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Of course he will be well paid; but still men are often tempted to be unfaithful however well they are paid;" and then he went on to tell Edgar of the arrangement that had been made with the sheik. Edgar in return gave him a short sketch of his life since they had parted at Cheltenham, and told him of the promises he had made to El Bakhat if he would take him down to one of the Red Sea ports.
"You have treated me well and honourably." "No, I will not have that, sheik; he is your property, and is a very useful slave. I will give you two hundred dollars for him." "It is well," El Bakhat said; "he is yours." "Now," Rupert said, "there are the two heiries; they are yours by right, Ben Ibyn, but I would fain give one to El Bakhat.
Riding twenty or thirty yards behind the sheiks Edgar saw one of the horsemen look earnestly at El Bakhat, and then spur forward to speak to the others who were a short distance ahead. "That fellow has recognized El Bakhat!" he exclaimed; "ride on, Rupert!" They both shook the halters and the heiries broke into a trot. "Ride, sheiks!"
"It is well," El Bakhat said gravely. "I know that you would not lie to me. After you have given me warning I shall know what to do." So saying he got up and walked away to his tent. Three days later, as the caravan was halting at a well, Yussuf, who had gone out with the camels, ran in. "There is a large body of men, some on foot and some on horses, approaching from the south."
The surprise of El Bakhat at seeing this meeting between Muley and this young native was much greater than that of the other Arab, who had heard at El-Obeid the evening before that the white slave was journeying in disguise with his captor. "This is my brother, sheik," Edgar said to him. "He has come all this way in disguise to look for and rescue me."
It is human nature to love the land where one was born, whatever that land may be." "That is true," El Bakhat admitted; "but you cannot escape now; there is nowhere for you to go to."
I shall go on alone to Khartoum; I know many of the Mahdi's officers, and shall by presents to them obtain a pardon for El Bakhat, and permission for him to return to his tribe. Money will do as much among the Mahdi's people as elsewhere." "We shall see you again to-morrow, sheiks. A steamer sails in the afternoon for Suez, and we shall go in her. Come here to say good-bye to us in the morning."
His father was a powerful sheik, but as a young man El Bakhat killed the son of another sheik of the same tribe and fled. Later on he gathered a few followers and was in the service of the slave-dealers who go down to the great lakes.
Two or three of the usual ceremonial sentences were repeated on both sides. "My brother's name is El Bakhat?" the new-comer said. "My name is my own," the sheik replied, "and is no concern of strangers." "I come as a friend," the Arab said. "I arrived at El-Obeid yesterday and heard that a body of horsemen had set out in pursuit of you.
They will have heard of our arms and strength, and are sure to have too strong a force for us to attack. If we fail to find the road at once, our best plan would be to turn and travel north until we reach a road going down to Suakim." "Would that one of us had travelled here before!" El Bakhat said. "If we could but have continued our journey to-night we should be safe.
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