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 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE
 
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 THE CHILDREN OF 
 
 THE NILE 
 
 hJ 
 
 BY MARMADUKE PICKTHALL 
 
 AUTHOR OF "said THE FISHERMAN, ETC. 
 
 "Where there is no vision the people perish." 
 
 Proverbs of Solomon. 
 
 LONDON 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W. 
 
 ^908 5gc^
 
 CoJ>yright, iQoS, in the United States of A iiurica
 
 GLOSSARY OF ARABIC AiND 
 TURKISH WORDS 
 
 Abdu = a slave, a sen>aitt ; much used with an epithet of the 
 
 Deity in the formation of proper names — Abdullah, Abdul, 
 
 Aal, etc. 
 AhA^fathcr of. Among the fellahin of Egypt, however, it 
 
 often signifies son of, being used for abahu (his father). 
 
 Thus Abu Khalil may mean either " the father of Khalil" 
 
 or " his father (is or was) Khalil." 
 Abu T&n§ig = Father of Consolation. One of the epithets of 
 
 the Sayyid Ahmed el-Bedawi, the national saint of Egypt, 
 
 in whom some see no other than the god Osiris. 
 Abu Nowwas = a famous jester at the Court of Harun er- 
 
 Rashid, whose name has become a byword for roguery. 
 Abft Zeyd =^ a hero of Arab story. 
 Afrit = a species oi jinni. 
 Antar=the Arabian Hercules. 
 Arnaut = a« Albanian. 
 Bimbaslli (Turk.) = (lit., chief of a thousand) a major in the 
 
 army. 
 Caimmac3,m = (lit., lieutenant) a licutcnanf-colonel. 
 Casr en-Nil=(lit., the Palace of the Nile) barracks, once a 
 
 palace, on the bank of the Nile at Cairo. 
 Copt = a native Christian inhabitant of Egypt, descendant of 
 
 those who, at the Arab conquest, decHned to embrace 
 
 El Islam. 
 Darabflkkeh. = a little drum played with the fingers. 
 "0111 = religion, especially El Isidm ; much used in the forma- 
 tion of proper names, as Shems ud-din, 'Ala'd-din. 
 
 V
 
 vi GLOSSARY 
 
 Ddseh (the) = (lit., trampling). A ceremony long since abolished 
 in Egypt, but still practised in other provinces of the 
 Moslem world ; in which a number of devotees lie down 
 close together in a row, while some reverend sheykh rides 
 on horseback over their bodies, 
 
 DvLmytt^Damictla. 
 
 "Ehlis — Satan. 
 
 Efendi (Turk.) — lord, master ; gentleman. 
 
 Efendim (Turk.) = my lord (equivalent in common talk to 
 monsieur. The m is the Turkish pronominal suffix ( = my), 
 not a plural, as some writers have supposed. 
 
 Efendina (Turk, word and Ar. poss. suffix) = (lit., our lord) the 
 Khedive. 
 
 El Azhar=the universit}' mosque of Cairo. 
 
 El Cahireh = 77/e Victorious (italice Cairo).") ^, . ^ . 
 
 El MalirAseh= 7//. Guarded. r^"^^' °^ C^^'^- 
 
 El Cnds=/erusalem. 
 
 El Islam = the Mohammedan religion. 
 
 El Isl£imiyeh = the whole region of El Islam (cf. Christendom). 
 This is the Muslim's " country," the so-called countries, 
 Egypt, Syria, and so on, being regarded as mere provinces. 
 
 Emir = Prince ; an hereditary and purely Arab dignity. It 
 belongs of right to all the kindred of the Prophet, in 
 addition to the title Sayyid (lord) and the epithet Sherif 
 ( = noble). 
 
 'emmeh = the period of separation imposed by Muslim law 
 upon every widow and divorced woman. 
 
 Er-Rashid = i?oic//a. 
 
 F§,tiha (the) = the opening chapter of the Coran, recited to con- 
 firm oaths, cement friendship, and on all solemn occasions. 
 
 Fellah (pi. fcllahin) = a churl, a husbandman. 
 
 Frank (Ar. farangi) = a native of Western Europe. 
 
 Gabarti^a Muslim native of Abyssinia (from the town of 
 Jabart (Zeylah), which the Cairenes, who have no letter j, 
 pronounce Gabirt). 
 
 Gamuseh = a milch buffalo. 
 
 Gann ibn Gann = a mythical king, or dynasty of kings, over 
 the jann (genis), to whom, among other mighty works, the 
 building of the Pyramids is popularly ascribed.
 
 GLOSSARY vii 
 
 Geh&d (for jehad) =a holy war — i.e., war waged against the 
 heathen or infidels ; and otherwise, with the authority 
 of the Successor of the Prophet counselled by the Learned 
 in Religion. The term is applied by Christians to the 
 Crusades. 
 
 Gehennum = Hell. 
 
 Giiafir (pi. ghufara) = a local guardian of the peace. 
 
 Ginni (for jinni, pi. jann) = an intelligent being, not un- 
 like a man, living underground and preferring night to 
 day for his avocations. He is generally mischievous and 
 hostile to mankind, though he shares with man the chance 
 of salvation. Few have ever met with a good ginni, 
 though it is known that such exist. Their real home, 
 however, is the Mt. Caucasus, which, according to tradition, 
 surrounds this world like a wall. 
 
 Gisr = « dyke, a bank against the inundation of the Nile, always 
 used in Egypt for a road or footpath. 
 
 HSg = fl pilgrim, one who has been to Mekka or Jerusalem. 
 
 H§€ Gohha (Ar. Haj Johha) = a famous half-mythical buffoon. 
 Why he should bear the reverend title of a pilgrim I have 
 not been able to find out, nor have I heard that title given 
 to him elsewhere than in Lower Egypt. 
 
 Hashish = 6// fl//^, or Indian hemp, a powerful drug, served up 
 in a variety of forms from a smoke to a conserve, to the 
 use of which many people in Egypt, chiefly of the lower 
 orders, are addicted. It is also in repute as an aphro- 
 disiac. 
 
 HashshS,sh == a slave to the above habit. 
 
 In sh' Allah = (ht., "if God wills") / hope. 
 
 Iskenderiyeh = A lexa ndria. 
 
 Istanbul = Constantinople. 
 
 K^i&r = infidel. 
 
 Kdiix = village. 
 
 Khamsin (pi. Khamasin) = a hot wind which blows at the end 
 of March and in April. The plural, Khamasin, is proper 
 to the season of such winds. 
 
 Khatib = a village preacher and schoolmaster. 
 
 Khaw§,ga=a title, originally of respect, given exclusively to 
 unbelievers.
 
 viii GLOSSARY 
 
 Khediwi = ///t' Khedive (the Turkish v always becoming w in 
 Arabic, and vice versa). 
 
 Kisweh = a covering, a suit of clothes ; especially the covering, 
 generally rich of material and embroidery, which covers 
 the cenotaph in the mausoleum of a saint. 
 
 K6m = the mound composed of the debris of generations of 
 mud buildings, on which most of the towns and villages 
 of Egypt are raised above the level of the fields. In the 
 case of towns like Tanta and Damanhur, the mound is of 
 great height, and has dignity in a distant view, especially 
 when, as is the case at Tanta, it is crowned by a fine 
 mosque. 
 
 Libcleli=(Ht., a piece of felt) a tall cylindrical cap of brown 
 felt worn by the ghufara, or village watchmen. 
 
 Mac§,mat = evening assemblies of men for pleasurable con- 
 versation, generally at the house of a great man or one 
 renowned for learning or wide travels. The Macamat of 
 El Hariri, a series of exquisitely written anecdotes con- 
 cerning the wily and facetious Abu Zeyd, purporting to 
 have been told at such gatherings, have made the term 
 classical in Arabic literature. 
 
 Mamur = a local governor under the provincial mudir. He 
 has direct control over the omdehs in his district, which is 
 called a merkez. 
 
 Ma sh' Allah =(" What God wills !") an exclamation of sur- 
 prise used specifically to avert the evil eye when 
 expressing admiration of any living creature. 
 
 'Ma>sr=Egypi ; Cairo. 
 
 Masri (pi. Masriyin) = fl« inhabitant of Egypt. 
 
 Meydan = a parade-ground, an open space in a city, a 
 square. 
 
 Milirab = the niche which marks the kibleh in a mosque ; an 
 oratory. 
 
 M61id=(lit., birth; Mohd en-Nebi = the Prophet's Birthday, 
 hence any celebration resembling the Molid en-Nebi, 
 which is accompanied by a fair and much rejoicing) a 
 pilgrimage and fair in honour of a saint. 
 
 Mudir = a provincial governor appointed by the Khedive. 
 
 Mudiriyeh = the province governed by a mudir.
 
 GLOSSARY ix 
 
 Mufettisli = a» inquisitor, an inspector (to Arab ears rather 
 the former), 
 
 Mulazim = a lieutenant in the army. 
 
 Muslim (pi. -in) = a Moliammedan. 
 
 Mustalicill = one who facilitates remarriage of a wife divorced. 
 A man who has divorced his wife, which is done by word 
 of mouth and very easily, can only regain her after she has 
 been duly married and divorced by someone else. The 
 person chosen for this service is usually one whose age 
 or known infirmities arc sure to render the consummation 
 of his marriage (which is obligatory) purely technical. He 
 is called a must a Ji at I. 
 
 Nabbut = rt quarter staff. 
 
 N6rag = a kind of harrow used by the fcllahin when threshing 
 corn. 
 
 Nuri (pi. Na'W3.r) — a gipsy, a vagabond. 
 
 Omdeli=(lit., prop, support — i.e., of the State) headman of a 
 viltage. 
 
 Ombaslli (Turk.) = (lit., chief of ten) a corporal, a non-com- 
 missioned officer. 
 
 E3.S et-Tin = (the Cape of Figs) the headland at Alexandria on 
 which the native quarter is built, having the Khedive's 
 summer palace at its extremity. 
 
 Ilif=(lit. , fertile country) the cultivated plain of Egypt as 
 opposed to the desert ridge called gebel (mountain), which 
 the fellahin still regard as perilous and full of robbers, and 
 the sohra (angUce Sahara), or enchanted ground, which 
 lies beyond. 
 
 Riyal=a dollar. 
 
 Sacck=(one who gives to drink) a water-seller. 
 
 Sayyid = (lord) a title of high honour given to all prophets and 
 a good many saints, and also to descendants of the Apostle 
 of God. 
 
 SllSmi = a Syrian; in practice almost always a Christian of that 
 country, its Muslim inhabitants being regarded as com- 
 patriots by their Egyptian co-religionists, far more than 
 are the Copts, the native Christians. In these lands 
 religion is everything, and nationality, as we understand it, 
 does not exist.
 
 X GLOSSARY 
 
 Sheykh = fl« old man, hence, a leader in anything, a reverend 
 
 person, a saint. 
 Sheykh of the Arabs (Sheykh el 'Arab) = the Sayyid Ahmed 
 
 el-Bedawi, the national saint of Egypt, whose tomb is at 
 
 Tanta. 
 Shishell = a water-pipe or hubble-bubble with a glass vessel. 
 
 Tarbush=a scarlet headcap, a fez. 
 
 Tell = a mound — e.g., Tell-el-Kebir (the Great Mound). 
 
 Ulenaa= The Learned {i.e., in religion) doctors in jurisprudence, 
 
 which here is bound up with theology. 
 Wakil = a steward, an agent, a manager. 
 Wallah, Wallahi = 6>' Allah, a common affirmative. 
 Ya = (vocative) — e.g., y' Allah ! — ya Muslimin ! 
 Yuzbashi (Turk.) = (lit., chief of a hundred) captain in the 
 
 army. 
 Zagharit (sing. Zaghrateh) = shrill fluttering sounds peculiar to 
 
 Eastern women performed by rapid revolution of the 
 
 tongue in the mouth. The classical form of the word is 
 
 Zalaghit (sing. Zalghatch). 
 Zikr==a quasi-religious observance consisting in the repeated 
 
 ejaculation of the name of Allah, or other sacred words, by 
 
 a number of persons in concert, with bows and strange 
 
 contortions of the body. 
 Zakir = a performer in the above.
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE 
 NILE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 V 
 
 Two mats, some faded cushions, and a few vessels 
 of brass and pottery on the floor in a corner, com- 
 posed the furniture of the room where Mabruk 
 Efendi, student in the School of Medicine, sat 
 reading in a printed book. It was a large room, 
 and the walls had once been grandly decorated, 
 but most of the paint had scaled off long ago. 
 The cool winter air entered freely through the 
 tracery of a fine but damaged lattice, together 
 with a merry din — scream of pipes, clash of 
 cymbals, rub -dub -dub of many little drums — 
 from a circumcision-feast in progress at the house 
 next door. Mabruk, as a neighbour, had been 
 bidden to the feast, but had declined the invita- 
 tion in all courtesy, proposing that afternoon, by 
 Allah's leave, to journey to his native village in 
 the Delta, whither a puzzling letter from his 
 father called him. But, for the time being, he 
 had forgotten everything. Cross-legged upon a 
 mat, his fez thrust back as far as it would go by 
 the frequent passage of a hand up his brow, he 
 
 I
 
 2 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 was holding the page very close to his eyes, 
 which pursued the sense with a visible greedi- 
 ness. 
 
 The book was an Arabic translation of a French 
 romance, and Mabruk was reading it for the fifth 
 or sixth time. It told how the valiant and polite 
 Sharlas, a passionate and noble Frank, ran mad 
 for love of a virgin of transcendent beauty, the 
 exquisite and refined Kamil, The least unpleasant 
 odour would have caused her serious illness; the 
 slightest taint of boorishness in her adorer would 
 have killed Kamil. But Sharlas was a censer of 
 the costliest perfumes ; he observed urbanity in 
 all approaches to his dear, even when, having 
 compassed her abduction, he faced her in a lonely 
 house at midnight. His suit was urged in terms 
 of so seductive an elegance that she often swooned 
 with the effort which resistance cost her ; never- 
 theless, she withstood every outburst of his de- 
 vouring flame, until at last, reduced to helpless 
 tears, he kissed her feet and begged for life itself. 
 Then, when she felt secure of the enviable position 
 of an only wife, and not till then, did that clever 
 one relent and grant him heavenly joys. 
 
