I SEATED myself by the lake to eat my supper. Ben Nil and I were alone; the young fellow ate hastily and waited with ill-concealed impatience for me to be through. I felt sure that he was waiting to speak to me of the fakir's fate, and hardly had I put the last morsel in my mouth than he said: "Effendi, I must respect the meal hour, but, now that you are finished, I may speak. You have promised this old fakir to me."

"If you mean what I think you do, I made no such promise," I replied.

"You have told me that you overheard him speaking of a trap laid by Ibn Asl for the Reis, which you would discover from him; discover it, if you can, Effendi, and deliver him over to me, for by our customs and laws I have the right to punish him."

"Allah will punish him," I said. "Listen to me, Ben Nil; he is a graybeard, a feeble man, with no power to defend himself. Have you the heart to thrust a knife into his breast?"

"He had the heart to bury you and me alive in a tomb, and to-day he had planned to commit more than twenty murders. If you are merciful to him, you sin against Allah, who is your God as well as mine."

"That is true," agreed the leader of the "Asaker." "We were all of us to be slain at his hands, and we all have a right to claim the blood of this wholesale murderer."

"Right! That is right," cried all the "Asaker," who had come up to hear my decision. "Do you hear, Effendi?' asked the leader. "Will you take away the rights of us all? If you do you must be prepared for us to assume them ourselves.

I had already thought of this, for I knew the soldiers were furious against our prisoners; only the debt of gratitude they owed me had prevented them talking matters in their own hands from the first, and tearing Abd Asl limb from limb. It would be useless for me to attempt to enforce obedience on this point till we got to Khartum, and if my authority were set aside in this case it would never be reestablished. Resolving to temporize, I said: "Will you consider it just if I give the fakir into Ben Nil's hands, to deal with as he sees fit?"

"Perfectly just," assented the leader, while the "Asaker" repeated the words.

"Then, Ben Nil, he is yours," I said to my young lieutenant. "But before you deal with him I must try to find out what the plot is against the Reis Effendina. We will drag the prisoners, or, rather, the fakir and the spy, to one side, and you shall sit down in front of them to guard them. I will creep around behind them, and when I am concealed you shall withdraw, leaving them, as they will think, alone. I hope that they may speak of Ibn Asl's whereabouts, and of his plans; it is useless to question either of them, for they will answer, of course, but it would be folly to expect to learn the truth."

Ben Nil agreed to this plan gladly, and we carried it out. Certain of the "Asaker" dragged the old fakir and his spy over to a thick group of balm of gilead trees, and Ben Nil came in a few moments and sat down before them on guard. Covered by the trees and shrubs, I passed around

behind the prisoners, and lying down, crawled up, within hearing distance, seen, of course, by Ben Nil, whose face was toward me, but unseen and unheard by them. When Ben Nil saw that I had taken up my position he rose, wandered up and down restlessly, and finally sauntered off with the air of a person who was weary and suspected no danger. No sooner did the prisoners see that they were left to themselves than they began to talk.

"Quick, quick, before he comes back!" exclaimed the spy. "Have you thought of any plan of escape?"

"None whatever," said the older sinner, grimly.

"But we must concoct one!"

"I know of none. May Allah burn this accursed Effendi in the deepest pit of torture! If only you could get away! You are young, and how quickly could you fly to the Oschefireh (island) Hassanieh and alarm my son! He would come down the Nile with his followers and strike across to us from Makani or Katena, where he has left his ship, and set us free. The Reis Effendina would escape my son in that case, for he has him entrapped in the Oschefireh, where there are thick, dark woods, past which the Reis can never come alive. But I am certain my son would postpone his revenge on the Reis Effendina to rescue his father and capture this accursed giaour, whom he hates a thousand times more. However, since you cannot escape, what is the use of thinking of what might be?"

Fortune had favored me; whatever might be said after this was not important, so I began to retreat, seeing which Ben Nil sauntered up and once more resumed his post.

The discovery that I had made altered the plans of our journey, for instead of pushing on directly to Khartum I must go to this island of which Abd Isl had spoken, and do what I could to rescue the Reis Effendina from the dan-

ger threatening him. Evidently, too, this danger was imminent, and there was no time to lose. I dispatched an "Askeri" to take Ben Nil's place guarding the prisoners, and summoned that faithful friend to me. Ben Nil thought I had sent for him to speak of his revenge on the fakir, now that I had done that for which I had stipulated before the old man should be killed. Without waiting to hear what I might say, he saluted me with the words: "Effendi, as I sat before that hoary old sinner I considered that it was, as, you say, a serious matter to take life, and that wicked though he is, this man is old. You are right; it is unworthy of my strength to kill a graybeard, and I will leave him to the justice of Allah and his earthly judges."

