; but I don't think his touch would have been very light after his last night's work."

"Oh, no," said the professor; "besides, you ought to have daylight for that job. Between ourselves, I shall not be sorry to take to the native dress again. It is much more suitable for the climate than ours. I have used it in a modified form ever since I first came out. The sooner we begin the better."

The conversation then turned upon the doctor's patients.

"So you found them patient patients," said the professor, smiling.

"Poor creatures, yes. They seem to have the most unbounded faith in me."

"Of course," said the professor; "and a fine thing for them that they have, Robert my son."

"Yes, Fred, old fellow, I suppose it is, for it means quick recovery. I always like to have to do with a patient who looks relieved as soon as I come into the room. He little knows how he is helping me towards his cure."

"Poor fellow! he doesn't think, then, of what is to come?"

"His sufferings?" said the doctor. "No, only about how I may be able to relieve them."

"Didn't mean that, old fellow," said the professor. "I meant his mental sufferings over the fees; eh, Frank?"

"Don't try to joke, Fred," said the doctor; "this place makes me feel solemn—the gentle calm of the oasis, the trickling of the water in this thirsty land, and the simple, patriarchal life of the people."

"Ha, ha!" laughed the professor softly; "hear this Frank?"

"Hear what?" said the young man, in a tone or voice which suggested that the calm of the desert was influencing him too.

"Bob Morris talking as if it wouldn't take much to make him give up civilisation and take to a nomad life."

"Well," said the doctor quietly, "I confess that already I feel something of its fascination, and I am glad we have come. All this is growing irresistibly attractive."

"And when I've been at home and have vaunted the beauty of the old, simple, patriarchal life, and told of how I enjoyed it during my Egyptian explorations, you laughed at me, and as good as called me a lunatic. What do you say to that?"

"That I spoke in ignorance, old fellow," said the doctor quietly. "Of course I should not like to give up our civilisation, but for a time this has a great charm. I feel, too, that we have done very wisely in following out Frank's plan."

"Thank you," said the young man eagerly.

"I shall get on famously with these simple people, who will all prove excellent patients, and the result will be that we shall get in touch with poor old Harry, and bring him safely away."

"Yes, we're going to do it, Frank, my lad. It looks easier to me every hour."

No more was said for a time, for they all felt the fatigue consequent upon their exertions of the past night, and that it was very delicious to lounge there in the soft sand, watching the fall of evening with the paling glories of the most wonderful sunset two of the party had ever beheld. And this was made the more agreeable by the respect with which they were treated, their part of the encampment being kept, as it were, sacred, and everything sordid hidden from their sight.



CHAPTER TWELVE.

A FIGHT WITH A BLACK.

Now it so happened that Sam soon ceased to congratulate himself upon his good luck. He had thrown himself upon the couch provided for his resting-place. He had discovered by turning it up that sheep-skins were stretched beneath it to make it soft, and that beneath these the sand was yielding and dry. But all the same the couch felt hard, and sleep would not come.

He tried this side and that side, front after back, and returned to the back; but it was no good, for the fact was that he was over-tired; and over-weariness, that is to say, exhaustion, is one of the worst opponents to a calm and satisfying sleep.

The evening came on cool and soft after the ardour of the afternoon, and he began thinking about the proceedings of that time, and felt a little hurt that the doctor had not called upon him to come and act as his assistant, and these thoughts lasted him for about an hour, but did not weary him into dropping off to sleep. They seemed to have the contrary effect, making him irritable; and though he made up his mind to watch the stars peer out through the opalescent sky—he did not call it opalescent, for the simple word dusky took its place—even their soft light had no effect upon him, and to come to the result at once the would-be sleeper gave it up at last for a bad job.

"I'll go and get something to eat and drink, and then try what I can do."

In this spirit he rose from his couch, feeling stiff and awkward, grunted, stretched, and then stood in the tent door looking out upon the glorious, star-spangled sky, noting that it was lighter towards the east, where the moon was about to rise.

"Ought to be able to sleep," he said. "Nice fine night, and it's all quiet and cool."

Then his attention was taken up by the soft light which came from the gentlemen's tent, in which a lamp was burning, while some twenty yards away another was lighting up the opening of the Sheikh's big tent, showing the figures of the chief and his visitors seated comfortably smoking, as they conversed in a low voice.

Sam made up his mind at once. There would be drinking water in a brass vessel in the gentlemen's tent, and perhaps something to eat—something to refresh him and give him the night's rest of which he was so sorely in need.

Walking across the open space, he turned his head for a moment, attracted by a complaining voice as of some one in trouble, and he was about to run off to find out what was the matter. But a repetition of the sound made him jerk himself angrily away.

"One of those beauties!" he muttered. "Talk about a bad-tempered horse, why he's an angel compared to a camel! Of all the disagreeable, whining, sour, vicious things that ever breathed, they seem about the worst. Gritty, that's what they are. Get the sand into their tempers when they're young, I suppose.—Oh, he's quiet now. Well, it is a beautiful night after all, and the cool air seems to do one good. I expect I shall get to like it when I've learnt to ride that brute of a camel, so long as there's no stabbing and spearing and that sort of thing."

Sam shook his head very solemnly as these last thoughts came into his head in company with recollections of scraps he had read in the daily papers about encounters with the dervishes, and the horrible massacres they had perpetrated.

"Seems to me," he said, "that these people ought to be stopped. If I was Government I wouldn't let people go about carrying swords and spears. With things like them fashionable it stands to reason that they're sure to want to stick them into somebody.—Ugh! It's very horrid. There ought never to be any other fighting than what is done with a fist."

Sam had by this time sauntered up to the opening into the gentlemen's tent, and there he paused to look round at the figures by that of the Sheikh, before stepping inside in search of what he required.

The low murmur of conversation came softly to his ears as he looked and then turned back to enter.

"Shouldn't a bit wonder if they've got a nice hot cup of coffee there, and that's just the thing that would suit my complaint exactly. I should be all right if I was at home, but I sha'n't get it here, and—"

By this time he was half across the roomy, booth-like tent, where he stopped short as if turned to stone in his surprise. For dimly seen by the light from the hanging lamp, he could see a figure stooping down— through the opening into the inner tent where the water and brass basins stood ready for washing.

It was within this place that the leather cases containing the travellers' clothes and various necessaries had been placed, and over one of these open portmanteaus the dimly seen figure was bending, and from the slight noises he made it was evident that he was ransacking the case in search of something.

"Oh," thought Sam excitedly, "that's why I couldn't sleep—sort o' warning like to do my dooty. Thieves, eh? and not a policeman on the beat!"

Just at that moment the figure straightened itself up, and quick as thought Sam stepped close back to the entrance and behind a hanging rug, which hid him from the figure but enabled him to watch its proceedings.

Sam's first idea was to shout for help to capture the thief, but he checked himself.

"Wouldn't do," he thought. "This sort's too slippery. He'd be off over the sands and gone before anyone came. I've got to catch my gentleman myself. Wonder whether he has a knife."

Sam's heart beat fast, but it was with excitement, for there was no leaven of fear. A marauder was robbing his master or one of his master's friends, and he felt it to be his duty to capture the scoundrel. At the same time he intended to do this without injury to himself.

"Bless him!" he muttered; "if he'll only come close and turn his back I'll have him down on his face in a jiffy, and sit upon him as if he was a camel. It will be time enough to holloa then."

Those were exciting moments, and Sam's heart beat faster still as the man stepped softly out of the inner tent and stood for a few moments where the dim light of the lamp fell upon him, showing him to be a light, active-looking black in white cotton jacket and short drawers, his arms, breast, and legs from mid-thigh being bare, and glistening softly as he moved, while his eyes rolled and the whites stood out clearly against the dark skin.

"He'll be hard to hold," thought Sam, "and I mustn't trust to that thin cotton stuff. He'll tear away in a moment. But he hasn't a knife, as far as I can see. What's he got in his pockets, I wonder."

Sam wondered more the next moment, as he saw the black dart softly back into the inner tent and disappear, his bare feet not making a sound.

"Is there a way out behind there?" the man asked himself, for all was quiet and the minutes glided by till he was just on the point of stepping forward to make sure of the enemy's presence, when the black appeared again, carrying an armful of clothes, which he threw down on the carpet, and to Sam's great delight dropped upon his knees in the very position he would have placed him, while the object of his visit was plainly shown, for he began to rummage the pockets of the garments and transfer their contents, the chink of money being heard, and a faint gleam was apparently given forth by something metallic, evidently a watch.

As Sam saw all this he softly raised his hands to his lips after the fashion of a boy about to moisten them so as to get a good grip. But it was only in form, and as he did so he stepped softly from behind the hanging rug and then onward slowly to within springing distance, when with extended hands he crouched and sprang at the black, landed upon his back, driving him forward, and gripped him tightly.