 " What a girl !" the student moaned, hugging 
 himself in intensity of admiration. " By Allah 
 Most High, this virgin knew her business 1" 
 
 While he sat thus entranced, his wife, with a 
 baby in her arms, entered the room. She was 
 shrouded in black from head to foot, only a pair 
 of mischievous dark eyes, made languid by free 
 use of kohl, appearing above the white mouth- 
 veil. As Mabruk did not look up, she crossed
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 3 
 
 over to the lattice and peeped out, drumming on 
 the woodwork to attract his notice 
 
 " What is it, O Zeynab ?" he asked at length. 
 
 "O beloved, surely it is time to start. I am 
 ready, and Muhammad the water-carrier waits 
 below with a porter for the baggage." 
 
 " Then go with him. He has the money for the 
 tickets. I myself await three friends, who have 
 promised to escort me to the station." 
 
 He turned from her with impatience and 
 resumed his book. 
 
 But the commotion which ensued in the lodging, 
 the entrance of Muhammad and the porter he had 
 brought up with him, their hoarse blessings, and 
 the shrieks of Zeynab directing them, effectually 
 prevented further reading. When all was still 
 again, he also felt that it was time to start, and 
 bestirred himself accordingly, intending to leave 
 word for his friends with the keeper of the outer 
 door. But even as he stood instructing an old 
 Nubian, whose delight in the music made him 
 hard of hearing, his friends arrived, and they set 
 off together. 
 
 " What sayest thou of the news ?" cried one of 
 them, when greetings seemed exhausted. 
 
 *' By Allah, I have been indoors all day. I have 
 heard nothing save the music of my neighbour's 
 feast. What news is there ?" 
 
 " Well, thou knowest how three Beys of the 
 greatest of the soldiers — their names Ali Fahmi, 
 Abdul Aal Hilmi, and Ahmed Arabi — took 
 umbrage at the recent order that no one should 
 in future be promoted from the ranks, regarding 
 
 I — 2
 
 4 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 it as wronging the children of the country in the 
 interests of Turks and Circassians ; hov/ they 
 wrote to the Council of Ministers demanding the 
 rescission of the edict, the resignation of Osman 
 Basha the Circassian and the appointment of 
 some one of the sons of the Arabs to succeed him 
 as Minister of War; how they were summoned 
 to Casr-en-Nil and there imprisoned. Well, this 
 morning Arabi's regiment marched in arms to 
 Casr-en-Nil. They broke into the room where 
 the court-martial was sitting ; they smashed all 
 the glass and furniture ; the Minister of War fled 
 through the window; Aflatun Basha died on the 
 spot." 
 
 " Allah have mercy on him !" 
 
 " Nay, the latest rumour states that he was only 
 wounded." 
 
 " Wounded or killed, the affair is truly serious. 
 The mob carried the three officers back with 
 shouting to Abdin, where in the square before 
 the palace they were joined by two more regi- 
 ments, and all now wait there, threatening harm 
 to Efendina unless their wishes are at once made 
 law. I myself spent an hour amid the crowd of 
 lookers-on. A fine show, O my dear, but dis- 
 graceful in our civilized land." 
 
 "The Council of Ministers has been long 
 closeted with His Highness, but the result of 
 their deliberations is not yet known. The quarrel 
 concerns the soldiers only. It is not our business. 
 But if soldiers are to go about the streets armed 
 and in a state of madness, there is an end of safety 
 for poor, righteous men."
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 5 
 
 " Well, Allah have mercy on those three officers. 
 They are sure to be shot or beheaded, if not 
 impaled." 
 
 At that Mabruk raised hands and eyes in horror, 
 crying : 
 
 " No, no ; Allah forbid ! The age of barbarism 
 is past. They will be imprisoned for life, it may 
 be, or else banished." 
 
 Thus conversing, the group of students 
 traversed two shady markets and came out into 
 a sunlit thoroughfare where crowds of people 
 pushed a slow way up or down, dodging car- 
 riages, donkeys, laden mules and camels whose 
 drivers bawled incessantly. Here one of the 
 party hailed an empty carriage. Mabruk, with 
 two others, got inside, while the fourth man clam- 
 bered up beside the driver, who immediately 
 whipped up his horses with loud warnings to 
 the crowd. 
 
 " It is said that the Prince Mahmud, driving in 
 his carriage, met the rioters and asked them what 
 they were doing. For answer, they bade him 
 alight and find out for himself." 
 
 Mabruk groaned. 
 
 " I ask pardon of Allah ! The affair is grave 
 indeed. What wild beasts thus to answer a polite 
 inquiry !" 
 
 " In truth, they are quite uncivilized," replied 
 his neighbour, and was preparing to enlarge upon 
 the theme, when he who sat up by the driver faced 
 round suddenly, crying : 
 
 " Look ! In the name of Allah, look in front of 
 you!"
 
 6 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 All sprang up in the carriage, holding on to one 
 another. 
 
 A regiment under arms, marching at ease to the 
 beat of the drum, was advancing briskly with glad 
 cries. The carriage drew up to one side while 
 they swung by, some singing madly, others 
 shouting, " Live, Efendina 1 Live, Arabi !" with 
 monotonous insistence, as hawkers cry chickpease 
 or water-melons. 
 
 "What is the sense of it?" Mabruk inquired of 
 a sacca who offered water to the occupants of the 
 carriage. 
 
 The man smiled widely, showing all his teeth. 
 His hands, and the cups in them, flew up despair- 
 ingly. 
 
 " Ya sidi, Allah knows I It is one of the regi- 
 ments returning from Abdin. They are quite 
 mad, the poor ones ! But it is said that Efendina 
 pardons the three officers, and dismisses from his 
 counsels Osman Basha whom they insulted. If 
 that is so, then God have mercy on us, for we 
 have no government." 
 
 " But why do they shout Arabi and not Abdul 
 Aal or Ali Fahmi ? Who is this Ahmed Arabi to 
 be thus preferred ?" 
 
 The water-seller gave another shrug. 
 
 " Heed them not, O Excellency. They know 
 not what they cry. Ahmed Arabi is one of God's 
 creatures, a Bey like another." 
 
 " By permission, O my masters," put in the 
 driver of the carriage, turned right round on his 
 box by interest in the conversation, " Ahmed Bey 
 Arabi is well known to me — a good, righteous
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 7 
 
 man if ever was one, and kind to the poor. More- 
 over, he is very highly connected, having espoused 
 the sister by milk of the secluded one of Efendina 
 himself — he, the son of a fellah. So all look up • 
 to him. Osman Basha wronged him years ago, 
 which makes his work to-day mere retribution." 
 
 The speaker turned with that, and waved his 
 whip. The carriage moved again. 
 
 " By Allah, it is true as the professor states ; 
 this Ahmed Arabi is a noble man. May he triumph 
 over all his enemies !" said one of the students, 
 with a careless laugh. 
 
 " Nay, by thy leave, O loved one, he ought 
 verily to have been punished. The soldiers will 
 be encouraged by such leniency to rebel for every 
 flea-bite. Indeed, is not this day's business the 
 outcome of that mutiny two years ago which 
 Ismail inspired against the Frank commissioners? 
 The father sowed, the son reaps. There will 
 soon be no peace in the land, nor any safety for 
 poor righteous men." 
 
 They were now in the modern quarter of the 
 city, to which wide streets and featureless blocks 
 of building gave a civilized air. Some of the 
 passing carriages contained fair European ladies, 
 one of whom Mabruk saw bow to a Frank on the 
 footway, who bared his head as she passed. Re- 
 called to Sharlas and Kamil by this little incident, 
 he was deaf for a time to the discussion raging 
 among his friends. At length he heard : 
 
 " It is a shame for Mabruk to be leaving us at a 
 time of such excitement In sh' Allah, he will 
 return to-morrow. Knowest thou, O Mabruk,
 
 8 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 that there are brigands where thou goest ? All 
 kinds of barbarities are daily practised there. It 
 is a region totally inelegant, most disagreeable 
 for a man like thee." 
 
 Mabruk Efendi scouted the idea of brigands as 
 too fantastic in a civilized country, but vowed to 
 return to the city as soon as might be ; and while 
 he yet spoke, they reached the railway-station. 
 Muhammad the water-carrier, who had sat on the 
 doorstep waiting their arrival, came forward at 
 once and gave Mabruk his ticket, with the in- 
 formation that the train was ready. The friends 
 were walking through on to the platform, when 
 an official shrieked, " Make haste 1" Mabruk cur- 
 tailed farewells and took to his heels. Jumping 
 in as the train began to move, he found himself 
 in a compartment full of well-to-do fellahin, who 
 kindly made room for him. Most of them wore 
 a shawl snooding the turbaned head to protect it 
 from the winter air which fathers toothache. 
 
 " Salvation be upon you !" he said, as a matter 
 of course. 
 
 To his surprise the salutation went unanswered, 
 eliciting nothing but cold looks, till one old man, 
 pitying his disconcertion, observed, " Salvation 
 be upon believers !" 
 
 Shocked to learn from this that they took him 
 for an infidel, Mabruk made haste to witness ; 
 whereat their faces told of some amazement, and 
 one or two of them murmured, "Allah is great!" 
 
 The fashion of a Prankish suit beneath the fez, 
 though growing frequent in the town among 
 young Muslims of advanced ideas, in the provinces
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 9 
 
 was still restricted to rich Copts and Syrians. 
 Mabruk's own civilization of the last few months 
 had caused him to underestimate the barbarism 
 which still reigned outside the city. 
 
 To avoid their gaze, which troubled him, he 
 looked out of the window, and saw the suburbs 
 of the town slip by and the cultivated plain 
 appear, stretching away to a line of low hills, 
 the colour of a lion's back, the desert frontier. 
 Sakiehs and clumps of palm-trees, with here 
 and there a cake of mud-built hovels, stood forth 
 like islands. The fields were full of life : men 
 and women ploughing or reaping green clover ; 
 children herding grey, unwieldy buffaloes, brown 
 sheep, or munching camels. Along the dyke 
 moved a scarce intermitted procession of country- 
 people, of camels, oxen, mules, but chiefly asses, 
 in clouds of dust made warm by the declining- 
 sun. Shocked by the inelegance of the rustic 
 scene, Mabruk Efendi tried to read ; but Sharlas 
 and Kamil appeared receding like the city ; they 
 grew small and indistinct, and the talk of his 
 fellow-travellers came in between. 
 
 One of these — a youth, squatting up in the 
 corner seat — had produced reed-pipes from his 
 bosom, and was playing on them dreamily. The 
 others were eagerly discussing the news of the 
 day, deploring the indulgence shown to the three 
 officers as likely to increase the insolence of 
 the soldiery, and so menace the prosperity of the 
 land. This led to comparing of notes on the 
 price of cotton-seed, of grains and other produce, 
 to complaints of the tax-gatherer, and thence, by
 
 10 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 a natural sequence of ideas, to mention of a 
 wild brigand, one Muhammad en-Nuri, who, 
 with a band of bold confederates, had for two 
 months past spread terror in the district they were 
 now approaching. He was said to have attacked 
 whole villages by night with guns, and, driving 
 forth the inhabitants, plundered the houses. 
 
 At that Mabruk could not contain himself. 
 
 " It is a sin !" he exclaimed, " a disgrace to this 
 land of Masr, the most civilized of all lands from 
 the beginning, as is plain from the study of history. 
 It is a duty for every man to assist the Govern- 
 ment to catch and destroy this most hateful 
 offender, that so our people may have rest, and 
 advance in the paths of urbanity and elegance." 
 And with enthusiasm he foretold a day when 
 every man in Egypt would be as refined as was 
 the noble Sharlas. 
 
 Those fellahin listened at first in silence, admir- 
 ing words they understood not. They smiled one 
 to another, remarking, " He speaks nicely." But 
 when the sense of what he said occurred to them, 
 there were murmurs of dissent and shrugs and 
 chuckles. 
 
 " Urbanity !" cried one. " Ya Salam ! Ur- 
 banity is of the town, and we be countrymen. 
 As for this Muhammad, this Nuri, if the rulers 
 catch him, let them punish, since it is their 
 function. What is it to us ? The Government 
 knows its business, we know ours. Doubtless 
 thou hast suffered personally at the hands of this 
 robber, which makes thee angry; it is natural." 
 
 " Nay, I speak as for the public good."
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE u 
 
 " That, O beloved, is not our business. That 
 belongs to Allah, The public good is no man's 
 benefit. Let each attend to his own. . . . Ah, 
 urbanity and elegance are fine things, no doubt; 
 but for my part, I would rather see the taxes 
 done away with." 
 
 The farmers laughed, applauding the justice 
 of these sentiments, and Mabruk Efendi laughed 
 with them, feeling sociable. By the time the 
 train stopped at his destination he had quite 
 forgotten he wore Prankish dress. It therefore 
 shocked him when his father, the Sheykh Mus- 
 tafa, cried : " Is this my son ?" provoking laughter 
 in the crowd upon the platform, and a group 
 of women from the village surrounding Zeynab 
 made further rude remarks on his appearance. 
 Smarting from such criticism, he felt a scarecrow 
 when, mounted on an ass beside his father's mule, 
 he headed a procession through the little country 
 town. But self-consciousness, with every other 
 sensation, was destroyed in him when presently 
 his father spoke. 
 
 "O my son, thou hast not yet asked why I sent 
 for thee. The reason is a grave one — nothing 
 less than danger to our house. By the death of 
 my lord the Basha — may Allah have mercy on 
 him ! — I have lost my patron and most kind sup- 
 porter; and my enemies wax bold, seeing me 
 without protection. They seek my ruin and set 
 snares for me ; they charge me with ambition in 
 the matter of thy schooling. They carry tales of 
 my wealth, and excite the avarice of the rulers. 
 They would depose me from being omdeh.
 