"Spoken like a brave man, for he only deserves the name who spares weakness, and shows mercy to the helpless," I cried, clasping the young man's hand heartily, delighted to find better counsels prevailing with his untutored sense of right and wrong. "And now, listen to what I have to tell you." And I repeated to Ben Nil the conversation I had heard.

It might be too late to warn the Reis Effendina, but the attempt must be made, and if it were too late he must be rescued from the hands of Ibn Asl. It would be impossible to make anything like speed, encumbered with prisoners twice our own number; these must be left behind, and, though I should have greatly preferred intrusting the command of my little force to Ben Nil than to any one else, I could not make this Journey quite alone, and there was no one else whom I would be willing to take with me. So I delegated my authority to the leader of the "Asaker," reluctantly and anxiously, but realizing that it was better that the prisoners should escape than that the Reis Effendina

should be sacrificed. The Fessarah guide would be a valuable assistant to the "Askeri" leader, and was to conduct the caravan to the village of Hegasi, which lay near the island of Hassanieh, where I was to await them. And thus having arranged matters as best I could, Ben Nil and I set out on our desperate enterprise of rescuing the Reis Effendina.

The Oschefireh Hassanieh was seventy-five good miles from the lake where we had captured Abd Asl; our splendid camels covered the distance in two days, but they were so tired as they neared the end of the journey that we were obliged to let them go slowly. It was toward evening when we reached Hegasi, which is a miserable little hamlet consisting of a few huts, lying high on the bank of the Nile, apparently well protected from the river's inundation. A road led down to the river from the village, ending at the place where the boats landed and camels were watered, such places being called on the Upper Nile "mischrah."

I was glad to see the river again, for I had not caught a glimpse of it since I had gone to the rescue of the Fessarah. We led our camels down to drink, not less glad than their masters to see Father Nile at the end of their long journey. Just above the "mischrah," on the height, sat a man who did not appear to belong to the village. He was better clad than the dwellers in Hegasi, and was fully armed. No one knew anything about him, beyond the fact that he had arrived early the previous day, having been rowed ashore from a ship which had passed up the river; that he had taken up this position as soon as he had come, apparently watching for a ship, and that he had a fleet horse ready saddled below; evidently, as soon as he espied whatever he might be awaiting he was to ride fast to carry tidings to some one. I inquired if a ship which

was striking in appearance, being neither a "dahabijeh" nor a "noquer," an old craft, had passed, and on being told that it had not, felt most uneasy, for no one could have failed to notice the Reis Effendina's ship from her peculiar build, and if she had not been seen it showed she had not passed beyond Ibn Asl's reach. Putting this fact with the presence of the sentinel on the height, I felt sure that he was an emissary of the slave-dealer's, watching for the Reis, and I resolved to try what I could do with him.

Ben Nil lay in the grass watching the doings of the villagers; I sauntered up the height toward the stranger, who was eyeing me sharply.

"Allah send thee a happy evening," I said, when I had come up with him, showing by the formal politeness of the unabridged greeting that I wished to be especially agreeable.

"Happy evening," he responded curtly.

"I have no net with me to protect myself from river gnats," I said. " Is there any place in the village where I can get one?"

"I do not know. I do not belong here."

"Then you, too, are a stranger? May Allah guide your journey."

"And yours. Whence come you?"

"From Khartum," I replied, forced to deception.

"What are you?"

I tried to look very crafty, as I replied hesitatingly: "I deal in everything, but chiefly in --" I interrupted myself with a gesture intended to convey that I had said more than I meant to.

"In forbidden wares?" the stranger asked eagerly.

"If they were forbidden how could I admit it?"

"You could safely tell me; I would never betray you: and how can a man do business if he never speaks of it?"

"There is no chance of doing business now."

"There might be. I like discreet and silent men. What have you come here for?"

His manner had become eager and very friendly. I saw my conjecture was right, and I was succeeding in making him think me a slave-trader, like his master.

"I came to purchase," I said.

"To purchase what?"

"That," I answered, nodding and laughing mysteriously.