"Got you!" he muttered to himself, and this was perfectly true, but the black did not lie quiet like the camel Sam had settled himself to ride. For he began to act at once as if made of a combination of steel springs. He swung himself sidewise as he felt Sam upon his back, disorganised the butler's holding, and behaved in a thoroughly eel-like fashion as he struggled hard to get away.

It was many years since Sam had engaged in such a struggle, but he had not quite forgotten old, boyish encounters. The resistance stirred up the latent temper within him, and though his holding was not what he had meant it to be, it was fast, and he made it tighter, locking arms and legs about his captive, and the next minute they were rolling over and over, twisting and twining on the carpet, and panting hard as each strove for the mastery.

Sam's intention had been to shout for help as soon as he had seized the black, but he was too busy holding him, and all recollection of his plans passed from his memory at once. All he could think of now was that he must keep his prize, while it was perfectly evident that his prize did not mean to be kept, but fought for his liberty with might and main, while at the first encounter the writhing pair had come in contact with one of the poles which supported the tent, the lamp had fallen, and the place now, save for the dim starlight seen through the doorway, was in utter darkness.

It was only working by touch, but Sam made good use of his muscles, forgetting all about his stiffness, and for quite a couple of minutes the panting and scuffling of the wrestling pair went on, till Sam found himself upon his back with the black sitting upon his chest and a pair of hands in close proximity to his throat.

But in spite of his being in the worse position Sam was not beaten. He had fast hold of his enemy with his hands, and had thrown up his legs so as to tighten them round those of his foe, and in this position both held on as if trying to recover breath.

Then all at once Sam felt the grip of one of the black's hands loosen, and a horrible thought flashed through his brain—

It was his adversary's right hand, and he was about to seek for his knife!

"Look here, you black hound," panted Sam. "If you stab me you'll be hung."

"Sam!" came in a hoarse voice, and the grip slackened.

"Who are you?" panted Sam. "Why!—what I—'Tain't you, is it, Master Frank?"

"Oh, you idiot! you fool!"

"But I don't under—I say, Mr Frank, I took you for a nigger."

"You've dragged me all to pieces, and I'm so hot I—"

"But is it you, Master Frank, dressed up?"

"You knew it was," cried the young man angrily, as the grasp being slackened he struggled up, to stand breathing hard.

"'Strue as goodness, sir, I didn't!" said Sam, rising to his knees. "Oh, just wait till I get my wind again. I say, Mr Frank, you are strong—strong as—as a donkey."

"I? Come, I like that!" panted Frank. "I'm a donkey, am I, sir?"

"'Pon my word, Mr Frank, I beg your pardon. I came into the tent and saw, as I thought, a real nigger robbing the place, and though I felt scared about his having a knife, I went at him, and it was you all the time."

"Yes, it was I all the time," cried Frank angrily. "Why didn't you speak?"

"Never thought about it, sir. Seemed to me that I ought to catch the thief, and I caught a Tartar instead."

"It is most vexatious! Oh, how hot I am! Have you got a match?"

"Yes, I've got a box somewhere."

"Look sharp, then, and light the lamp."

"All right, sir," said Sam, fumbling in his box, and proceeding to strike a light. "I 'spose you've made me in a pretty mess, sir."

"What! Have I made your nose bleed?"

"Oh, no, sir. I meant the lampblack. I suppose I shall be covered with it."

"Wait till you get the light, and see," said Frank sharply.

Scratch! The little wax match flashed, the lamp was picked up uninjured, and after a little trying, burned freely, so that the adversaries could gaze in each other's faces.

But prior to doing this Sam examined his hands twice over, and then passed them over his face. He next took out a pocket-handkerchief and rubbed his face well, bringing away plenty of perspiration, but the linen remained white.

"It hasn't come off, sir," he said, in a tone full of wonder; and then, moistening his handkerchief with his lips, "Beg your pardon, sir, would you mind?"

Frank, whose annoyance was dying out, being driven off by a feeling of amusement caused by the man's looks of wonder, stood fast while Sam passed his handkerchief over the back of one hand and then drew back, laughing softly.

"Well, Sam!" he cried.

"I say, sir, you do look rum! I shouldn't have known you. I don't know you now, and I don't believe your own mother would."

"Then you think the disguise is perfect enough?"

"Disguise, sir? You can't call that a disguise! It's the real thing. Why, you're a downright genuine nigger, that you are!"

"That's right, Sam," said Frank, smiling now.

"And the best of it is, sir, that you're regular fast colours."

"I hope so, Sam."

"Think you could bear to wash yourself, sir?"

"Oh, yes. It will take weeks to make this look lighter."

"Well, I call it amazing, sir. There ain't no need for you to mind where you go. No dervish could take you for a white man, unless he was mad. But am I to be painted that colour?"

"No; you will go as you are—the Hakim's white servant."

"Well, just as you like, sir; I don't mind. I'll be touched up like you are if you think it will be safer for a man. It's wonderful, sir. And no fear of its showing the dirt. But pst! here's some one coming. The doctor and Mr Landon, sir. I thought you were sitting along with them. Have they seen you like this?"

"No, Sam; I was just getting ready for them."

"Did they know it, sir?"

"No."

"Then I'll go in yonder. You stop and let 'em catch you sudden like. Just to try if they'll know you."

Frank nodded, and Sam darted into the inner tent, just having disappeared as the professor sauntered in with the doctor, and both drew up short.

"Hullo, you, sir!" said the professor gruffly, in Arabic; "what business have you here?"

Frank made no reply, but edged a little to one side, while at the same moment the doctor caught sight of the clothes lying on the floor, and uttered an exclamation.

"Yes, see!" cried the professor. "Robbers, eh? Help me, and we'll tie this fellow up."

"Quick, then," said the doctor. "Look out for his knife. Bah! how absurd!" he added the next moment, calming down from the excitability he had displayed.

"What do you mean?" cried the professor sharply.

"Don't hold back. Why!—what!—My dear Frank, what a metamorphosis!"

"Yes," said Frank quietly. "I have passed muster with three of you, so I suppose it will do."

"Do!" cried the professor. "Why, it is simply admirable. Stop a minute, I'll fetch Sam from his tent and try him.—Eh? You here, sir?" he added, as Sam came out of the inner tent.—"You've seen him, then?"

"Yes, sir, and felt him too!" said the man, and the newcomers heard what had taken place.



CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

BEN EDDIN.

The Hakim was carefully prepared the next morning for his visit to his patients, Sam making the preparations, even to the extent of having a brass pot of boiling water for the razors.

"Seems a pity, sir," he said, as the three gentlemen sat together in the tent, a turned-up case forming the barber's chair, upon which the doctor took his seat; "master's got such a fine, thick head of hair."

"Operate, Sam, operate," said the doctor; and the next minute, comb in one hand, scissors in the other, the man was snipping away, and the doctor's crisp, dark hair fell rapidly over his shoulders and down about him upon the cloth that had been spread.

Sam's cutting was clever enough, and a pretty good transformation was produced even with the scissors, while, when the razor had done its part, and the finishing touches had been given, the doctor passed his hands over his head and then drew them over his long beard.

"Like a looking-glass?" said the professor drily.

"No, thanks. I know my features pretty well," was the reply. "I shall not forget them."

"But don't you want to see the Hakim?"

"No," said the doctor quietly. "How many years older do I look, Frank?" he added quickly.

"Twenty," was the prompt reply.

"Quite," said the professor.

"The clothes the Sheikh sent in, Sam," said the doctor, after giving a nod of satisfaction. "Now then, let me finish the work, so that you may see whether it will pass muster."

"I'll keep you company," said the professor, and he followed his friend into the further tent, leaving Frank walking thoughtfully up and down, passing and repassing the doorway, till his attention was caught by the tall, stately figure of the Sheikh who was coming across from his own place.

Frank hesitated a moment or two, and then he drew himself up and stood waiting with folded arms till the Sheikh reached the entrance, and said quietly—

"May I enter, O Excellency?"

"Yes, come in," cried the doctor from the inner tent, and the old Arab bent a little as he came in, and then raised himself erect as he took a step or two into the half light of the shady place, and stopped short face to face with Frank, at whom for the first few moments he stood staring without the slightest sign of recognition in his countenance, while the youth resembled an ebony carving more than a living being.

"Hah!" said the Sheikh at last. "It is very good, Excellency, very good. It would deceive me. I should not have known. But the dark stain? Will it come off?"

Frank shook his head.

"Not if you used water?"

There was another shake of the head.

"It is good—more than good," said the Sheikh. "I have come over to walk with the Hakim to see his sick people. Is he ready to go?"

Frank shook his head, and raising a hand slowly pointed to his mouth.

"Ah, I forgot that," said the old man, smiling gravely. "It is very good indeed; but can you keep this painful silence?"

Frank bowed his head slowly, and pointed to the divan for the Sheikh to take his seat, the young man preserving his erect position of respect the while.