 12 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 Already my land, which formerly paid little by 
 the grace of Allah, has been reassessed at thrice 
 its value, and I have cause to fear more cruel 
 measures. In demonstration of my wealth they 
 point to the manner of thy schooling, asking 
 why, when I entered thee at El Azhar, I did not 
 throw thee on the mercy of Allah like a poor 
 man's son ; and why, since then, at the School of 
 Medicine, I gave thee the appurtenances of a 
 youth of station, I have thought on compro- 
 mise, for Allah knows it grieves my soul to 
 break thy grand career. But my mind sees no 
 alternative. If I withdrew thy allowance and 
 made of thee a poor student, they would hear 
 of it only as a tale, and think it false. I would 
 not write all this by the hand of the public scribe, 
 so simply bade thee come. But now I say, return 
 no more to the School while things are so; be a 
 fellah like thy brother, and may Allah reward 
 thee ! Thy return to till the land alone may 
 persuade men I have lost my money." 
 
 Mabruk, though weeping, made submissive 
 answer, and the little company, having scaled a 
 steep embankment, entered on a high, long bridge 
 across the Nile, where hoof-beats rang out noisily. 
 On the further shore he saw through tears the 
 village and its palm-trees haloed in blue twilight. 
 Far below, on the brink of the great river red 
 with sunset, men crouched at their ablutions for 
 the evening prayer. Where was now Kamil, 
 where Sharlas ? 
 
 At the bridge-end a group of villagers waited 
 to give them greeting. The women raised their
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 13 
 
 zagharit, the men cried welcome. Among the 
 latter was one tall and powerful, a stranger to 
 Mabruk. The Sheykh Mustafa presented him 
 with marked deference. 
 
 " My son, the Sheykh Muhammad en-Nuri, 
 who honours our village." He added beneath 
 his breath : " The famous robber."
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 " Fine, Frankish clothes, three outer garments, a 
 complete suit; also a shirt of flannel — soiled, in 
 truth, but thou canst wash it ; also three collars 
 and a kind of fancy halter for the neck. Feel the 
 material, O my dear, how nice 1 And the work- 
 manship, how excellent — a very triumph of the 
 needle and the loom !" 
 
 The father of Mabruk, taking seat on the edge 
 of the shop, laid out each article of apparel before 
 the merchant squatting within, who, for his part, 
 seemed to give no heed whatever, sucking hard 
 at his shisheh so that the water in the vessel kept 
 purring like a cat that is pleased. 
 
 Mabruk himself, the young fellah, stood by with 
 others of the village to watch the bargaining. In 
 the week which had elapsed since his home- 
 coming, urbanity, no longer his business, had 
 assumed its true proportion as a mere accom- 
 plishment — an apish trick or antic of the brain, 
 only valuable as giving him among his present 
 associates a vogue like that of the juggler or 
 skilled story-teller. He saw the relics of his 
 civilization spread out for sale with no other 
 sentiment than a hope to profit by the transaction. 
 
 14
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 15 
 
 So large a gathering before a shop was rare in 
 the bazaars of the mud-built country town. It 
 caught attention ; merchants left their wares, 
 women broke off their purchasings, to learn the 
 matter. 
 
 " Those belong to the infidels," shrilled one old 
 hag, stretching out a scraggy arm towards the 
 garments. 
 
 " To the infidels, sayest thou, O girl 1 Ask 
 pardon of Allah ! It is a sin for thee to speak 
 so. The best and noblest of the Muslimin in 
 cities wear them," rejoined the Sheykh Mustafa, 
 smoothing the clothes out lovingly. " Look at 
 the buttons, I beseech you; what a number! The 
 buttons here alone are worth much money." 
 
 By this the group of onlookers had become a 
 crowd. Beggars, who always hie where there is 
 concourse, began to whine upon its outskirts. A 
 vender of salted nuts cried his wares as at a 
 festival. 
 
 "Thou didst buy these at the shop of Mitri the 
 Greek, at the entrance to the Muski," said the 
 merchant, looking suddenly at Mabruk. 
 
 " Wallahi, that is a lie. It was from Nasr the 
 Syrian, higher up on the same side, a better 
 place. . . ." 
 
 But ere the youth could finish his protestation, 
 his father leapt up in anger and assailed him. 
 
 " Be silent, son of a dog ! Curse thy religion ! 
 Thou hast spoilt everything. What knowest thou 
 of this raiment ? Hast thou no sense, no subtlety ? 
 Why, why didst thou speak, why answer him ?" 
 
 The vehemence of this aside gave the crowd
 
 i6 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 keen delight. The merchant was forgotten for a 
 moment. He leaned forward and overhauled the 
 clothes. 
 
 " I give a riyal for the lot," he said con- 
 temptuously. 
 
 The father of Mabruk was at him in an instant. 
 
 " Say that again, O shameless ! I make Allah 
 my wakil ! O Lord of the Worlds, just hear what 
 this man offers — one riyal for things worth five 
 at least !" 
 
 " Five riyals ! Never ! I trust in Allah ; I am 
 a Muslim," rejoined the merchant, with dignity; 
 nor could all the arguments of Mabruk, his father, 
 and their faction among the bystanders, induce 
 him to increase his bid by one para. He returned 
 to his shisheh with enjoyment, and the more they 
 shouted the more did he seem to lose all con- 
 sciousness of their existence. Things were at 
 this hopeless pass when a fellah, tall and stalwart 
 beyond the common, forced his way through the 
 press and inquired of the matter. 
 
 " Listen, O Muhammad, O Nuri!" screamed the 
 father of Mabruk. " This merchant, whom I called 
 my friend, will give but one riyal for all that lies 
 here between us." 
 
 He spread out his hands to illustrate the 
 enormity of the extortion, then drew them slowly 
 down his face, as men do who have made their 
 prayer to God. 
 
 The robber appeared both shocked and grieved. 
 He eyed the merchant reproachfully, fingering 
 his beard ; while the spectators whispered in awe 
 of his great name.
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 17 
 
 " He has the effrontery to ask five riyals for 
 these things," protested the merchant, plainly 
 discomfited. But since he is thy friend — behold ! 
 I give him four riyals, which is all I have with 
 me. Think not that the clothes are worth so 
 much. It is a present I make to my soul's dear 
 one, the Sheykh Muhammad en-Nuri; may his 
 life be prolonged 1" 
 
 Having seen the payment made, the crowd 
 dispersed, a little scandalized at so abrupt an 
 ending. Most of the fellahin returned at once 
 towards the village. But Muhammad detained 
 Mabruk, and, hand in hand, they strolled between 
 mud-walls to the bank of the Nile. There, in the 
 shade of an old mimosa-tree, they crossed their 
 legs, and watched a flock of white-winged barques 
 glide southward, brooding on their soft re- 
 flections. 
 
 "What hast thou decided?" asked the robber 
 presently. 
 
 From their first meeting at the bridge-end 
 Muhammad had conceived an admiration for 
 Mabruk, gaping at the entertainment of his out- 
 landish culture and the elegant phrases he could 
 turn at will. More than once he had urged the 
 youth to join him at his business, an affair of 
 waitings which Mabruk's drollery would help to 
 beguile. 
 
 But Mabruk still hesitated. Consorting with 
 the bold, he felt drawn to boldness, from a habit 
 of blindly accepting what was set before him ; 
 but by nature he was kind and debonair, and 
 held cold-blooded violence in horror.
 
 i8 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 " I cannot," he replied now with a shudder, 
 " Thou fearest ? Why ? There is no ground 
 for fear. It is our business to inspire fear, not to 
 be afraid. If a company of armed men failed to 
 flinch at our appearance, then, by Allah, we might 
 tremble somewhat. But that is scarce conceiv- 
 able. Moreover, I have high protections, O my 
 soul. Those above me have their secret hatreds, 
 and Muhammad is a dagger up their sleeve. 
 Didst mark a soldier stop me in the town just 
 now ? It was to say that there is work for me 
 to-night, and for thee, too, in sh' Allah ! Could I 
 find another companion ? Yea, in truth. But thy 
 converse has made vain the talk of others." 
 
 " But the vengeance, the loud outcry in the 
 villages !" groaned Mabruk. 
 
 " There is no vengeance where there is no 
 killing, and I have not killed a man these many 
 months. As for the villagers, if they hear or see 
 aught of it, they say : ' It is the Children of the 
 Night ; it is the Robbers from the Mountain.' " 
 
 Therewith, seeing the youth still trembled, 
 Muhammad told the story of his life, to reassure 
 him. 
 
 He was no gipsy ; the name of Nuri had been 
 given to him in jest, to signify a rogue, a roving 
 man. His father, a Gabarti from Abyssinia, had 
 married a woman of the Fayyiim, and settled 
 down in the city there as a shoemaker. When 
 Muhammad was ten years old, the family had left 
 that land of palms and reedy streams and groan- 
 ing water-wheels, and come northward into the 
 Delta, to the town of DamanhCir, where the boy
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 19 
 
 soon took to wild courses. He organized a band 
 of young marauders, who, beginning with mere 
 pranks — such as transferring goats in the night 
 from yard to housetop or emptying vessels of 
 corn to fill them with frogs or scorpions, deeds 
 long imputed to the ginn — grew at length so bold 
 as to attack people. In this way Muhammad dis- 
 covered that he was manly above the common ; 
 and one day, after a beating from his father, he 
 resolved to make a trade of manliness. Armed 
 with a curious pistol and two daggers which he 
 had taken from his father's house, he set out to 
 seek adventures. For years he wandered on 
 from place to place, till he had seen the whole of 
 Egypt from Dumyat to Minieh ; and wherever he 
 appeared the wild youth of town and village 
 flocked to him as their natural leader. More than 
 once he had been captured by the slaves of power, 
 and once at Mansureh had been sent to prison 
 for five years. But in the first month he escaped 
 and resumed his way. 
 
 At length, in the neighbourhood of Shebln-el- 
 Kom, he was stricken with love for a girl who 
 gave him to drink from her pitcher when he was 
 weary; and, having obtained her at the price of 
 all his savings, had settled down in her father's 
 service as a husbandman. But, his great name for 
 manliness causing him to be sought out of all who 
 had a secret grievance, he succumbed presently 
 to a large bribe, and helped a notable of the 
 province to a desired inheritance. After that he 
 had fallen back upon his old way of life, and 
 moved, with his wife and child, to Tanta, whence, 
 
 2 — 2
 
 20 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 on a friendly hint from the authorities, he had 
 come three months ago to Mabrtik's native village. 
 
 Mabruk v;^as listening with but half an ear, his 
 mind still troubled with the bold proposal. 
 
 A series of shrill whistles and the rumble of a 
 train upon the bridge reminded them that the day 
 grew old. They rose of one accord. 
 
 *' Say yes, O my soul !" coaxed Muhammad. 
 " I ask no help of thee, but only conversation. 
 Accompany me to the Mountain after sunset."
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Outside the town, across the river from Mabruk's 
 village, was a patch of broken waste-land, in 
 its features resembling a congregation of large 
 rubbish-heaps, said by some to be the remains 
 of a former city. By day those tawny mounds 
 amid green fields seemed a bit of desert stranded 
 in the very heart of the rif ; by night they were a 
 home of dread enchantment, the haunt of jackals, 
 and, some said, of ghouls — a place where doleful 
 voices wandered bodiless. The paths among them 
 ran through little gorges, the rubble forming 
 cliffs some ten feet high ; so that for fifty yards 
 the nervous traveller was cut off from the comfort 
 of the settled country, and found himself alone in 
 savage wilds. Men of the town whose business 
 took them out among the villages, if forced to 
 return after dusk, either made a round to avoid 
 the gruesome spot, or braved its terrors only in 
 large companies with song and noisy jest. It was 
 named, in all the country round, the Mountain. 
 
 Thither Mabruk and the robber bent their steps 
 when the evening call to prayer was being chanted 
 from the minaret of the town. The crescent 
 moon appeared amid the fading glow of sunset 
 
 21
 
 22 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 like an emerald sewn in the hem of a rosy veil. 
 Along the high embankment of the railway lights 
 shone out, making the plain beyond all mystery. 
 Near the foot of this embankment the robber told 
 his friend to wait a minute, and strode back 
 towards the houses. In a little while he re- 
 appeared with a donkey saddled and bridled. 
 " There may be stuff to carry," he explained, and 
 bade Mabruk get on behind him. Beneath the 
 double load, the donkey scrambled bravely up 
 the slope, across the line, and down on the other 
 side. Here they dismounted, and Muhammad 
 made shift to hobble the beast with a piece of 
 rope. As he arose from doing so, a watchman in 
 a little hut beside the rails wished him a happy 
 night. '* Keep an eye on my donkey, of thy 
 kindness, O Derwish !" replied the robber, setting 
 off into the Mountain, whose miniature crags 
 looked ghostly in faint moonlight with green 
 sky behind them. 
 
 In the midst of the wild, one huge block 
 towered among the mounds. Muhammad went 
 up to this mass and, dislodging a boulder with 
 his knee, revealed an opening, into which he 
 crawled, bidding Mabruk follow. It was more 
 than the youth had bargained for, but he obeyed; 
 and upon Muhammad striking a match and lighting 
 a lantern he had brought with him, he was relieved 
 to find himself in an ordinary room. Here were 
 ashes in the middle of the floor, and, heaped up 
 in a corner, clothes and divers weapons. The 
 brigand chose out two enormous daggers, which 
 Mabruk discovered, when they were put into his
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 23 
 
 hands, were made of wood, and, for himself, 
 assumed a monstrous scimitar. Next, picking a 
 piece of charcoal out of the ashes on the floor, he 
 drew lines on Mabruk's face, holding the lantern 
 up the while so as to mark the effect. He pro- 
 ceeded to treat his own face in like manner, 
 prolonging each eyebrow upwards across the 
 temple, and giving the eyes a sinister slant. 
 Ugly wrinkles now came out upon his brow, 
 and the corners of his mouth were stretched in 
 a fixed grin of devilish malice. Through all the 
 adventure hitherto Mabruk had moved in awe 
 of his own fearlessness, but, confronted with that 
 frightful ginni, his teeth chattered. 
 
 Going out again, he found the night all terrible. 
 The stars were pitiless ; rays from the setting 
 moon, threading the ruins, raised up horrid 
 shadows. 
 
 " Fear not, O my soul !" said Muhammad kindly. 
 " In sh' Allah, there is no danger. The only 
 danger I can apprehend is from an action of the 
 chief Government overruling the provincial, and 
 of that I should get warning. Ah, that were a 
 danger indeed, for now that Efendina has gone 
 to school to the Franks, as thou sayest, the 
 chief Government lacks generosity." 
 