"Let us speak frankly; in any case, you may trust me. Have you ever heard of Ibn Asl?"

"The greatest of us -- the famous slave-dealer?" I added, as though correcting myself.

"You were going to say the greatest of us!" cried the man, triumphantly. "Tell me frankly: would you like to buy slaves, and have you money?"

"Frankly, then, that is my errand, and I have plenty of money. What of Ibn Asl?"

"He is near here, and he can sell you what you want. I will take you to him."

"But Ibn Asl does not know me, nor I him. It would be putting my head into the lion's jaws if he distrusted me, or objected to my coming."

"Can you not give us proof that you are what you claim to be? If you are a slave-dealer you must know some of Ibn Asl's associates."

"I have met his father, Abd Asl, and I know the Mokkadem of the Kadirine in Cairo; Abd el Barak would remember me, I am sure." And indeed I was, for he had scarcely forgotten a man who had snatched his two child slaves from his very hands.

"Is it possible! Then I am the more rejoiced that we met. You will find yourself among friends. We will start after the 'Aschia.' I must wait here till that hour, for I am watching for the ship of the Reis Effendina, which must pass this way, and to destroy which Ibn Asl is hidden down the river."

"I will go with you gladly. The Reis Effendina is the agent of the government to stop our trade, is he not? Will Ibn Asl catch him, think you?"

"It is absolutely certain, and when he does we shall never be troubled with the Reis again. Abd Asl may return at any moment. He has gone to capture a Christian Effendi who is returning from the Fessarah country, where he has taken women of that tribe whom Ibn Asl had captured, and this accursed cur rescued."

"A Christian? What has he to do with us? And when Abd Asl has captured him what is to be his fate for such meddling?'

"He has nothing to do with us, but he is a friend of the Reis Effendina. As to his fate, it will be the most horrible that we can devise. See, the sun is setting; we must say the 'Mogreb.’"

As I had been transformed into a Moslem slave-trader, it would never do for me to sit bolt upright while all other faithful followers of the Prophet knelt in prayer, so I went back to Ben Nil and knelt beside him.

As soon as he had finished reciting the prayer I whispered to him: "Attend to what I say! I am a slave-dealer from Suez, and am called Amm Selad. You are my servant, named Omar. We know Abd Asl and the Mokkadem from whom we have bought slaves. We have just come from Khartum, and are bound up the Nile."

"Very well, Effendi," replied the young man.

"In heaven's name, don't use that word, or we are lost! We are going to Ibn Asl to purchase slaves. It is a dangerous undertaking; if you have any desire to be out of it I will pardon your returning alone."

"Sir, I will go whither you go, and if it is into danger, so much the less will I forsake you."

"Good! You are a brave, true fellow. I expected no less of you. Now I must return to my new friend; in an hour, at the 'Aschia,' we are to start. We are waiting for the Reis' ship."

For another hour I sat on the height, my eyes straining up the Nile no less anxiously than my companion's, though not anxious for the same end. If the Reis did appear before I had a chance to warn him he was certainly lost. The moments slipped past, and he did not come. The "Aschia," the prayer ordained for the hour after sunset, was said, and we mounted and began the ride which was to bring me, for life or death, into the presence of the dreaded Ibn Asl. For an hour we rode directly southward into the interior, then we turned eastward toward the river again. Some trees came in sight, increased in number, and at last we found ourselves in a wood. Our guide left us to wait at the outskirts of the woods, while he rode on to announce our coming to Ibn Asl.

"Are you afraid, Effendi?" whispered Ben Nil when we were alone.

"No; but I am most anxious," I replied.

"And I also," he said. "If we are recognized we are lost."

"There is no one there who knows us; still, we must be exceedingly cautious. Whatever happens, we must not allow ourselves to be separated, for two are not too many to protect each other."

Our guide was not gone more than ten minutes; he returned, bowed, and said:

"My lord is ready to receive you."

It was pitch black night, and under the trees not even the light of the stars penetrated; but after we had gone a few feet we saw the light of camp-fires coloring the water of the Nile a golden red.

Straight ahead was a clearing, in which all vegetation had been cut down. In the middle burned a fire, around which we saw more than a hundred men, half clad, and of all shades of color. At one side, a little distance from the larger fire, burned another, and here sat three men, who rose as we approached. One was middle-aged, heavily-built, and wore a full brown beard; I knew him in a moment instinctively as Ibn Asl, the renowned slave-dealer.

Contents

Introduction