"It is soon to begin, Excellency," said the Sheikh smiling, "but you must be Excellency no more till our work is done; only in my heart. What name will you bear?"

"Frank!" cried the doctor from the inner tent, and the Sheikh smiled, but the young man shook his head violently. "Tell the Sheikh I shall be with him in a minute."

"I am waiting patiently, Excellency," said the old man aloud. Then turning to Frank, "Suppose we say Ben Eddin?"

Frank nodded and smiled.

"Let it be so, then, Ben Eddin, my son, slave to the learned Hakim, with whom you have been so long that you understand his Frankish tongue. I have lain awake thinking many hours about the Hakim's other slave, and I feel that it would be wise that he should be his Frankish slave. There will be no mistake then. He can wear our burnoose and haik; they will be enough. It is quite right that he should have brought a servant from his own country. What say you, Ben Eddin?"

Frank bowed his head gravely at once, and the Sheikh smiled his satisfaction, before springing up quickly, and forgetting his grave manner he clapped his hands together, applauding, and then bowing low to the grave and reverend Hakim who entered the tent slowly in flowing white garments and voluminous turban, in front of which was fastened a large, dark green scarab, a genuine treasure found by the professor in the tomb of a man who was supposed to have been physician to one of the Egyptian kings. It had been intended to form a brooch, and the doctor had had it set in gold. This he had taken from among his curios as being most suitable for the purpose in hand, and it took the Sheikh's attention at once.

"Well, Ibrahim," said the doctor, slowly removing his turban as if to place it more comfortably, but holding it long enough for the Arab to see his closely shaven head; "do you think this will do?"

"It is perfect, Excellency," said the old man warmly. "It far exceeds all I could have thought possible."

"So say I," cried the professor, entering now in travel-stained Egyptian garments and muslin-covered fez.

"Excellent, too, Excellency," said the Sheikh. "And now you will keep to this?"

"Of course. The Hakim is ready now to go round and see his sick."

The Sheikh bowed, and feeling a little nervous the party set off at once, leaving Sam watching them from the door.

It was rather an ordeal, for they had not gone many paces towards the first tent they were to visit before they were seen, and word seemed to be passed quickly through the encampment, so that as they reached this first tent several of the Sheikh's people appeared, while when they came out of it again nearly everyone of those occupying the place had hurried forth to stand watching.

But there was no look of wonder, no vestige of a smile, only respectful looks and bending down as the little party passed on.

That first visit was a solemn one, for it was to the tent where they were met by the mother of the little child, who led them to where her little sufferer lay in its last sleep. She reverently pressed the Hakim's extended hand to her forehead, her tear-filled eyes and trembling lips seeming to say that she accepted patiently the blow which had fallen during the night, and that the Great Physician was very wise.

Frank Frere felt more at his ease by the time the next tent was reached, and perfectly satisfied when all was done. For he had played his part of slave and assistant easily and well, holding water vessels, passing bandage and lint, and standing by the sufferers while the Hakim tended his patients with the greatest care.

For there was no wondering gaze. It seemed quite natural and right to the sufferers, who were all doing well. The change in the dress of the Hakim and his friends was only what might have been expected now that their journey there was over, while Frank, the black slave, had the satisfaction of feeling that he was not even recognised by those he tended. He was the Hakim's dumb, black slave. The white assistant who had helped the doctor the previous day was not present—that was all.

A couple of hours were taken up over the invalids, and they were left out of pain and comforted by the Hakim's gentle hand, while when their own tent was reached the Hakim was able to say that nothing could be better than the state of his patients. With a couple more days' attention they might be left to nature, and would soon be well.

That afternoon Sam set aside his English clothes and blossomed forth into a showy-looking Arab, evidently feeling rather proud of his dress, the most conspicuous part of which was a scarlet scarf broadly spread around his waist, one which in an ordinary way would have been pretty well hidden by the loose outer cotton robe, but which the man took ample care should not have its brilliant tint eclipsed more than he could help.

Naturally enough he sought the first opportunity he could find of getting Frank alone in the tent, and began at once in rather a conscious way.

"Beg pardon, sir," he said. "I mean, Ben Eddin. May I say Ben for short?"

There was a short nod, and the man continued—

"I say, sir—Ben. It's very awkward, but the professor says I'm to treat you as if you're my fellow servant. You won't like that?"

There was a quick, eager nod.

"Well, I sha'n't, Mr Ben. I can't help it, but it makes me feel ashamed like, and as if I'd lost all respect for my master's young friend."

Frank held out his hand with a smile, and kept it extended till, in a slow, hesitating way and with a peculiar grimace, Sam took it, and felt it held in a firm, manly, friendly grip.

"Oh, well, Mr Ben, if it's to be like that I can't help it; but please recollect that however disrespectful I seem through this business my 'eart's in its right place, and I think just the same of you as ever I did."

There was a quick, eager nod and a smile, which made the man look more cheerful for a moment; but as he drew back his hand, he raised his white garment involuntarily and began to wipe the fingers, passing the white cotton over them two or three times before he realised what he was doing.

"Oh," he exclaimed hastily, "what a hidiot I am! I beg your pardon, Mr Ben, I do indeed. It seemed to me as if your hand must have come off black. Eh?—Never mind; that's what you look as if you was saying.— Thankye, sir. That's very good of you. Now you look as if you meant that I should soon get used to it.—Ah, you nod again.—Well, I'm blessed, sir, if I don't think it will begin to get easy after a bit of practice.—There's another of your nods. Thankye, sir. Yes, it will come right after all. I never thought anyone could get through so much business with a few nods and shakes of the head.—Beg pardon, sir.— Hullo, that's a shake! I'm doing wrong. It takes a bit of time.—You nod. So it does, sir—I mean Mr Ben.—What's that wrong? Why, what have I said?—I know: it's the 'mister.' Thought so.—Ben, then, or Ben Eddin. I shall get it soon. Well, I don't want to be a nuisance, but it's very lonely for me, Ben, and if you wouldn't mind, as we are to be a bit together, I should like to come to you when I feel in a bit of a fix."

Frank nodded and Sam's face lit-up with pleasure.

"That's very nice of you, Ben Eddin," he said eagerly. "You see, I wanted to have a word or two with you about these things. I want to do it right and look proper."

Frank nodded.

"'Tain't vanity, mind, sir. I ain't a bit conceited, but I should like to feel that I look decent."

There was a decisive nod.

"Thankye, Ben Eddin. You see, they're so fresh to me. The bit o' scarlet looks right, don't it? Thankye Ben. You don't think it a bit too sojery, do you? No; you don't. Well, I'm glad o' that, for I felt as it took off a bit of the washer-womany, night-gowny idea. Then you think I shall do, Ben—Eddin?"

Frank nodded approval.

"Hah! Makes a man feel a deal better. For between ourselves, Ben Eddin, I got an idea in my head that everyone was a bit on the grin as soon as I came out, and if you could lay your 'and on your 'eart now and say to me with one of your straightforward looks without blinking your eyes that it was all my fancy I could go on as comfortable as could be, for they are out and out nice and cool."

Frank gave his companion the asked-for steady look, and smilingly laid his hand upon his breast.

"Thankye, Ben Eddin. You always were a pleasant gentleman that it was a treat to have staying at Wimpole Street. Wimpole Street!—Ha, ha, ha!" said Sam, laughing softly. "My word! how comic it does seem. What would they say in Wimpole Street if they could—"

Sam stopped short, and a look of pain crossed his face.

"Beg pardon, sir," he whispered. "Well, Ben Eddin," he said aloud. "Mr Landon said I was never to whisper, and I won't do it again. But I wanted to say I was sorry. It isn't comic, or queer, or anything. I know—I know it's all terrible real, and I'm going to try and help like a man through it all. I was a fool and a hidiot to speak as I did—and you'll forgive me, Ben Eddin? Thankye."

For Frank's hand rested lightly on the man's shoulder, and for a few minutes there was silence in the tent. Then Sam's face brightened, and he said eagerly—

"I've had two goes on the camel, Ben, in these things, and somehow it seemed to me as if the grumbling beast took to me more in them. He went easier. I shall do it: I know I shall. I didn't feel half so much like pitching on to my nose as I did before. It's rum work, though, all the same."



CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

FRANK'S FIRST MILESTONE.

It was just before daybreak on the fifth morning that everyone in the cluster of tents was astir. Much had been done over night to advance the preparations, so that nothing remained but the loading up of the camels.

This last was being rapidly carried out in an orderly way. This one with the water-skins, that with the meal; another bore personal effects; while again another carried two English-made portmanteaus slung pannier-fashion across its back, the carefully packed contents being the Hakim's selected store of medicines, instruments, and surgical appliances, reduced to the smallest compass possible for efficacy. The other leathern receptacle contained instruments and bottles that were heavy and cumbrous, Frank's own selection; and at the last minute, as he saw the extent of the preparations and what a caravan their party made for the long journey, he proposed to the Hakim and the professor when they were alone that the scientific apparatus should be left behind with their clothes, and other articles deemed unnecessary, in charge of the little tribe.