 Clutching at a topic so remote from present 
 fears, Mabruk bewailed the fallen state of Egypt, 
 as they sat together on their heels beside a path 
 which ran close by the massive ruin. The 
 Franks, foul usurers, had persuaded the Khedive 
 Ismail to contract huge debts — his slaves until 
 they had him in their toils, and then his creditors.
 
 24 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 To-day the whole wealth of Egypt was in the 
 control of the Franks, The son of Ismail was 
 helpless in their hands ; he could obtain no 
 money save through their commissioners. 
 
 " They are devils, curse their religion !" inter- 
 jected Muhammad, with an admiring chuckle. 
 
 Yet there were good men among them. MabrQk 
 himself had had for professors His Excellency the 
 Mussiu Dibun, a Frenchman, and His Excellency 
 the Mister Bawwil, an Englishman — urbane men 
 both of them, who had loved Mabruk, and taught 
 him all they knew. 
 
 " Ah, how they loved me ! Very often they 
 would invite me to their house, to sit on a chair, 
 and eat with them from the same dish; and all 
 the titbits of the meal they thrust into my mouth 
 for honour." 
 
 " Now, Allah forgive thee that, m}^ dear. It 
 was defilement. The Franks eat pig, it is known, 
 and love the taste of hairless, crawling things. 
 Wallahi, thou didst sin !" 
 
 '* Nay, nay ; these ate as Muslimin from polite- 
 ness towards me," Mabruk explained ; and he 
 was going on to tell of other glories when the 
 brigand clutched his arm and whispered : 
 
 " Hark !" 
 
 At the word his former abject fear returned 
 upon him. At first he could only hear a jackal 
 howling, but presently his strained ears caught a 
 sound of singing in the distance. The sound 
 grew nearer rapidly, and he could hear long 
 " Ah's !" of delight in pauses of the song. At 
 length a swinging light appeared above a ridge
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 25 
 
 and the song grew louder suddenly. Forms of 
 men on foot and on the backs of donkeys moved 
 in faint outline against the sky. 
 
 "Be still — keep silent!" snarled the robber 
 angrily, though Mabruk was not aware that he 
 had made a noise. 
 
 The shapes were lost to sight as the path 
 dipped into a hollow, but the light danced onward 
 innocently towards the ambuscade, vanishing for 
 a space, then reappearing, by reason of inequali- 
 ties in the track and of its winding in and out 
 among the mounds. The words of the song were 
 now distinctly heard. They were in praise of 
 night's discreetness and the veiled charms of the 
 beloved. 
 
 In a trance of horror Mabruk watched those 
 guileless ones draw near, foreseeing all that 
 would occur with cruel vividness. He witnessed 
 the shock of surprise ; he heard heartrending 
 shrieks, loud groans, and prayers for mercy ; he 
 saw bleeding corpses, and in horror of the 
 ghastly scene he wailed aloud. 
 
 "Curse thy religion!" cried Muhammad, 
 springing up. 
 
 The travellers, still a stone's-throw off, had 
 halted in alarm. Each rider strove to turn his 
 donkey's head and at the same time keep close to 
 a neighbour. In the crush the lantern fell to 
 the ground and was extinguished. But this con- 
 fusion lasted but an instant. Before Muhammad 
 arrived on the scene the donkeys were careering 
 madly back along the way they had come, urged 
 by loud thwacking of sticks and the yells of their
 
 26 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 terrified owners. The pedestrians had scattered 
 in all directions. 
 
 The robber turned upon the shamed Mabruk 
 with mind to beat him, but only cursed him 
 roundly, and dragged him back to the hiding- 
 place. In the secret chamber once again he lit 
 the candle, and rubbed the charcoal marks from 
 both their faces, grumbling at first, then laughing 
 as he came to think on it more calmly. 
 
 " Wallahi," he observed, " that wail of thine 
 would stand us in good stead among the tombs, 
 couldst thou but hold it in a minute longer 1 No 
 matter ; thou art new to such work, and I have 
 had much pleasure in thy conversation. Thou 
 hast seen and done strange things for one so 
 young. But surely it was wrong for thee to eat 
 with infidels. I fear me thou hast swallowed pig 
 at unawares. By the Prophet, I should not have 
 been so bold 1 I should have feared to risk so 
 great defilement." 
 
 " No, by Allah !" MabrOk protested, throwing 
 off dejection. " Have I not said they loved me? 
 The food was Muslim food, and cooked — ah, I 
 assure thee ! — it was cooked to a nicety." 
 
 Conversing in this pleasant strain, they left 
 the secret den, and came to the place where they 
 had left the donkey. It was nowhere to be seen. 
 
 "O Derwish !" the robber shouted; "where is 
 my donkey ?" 
 
 The form of the watchman appeared in the 
 lighted doorway of his little house. 
 
 " Is it not with thee ?" he called down to them. 
 " Men whom I took for thy companions came and
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 27 
 
 fetched it a while since. It is, perhaps, stolen. 
 May Allah comfort thee in thy bereavement." 
 
 At that Muhammad moaned as one distraught: 
 
 " Woe on him ! He was borrowed, and I am 
 not rich enough to pay his price. My friend, 
 who trusted me, will think I stole him. He 
 will count me an abuser of good faith, a thief, 
 a malefactor ! O Allah, hide my shame ! O Lord, 
 assist me !" Burying his face in his hands, he 
 indulged his grief a while. " But say, what 
 manner of men were they who took him ? In 
 sh' Allah, I may know them, and requite their 
 wickedness." 
 
 "Ten tall men, armed to the teeth, every one 
 of them blind of both eyes, and deaf of both ears, 
 and lame of both feet. Do I know ?" replied the 
 watchman, with a chuckle. 
 
 " Curse thy father and thy mother 1 Where 
 is my donkey ?" cried Muhammad, springing 
 towards that wicked joker. 
 
 " The world is wide, O my sweet, and there be 
 two sides to the iron road." 
 
 Derwish retired into his hut, and barred the 
 door. They could hear him laughing merrily 
 within. In a few bounds the robber scaled the 
 embankment, crossed the metals glistening in 
 the starlight, and found his donkey on the other 
 side. 
 
 " Dearly shalt thou rue this trick of thine, 
 O Derwish, O accursed !" he shouted towards 
 the hut ere, laughing with Mabruk, he started 
 homeward.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 Before sunrise next morning Mabruk performed 
 his ablutions in the brink of the river, and after- 
 wards said his prayers upon the sandy beach. 
 Opening his eyes after the last prostration, he 
 beheld his father a stone's-throw off, likewise 
 concluding the act of worship. The Nile and its 
 coasts wore a whiteness as of lilies in the vague 
 dawn, a flush just beginning to lancinate the 
 pallor, like that intermittent and capricious fire 
 which wantons in the heart of certain gems. In 
 the distance, where the wide flood coiled out of 
 sight, a graceful minaret rose from among some 
 trees on the further bank. Wrapped in their 
 cloaks, with shawls around their heads, the 
 father and son drew near and blessed each 
 other. 
 
 The Sheykh Mustafa laid a hand on Mabruk's 
 arm, and, with a careful glance along the shore, 
 said earnestly : 
 
 " Consort no more with this Muhammad, this 
 Nuri. He is a Muslim, and' a good man person- 
 ally. But a good staff is bad in the hand of an 
 enemy." With that, squatting down upon his 
 heels, he proceeded to expound his meaning. 
 
 28
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 29 
 
 There had always been a hostile faction in the 
 village, headed by the Sheykh Mahrus Abd-en- 
 Neby, who had been omdeh in the old days, before 
 the Sheykh Mustafa, by his cleverness in marrying 
 the foster-sister of a Pasha, secured the headship 
 for himself. Now that the Pasha was dead, this 
 faction, formerly insignificant, had grown alarm- 
 ingly in strength and daring. He (Mustafa) had 
 even feared for his life not long ago, when two 
 disguised ruffians, who were certainly Mahrus's 
 sons, had attacked his brother, a very aged man, 
 and left him by the road for dead. By the mercy 
 of Allah the old man had been preserved on that 
 occasion, and had lived to die a natural death a 
 month later. Since Muhammad en-Nuri had 
 come, that fear was past. The wicked dared not 
 molest the . omdeh, seeing such a hero at his 
 beck and call. Yet Muhammad himself was 
 the servant of their ends, to throw discredit on 
 the omdeh's work, and get him punished as 
 abetting crime. And when once he was cast 
 down from being omdeh, the sons of Mahrus 
 would straightway butcher him. To slay an 
 omdeh was a grave offence, sure to make a stir 
 in the land; not so the killing of the Sheykh 
 Mustafa, a fellah like another. Mahrus, as 
 omdeh, would have power to hush things up. 
 Twice lately had Mahrus and his sons made 
 complaint to the authorities, and each complaint 
 had brought a reprimand to the Sheykh Mustafa. 
 Already men addressed him " O Sheykh," and 
 looked straight in his eyes, who had formerly 
 hailed him "Excellency" and "Beatitude" with
 
 30 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 eyes veiled and hands reverently hidden. It was 
 clear that the rulers of the province, covetous of 
 his wealth, and Mahrus, who wished to oust him 
 from the headship, had joined together to decree 
 his downfall ; and the weapon chosen to effect 
 their purpose was no other than the well-known 
 malefactor, Muhammad en-Nuri. 
 
 The robber had been confided to him by the 
 mamur, his official superior. But the charge had 
 been given verbally, without witnesses ; so that 
 the mamur, and those above him, could always 
 deny it. Meanwhile, the noise of the robber's 
 deeds went on increasing. Ere long it was sure 
 to rouse the ire of the chief Government, and then 
 who would suffer, who be punished ? Who but 
 the omdeh of the village he was known to in- 
 habit ? The omdeh alone was responsible in the 
 eyes of the Government. It would fare ill with 
 him anyhow in that day, yet how much worse 
 if his favourite son were known for the robber's 
 henchman ! 
 
 Mabruk stared hard at the river gliding 
 smoothly away between sandy beaches at the 
 foot of steep brown banks which felt the sunrise. 
 At his back, along the gisr, up against the sky, 
 went the procession of early wayfarers — family 
 groups escorting some ox or camel, or, it might 
 be, a few lank sheep ; women and girls gliding 
 proudly, holding burdens on their heads ; each 
 group, each figure, followed by a rosy cloud. 
 He heard cries of the river-birds, voices of 
 human kind ; and yet, while conscious of all 
 this, he beheld more clearly the charcoaled face
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NU^E 31 
 
 of Muhammad, the scene among the rubbish- 
 heaps, and heard the ghastly whisper of the 
 night. Surely he had been possessed with a 
 devil. His boldness would be the ruin of his 
 father's house. Hearing his father's tale, he 
 hated boldness, and saw the beauty of a peaceful 
 subtlety. With penitent tears he confessed the 
 whole extent of his wickedness, but rather to his 
 disconcertion the old man took it coolly. 
 
 " Praise to Allah !" he said. " Thou hast not 
 robbed, and I have still one protector under the 
 Highest — His Excellency Said Bey Ramadan, a 
 great one of the house of Efendina. He did me 
 a kindness in the days of Ismail, for which I 
 have paid him tribute ever since. He was always 
 a lover of poor, righteous men. In sh' Allah, he 
 will defend us from the wicked." 
 
 With that he declared it was time to go to 
 work. Both rose and together climbed the high, 
 steep bank, from the ridge of which the village 
 was seen close at hand. 
 
 Raised above the surrounding plain upon a 
 mound composed of the detritus of former villages, 
 from which it grew as the cactus grows from its 
 own dead leaves, it was still somewhat below the 
 level of the Nile embankment, whence a path 
 led down to it. From a distance it seemed sur- 
 rounded by a wall of sun-baked mud, and, but for 
 several palm-trees rising out of the midst of it, 
 might have passed for one low building roofed 
 unevenly. Only on a close approach openings 
 were discernible — narrow alleys which a stout 
 man brushed with both his elbows, leading in
 
 32 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 and out among the low mud buildings, foul with 
 offal and alive with dogs. 
 
 Already the inhabitants were trickling forth — 
 little groups of men and cattle and small children 
 journeying to their work upon the plain, Mabruk's 
 elder brother Rashid emerged from among the 
 hovels, teasing his sister, a child of eight, who 
 was leading a big milch-buffalo out to pasture. 
 At sight of his father and brother, he let the little 
 girl go on, and joined them. 
 
 The fruit of an older wife who had not the 
 honour to be foster-sister to a Pasha, he was of a 
 darker complexion than Mabruk and of a blunter 
 manner, atoning for his confessed stupidity and 
 lack of polish by the broadest good nature. He 
 was the peacemaker in all village quarrels, calling 
 on the disputants to bless the Prophet, and com- 
 pelling them to recite the Fatha hand in hand. 
 He envied no man, having no pretensions, no 
 wish to overreach or distance anybody. Men 
 and women blessed him as he passed ; children 
 fought for the rapture of holding his big strong 
 hand. Even old Sheykh Mahrus, his father's 
 enemy, held Rashid in warm affection. 
 
 Screening his eyes from the amber rays now 
 scouring the plain and staining the village with 
 its crest of palms, Rashid looked at his father, 
 then at Mabruk, and, smiling, asked the cause of 
 their dejection. 
 
 " Now by my life, thou art wrong to be so 
 distrustful !" he exclaimed, when told of it. 
 " Muhammad is upright and honourable, if ever 
 man was. O my father, be not the lord of the
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 33 
 
 bag of gold, who goes in evident terror, publish- 
 ing his apprehension. Let the great ones despoil 
 us ! And afterwards ? Are we not Muslimin, 
 and is not our wealth in the mercy of Allah ?" 
 
 The old man shook his head, and smiled sadly. 
 
 " Thou art brave, O my son ; and the brave are 
 always foolish. It may be that Muhammad en- 
 Nuri is a simpleton on thy likeness. My fear is 
 not of him, but of those who sent him. Them 
 I fear greatly ; I seek refuge in Allah. Mabruk 
 shall write this evening to His Excellency Said 
 Bey Ramadan entreating him to use his influence 
 to defeat those wicked ones. In sh' Allah, he will 
 befriend me !" 
 
 But Mabruk was struck by the justice of his 
 brother's arguments, just as he had been struck 
 by that of his father's a few minutes earlier. 
 Gladly, as a bird hops from twig to twig, his soul 
 sprang from doubt to trust, from shade to sun- 
 light. The old man's terrors were, of course, 
 unfounded. 
 
 Zeynab brought the midday meal to him where 
 he worked, and they ate it together in the shade 
 of the dome of Selim the Donkey-driver, the 
 village saint, which stood on the edge of the 
 burying-ground, overlooking a field of green 
 wheat. She complained to him of the rudeness 
 of the village women, who were always mocking 
 her refinement and the notions she had brought 
 back from the town. To be unveiled in the sight 
 of men had shocked her modesty at first returning. 
 She missed the din, the tempting shops, the merry 
 sights, the romps with other women at the bath. 
 
 3
 
 34 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 Here was nothing but rough work all day, and at 
 night, when she was tired and longed to sleep, 
 the shrieks of trains upon the iron road disturbed 
 her. 
 
 Mabruk, as he watched her young maternal 
 figure glide homeward along the bank between 
 two fields, felt it indeed a sin for her to show her 
 charms, and longed, he also, for the refinements 
 of the city. He returned to his ploughing with 
 a sigh. There seemed no short path to wealth 
 in all the world except that trodden by Muham- 
 mad en-Nuri. 
 
 The people of the village, women as well as 
 men, met together in the evenings to discuss the 
 news and settle differences which had arisen 
 during the day. In summer the scene of these 
 informal councils was generally the common 
 dust-heap or a threshing-floor, in winter the 
 guest-room of the Sheykh Mustafa. But in the 
 present winter the house of the Sheykh Mahrus 
 had gradually superseded that of the omdeh, as 
 its lord outshone him in the public eye. The 
 omdeh himself repaired thither after the sunset 
 prayer, loving to converse with his rival as men 
 love bargaining. The lifelong enmity of these 
 two old men expressed itself in terms of the pro- 
 foundest tenderness. At meeting they embraced 
 and blessed each other ; compliments formed the 
 staple of their conversation, and if some slight 
 divergence of opinion had perforce to be marked, 
 the utterance was prefaced by, " In thy permis- 
 sion, O my soul," " Allah forgive me if I err," or 
 " I submit to thy understanding, O my eyes." In
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 35 
 
 the minds of both, to quarrel with a known enemy 
 had been youthful folly ill-becoming their grey 
 hairs. 
 
 When Mabruk reached the house of Sheykh 
 Mahrus on the evening in question, the rivals 
 were listening with deep interest to a tale which 
 the robber was telling. They sat side by side in 
 the place of honour, hand in hand, and glanced at 
 one another in ingenuous awe at points in the 
 story. The room was full to overflowing, but 
 place was found on the divan for the son of the 
 omdeh. The rough door stood open, and in the 
 doorway, as on the floor of the room, sat women, 
 children, and the poorer men, all with heads 
 wrapped up against the chill night air. 
 
 They were a gentle, smiling race, subject to 
 anger just as children are, not without guile, but 
 before all things sociable, whose fathers had tilled 
 the soil of the Delta from the days of Noah. 
 Envy, the ruling passion in prosperity, and father 
 of all hideous crime, was here confined to the 
 families of Mahrus and Mustafa, who alone had 
 wealth. The burden of taxation, made unjust by 
 the extortions of provincial officials, weighed on 
 all alike. All kinds of petty oppression made 
 them brothers. They shrugged : " The world is 
 so !" and confided their cause to Allah ; seeing the 
 great ones of the earth as rogues appointed to 
 vex poor righteous men upon the road to heaven, 
 in the same way that brigands are raised up on 
 purpose to distress the pilgrim to the City of 
 Light. At their ease upon the floor they inter- 
 rupted the narrator, and joined in the conversa- 
 
 3—2
 
 36 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 tion without ceremony. An oil-lamp of a Prankish 
 pattern, hanging from a hook in the roof, threw 
 light on faces, 
 
 "Didst thou complete the letter?" asked the 
 Sheykh Mustafa, with a mien of importance, 
 bending towards his son. 
 
 " Praise to Allah !" was the reply. 
 
 "A letter, Ma sh' Allah! To what purpose?" 
 inquired the Sheykh Mahrus. 
 
 " It is a letter long owing from me to His 
 Beatitude Said Bey Ramadan, my kind friend 
 and protector. May Allah preserve him to me, 
 for he loves me dearly !" 
 
 "All men love thee, by Allah!" cried Mahrus 
 fervently ; but his face was of one who bites a 
 stone at unawares. 
 
 The robber, his story finished, came to sit 
 beside Mabruk. 
 
 " Wallahi, thou art a comrade, none like thee, 
 for merry tales and conversation," he laughed, 
 " But why, why didst thou scream aloud and 
 scare the quarry ?" 
 
 To Mabruk's relief, Rashid and other brave 
 ones took his part. One said : 
 
 " Manliness is thy business, O Muhammad. 
 Thou canst not feel with him who tries it for 
 the first time. Who would not be afraid alone 
 by night with an old ghoul like thee? Thou 
 shouldst have let him try by daylight in a large 
 company." 
 
 " O Lord, forgive them ! Alas for the temerity 
 of youth," sighed old Hafiz, the blind khatib, 
 who overheard them. He proceeded to quote a
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 37 
 
 text from the Coran and five traditions of the 
 Prophet against such doings. But no one heeded. 
 
 " Daylight or dark, it is all one to me," laughed 
 Muhammad. "To-morrow, then, an hour before 
 sunset, at the edge of the palm-wood by Kafr 
 Zeyn. What say you ?" 
 
 "Good, good! Agreed," cried several voices. 
 " Mabruk will feel no fear by day with all of us." 
 
 This sympathy, where he had looked for scorn, 
 was grateful to Mabruk. Nevertheless, his soul 
 shrank from a second ordeal. Many times that 
 night and on the following day did he swear that 
 no power on earth should drag him to the palm- 
 wood by Kafr Zeyn ; and it was with a floating 
 resolve not to find himself there that he strolled 
 across the fields in that direction when the heat 
 of the sun was spent.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 The pigeon-village of Kafr Zeyn lay close to one 
 of the greatest of those raised banks or dykes, 
 against the overflowing of the Nile, which are 
 the roads of Egypt. The place itself was hidden 
 in fruit-trees with the exception of the dovecotes 
 — round towers of mud some fifty feet high, 
 narrowing towards the top and full of holes, 
 round which the fair birds fluttered and cooed 
 eternally. A grove of fine palm-trees plumed 
 the ground to northward ; and at its distant end, 
 beside the road, was a clump of high, strong 
 reeds, a pond in autumn. Here the robbers 
 changed their faces by free use of charcoal, or 
 covered them in shawls so as to hide all save 
 the eyes, and, that done, kept watch upon the 
 dyke, peering out through the canes. Groups 
 of the fellahin kept passing up against the sunset 
 blaze, raising a cloud of dust which seemed on 
 fire as it rolled along the dim edge of the palm- 
 wood to where, from out a purple cloud of foliage, 
 rose the pigeon-towers of Kafr Zeyn. 
 
 The impatience of the youths to be at work 
 was sternly controlled by Muhammad, whose 
 eyes, scanning the gisr, read each form that 
 
 38
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 39 
 
 moved on it intelligently, as it had been a word 
 in plain text. 
 
 "Is the book with thee ?" he said to Mabruk. 
 *' In the name of Allah, read a little and keep them 
 quiet till the time arrives." 
 
 "Aye, read to us, O sage!" cried the others 
 eagerly. 
 
 Mabruk produced from his bosom a well- 
 thumbed pamphlet, and, sitting cross-legged with 
 his back against a stout cane, he read of the loves 
 of Sharlas and Kamil, while his hearers sighed 
 and moaned and hugged themselves in rapture 
 at the spell of unknown words. 
 
 " Hist !" said Muhammad suddenly, causing the 
 world to swim before the reader's eyes. 
 
 The golden evening, the cooing of innumerable 
 doves in the adjacent grove, the neighbourhood 
 of a crowded highway, above all, the act of reading 
 to an attentive audience, had calmed the currents 
 of his blood and held fear off from him. Only 
 now, when Muhammad and the rest sprang up, 
 did the boldness of the undertaking flash on him. 
 To assail men thus by daylight, in a public place, 
 seemed more than human bravery. 
 
 Pausing to replace the book in the bosom of 
 his robe, he was hindmost when, at a word from 
 their leader, the brigands dashed out from among 
 the canes. Already Muhammad and the foremost 
 were on the top of the bank ; wild figures struck 
 about with divers weapons, looming larger than 
 life amid the dust-cloud up against the setting 
 sun. Mabruk sped after them, dreading to be 
 left behind.
 
 40 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 A company of merchants, set with their mer- 
 chandise upon the backs of asses, had dismounted 
 at the first alarm, and now lay shrieking for mercy 
 with foreheads pressed in the dust of the high- 
 way. Only one of the party — a young Syrian in 
 Prankish clothes — expostulated. This man fought 
 desperately with two who tried to hold him ; and 
 though beaten with a nabbut and threatened 
 with a slash from a huge scimitar, kept vowing 
 vengeance on his assailants. 
 
 Other wayfarers made a detour to avoid the 
 clear calamity, and left the dyke, hurrying by 
 across the field or through the edge of the grove 
 with terrified gestures and hasty ejaculations of 
 praise to God. No one responded to the Syrian's 
 cries for help. A woman screamed : "Shame on 
 you, O people ! O Muslimin, by the Most High, 
 it is a sin you are committing." But the man 
 with her seized her fiercely by the arm and, 
 muttering curses, dragged her past the painful 
 scene. For Mabruk the dust, like clouds of 
 incense, the hue of fire on all things, made the 
 deed a frenzy. He was searching the clothes 
 of a prostrate merchant, enjoying his moans, 
 when some one shouted his name. He looked 
 up. The Syrian had escaped from his captors, 
 and with hands straight out before him was 
 running blindly towards the patch of cane. 
 Mabruk dashed to intercept him ; but on the 
 edge of the bank he stumbled on a tuft of thistles, 
 and pitched headlong down upon his man. The 
 two rolled together to the foot of the slope, biting, 
 scratching, struggling, in a cloud of dust. The
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 41 
 
 Syrian had his fingers in Mabruk's mouth, striving 
 to tear the cheek. Mabriik tried to bite off those 
 fingers, and did all in his power to press the life 
 out of his antagonist, who at last was under- 
 most. 
 
 *' Thou shalt die for this !" shrieked the 
 Nazarene. " I have power with the heads of 
 the Government. By Allah, by Our Lady Miriam, 
 I will have thee tortured ! Think not but I should 
 know thee again among ten thousand !" 
 
 A heavy blow from a quarterstaff stretched him 
 senseless. Muhammad himself had come to end 
 the fray. " Praise be to Allah !" he said piously, 
 and, kneeling, fell to rifling the body. 
 
 Mabruk, all dishevelled, and bleeding from a 
 corner of his mouth, stood panting, gazing at the 
 lifeless form. He faltered : " There is neither 
 power nor might, save in Allah the High, the 
 Tremendous!" supposing, in the muddle of his 
 wits, that he had slain a man. 
 
 " He is not dead, in sh' Allah," said Muhammad. 
 " By the Prophet, thou hast done well. Here is 
 a purse full of gold — fifty pounds at least — one 
 half of which shall be thine own, as a reward of 
 bravery." 
 
 But Mabruk had heard nothing but the glad 
 assurance that the man lying there at his feet was 
 not dead. With the deep breath of relief which 
 he drew on these tidings he once more saw clearly 
 the outer palm-trunks reddened as with blood, 
 the rich gloom within the grove, and the shapes 
 of wayfarers hurrying through clouds of dust 
 towards the shadowy trees and towers of Kafr
 
 42 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 Zeyn. Through all the struggle and the outcry 
 the cooing of the doves had never ceased. 
 
 " Go in safety !" cried Muhammad at length ; 
 when, as at a word expected, the merchants, 
 seven in number, lifted their foreheads out of the 
 dust of the highway. While surveying their 
 surroundings somewhat ruefully, they blessed 
 the robber as a kind preserver. By his directions 
 they brought the donkey of the Syrian down the 
 bank, and laid his senseless form thereon, joining 
 with their despoiler in expressions of regret for 
 so untoward an accident. Muhammad blessed 
 them as they resumed their way. He then told 
 his followers to disperse and wander homeward, 
 unless they desired a bout with the watchmen 
 of Kafr Zeyn, ten sturdy rogues renowned for 
 cudgel-play. 
 
 The hint was enough. Hurriedly effacing their 
 disguise, the brigands sauntered off in all direc- 
 tions through the palm-grove, by groups of two 
 and three, and holding hands, as friends rejoicing 
 in the evening calm. The sun had set, and an 
 ashy film came on the landscape as on dying 
 eyes. Muhammad held the hand of Mabruk. He 
 said : 
 
 " By Allah, I am glad thou didst take a lead in 
 this day's work, and hast so large a share of the 
 spoil. In my business one is fond of sureties ; 
 and now, in the day of need, I can count upon the 
 friendship of thy honoured father." 
 
 Whereat Mabruk hung his head, and his hand 
 grew limp in the hand of the robber.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 The Sheykh Mustafa showed no anger when 
 informed of his son's crime. He merely bore 
 witness to the Unity of God, and fingered his 
 beard a space, letting the tidings find a place 
 in his mind among things known, while his 
 face changed slowly from dismay to resignation. 
 When Muhammad en-Nuri extolled the manli- 
 ness of his new companion, and told with what 
 fury he had fallen on that wealthy Syrian, the old 
 man never stirred a muscle ; nor did the penitence 
 of Mabruk, his tears and self-reproach, move him 
 otherwise than to a shrug of impatience. But he 
 allowed the robber to treat him with a new 
 familiarity, thus tacitly admitting that his son's 
 rash conduct made a bond between them ; and in 
 manner he was no longer the omdeh, petty tyrant 
 of the village. His countenance, which had once 
 been open, now hid something ; his voice acquired 
 new suavity ; he frowned on no man, yet was 
 always frowning. 
 