"After all, they are only to play scientific conjuring tricks with," said Frank. "The idea occurred to me at first, but on more thinking the matter over I don't fancy that they will pay for taking."

"I don't agree with you, Frank, lad," said the Hakim. "What you call scientific conjuring tricks are really displays of the wonders of nature, and are likely to impress the ignorant quite as much as any cure I can effect."

"Quite so," said the professor; "they appeal at once to the eye. For my part, I would not on any account leave the apparatus behind."

"As you like," said Frank. "I only thought our load was getting too great."

A few words followed with the Sheikh respecting the extent of their impedimenta and the number of camels required, for others had to bear the gear of two tents, including several handsome rugs, and one way and another, with those devoted to riding, there were fifteen of the beasts of burden, while the party was increased to twelve by sturdy young men of the Sheikh's tribe.

"His Excellency the Hakim thinks the caravan too big?" said the Sheikh, smiling. "Oh, no. It ought to be larger. So great and wise a man must have a good following, or the people will think he is of no importance. The train is very small, but the tents are good and the camels the best we have in the tribe."

"And suppose we are attacked by some wandering tribe or a party of the new Mahdi's ruffianly followers. They may strip us and carry off the camels; what then?"

The Sheikh smiled and shook his head.

"No," he said; "they may come, but they will not rob us. There were plagues in Egypt once, and there are plagues in Egypt still. The wilder the people we meet, the less likely they will be to interfere with a learned Hakim. They will come to him for help. They know that he can take away disease, and they will think he can give disease amongst them like a curse. I know what the people fancy, and what they will do. No, the caravan is not too large, Excellencies. I should have liked it to be larger, for there are many things that would have been useful when we are far away where food and water are scarce; but there are the camels to feed, and the more we are the slower we travel. Like this we can go fast."

"Fast?" said the professor, with a dry look; and the Sheikh smiled.

"Fast for the desert, Excellency," he said. "No one expects to travel here faster than a camel walks when left to itself."

So at daybreak on that morning the last camel was laden, the last necessary attached, and amidst the farewell cries of the tribe assembled to bless and thank and pray for a safe journey to all, the leading camels started off, moaning and complaining, and apparently directing angry cries at those of their kin more fortunate than themselves who, instead of having to tramp over the burning, shifting sand, beneath the scorching desert sun, were to stop and browse around those pleasant water-holes, and tend their young, watched over by the women and children of the tribe the while.

The moaning and grumbling went on for some time, as the long line of ungainly beasts stepped out through the cool grey, and a running conversation seemed to be going on, as if the camels were comparing notes about their loads and the unfairness of the masters, who had given this a load too bulky, that, one too heavy, and another, moist water-skins to carry, instead of a Hakim or chief.

But as the stars paled out and the light increased, the camels settled down and shuffled silently along, while the silence extended to the party, who all had their feelings of sadness to bear.

For doubts arose as to the success of the dangerous adventure. The Sheikh felt that he was an old man, and that this journey, which must inevitably last for many months, might be his last. His followers thought of wife or child, and were ready to sigh as they pondered on the perils and dangers ahead; while Hakim, professor, servant, and Frank, each had his feeling of heart-soreness and doubt as to how the adventure would end.

Frank's greatest suffering was from the thought that time went on so fast while they went on so slowly. Already five days were dying out since they reached the temporary home of the tribe, and now that the start was made at last, how were they moving? In that long line of animals and pacing men advancing like some gigantic, elongated, crawling creature, whose home was the desert sand. Creeping patiently along, step by step, as if time were nothing, while probably the distance might prove to be a thousand miles before they reached, in the neighbourhood of Khartoum, some town or village which might be the prisoner's temporary home.

But there was no thought in any breast there of turning back. The start had been made, and there was to be no looking northward again till the task that had been set was achieved.

"Off at last, Frank," said the professor, who came up to where the young man was riding alone; "we are going splendidly."

"Splendidly?"

"Yes. Everything is beautifully packed; the Sheikh's men are all trained camel-drivers; and I never saw a finer set of animals since I first came to Egypt."

"But hark at them," said Frank.

"What for? It is their nature to, my lad. Your camel is a creature that seems to have been born with a grievance. I was talking about it to Morris just now, and he actually tried to make a joke about them."

"The doctor did?" said Frank, smiling.

"Fact, my dear boy. He says it is on account of their having so many stomachs."

"I always understood it was Nature's blessing to them to enable the poor beasts to exist in these waterless regions."

"That's what I said to him," replied the professor; "but he said that might be a great benefit, but his medical experience of patients was that most of their troubles from early childhood arose from disordered stomachs, and if human beings suffered so much from only having one, what must it be to have a plurality of these necessary organs like a camel! Enough to make anything ill-tempered, he said. Well, you don't laugh."

"No," said Frank sadly; "my spirits are too low."

"The time of day, my lad. I always feel at my worst about daybreak. You'll be better soon. I say we are getting on capitally, and I feel no fear about our plan."

"I do," said Frank sadly.

"Why, what fresh doubts do you feel?"

"Over this dumb business. There seem to be always fresh difficulties cropping up."

"Seem," said the professor coolly. "Things that seem are generally like clouds: they soon fade away in the sunshine. What is the new 'seem'?"

"About the Sheikh's men. Now, for instance, they must notice that I am talking to you."

"Of course they do, my lad. You may take it for granted that they know quite as much as we do, and that they grasp the fact that we are playing parts to deceive the dervishes."

"And sooner or later, out of no ill-will, but by accident, they will betray us."

"Take it for granted that they will not do anything of the sort. These Arabs are narrow-minded, and there is a good deal of the savage about them in connection with their carelessness regarding human life. But my experience of the Arab is, that he is a gentleman, and I would as soon trust one whom I had made my friend as I would a man of any nation. Now then, I've knocked that difficulty on the head. What is the next?"

"There are no more at present," said Frank, smiling. "I suppose, then, that I need not keep trying to play my part while we are in company with our own party only?"

"Certainly not, my dear boy," said the professor. "Your great difficulty really is to contain yourself fully when strangers are with us."

"I shall try my best," said Frank.

"Yes, my fine fellow, you had better. Now then, we've made our start, and you don't feel so glum, do you?"

"No."

"There's the reason," said the professor cheerily, as he pointed to the sun peering over the edge of the desert. "Nothing like that golden ball for sweeping away clouds of every kind. The only objection to his work is that he is a bit too thorough at times, and treats people out here as if they were meant to cook. Now then, look back as well as forward; the camels march like a line of grenadiers. Just as if they had been drilled."

"But so slowly—so slowly," said Frank, with a sigh.

"Here, look sharp, Sol!" cried the professor. "Get higher; there's another cloud."

"How can you be so light-hearted at a time like this?" said Frank bitterly.

"Because 'A merry heart goes all the day; your sad tires in a mile-a,' as Shakespeare says. Because we should never carry out our plans to success if we went at them with sad hearts. I found that out over many of my searches here. An eager, cheery captain makes an eager, cheery crew who laugh at wreck. Now then, I am going to demolish—with the help of the sun—that great, dense black cloud that has just risen above your mental horizon, my sable friend. Your fresh cloud is the slow one. Now, you must remember that we have given up civilisation, steam, electricity, and the like, to take up the regular and only way of travelling here in the desert. Some day, perhaps, we shall have the railway and wires from north to south; but until we do we must travel by caravan, and to travel by caravan you must travel in caravan fashion, in the old, long proved style. You would like to hurry on and do fifty miles the first day, instead of ten or fifteen."

"Of course," said Frank, "with such things at stake."

"Exactly, my dear boy, and very naturally. Well, we'll say you'd like to go forty miles to-day?"

"Yes."

"Couldn't be done. Men can't walk forty miles over hot sand under a desert sun."

"Then why not have had more camels?"

"Because camels can suffer like men. You would knock up your desert ships, and make them sore-footed the first day, have great difficulty in getting them half the distance the next day, half that the third, and no distance at all the fourth."

"So bad as that?" said Frank.

"Most likely a good deal worse. Now we have old Ibrahim and his men, who know camels exactly, understand their constitutions, how much they can do, and how to get them to do it. You see, we are not going on a week's journey."

"A week's!" said Frank bitterly; "at this rate it will be six months."

"Perhaps a year's," said the professor quietly.

"A year's?"

"Possibly; and if a camel should break down we can't send round to the livery stable in the next street, or order a fresh one from the Stores. No one knows that better than the Sheikh. He is making the caravan travel so that it can go on for a year if necessary, and at the end of that year the camels, which mean life to us, will be fit to go on for another year."

"But Harry—Harry—Harry!" sighed Frank sadly.