 Beholding, as he asserted, ruin close to him, he 
 made Mabruk write again to Said Bey Ramadan, 
 his friend at Court, saying that he had enemies 
 and feared calamity. 
 
 43
 
 44 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 This Said, from a scullion in the household of 
 the Khedive Ismail, had risen to be his confi- 
 dential steward in matters calling for the strictest 
 privacy ; and he had been confirmed in his ap- 
 pointments b}^ the son of Ismail, the new Khedive, 
 Muhammad Tewfik. He was a man whom 
 Ministers of State and generals courted ; and the 
 Sheykh Mustafa hoped everything from his inter- 
 vention. He asked no more than a show of 
 favour which should cow his enemies, and, build- 
 ing on the assurances he had at divers times 
 received of His Excellency's friendship, thought 
 this could hardly be refused him. But even this 
 last, most reasonable, hope was doomed to dis- 
 appointment. 
 
 One morning, when Mabruk v/as sitting under 
 the palm-tree in his father's yard, in conversation 
 with the ghufara, or village watchmen, who had 
 come to take their orders from the omdeh, a 
 sound of hoof-beats echoed through the village, 
 and a voice was heard begging, in polite Arabic, 
 for direction to the dwelling of the Sheykh 
 Mustafa. A minute later, a bare-legged serving- 
 man led into the yard a mule, on which sat a fat 
 old man, clad in the frock-coat and dark trousers 
 of officialdom. The watchmen grasped their 
 staves and sprang to attention. Mabruk ran 
 forward with choice blessings. But that old man 
 wagged his head sadly, and so did the servant. 
 Master and man alike seemed woe-begone, the 
 prey of hidden grief, 
 
 " Is the Sheykh Mustafa in the house ?" asked 
 the rider in a tearful voice. And on Mabruk
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 45 
 
 replying in the affirmative, that fat one blessed 
 him and inquired his name. 
 
 " Mabruk, the son of Mustafa." 
 
 "Ha, is it so? Help me to alight, that I may 
 embrace thee. I am Said Bey Ramadan, the poor 
 slave of Allah, and thy father's friend." ■ 
 
 The old man brushed away a tear with his coat- 
 sleeve, while his servant cried : " O Muslimin !" 
 and groaned aloud. Dismounting painfully with 
 the help of Mabruk, he cast a shy glance round 
 upon the filthy yard, the palm-tree stained with 
 dust to half its height, the poor hovels, and some 
 unkempt women who had come out to stare at 
 his arrival. He said : 
 
 " Ma sh' Allah ! What a splendid place ! Thy 
 father is blessed indeed. Would to Allah all 
 were rich as he ! O my soul ! O my liver ! 
 O High Protector!" To which the servant 
 appended: "O Salvation! Some are blessed 
 indeed !" 
 
 A crowd was fast collecting as noise of the 
 great one's coming spread throughout the village. 
 The Sheykh Mustafa came running, with eyes 
 downcast, hands reverently tucked in his loose 
 sleeves. He would have kissed the dusty boots 
 of his patron, but the latter and his servant 
 between them restrained him by main force. 
 
 " I ask pardon of Allah !" cried the Bey in 
 horrified protest. "Allah witness, it is for me to 
 prostrate myself How art thou, O my dear ? 
 Please God, in the extremity of health and happi- 
 ness. As for me . . . O Lord ! O pity ! O 
 Divine Preserver !"
 
 46 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 He flung his arms around the omdeh's neck 
 and wept in self-abandonment. The Sheykh 
 Mustafa, Mabruk, and the servant supported him 
 into the guest-room with soothing words, while 
 the crowd without praised Allah for the miracle 
 of condescension in a man so noble. 
 
 Installed in the place of honour on the divan, 
 his legs crossed upon soft pillows, that old man 
 raised his streaming eyes, and asked a blessing 
 on the house and all its inmates. Ma sh' Allah, 
 never in his life before had he seen a room so 
 pleasant for repose, nor yet been confronted with 
 faces so distinguished and delicious to the eye. 
 ** By Allah, it is an honour for us to be here !" 
 chorussed his servant from a low seat near the 
 door. 
 
 The guest-chamber filled rapidly with men of 
 the village, who came in one by one, slipped off 
 their shoes, and saluted humbly at the threshold, 
 and took the lowest place that happened to be 
 vacant. Forms of women, some with children on 
 their shoulders, filled the doorway, shutting out 
 the dirty yard. 
 
 The Bey kept fondling his host's hand, and 
 blubbering: "Art thou in good health? Art 
 thou happy?" gazing in his face with sad in- 
 sistence. He showed the like solicitude for the 
 welfare of all present ; and all praised Allah for 
 His mercies, and in return asked for tidings of 
 his honour's state of mind and body. When he 
 could no longer evade these kind inquiries, the 
 great man lifted up his voice and wept anew. 
 Upon that, as at a signal, his servant raised a
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NH^E 47 
 
 piteous howl : " O Salvation ! Alas, my master ! 
 Alas, the wickedness of this world, my master !" 
 
 Dismay was painted on the listening faces. 
 TheSheykh Mustafa seized the hand of his guest, 
 and, carrying it to his lips, adjured His Excellency, 
 by the Prophet, by the Sayyid Ahmed el-Bedawi, 
 to make known the cause of sadness, hiding 
 nothing. Then, by degrees, the fat Bey's woeful 
 exclamations assumed coherence and became a 
 story. 
 
 "O Protector! O my shame, my dire dis- 
 grace ! Behold me faint with grief! Listen, O 
 my masters, and let the story of my days be for a 
 lesson to him who needs instruction. 
 
 " It is known how I enjoyed the favour of our 
 sovereign Ismail Basha — may Allah preserve 
 him ! — whom the Franks, his enemies, pushed 
 from off the throne. Ah, that was a prince ! 
 What munificence ! What magnanimity ! His 
 Highness spent millions of pounds to his own 
 glory in mighty works which will live after him. 
 He would give a man a hundred pounds bakshish, 
 and count it nothing; and yet he was no simple- 
 ton — ah no, not that, by Allah ! — but was keenest 
 at a bargain of any man I ever knew. For years 
 he fooled the Europeans perfectly, making their 
 cunning aims subserve his ends, as witness the 
 Conquest of the Sudan under pretence of putting 
 down the trade in slaves, when, all the while. His 
 Highness encouraged the traders, buying slaves 
 himself by the thousand. But at last, by the very 
 greatness of his soul, he fell a prey to them. His 
 boundless liberality and more than kingly display
 
 48 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 at length involved him in debt, and the Franks 
 were his creditors. A pleasant man he was ; may 
 Our Lord bless him in his place of exile ! Well 
 do I remember the delight he took in cheating 
 me once of two piastres over my accounts. His 
 affability was such that he never wearied of 
 recounting the trifling incident to his friends and 
 courtiers in my presence. 
 
 " But, alas ! with my lord his son all is different. 
 He is noble and upright, none like him, but he 
 has not his father's subtlety. More than once in 
 old days has my lord his father said to me : * My 
 son is a good man,' meaning he lacked subtlety ; 
 and again : ' The prince Muhammad Tewfik is 
 honest, and admires the Franks. Wait, and you 
 shall see how the Franks will feed on him.' But 
 I, poor servant, loving the good prince his son, 
 always stood up for him, even at the risk of 
 angering my kind lord and sovereign. Am I not 
 of the family, as a slave might be ? Is not the 
 whole race dear to me as my own manhood ? As 
 a slave I passed with the inheritance from father 
 to son, and I call Allah to witness that I served 
 the son with the same punctuality and devotion 
 with which I had served the father; though the 
 cares of my position were far greater, owing to 
 the close inspection instituted in all departments 
 with a view to economy, and the emoluments far 
 less, for there are no such lavish bounties now as 
 formerly. I no longer enjoyed the inestimable 
 privilege of free and jovial converse with my 
 sovereign. Yet I never defrauded my good lord 
 in the smallest matter, nor overstated my account
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 49 
 
 by one bara. No, by the Prophet, that is not the 
 charge against me. And yet I am dismissed. 
 Yes, O my dear friends, yes, in very truth — I, 
 Said Ramadan, friend and confidant of the father, 
 the devoted slave of the whole race, am cast out 
 like any hireling. And for what? Just Allah! 
 You will never guess ! Not for any dereliction 
 of duty, not for any disobedience; but simply 
 because I from time to time received little presents 
 from the kindness of my friends and well-v/ishers. 
 Is it not unheard of? Is it not incredible? Is 
 not the mind of the Frank apparent in it ? 
 Alas, the ruin of the house I love ! O Lord, 
 that I should live to see the son of Ismail, the 
 descendant of Muhammad Ali, a puppet in the 
 hands of filthy Franks !" 
 
 The narrator paused and buried his face in his 
 hands a minute, while his servant by the door 
 uttered the monotonous groans of one in frightful 
 pain. The eyes of all his audience streamed 
 through sympathy, and the women from without 
 cried : "Allah comfort thee, thou ill-used man !" 
 Gulping down a sob, he resumed : 
 '* I am a Muslim, and I leave my cause to God ! 
 In the days of Ismail Basha, I had the ear of my 
 sovereign, who was pleased to trust my word on 
 many matters which lay outside the sphere of his 
 official cognizance ; nay, often he would act on 
 my report, not disdaining openly to name the 
 humble channel of his information. It became 
 known in the land that I had influence, and men 
 ill-used by any public functionary, or wrongfully 
 accused before the judge, would seek my inter- 
 
 4
 
 50 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 cession with the sovereign, and in their gratitude 
 for my good offices would sometimes make some 
 trifling present to me. It was an established 
 custom in the household ; every one of the 
 courtiers did the like ; and how was I to know 
 that things were altered nowadays ? I am an 
 old man, O my masters, and in age the joints 
 of the mind grow stiff like those of the bod}^ ; 
 they lack the suppleness of youth, and cannot 
 easily adopt new postures, nor forsake the old. 
 Younger men in the palace took advantage of 
 this my infirmity. They, through obsequiousness^ 
 learnt the foreign ideas of the new sovereign, and 
 set themselves to spy upon their fellow-servants. 
 A week ago I was summoned to the august 
 presence, when His Highness spoke most kindly 
 to me, but regretted that he found it necessary 
 to dismiss me. He deigned to give his reason 
 for so doing, which was that I received every 
 week presents of meat and fowls and vegetables 
 from my friends in the country, and that I sold 
 the said gifts in the market to my own profit, 
 myself being fed from His Highness's kitchen. 
 This — merciful Allah ! — His Highness called dis- 
 honesty. I flung myself, old as I am, at his feet. 
 I licked his boots all over in my despair; for is 
 not my soul the bondman of that illustrious 
 house, and was it not to drive me forth into a 
 world of strangers ? But Efendina was inexorable, 
 though he spoke in kindness, recalling my long 
 services, and making me a present in money from 
 his private purse. May Allah bless him always ! 
 But what to me is money — to me cast out from
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 51 
 
 the service, from the life I know and love ? And 
 to be called dishonest, however gently — I, who 
 served his father faithfully so many years, shrink- 
 ing from no employment, however vile and dis- 
 honouring, I so loved him ! And to be sent forth 
 now, when our good lord needs have loyal men 
 about him; when the dervishes revile him on 
 account of the suppression of the doseh ; when 
 the Ulema and the notables all murmur because 
 of his too rigorous repression of the traffic in 
 slaves; when the army manifests a will of its 
 own, independent of the sovereign. Ah me, the 
 ruin of the house I love ! O Allah, slay and burn 
 the infidels who have lured my dear lord into 
 such a pass ! I am old and growing feeble, yet 
 would I fain have spent my last remaining powers 
 of mind and body in guarding my master in the 
 hour of danger, in helping to defend the throne 
 of the son of Ismail. 
 
 "Since that hour of my ignominy, that cruel 
 hour, I have been a wanderer in the land, a 
 beggar whose one cry is 'Allah, pity!' Honour 
 obliged me to go to those kind friends who sent 
 me gifts, to inform them of my fall and how I 
 could no longer serve them. It was in the house 
 of one of them, three hours from hence, that 
 yesterday I received thy dear letter, O best of 
 sheykhs. Alas, my sorrow ! Woe, woe, the 
 wreck of all my joy ! Allah is greatest !" 
 
 At the conclusion of his tale, he sobbed anew, 
 while his servant by the door intoned a solemn 
 dirge, picturing every phase of the calamity, and 
 bidding Allah and the world regard it. The 
 
 4—2
 
 52 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 women in the doorway wailed as for the dead. 
 The men all round the room murmured loudly of 
 compassion. The Sheykh Mustafa wept silently, 
 having witnessed the collapse of his last stay. 
 But even in the abyss of grief he was mindful 
 of hospitality, and begged that ill-used man to 
 honour his poor house a month, a year. At once, 
 as if he had been expecting the invitation, Sai'd 
 Bey told his man to bring in the saddle-bags.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 Every morning Said Bey Ramadan rose to depart, 
 but always yielded to the prayer of the Sheykh 
 Mustafa that he would adorn the village yet 
 another day. Whoever was idle came and sat 
 with him, and listened to his tale of former 
 grandeur. With the women and children he 
 was soon a favourite, being a gentle, garrulous 
 old man, with a taste for innocent jests, and a 
 happy knack of adjusting his frame of mind to 
 fit his audience. Mabruk's little sister, Na'imeh, 
 followed him about everywhere ; and he took 
 pleasure in her compan^^, calling her his sugar- 
 plum, his little bride. Led by her, he would 
 walk out among the fields, to see the cattle 
 browsing and the folks at work. 
 
 Outside the immediate household of his host, 
 the person whose acquaintance he most prized 
 was Muhammad en-Nuri. He would hold the 
 robber's hand for minutes together, gazing rapt 
 into his face, and saying: "Thou hast revived the 
 deeds of 'Antara and Abu Zeyd. The Turks 
 pronounce us cowards here in Masr; but they 
 lie, so long as thou art in existence. Our Lord 
 increase thy strength and grant thee life 1" And 
 
 53
 
 54 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 he would make the hero relate one or two of his 
 exploits. 
 
 Since the desperate affair at Kafr Zeyn, 
 Muhammad had led a quiet life, working in the 
 fields by day, and going to rest at night like other 
 men. Three weeks had now elapsed since that 
 bold stroke, and all seemed peaceful as the sky at 
 noon. The village of Kafr Zeyn had been visited, 
 its omdeh flogged, and that was all. This very 
 stillness vexed the robber's mind, as a thing 
 unnatural, therefore to be feared. He imagined 
 it ominous, a hush of small birds where the falcon 
 hovers ; and, knowing Said Bey for a man of 
 wide experience, he ventured to seek his judg- 
 ment on the subject. 
 
 It was one bright noonday when the old man, 
 with Na'imeh, had come to a clump of trees amid 
 the fields, where a bullock trudged round in the 
 shade, turning a sakieh, of which the groan and 
 creak were heard afar. Mabruk and the brigand, 
 having charge of the contrivance, had sat down 
 beside him, looking out across the plain, where, 
 in the great sunlight, quietly active forms of men 
 and cattle appeared like insects feeding on a wide 
 green leaf. 
 
 " Fear not," replied the Bey, fondling the little 
 girl, who nestled to him. " Had it been in the 
 days of Ismail thou mightst have trembled. But 
 Allah alone knows what will happen now. Ap- 
 proach the mudir with a gift !" 
 
 " The mudir is my father and my mother," 
 replied Muhammad. " My fear is not of him. 
 But if the chief Government takes decided action,
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 55 
 
 the mudir will fear for himself and so betray me. 
 It may be that they will not breathe a word to him 
 till they have taken me." 
 
 " The chief Government acts without informing 
 the mudir ! O my horror ! Things are changed 
 indeed ! Ismail said to each mudir, mamur, and 
 omdeh : 'Do what pleases thee.' He would not 
 think for them, not he ! But he kept his fear on 
 all of them, and all was well. But now my good 
 lord his son would think for the smallest omdeh, 
 and teach him v/hat to do. Fear will be nowhere 
 since they have his orders, and can say, if things 
 go wrong : ' Thus Efendina wills it.' Discipline 
 will be relaxed in all the Valley of the Nile, and 
 the central Government must see to everything, 
 like the master of a house with bad servants." 
 The old man paused a while, immersed in 
 thought. *' Hear what I shall do !" he cried at 
 length. " I shall write a letter to a friend of 
 mine in the administration of justice, and learn 
 from him the truth in this affair." 
 
 The robber kissed his hands with heartfelt 
 thanks, only begging him to be discreet in writing. 
 •' Am I a babe ?" the old man chuckled. " Yallah ! 
 Let us to work at once !" And he bade Mabruk 
 return with him to the village. 
 
 Few words passed between them by the way, 
 the Bey's attention seeming engrossed by the 
 prattle of the child beside him. 
 
 " Thou wilt give me a pink gamuseh, not so, O 
 my eyes ?" 
 
 " A pink gamuseh ! I seek refuge in Allah ! 
 It would puzzle one to find thee that in all the
 
 56 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 world ! By Allah, that, if discovered, were a 
 marvel to be recorded in books !" exclaimed the 
 Bey, till Mabruk informed him of the custom of 
 the fellahin to call a buffalo pink or white from 
 the colour of certain parts irrespective of the rest 
 of the body, when he laughed : " Yes, surely, thou 
 shalt have thy pink gamuseh ! And afterwards, 
 O my pearl ?" 
 
 But though in appearance he was thus en- 
 thralled by the little maid, his eyes betrayed 
 more serious intentions ; and about his lips there 
 played a curious gloating smile, in place of the 
 accustomed doleful mow. 
 
 Mabruk had supposed himself called to act as 
 scribe; but when, arrived at the house, he brought 
 his writing-things into the guest-room. Said Bey 
 took them out of his hands. 
 
 " Be not too fond of this robber !" he admonished 
 Mabruk, before setting to work. " He is manly 
 and generous, but, like a spirited horse, he is too 
 dangerous. Better to ride a plodding mule as I 
 do. Better to keep to thy scholarship, O my 
 young sage !" 
 
 The Bey sat up cross-legged on the divan 
 bowed a little in the act of writing. The paper, 
 folded on the palm of his left hand, was held up 
 to within a few inches of his fat face, which 
 changed expression as he wrote, now frowning 
 massive, now relapsing into loose folds. There 
 was no sound in the shady room save the scratch 
 and squeak of the reed on the leaf, and what 
 floated in from the yard, where Na'imeh, the little 
 bride, was crying bitterly beneath her mother's
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 57 
 
 heavy hand. Presently a white-bearded man 
 came to the doorway, slipped off his shoes, and 
 entered, feeling with his staff. It was Hafiz, the 
 blind khatib. He saluted, and, taking seat, fell to 
 telling his beads, content with the sense of com- 
 pany. On a pause the Bey observed, as one 
 thinking aloud : 
 
 " How strange the divergence of men's views 
 on what is right! We should count it a grievous 
 sin to deliver up a friend to justice. But the 
 Franks who rule the mind of Efendina esteem 
 it a duty, being for the public good. Efendina 
 himself would think it praiseworthy." 
 
 " I ask pardon of Allah !" groaned the blind 
 preacher. " If informers are to be honoured, 
 there is an end of safety for poor righteous 
 men." 
 
 " Thou speakest truth !" replied the Bey, and he 
 wrote on in silence to the end, when, as he dusted 
 the page to dry the ink on it, he announced his 
 intention to post the letter with his own hand, 
 and asked Mabruk to tell the servant to prepare 
 the mule. The man being nowhere to be found, 
 Mabruk did duty for him. 
 
 " In the name of Allah !" ejaculated the Bey, with 
 consternation in his eyes, when, coming forth, he 
 found no servant. " Extend thy kindness further. 
 Behold me old and very stout, a timid rider. 
 Consent to walk with me, holding the bridle." 
 
 "Upon my head and my eye," replied Mabruk. 
 
 All the way to the town and back again the 
 Bey chatted and joked with his conductor. Since 
 the talk with Muhammad at the sakieh he had
 
 58 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 resumed the potentate, laying aside his recent 
 strained humihty. His manner, from deprecating, 
 had become gracious. He accompanied his talk 
 with lofty gestures, and his eyes surveyed the 
 landscape as a thing beneath him. 
 
 "So our guest grows ever more exacting?" 
 said Rashid to Mabruk on his return. "A little 
 more, and we shall all be slaves to him, neglecting 
 the labour of the fields by which we live. Na'imeh 
 no longer gathers dung for fuel ; and thou must 
 hold his bridle when he rides abroad." 
 
 Rashid alone, of all his father's house, derived 
 no gratification from the great one's presence 
 there. Regarding all grandees as beasts of prey, 
 he saw nothing but depredation in the con- 
 tinuance of an honour which obliged his father 
 to provide a great feast every day. Even when 
 informed by Mabruk of the Bey's gracious effort 
 on behalf of Muhammad en-Nuri, he only shrugged 
 and hoped that good might come of it. 
 
 Every morning Said Bey Ramadan dispatched 
 his servant to the town to ask for letters, and 
 himself, with Na'imeh, would generally stroll 
 along the Nile bank towards the bridge to meet 
 the returning messenger. On the day but one 
 after his promise to Muhammad, coming back 
 from this early walk, he sent the little girl for 
 Mabruk, who came in haste from the field. 
 
 "All is well," he declared. "Our friend the 
 robber may lay fear aside. The man robbed was 
 the emissary of a certain Greek, a banker in 
 Iskenderiyeh. The consul made some clamour 
 at the first, but now is pacified."
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 59 
 
 " Praise be to Allah !" sighed Mabruk, and wept 
 a little in the extremity of his relief. 
 
 Every night since the crime he had revisited 
 in imagination the palm-wood by Kafr Zeyn, and 
 heard again the menace of the injured Syrian that 
 he would know his face again among ten thousand. 
 Now, please Allah, that nightmare would be taken 
 from him. He hastened to carry the good news 
 to the sakieh out upon the plain, where Muhammad 
 sat in the shade with Hafiz, the blind khatib. The 
 robber scratched his head, displacing cap and 
 turban. He said : 
 
 "They are certainly deceiving the good old 
 man. Consuls are never pacified. Would to 
 Allah I had repaired at first to the mudiriyeh. 
 The mudir is my father and my mother. He 
 would have advised me. With Allah's leave I 
 shall go to him to-morrow with a gift, of which 
 thou, O Mabruk, shalt pay the half. Ten pounds 
 is not too much for our two lives." 
 
 Mabruk agreed, though reluctantly, for he 
 trusted the assurance of Said Bey. But that 
 night, when he disinterred his hoard, it seemed 
 a sin to let five pieces go. His wife wept silentl}^, 
 on her knees beside the hole, one hand lifting up 
 the light, the other fingering the gold which yet 
 remained. 
 
 "Thou art mad to give it him," she whispered 
 fiercely. " Has not the Bey declared there is no 
 need ? Thinkest thou he will give five pounds 
 to the mudir? That is a rich man's gift, and 
 Muhammad is much too wise to court oppression. 
 I tell thee, keep thy wealth ; swear it has been
 
 6o THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 stolen ! I myself will steal it from thee, and hide 
 it in a place thou knowest not." 
 
 Her earnestness, and the prudence of her 
 advice, chiming with his own inclination, over- 
 came Mabruk's warm liking for the robber ; and 
 when, betimes in the morning, Muhammad came 
 and asked him for the money, he cried with 
 gestures of despair : 
 
 " I have it not !" 
 
 Zeynab flew to his support. 
 
 " By the Coran, it is true, he has it not !" she 
 wailed. " Mabruk has been despoiled. O our 
 sorrow, O our grievous loss ! It must have 
 happened yesterday, when we were all in the 
 field. Come thyself and behold, there is nothing 
 left !" 
 
 Muhammad turned from the woman and looked 
 hard at Mabruk. 
 
 **So that is the tale," he sneered. "And the 
 moral is, thou wilt not help me. No matter, I 
 shall give for both of us. I grudge not the bone 
 to thee, dog, son of a dog !" 
 
 The mother of Mabruk, hearing her son thus 
 miscalled, ran out and joined with Zeynab in 
 reviling the robber, who silently spat on the 
 ground and strode away, leaving Said Be}'', who 
 had just come forth in horror from the guest- 
 chamber, to do what in him lay to quell the 
 tumult. On his return from the mudiriyeh, after 
 nightfall, the robber sought out Mabruk and made 
 peace with him, saying: "What is that money 
 between me and thee ? It made me cross to see 
 the woman leading thee. No matter. Thou art
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 6i 
 
 young." He took the youth by the hand and 
 led him to a dust-heap just outside the village, 
 where they could talk unheard. There he told 
 how he had seen the secretary of the mudir, who 
 had been cold at first till he spoke of the protec- 
 tion of Said Bey Ramadan, when the scribe had 
 grown suddenly cordial, and congratulated him 
 on the friendship of a man so influential. 
 
 "So it seems that the Bey spoke truth, and 
 we have naught to fear. The praise to Allah ! 
 Hearing tell of a consul, I deemed my last hour 
 come. Indeed, so great has been my fright that 
 I am resolved henceforth to renounce blood- 
 thirstiness and become, with Allah's leave, a 
 peaceful villager." 
 
 Fondling Mabruk's hand, the robber sat for 
 long in silence, looking up at the sky. The 
 leaves of a prickl}^ pear close before them seemed 
 a trophy of huge black hands shorn of fingers. 
 Beyond that all was vague, a black veil covering 
 the plain beneath the stars.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 The sun came up in haze with the glare of a 
 smoky furnace, dyeing the trunk of the palm-tree 
 red as cochineal. The morning air lacked vigour, 
 and the stir of reviving life had a note of reluc- 
 tance. When Mabruk released the cattle from 
 the stable, the great beasts came out slowly, one 
 by one, and with lowered muzzles sniffed the air 
 distrustfully. It was the season of the Khamasin, 
 and from these indications he judged that a khamsin 
 wind would blow before the night. Yawning, he 
 sauntered down the narrow winding path between 
 the hovels, the buffaloes in single file before him. 
 Little Na'imeh, bare-footed and wearing a faded 
 pink head-veil, tripped beside him, holding his 
 hand. The village ended as abruptly as a walled 
 city where the ground fell away to the plain. 
 Out there all salient objects were as shadows in 
 the fiery haze. 
 
 Suddenly, from off the selfsame heap of rubbish 
 where Mabruk had sat talking with the robber 
 overnight, a man sprang up, and barred the way 
 before them. It was a soldier. 
 
 "Go back," he commanded. 
 
 " O my dear one !" Mabruk expostulated, his 
 62
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 63 
 
 knees trembling. "I am obliged to go to the 
 field with my father's cattle." 
 
 " Be silent, lest I strike thy mouth. It is 
 ordered ; that suffices one like thee !" 
 
 At noise of the altercation, two more soldiers 
 showed themselves ; and one of these, an elder, 
 interfered, saying: 
 
 " Gently, O Abdullah ! Thou art too short 
 with the youth. Know, O my son, that no one 
 leaves this place till the Mufettish arrives from 
 El Mahruseh." 
 
 '• But my father's cattle ?" 
 
 " Let the little girl run out and guard them." 
 
 Others of the village had been stopped as they 
 came forth ; grown men and women were turned 
 back, lamenting; children ran alone into the fields. 
 At a word from Mabruk, his sister sped like an 
 arrow after others of her age, women already in 
 coquettish grace of bearing. 
 
 " You have nothing to fear, in sh' Allah," the 
 soldiers told the terrified fellahin. " Our game 
 is brigands, and you, by the looks of you, are 
 harmless people." 
 
 At those words Mabruk went dead from the 
 throat downwards; all the life in him flew to 
 his head, and there pulsated. Confiding his 
 cause to Allah, he made his way back up the 
 narrow alley. 
 
 The little yard of his father's house overflowed 
 with a concourse of men, women, and children, 
 the whole community flocking to the omdeh for 
 counsel in their sore dilemma. Mabruk, by great 
 exertions, forced a way to the door of the guest-
 
 64 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 room, which he reached just as Sai'd Bey appeared 
 on the threshold. 
 
 " O Bey, in pity help 1 O Bey, instruct us what 
 to do !" prayed the demented villagers. 
 