"Harry is in Egypt, my dear boy, where things go on as slowly now with the people as they did in the days of the old Pharaohs. Harry must wait, and you must wait, till we can reach him. Try at once to realise where you are, and that this is the only way in which we can achieve our plans."

"I'll try," said Frank sadly.

"That's right, for if left to yourself you would press on, and in less than a month all that would be left of my dear lad would be a few whitening bones in the desert, and Harry still gazing northward and westward for the help that did not come."

"I'm afraid you are right, Landon," said Frank sadly.

"I'm sure I am, my dear lad. Experientia has dosed me. Africa is a problem, solemn and slow as its great deserts, and the people here, much as we look down upon them, have been Nature-taught, educated, as it were, from the failings of those who have gone before, how to live, how to travel, in short, how to exist in such a land."

"Forgive me, Landon," said Frank.

"Of course, my dear boy. I know exactly how you feel. I was just as bad when I first came out here. The men maddened me with their slow movements when some glorious slab covered with hieroglyphics or painted pictures cut in, lay at the bottom of a hole into which the sand kept crumbling and trickling back. I was ready to give up over and over again when tired out at night, but a good rest made me ready to go on again in the morning with fresh patience, and in the end I won."

"There," said Frank, "say no more; I know you are right. This all comes of your talking to me. If you had not spoken I should have gone on in silence, so you have yourself to thank for my display of discontent."

"Then I am very glad I have spoken," said the professor warmly, "because I can feel that you will take the right view of matters."

"Yes, I shall try hard to."

"That's right, and the best thing you can do is to enter into the journey from a keen observer's point of view. Now look before you. What can you see?"

"A wide expanse of sand baking in the sunshine."

"Nothing else?"

"No."

"Ah, that shows how uneducated your eyes are, and how much they have to learn. I'm not very clever over such things, being best when I get scent of a buried temple, tomb, or city. But this waste of nothingness contains plenty to interest an observer, and I can help you a little if you will try to make the best of our journey."

"I have told you I will," said Frank.

"Yes; so we'll begin at once, for you may believe me that we are not going to journey fifteen or twenty miles to-day without seeing something more interesting than sand. Here's my little binocular. Take it, and we'll begin."

"First of all, though," said Frank, "are we bound for some particular place this evening?"

"Of course. For another patch of water-holes. Ibrahim says they are nothing like so good as those by the encampment, but they will do for the night's halt. To-morrow we shall have to halt right in the desert and depend upon the water we take with us. The next day we journey on to fresh wells."

"I see," said Frank; "our journeys are regulated by the supplies of water."

"Exactly. Water means life."

"And Ibrahim can trust to his knowledge of the country to go straight to these places?"

"Yes; I have proved him over and over again. Now then: try the glass."

"Yes," said Frank, opening the case; "but tell me, do you mean to collect birds, insects, fossils, and plants?"

"Certainly, everything we can find; but only to examine at the end of the day. We must keep nothing; only make a few notes. Well, can you see anything?"

"Not yet. It is rather awkward to get a steady look with the camel moving."

"If you catch sight of anything worth looking at you can check your steed."

"Yes, there's something moving yonder—a dog."

"I doubt it," said the professor. "Try again."

"It looks like a dog. What is it then—a fox? Ah, it is gone behind those heaps yonder."

"Then the desert is not quite empty, Frank. Your dog or fox must be a jackal; but I wonder at your seeing him in the daylight. Let me look at your heap of sand."

"One minute; there are two somethings upon it. Two of those jackals sitting on a heap, I suppose, by their holes. No; one of them has stretched out two wings. Why, they're vultures."

"Better still. Now I'll look.—Thanks. Your eyes require a different focus from mine. Yes. What I expected," said the professor, handing back the glass. "Have another look at your sand heap; it will repay observation; it is one of the milestones of the caravan roads, only they are not placed at regular distances. Have you caught it again?"

"I keep catching glimpses," replied Frank, with the glass to his eye; "but the whole thing seems to be dancing about.—Now I've got it.—No; gone again.—That's better. The vultures have hopped off the heap and are spreading their wings. We have scared them away. Yes, there they go—a few hops, and they are rising sluggishly. No, I can't follow them with the glass."

"Can you see anything else?"

"Yes, I've got the heap again, and there are three of the little dog-like creatures scurrying right away. I say, this is a good glass! I can see the dusty sand rise as it is kicked by the jackals. Here, let's stop the camel."

"No," said the professor; "there's nothing worth stopping for."

"But I want to make out something lying by that little heap. It looks like a curved bone."

"It is a curved bone," said the professor.

"You can't see with the naked eye."

"No," said the professor, smiling; "but I have been along such a track as this before."

"But there is no track," said Frank. "We are going over smooth sand, and making a fresh one."

"Which will all be obliterated in a few hours. It is a track, though, as your heap proves."

"I should have liked to examine it, though."

"Well, you will have plenty of chance, for we shall go pretty close to it—but on the windward side."

Frank lowered the glass to look inquiringly at the speaker.

"Look here," he said; "you mean something by the way you just spoke."

"Certainly I did."

"What?"

"Take your glass, and sharpen your powers of observation, my lad. The sooner you learn the desert the better for you."

"I begin to have my suspicions," said Frank sharply.

"If you wait a little longer, and go by there with your eyes shut, my lad, you will have something more than a suspicion."

"Horrible!" said Frank shortly, as he once more raised his glass to his eyes. "You have given me the clue. I can make it out clearly now. Some poor camel that has strayed and lost its way, I suppose. Died from hunger and thirst."

"More likely from old age or overwork," replied the professor; "a milestone, only one of the many that mark the caravan tracks across the desert. Some one must have passed here within forty-eight hours."

"How do you know?"

"By the appearance of that milestone. If we came by here to-morrow there would be nothing visible but some whitening bones. Look yonder without the glass. Look straight past the leading camel, low down at the horizon, and now raise your eyes. What can you see?"

"Glare," said Frank.

"Try again."

"Nothing but more glare, and the atmosphere quivering as it rises from the sand."

"Try once more," said the professor. "I can see one—two—three. Look higher."

"Ah, I've got it now; a mere speck," said Frank eagerly—"a crow."

"Make it vulture, and you will be right. I can make out three—four of the loathsome creatures on their way to the feast. They are making a circuit so as to drop down after we have gone by."

"They fulfil a duty, though, I suppose," said Frank.

"Yes, and a very necessary one," replied the professor; and this was evident a short time after, although the leading camel passed to windward of the heap, and it seemed to Frank that the animal he rode turned up the corners of its pendulous lips with a look of the most supreme disgust, as it turned its head slightly in the other direction.

"That's fancy, Frank," said the professor, as the young man drew his attention to the camel's aspect. "I believe the poor beasts are so accustomed to the sight that they take it as a matter of course."

"Is it so common, then?"

"Horribly common, and I hope we shall encounter nothing worse, but from what has been going on farther south I have my doubts."

Frank rode on silently, and the professor did not speak for a few minutes. Then—

"Human life has always been held cheap out here. If we were travelling to examine the old records I could show you them cut in stone, as you can see them in the museums in Cairo, or in London when we return, the bragging, boasting blasphemies of this or that conquering king, all to the same tune—'I came, I saw, I conquered; I slew so many thousands of the people—I took so many thousands into captivity—I built this temple to the gods—I raised this obelisk or that pyramid'—and all by hand labour, with the miserable, belaboured slaves dying by their thousands upon thousands under their taskmasters' lashes, to be cast afterwards into the Nile, or left to the jackals and vultures. These and the crocodiles have always been wanted here, Frank, and as it has been so it is now. There is always an 'I'—a very, very big capital 'I'—who is glorifying himself with slaughter."

"No conquering king now, though," said Frank, "to leave his victories cut in the stones."

"No, the slaughterers here nowadays are more barbarous. Not the city-building monarchs, but the nomadic chiefs who force themselves to the height of power with their horrible religious despotism—your Mahdis. It is a wonder that they find so many followers, but they do."

"Fanaticism, I suppose," said Frank.

"Yes, that and the love of conquest, with its additions in the shape of plunder. For years past these vast tracts of fertile land bordering the river have gone back to waste, village after village of industrious people having been massacred or forced to flee for their lives."

"But—I have read so little about the Khedival rule—why has not the Egyptian Government put a stop to all this frightful persecution?"

"From want of power, my lad. The country has been too big, the army too small, and the invading tribes from the south too warlike a fighting race to be withstood. There is the consequence—a smiling land, irrigated by the mighty river which brings down the rich tropic mud from the highlands of the south, utterly depopulated, and strewn with the wretched people's bones."

"And how long is this to last?" said Frank, as he thought of his brother's fate.

"Till England stretches forth her hand to sweep the blasphemous invader from the land he destroys. It is coming, Frank, but the old lion moves slowly and takes some time to rouse."

"But when he does make his spring—!"

"Yes, when he does! The Indian tiger learned his power then. But the sun is getting too hot for a political lecture, my lad. Come, use your glass again. There's another enemy about to cross our track."



CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

RECEIVING THE ENEMY.

As Frank was about to raise the glass to his eye, the doctor, who was some little distance in advance, checked his camel for them to come up alongside, and pointed the while away to where in the distance about a dozen column-like clouds were spinning round as if upon pivots, while they advanced as if to cross their course.

"A sand-storm," said the professor. "Not much, but unpleasant enough if it comes upon us. Hi! Ibrahim; will those pillars cross before we get near them?"

"I cannot say, Excellency," replied the old man. "I fear not. It will be better to halt."

The preparations for the storm were soon made, the camels crouching down with their necks fully outstretched, while their riders knelt down sheltered by the animals and their packs, and held their thin cotton robes ready to veil their faces should the storm come near.

It was a strange sight, the tall, pillar-like clouds sweeping along over the level sand like so many parts of a vast machine preparing warp and weft for spinning a garment to clothe the earth, and there were moments when the pillars were so regular in distance and motion that it seemed impossible not to believe that they were artificial.

All was still where the travellers stood and knelt, the sun pouring down upon them from a clear sky, and as the Sheikh kept scanning the approaching storm Frank watched him to try and read what he thought.

It was pretty plain, for the old man's eyes brightened and he seemed to breathe more freely, since it was evident that if the whirlwind kept its course the dust pillars would pass across the track they were making half a mile away.

"But these storms change about so, Excellency," said the Sheikh. "This may suddenly turn back or rush off right away from us. It will, I think, go onward towards the great river away to our left, and sweep across it. No!" he thundered out. "Be ready; it comes," for suddenly a hot blast of air smote the party, fluttering their robes, and the whirling pillars, so distinct and clear a few minutes before, grew misty as if seen through a dense haze; for by one of its sudden changes the storm had swept round almost at right-angles, and the next minute the sky was obscured, the camels were groaning as they buried their heads in the loose sand, and the storm of hot, suffocating dust, borne on a mighty wind, was upon them, shrieking, tearing at everything loose, and buffeting its victims, who could hardly breathe, the dust choking every tiny crevice in the cotton cloth held over the face.

The roar and rush were horrible, the confusion of intellect strange and peculiar, and Frank, as he cowered down behind his camel with his forehead pressed against the saddle to keep his veil in its place, felt as if he were breathing the scorching air out of some open furnace door, while the choking, irritating sensation in the air-passages seemed as if it must soon terminate in death.

Doubtless that would have been their fate if the storm had lasted; but as quickly as it had come upon them it passed over, and in a few minutes the air about them was clear again, the sky blue, and the sun beating down, while the dust-cloud pillars were careering along, distinctly seen a quarter of a mile away.

"Yes," said the Sheikh calmly, "they are terrible, these hot whirlwinds. Their Excellencies would be glad to bathe and clear their faces and hair from the thick dust, but there is no water save for drinking. We have never had a worse one than this, Excellency, in our travels."

"Never," said the professor, who knelt in the sand trying to clear his eyes from the impalpable brownish dust, "and I don't want to meet another. This is one of the experiences of a desert journey, Frank. Why, lad, you are turned from black to brown."

"And you the same, but from white," replied Frank, smiling.

"I suppose so. It's bad for the Hakim's white robes, too. I say, Ibrahim, when shall we strike the river?"

"Not for many days, Excellency; but we shall halt at fountains among the rocks."

Five days' monotonous journeying across the sandy plains, and then five nights of travelling, with the days devoted to rest, had passed before the river was approached at a bend which brought it near the line of travel which the Sheikh had traced out for himself by the stars. The way had been marked by the bones of camels, and in two places other bones scattered here and there told their horrible tale of suffering or attack, one skull displaying a frightful fracture that was unmistakable; fountain after fountain had been reached, and refreshing halts had been made where the waters gushed from some patch of rocks, to fertilise a small extent around, supporting a few palms and prickly, stunted bushes of acacia-like growth, before they started away again into the sand; and in cases where the next water-hole was too far, one, two, or three camels bore away water-skins well filled, to carry the party over the next halting-place.

The necessity of keeping up the supply forced their guide to adopt a zigzag mode of progression, and to make his little caravan traverse nearly double the distance that would have been necessary could they have taken a bee-line towards the south. But experience had taught all travellers who journey by the desert, instead of by the great waterway with its vast cataracts, where the pressure of the earth forced the water springs to the surface, and naturally these were the goals for which all tired travellers made.

There were but few incidents during a fortnight's travel, and more than once Frank's heart sank as he pondered upon the little advance they had made; but as the professor said, they were two weeks nearer their journey's end, and all was well.

But it was sadly monotonous. The morning and evening skies were glorious, but their beauties soon began to pale, while on the hot days the journeys were most exhausting, and the travellers welcomed the clear nights when the stars blazed on high, for these were the times the Sheikh selected for progressing.

"There is no fear then of going far astray," he said; for he knew nothing of the use of the compass, and the adventurers had never thought of bringing such an aid.

In company with the doctor and professor such natural history objects as presented themselves were examined—lizards among the rocks, a few snakes, harmless, and the poison-bearing cobra; but away from the river, birds were rare, save those of prey, and as to animals they were heard more than seen. A gazelle or two, little and graceful, bounded across the track, but it was at night that the howling of the jackals and the long, hideous snarling of hyaenas taught the travellers that there were plenty of these loathsome creatures hungrily waiting for the weaklings of such caravans as crossed the sandy plains.

Twice over irregularities were pointed out by the Sheikh—places where the dead level was broken—as being the sites of former occupancy of that part of the country, the professor discoursing learnedly about the possibility of changes in the surface having taken place and rendered the country barren, while he talked eagerly of how interesting it would have been to encamp at such spots, gather together a score of the fellaheen with shovel and basket, and explore.

"But there could never have been cities there," said the doctor.

"But there were," replied the professor. "Egypt is not half explored as yet. Out yonder where we passed to-day the land lay lower, and there was the trace of a wady, one of those irregular valleys which doubtless ran towards the Nile. That was once filled with water, but the encroaching sand has filled up and covered everything. Ah, I should like nothing better than to begin digging there. It would not be long before I began to learn who the people were who formed that colony."

At last, on the morning of the fifteenth day, when, after a longer night's journey than usual, a halt was made, the faint dawn began to show that the face of the country had undergone a change. Sand there was in plenty, but it was diversified with patches of rocks, some of which were of great elevation, while where the camels began to increase their ordinary rate of speed, a ridge crossed their path, and as it grew lighter the travellers' eyes were greeted by the relief of green bushes, patches of trees, and various traces of this being a place frequented by man.

As the sun rose, right across the east there were clouds, which seemed to be very different from those to which they were accustomed, and the reason was soon made plain by a remark from the Sheikh, who explained that the river ran from north to south, about a day's journey eastward, and that if they continued their march a few miles in that direction they would soon come upon signs of cultivation, and a scattered village or two.

"And shall we go that way?" asked Frank.

"Only as far as the first village, where we can buy grain—corn, and dhurra. Then we strike away again into the desert, along whose borders we must keep. It is safer, and we are less likely to meet with wandering dervish bands. We only come near the river when it is necessary to refill the sacks and give the camels better feed than they can get near the water-holes and fountains."

"I see," said Frank, as he glanced at the professor. "To get to the neighbourhood of the Mahdi's people quickly we must go slowly."

"Yes, Excellency, it is better so. We stay here two days while three of the young men and three camels go out to buy corn in the villages yonder. There is generally food to be purchased there, for the Nile floods run out widely a little way beyond, and the Khalifa's people have not reached so far as yet."

"Is there not the ruin of a great temple somewhere in this direction?"

"And of a city too, Excellency—El Gaebor," replied the Sheikh. "Few people have gone there, for it is half a day's journey from the river bank. But his Excellency will not stay to visit it now?"

"No, Ibrahim; not now," said the professor. "It is very tempting, but duty first. We must come and see the ruins after we have fetched my friend out of the new Mahdi's grasp. Not before."

"Yes, not before," said the doctor quietly; for he spoke little on the way, passing long hours in a thoughtful silence, as if dreaming over the duties he had to perform, and acting always as if he felt that he really was the learned Hakim he assumed to be.

There was a great charm about the wild, rocky place they had reached, the first rays of the sun as it rose lighting up a most picturesque scene made glorious by that which was so rare. For at the foot of a perpendicular mass of grey, grand, sun-scorched rock, there was a pool of limpid water quite fifty yards across, and below it another into which the surplus ran, forming a place easily accessible for the camels and leaving the upper water unsullied for the use of man.

The tent was soon pitched and a fire made for the coffee and rough cakes that were soon in progress of being made, while after drinking heartily, the camels were left browsing quietly upon the abundant foliage of the low-growing bushes, their burdens being stacked against the rocks which formed the back of their little encampment.

"We ought to find some specimens here, Frank," said the professor, at the end of an hour, as they sat dallying over the last drops of their coffee.

"Yes; the place looks delightful after the bare sand," replied Frank. "I am ready. Shall we have a wander round at once?"

"By all means," said the professor. "We'll take the guns. By the way, do you keep that revolver of yours loaded?"

"Oh, no," said Frank.

"But you carry it under your jacket."

"Yes, I do as you suggested that I should. But I thought we were to trust to cunning and not to force?"

"Of course; but the fact that we are getting nearer to human beings sets me thinking that there's no harm in being prepared. Load up. You have cartridges in your pocket?"

"No," said Frank, smiling. "What should a black slave be doing with cartridges?"

"Be ready to stand upon his defence in a case of emergency. Here, take some of mine and fill the chambers."

As he spoke the professor handed six of the little central-fire cartridges, while Frank drew the small revolver he carried out of a pocket within the breast of his cotton jacket, and began to thrust them in.

"Going shooting?" said the doctor, looking up.

"Yes," said the professor; "we may get a few birds worth eating, as there is water and growth here."

"Better lie down and have a good rest," said the doctor. "You both require it. We must be careful about our health."

"Time for that too," said the professor. "We have to stay till the men have been and fetched the grain, and they must have a good rest afterward."

Just at that moment one of the Sheikh's men, who had been to fetch a couple of camels which had strayed farther from the camp than seemed necessary, came hurriedly, driving them before him, to leave them with their fellows, and turn towards the Sheikh, making signs.

"What does that mean?" said the doctor, springing up. "Is something wrong?"

The others followed the doctor's act the next moment, for some communication, evidently of great importance, was made to the Sheikh by his follower, with the result that the old man came quickly to where they stood, while all the men went quietly to their camels.

"What is it, Ibrahim?" cried the professor.

"A strong party of the Baggara are coming to the fountain, Excellency. The Hakim must take his seat at the door of the tent. Put away those guns and be in attendance upon him, as we have arranged. Ben Eddin, be waiting upon the Hakim with his pipe. Be calm, everyone, and show no appearance of trouble at their coming. You must leave all to me."



CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

A BAD WOUND.

Those were startling minutes, and though the incident was nothing more than had been anticipated as one of possibly many, it had taken them by surprise, being long before it was expected.

It was hard work too, for everyone was startled; but the advancing enemy were hidden somewhere beyond the piled-up rocks, and with what, under the circumstances, was marvellous rapidity, the Hakim, berobed and turbaned, seated himself in Eastern fashion upon one of the rugs laid for him at the tent door, while Frank brought him his long pipe, filled it, and was ready with a light. Then the professor and Sam began to put together the breakfast things, Ibrahim stood respectfully by as if awaiting the wise man's orders, and the Sheikh's followers stood about, feeding and watering the camels.

It was a picturesque group, but ready none too soon, for hardly were they prepared before the head of a mounted party of fierce-looking armed men rode into sight, and pulled up short in surprise, while their numbers were quadrupled before an effort was made to advance.

Then, with fully a hundred in sight, a shout was uttered and with a rush they galloped up, spear and sword in hand, to form a semicircle about the halting party, shutting them in from all chance of escape, and then seemed about to charge home, but they were checked by another shout and reins were drawn, the fiery horses they rode champing their cruel bits and tossing the foam in all directions.

It was a critical minute, and the slightest display of resistance would have meant indiscriminate slaughter, its hopelessness being shown by the rapid increase of the savage force, more and more riding into sight till fully two hundred were making for the water pools.

But no one stirred save Frank, who calmly held the glowing piece of fuel to the Hakim's pipe, while the latter sat unmoved, calm, and grand of aspect, slowly inhaling and exhaling the fragrant smoke and gazing at the warlike crowd which surrounded his little tent.

By this time horse, foot, and camel men, the whole party, had pressed close up to the advance, and a burst of eager talking arose, the aspect of the savage warriors indicating that they believed they had come suddenly upon a prize. But they were evidently under the strong hand of some form of discipline, for they waited while a couple of fierce-looking leaders, whose shaggy black hair stood straight up and outward like some kind of cap, pressed the sides of their horses and walked them forward, to be met by Ibrahim, who advanced with great dignity, and in response to a fierce question as to who and what they were, saluted them gravely and announced that they were in the presence of a great Frankish Hakim travelling through the land upon his great mission to heal the sick and wounded.

To this, the younger of the two burst into a mocking laugh and said something to his fellow leader, who responded by laying a hand upon his companion's rein as he spoke haughtily in his own tongue to Ibrahim, his words having a threatening sound.

The Sheikh's voice sounded as haughty and as firm, and he waved his hand around, while to Frank it seemed that the old man was repelling some accusation and saying—

"If we were enemies to you and yours should we come unarmed and in peace like this?" Then his voice grew sterner and his eyes flashed, as, uncomprehended by those for whom he was spokesman, he cried—

"Retire your men ere you disturb the great Hakim's repose. Has he not journeyed through the night on his way to the south to heal and cure, and as you see, he is resting before he takes his sleep. Beware how you anger him, for as he can heal so can he bring down upon all the disease and death he has removed from others."

The younger man made a scornful gesture, but his elder was evidently impressed, and Ibrahim continued—

"You have come for water for your horses and camels; take it silently, and leave the great Hakim in peace. Anger him not, lest at a word and a wave of the hand he turn the sweet water into bitterness that shall wither all who drink. Horse, camel, or man shall perish if he speak the word."

The Sheikh's words were heard and understood by many; and a low, angry murmur arose, which ran right to the rear.

"Is it peace?" said the Sheikh calmly, as he noted the impression he had made; "if so the pool of water is sweet for all; and if you have sick or wounded men among you, bring them to the Hakim that he may make them whole."

They were veritable words of wisdom that Ibrahim boldly spoke, and full of force, for though it was extremely doubtful whether, in case of an inimical display, the doctor would have either been able or willing to make use of his power, he had with him that which would, if deftly distributed, have poisoned the water so that it would have been dangerous to man or beast.

They were words of wisdom, though, for they went direct to the understanding and interests of the superstitious tribe, whose readiness to believe in any so-called prophet or learned doctor was easily awakened, while as it happened, Ibrahim's last command had gone home to its mark at once.

For by a fortunate accident, the chief who seemed of the greater importance, turned sharply to his companion and handed to him the shield and two leaf-bladed spears he carried, and then threw himself from the beautiful Arab horse he rode, giving the bridle to one of his followers.

And now for the first time it was evident that his left arm, which had been covered by the shield, was injured, for it was supported by a broad scarf passed round his neck.

He strode forward haughtily, taking his steps slowly with head thrown back, and as Frank gazed at him with heart throbbing painfully and heavily under the stress of his emotion, he could not help thinking how noble and fierce a warrior the Baggara looked, with his simple white robe, and how dangerous an enemy with the curved dagger in his girdle, and long, keen, crusader-like sword hanging from a kind of baldric from his right shoulder.

As he approached Morris, Frank turned his eyes for a moment upon his brother's friend, and a pang shot through him, for the doctor sat cross-legged holding the pipe, in his studied pose, slowly exhaling a little smoke, but his face looked fixed and strange, his eyes were half closed, and he seemed to be unconscious of all that was going on.

"He has lost his nerve!" thought Frank in agony, and he drew his breath hard. "What shall I do?"

The next glance, though, was at the Baggara chief, who in a contemptuous way snatched the sling from his left arm, and as if to display his scorn of wounds to his followers he lightly threw back the loose cotton sleeve of his robe to his shoulder, and held out the roughly bandaged arm before the seated surgeon, saying scoffingly in his own tongue—

"There, if you are a learned Hakim, cure that."

There was utter silence now, and necks were craning forward and flashing eyes eagerly gazing all around, but to Frank's horror, Morris did not pay the slightest heed, merely raised the amber mouth-piece of his pipe to his lips and inhaled more smoke, his eyes still half-closed, while he looked as if he were about to sink into a trance.

The words were on Frank's lips to say quickly, "Pray, pray rouse yourself, or we are lost!" but he had presence of mind enough left to press his teeth firmly together and gaze fixedly at the Baggara, whose dark eyes flashed angrily as he stamped one foot and advanced a little more, to repeat his words. Still Morris did not stir, and it was only by the most determined effort that Frank kept himself from turning sharply to dart a look of horror at Landon and Sam.

But it was the thought of his brother that gave him the strength, and the next moment he breathed a sigh of relief, for the Sheikh stepped close up to the doctor, raising a hand warningly to the Baggara.

"The learned Hakim," he said, "is deep in thought upon the wisdom with which he heals;" and then, bending towards the doctor's ear, he said in a low, distinct voice, in English—

"A great chief is here, O learned one. He is wounded and in pain, and asks your aid."

As Ibrahim spoke the doctor slowly raised his eyelids and gazed at the speaker, turning to him the while as if ignorant of the presence of the chief and the crowd around.

Then bending his head slowly as if in assent, he turned to gaze full in the Baggara's scornful eyes, his face lighting up with keen intelligence, and continuing his fixed look till the chief made an angry gesture and for a moment lowered his eyes.

It was only for a moment, though, and then he looked fixedly at the doctor again, the scornful smile upon his lip growing more marked as he keenly watched all that was done.

"Splendid bit of acting," said the professor to himself, as he stood with folded arms a little behind his friend's left hand, and he too drew a breath of relief as with calm dignity Morris handed his pipe to Frank, whose black face glistened as he took it with a solemn bow and handed it to Sam with a sign that he should take it into the tent, noting how the man's hand trembled, but avoiding his eyes, and turning sharply to the scene being enacted behind him.

As he turned, it was to see the Hakim raise his strong, white hands to spread his great dark beard over his chest, and then sign to the chief to kneel.

This was met by an angry look of resentment, and the younger chief uttered a sharp ejaculation, which was followed by a murmur behind him.

It was a critical moment, but the natural superstition in the Baggara proved too strong. He yielded to the powerful gaze which completely mastered his, and went slowly down on one knee, still holding out his injured arm.

As this was done the doctor threw back the sleeves of his robes, turned up his beautifully clean shirt-sleeves, and displayed his strong white arms. Then raising his hands he removed his jewelled turban and passed it to the professor, who was ready to take it in his hands, to hold it with reverent care.

Once more a low murmur ran round the crowd, as with increased curiosity they stared at the noble white head of the grand-looking man seated before them, while their curiosity was raised to the highest pitch.

The Hakim's movements were rapid now; he took the chief's swarthy hand in his, and his fingers were cool and soft to the burning skin he touched. Then raising his right he laid it upon the biceps, to find all tensely swollen and fevered.

The next minute he had taken a glittering little knife from the satchel he wore at his waist, and passed the keen point beneath the coarse cotton bandage, dividing it twice, so that the edges sprang apart, for the cloth was cutting deeply into the swollen flesh.

With deft fingers then he quickly unrolled the bandage, letting the foul, badly stained cotton fall upon the sand at his feet, laying bare to the sunlight a terrible cut running up from just above the wrist to the elbow joint, evidently caused by the thrust of one of the leaf-bladed spears, and now from long neglect horribly inflamed, and threatening danger, while the suffering it must have caused had doubtless been extreme.

The Hakim's examination was quick, and as he ran his eyes over the wound and touched it here and there, he spoke without turning his head.

"Basin, sponges, plenty of water. Lint, bandages, dressings, antiseptics, and my instruments."

Frank bowed, and hurried into the tent, while the Hakim supported the injured arm and raised his eyes to the Baggara chief, whose gaze was fixed upon him searchingly, and gave him a calm, reassuring smile, as if saying, "Wait, and you shall be cured."

There was another low murmur now, and the crowd was pressing closer in, but Ibrahim's lips parted as he raised his hands in protest, and at a harsh command from the second chief the men stood fast.

The next minute Frank came out, followed by Sam bearing the doctor's surgical case and the necessaries he had ordered to be brought, every eye watching as these were opened out.

"Come and help, Landon," said the doctor quickly, and the great turban was handed to Sam to bear into the tent, while the professor took up the brass basin and held it ready for Frank to fill, the latter then placing his hands ready to support the patient's arm.

During the next quarter of an hour the Baggara looked curiously on while his festering wound was manipulated by the light touches of one of London's most skilful surgeons, armed with the newest discoveries of science. And formidable as the task was, and severe the treatment, those firm white hands, and the cleansing, cooling applications gave more relief than pain, so that the stoical patient, when the touches from glittering knife and keen needle had ceased and given way to medicated cotton wool, lint, and tenderly applied supporting bandages, uttered a sigh of relief, and the scornful look of contempt gave way to one of perfect satisfaction, for to him this was a miracle indeed.

A few minutes later the scarf was retied from the shoulder so that the wounded arm rested comfortably and free from pain, the Baggara smiling at his leech as he rose, and in an instant a tremendous shout rent the air.



CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

THE SURGEON'S FEE.

The Hakim's patient was evidently a man of stern determination—of iron will; but he was only human after all, and he turned slowly to his brother chief, to lay his uninjured hand upon his shoulder to support himself, evidently making a brave effort to master the almost inevitable consequences of the long operation.

But Morris was watching him keenly, and quite prepared. A few words to Frank resulted in a small glass of water being placed in his hand in company with a bottle and graduated measure; a small quantity of a colourless fluid was transferred to the glass, and the Hakim rose and walked with dignified pace to where the two chiefs stood, the younger scowling fiercely now as he saw that his companion was beginning to totter upon his legs and swaying slightly as if to fall.

But the Hakim paid no heed to his fierce glances, and held the glass to his patient.

"Bibe," he said, in a tone of command, using medical Latin in preference to English.

At the sound of his voice the Baggara, whose countenance had turned of a peculiar, muddy hue, revived and turned to him sharply, saw, and stretched out his hand eagerly for the glass, but shrank back directly with a look of suspicion.

The Hakim smiled, raised the glass to his lips, and looking frankly in his patient's eyes drank about a third of the liquid slowly, and would have gone on, but the Baggara signed to him to desist, took the glass, and swallowed the remainder, to stand for a few minutes with his eyes half-closed and his hand clutching his brother chief's arm desperately.

"Why doesn't he make him lie down?" said the professor in a low tone to Frank, who was standing by his companion's side as if waiting for the Hakim's next command, but watching everything keenly the while.

"Afraid it would have a bad effect upon the people," said Frank in the same low tone. "He has given him a dose of ammonia."

"If he goes down, my lad, I'm afraid that it will be bad for us."

"Afraid?" replied Frank. "We have made our plunge, and nothing must make us afraid."

"That's right," said the professor; "but I wish that stuff would begin to act."

"It is beginning to act," said Frank. "Look!"

He was right, for the chief drew a deep breath, his muscles seemed to be growing more firm, and he stepped back from his companion, then signed for his shield to be handed to him, placed the loops over the bandaged arm, took his two spears, beckoned to the follower who held his horse, and stood for a minute or two making believe to pat its beautiful, arching neck and arrange its mane before placing a foot in the stirrup and springing into the saddle, when another shout arose from his followers, and Frank breathed more freely.

"That's about as savage, bloodthirsty a brute as his younger companion," said the professor softly; "but he's a brave man."

"Yes," said Frank laconically, as he kept his eyes fixed nervously upon the chief. "Think he'll be able to keep his seat?"

"I hope so."

"So do I, for if he comes off with a thud I won't give much for our lives. Hah! he has mastered it."

"Yes, he has mastered it all," said Frank. "He must have been horribly sick and faint."

"And that ammonia is not a very exhilarating draught to take. I know the abomination pretty well. Soap and water is delicious in comparison, especially if it is scented."

All this time the Hakim stood motionless, watching his patient gravely, and waiting for the result which soon came. For the peril had passed, the Baggara chief drawing himself up in his saddle, making his beautiful Arab charger rear up, and then letting him gallop for a hundred yards or so in full sight of his men, who began to shout frantically. Then pulling the horse down upon its haunches, he turned, galloped back, and checked the graceful creature again in front of the Hakim, to bend over and say a few words before rejoining his brother chief.

"What said he, Ibrahim?" asked the doctor in a whisper, without moving his head or seeming to speak.

"That the Hakim is a great prophet, and that it is peace. Excellency, they will not hurt us now."

This was soon made evident, for the younger chief began to give orders, and the men dismounted and formed themselves into a camp about a hundred yards away from the Hakim's tent. Then in fairly regular order the horses and camels were led up to the water, allowed to drink, and then led away, all being done so as not to interfere with Ibrahim's train of camels, which were now pastured on the other side of the tent, to which the Hakim had returned, and where Frank, the professor, and Sam were busy replacing the various articles that had been brought out.

Here a little conference was held around the doctor, who had resumed his calm and thoughtful attitude, but who, beneath his solemn aspect, was as excited as the rest.

"Well, Frank, lad," he said, "did it go satisfactorily?"

"Of course," replied the young man; "how could it be otherwise. It was real."

"Splendid," said the professor. "Robert, old fellow, I was proud of you."

"I don't think you would have been, Fred, if you could have seen inside."

"What do you mean—not nervous?"

"I was never worse in my life. I wonder I got through it as I did. You both noticed how my hands shook."

"That I did not," said Frank warmly. "You seemed to me as firm as a rock."

"Appearances are very deceitful," said the doctor with a quaint look. "Well, I did my best for him. He was in a terrible state."