 The old man raised his hands and eyes to 
 heaven with a face of woe. He was about to 
 speak, when Rashid thrust him rudely aside, 
 hissing : " We have seen thy power, O helper 
 of Muhammad en-Nuri !" and himself addressed 
 the crowd. The Bey retreated hastily into the 
 room, with horrified appeals to One Above. 
 
 Rashid's firm voice and pleasant smile were 
 hope to the despairing people. With one accord 
 they surged towards their favourite. His robe 
 was pulled this way and that ; outspread hands 
 were thrust into his face in the eagerness of all, 
 who could get near enough, to make him hear 
 their views as to what should be done. " Let the 
 robber be given up !" *' Let the omdeh seize the 
 robber and deliver him over to the soldiers 1 He 
 is, after all, a stranger !" * 
 
 " Listen ! Listen, all of you !" Rashid kept 
 shouting, till at length he could make his voice 
 heard above the din. " My father parleys with 
 the soldiers. After a little he will return and tell 
 us what to do. If we move against Muhammad, 
 the robber will denounce his confederates." 
 
 Upon that there fell a hush so profound that 
 the chuckle of a boy who had swarmed up the 
 palm-trunk to a height above the roofs, addressed 
 to some child below (for children play to children, 
 dogs to dogs), drew all men's gaze upon the 
 climber, who, scared by so many eyes, fell
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 65 
 
 sprawling down upon the heads and straightway 
 howled. A dozen hands seized hold of the dis- 
 turber, half-strangling him in vain attempts to 
 stop his noise, for Rashid was still speaking and 
 all wished to hear what he said. 
 
 " But the Nuri is an upright man and generous. 
 So long as we keep faith with him, he will not 
 betray us. May Allah help him to escape his 
 enemies !" 
 
 "True, true! May Allah help him !" exclaimed 
 the crowd, carried away by such noble sentiments ; 
 but their mind was instantly diverted by the 
 appearance beside Rashid of the Sheykh Mustafa, 
 who had passed through their midst unobserved. 
 
 "The omdeh ! Behold the omdeh ! May Allah 
 preserve thee, O Sheykh, What news, O Mustafa ?" 
 
 The Sheykh Mustafa flung up his hands. 
 
 *' Allah is greatest ! The Mufettish approaches ! 
 While yet I reasoned with the soldiers, a rider 
 came to say that His Excellency was on the point 
 of starting from the town. Make haste to prepare 
 the place. Call out the watchmen." 
 
 " O Lord of the Worlds ! May Allah pity thee, 
 thou ill-used man !" 
 
 The omdeh could not stop to hear condolences. 
 His care being to give such a reception to the 
 Inquisitor that the mind which controlled the 
 fate of the whole village might be softened and 
 inclined to mercy, he rushed hither and thither, 
 pushing men about and shouting directions. The 
 watchmen, seven in number, were told to wait 
 on the outskirts of the village, to run before His 
 Excellency and shout his praises. Men and 
 
 5
 
 66 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 women set to work to sweep the rugs of the 
 guest-chamber and dust the cushions of the 
 divan ; others to purge the narrow ways of filth, 
 to borrow dainties of conserve and sweetmeat, 
 to grind coffee and mingle divers kinds of sherbet. 
 Faces streamed with perspiration, for the air was 
 breathless ; but no one showed fatigue or lack of 
 interest. All made haste as though their lives 
 depended on it. Children at their play upon the 
 ground were kicked and flung aside like dogs 
 or baskets. A blind man, groping his way round 
 the yard by the walls, was hustled till he knew 
 not where he stood. 
 
 All at once loud shouts were heard on the 
 outskirts of the village. They drew nearer, 
 settling down into a kind of frenzied chant, and 
 the watchmen burst into the yard, each in dust- 
 coloured robe and high brown libdeh, laying 
 about them with their staves. They caught men 
 and women by the throat and flung them back 
 against the wall ; the blind man was hurled 
 headlong through a doorway ; Mabruk, crossing 
 to the guest-room with a dish of comfits, was 
 seized and cast aside, the sweets dispersed ; and 
 all the while they yelled in praise of Power, with 
 sweat streaming from every pore and wide un- 
 seeing eyes, like mad fanatics. Mabruk, collecting 
 his shaken limbs, slipped round by the walls to 
 the door of the guest-chamber, where his father 
 and brother, with Said Bey Ramadan, stood 
 expectant. By that time the watchmen were 
 undergoing the same treatment which a minute 
 before they had meted out to the crowd, being
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 67 
 
 hurled aside and beaten by the men of the 
 Inquisitor's escort. All eyes were downcast, all 
 hands reverently folded, when the dread one 
 reined in his horse at the guest-room door. In 
 the twinkling of an eye the Sheykh Mustafa was 
 on his knees beside the stirrup, ardently dusting 
 the Inquisitor's boot with his tongue. 
 
 " Enough ! Enough, by Allah ! I forbid thee 
 to do so ! It is a shame for thee, an old man and 
 a Muslim !" 
 
 The speaker was a lean Turk with a trim black 
 beard and moustache, his face pale from ill-health, 
 his keen black eyes set rather close on either side 
 of a thin, hooked nose. Clad in the frock-coat 
 and trousers, he was all black and white save 
 for the scarlet fez. Alighting, he cast a keen 
 glance round upon those present, when Mabruk, 
 for an instant, felt his soul laid bare. Then he 
 passed into the guest-chamber. 
 
 Mabruk then ran and held the head of the ass 
 from which was in act to alight His Honour's 
 Coptic scribe — a fat young man, wearing a 
 Prankish suit beneath the fez, in whom the 
 fellah, with a pang, beheld his former self. Rashid, 
 whispering that he was going to seek Muhammad, 
 tried to sneak out of the yard, but was stopped 
 and turned back by a sentry. He and Mabruk, 
 pushing through the anxious group at the door, 
 entered the guest-chamber, and sat down with 
 the elders. They found the Inquisitor sitting 
 beside Said Bey Ramadan, talking with him as 
 an old friend. With some relief Mabruk realized 
 that the Syrian was not present. 
 
 5—2
 
 68 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 At length the Inquisitor ceased his private con- 
 versation with the Bey, and asked : 
 
 " Where is the omdeh ?" 
 
 " I am he." 
 
 The Sheykh Mustafa rose and stood before him 
 as before a vision whose celestial light distressed 
 him. 
 
 "There is in this village a brigand, a known 
 robber." 
 
 '* I ask pardon of Allah, O my lord ! A robber ! 
 Have we harboured a robber unawares ? I seek 
 refuge in Allah from Satan the Stoned, Praise to 
 the Highest that we are not all despoiled, that we 
 have not all been murdered while we slept !" 
 
 The rest of the villagers joined their spokesman 
 in a gasp, a sudden palsy of the limbs. 
 
 " I condole with you," observed the Inquisitor, 
 with dry politeness. " But now, I entreat you, 
 waste no time in words. Produce the man 
 named Muhammad en-Nuri." 
 
 At that the Sheykh Mustafa donned a be- 
 wildered air, and scanned the faces of those 
 present. 
 
 " I see him not. He is not here. Where is 
 he?" Catching sight of the high felt cap of a 
 watchman in the doorway, he cried out: "O 
 ghafir, run, fetch the wicked rogue !" 
 
 At that six of the seven watchmen set off like 
 the wind with fierce cries, but the seventh, the 
 one addressed, remained, and said : 
 
 " He is not in the house. The woman belong- 
 ing to him said that he had gone upon a journey." 
 
 The omdeh turned distractedly to the Inquisitor.
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 69 
 
 " Not in the house — gone on a journey. Thou 
 hast heard, O Excellency ? What can I do ?" 
 
 The lean, white fingers of His Excellency toyed 
 with his close black beard. With a charming 
 smile, he shrugged : 
 
 "What canst thou do? Is that my business? 
 Do what pleases thee." 
 
 " Not here ; gone on a journey," repeated the 
 old fellah, with an effect of perjfect idiocy ; and 
 the words and tone were reproduced by the 
 other villagers, as though they saw a blank wall 
 suddenly. 
 
 "Thou art a good man and the owner of in- 
 telligence," pursued the Inquisitor, with studied 
 kindness. " I wish thee well for the sake of Said 
 Bey, who is thy friend. Have no fear, but listen. 
 Give up lying, for it leads to punishment; and, 
 by Allah, it would distress me to see thy reverend 
 back made bare to meet the scourge. Moreover, 
 lying is no use, for we have certain information 
 that the said Muhammad, surnamed Nuri, went 
 yesterday to the mudriyeh, that he returned after 
 sunset, and spent this night here. Since mid- 
 night every exit has been guarded; no one has 
 gone forth from the village. I therefore leave it 
 to thy judgment to decide where the man in 
 question now is. Think not to cast doubt on 
 what I tell thee, for our informant is no stranger 
 to the place." 
 
 The omdeh dealt a savage scowl to Mahrus, his 
 ancient enemy, who passed on the look and its 
 suspicion to a neighbour on the divan. All the 
 fellahin moved uneasily, and looked askance at
 
 70 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 one another. Mabruk alone, whose eyes were 
 for the great and civilized, had seen the hand of 
 Said Bey Ramadan, his father's guest, clutch 
 trembling at the sleeve of the Inquisitor. He 
 prayed upon himself the prayers of death. That 
 cunning devil knew all about the robbery of the 
 Syrian. As he sat there, smiling, with hands 
 locked on his paunch, the treacherous dog had 
 the lives of all present in his power for good or 
 ill, since, from loving-kindness towards an ill- 
 used man, the villagers had told him all their 
 secrets.
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 A SUDDEN gust of wind swept the yard without, 
 slamming doors and shutters, and filling the air 
 with warmth and fine brown dust. Men covered 
 up their mouths. 
 
 " The khamsin ! Close the door, make fast the 
 shutters !" cried the omdeh, dreading the effect 
 which discomfort might produce upon the temper 
 of the Inquisitor. But before the doorway could 
 be cleared of spectators, the watchmen came 
 running through the dun cloud which had risen 
 over all things, brandishing their staves, and cry- 
 ing, " Praise to Allah ! They have caught the 
 wicked !" 
 
 " Praise to Allah !" echoed the elders in the 
 room. 
 
 " O the pity ! Our Lord have mercy on him !" 
 said Rashid at his brother's ear. 
 
 The watchmen stood by the door, panting and 
 pressing their hands to their sides. 
 
 The next minute sounds of boisterous mirth 
 were heard approaching, causing amazement to 
 the frightened fellahin. Mabruk, gazing any- 
 where sooner than at the sly old traitor, saw a 
 huddle of soldiers enter the yard, embracing 
 
 71
 
 72 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 rather than holding the stalwart form of the 
 Nuri, with whom they seemed on joking terms. 
 On realizing that they could be seen, they became 
 suddenly alert; two of them seized each a wrist 
 of the miscreant and dragged him along between 
 them, while the others ran before or behind, 
 spitting at his face or punching him in the back 
 with loud imprecations. In this manner he was 
 hauled into the guest-room and brought to a 
 stand before the Mufettish, whom the soldiers 
 saluted with conscious pride in their achievement. 
 "Efendim, behold the robber!" their spokes- 
 man panted. " By Allah, we have had hard work 
 to catch him, for he is as clever as a devil. He 
 came and sat with us, who knew him not, be- 
 guiling our long watch with merry tales, till we 
 deemed him the most respectable of men. Twice 
 did he try to run from us out into the fields, de- 
 claring that his cow was straying, but we caught 
 him each time, and returned with laughter, 
 amused with his distress about a cow. Then a 
 ghafir came running out of the village, crying, 
 ' O Muhammad, let me capture thee !' and, 
 tripping on a stone, fell forward on his nose. 
 At the shout our boon companion ran in earnest. 
 Ah, by our lord el-Bedawi, we had a race for it ! 
 The ghafir it was — a runner like heaven's light- 
 ning — who overtook him at the last, and rolled 
 with him, getting stabbed in the arm. Then, 
 seeing we were eight to one, he gave up 
 struggling, and we had carried him back to the 
 village before the hot wind came and took our 
 strength away."
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 73 
 
 " Praise be to Allah !" said the Mufettish 
 languidly. Turning to Said Bey Ramadan, he 
 remarked : " It is very hot." 
 
 " Wallahi !" came the gasping rejoinder. " Would 
 to Allah we were in the city, in a proper 
 house !" 
 
 Those two complaining of the heat in common 
 tones, regardless of the strained, wild faces of the 
 fellahin and the hopeless figure of the doomed 
 man in their midst was a horror which Mabruk 
 could not endure. The whole scene swam before 
 his eyes as he waited in a torture of suspense, 
 expecting every minute to be denounced by the 
 betrayer. 
 
 At length the Inquisitor took notice of the 
 captive. 
 
 "Thy name is Muhammad en-NCiri ?" 
 
 The robber admitted it humbly. 
 
 "Thou art a robber and a murderer." 
 
 " No, by my life, O sun of justice, I am the 
 most peaceable of men. They have misled thy 
 benevolence who tell such tales of me. Ask all 
 men present, and they will inform thee that I 
 never wronged a man among them." 
 
 At that all present sang his praises warmly, 
 exclaiming : 
 
 " He speaks truth. This robber is a good, 
 righteous man, O Excellency, and loves the poor. 
 He is a Muslim, too, and given to good works. 
 He has presented a fine newkisweh to our village 
 Sheykh, Selim the Donkey-driver." 
 
 " Is it in truth the man we seek ?" asked the 
 Mufettish in an undertone of Said Bey Ramadan,
 
 74 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 who, nodding speechless, stretched out his hands 
 towards Muhammad and wailed : 
 
 " May Allah pity thee, O my poor friend !" 
 
 " Hast thou anything to say ?" asked the 
 Inquisitor. 
 
 " Only that I am between thy two hands." 
 
 Muhammad, with swift grace, bent down and 
 kissed those hands, then stood upright. 
 
 "Take him outside and bind him! And thou, 
 O Sheykh, as omdeh of his village, prepare to 
 accompany him to the town. There he will be 
 examined, and confronted with a certain Shami, 
 his chief accuser, who was too ill to ride out hither. 
 If the identification is without doubt, he will be 
 removed to the capital by train this evening. 
 In all likelihood he will be hanged eventually." 
 
 At that word all the listeners sought refuge in 
 Allah Most High, asking Allah to have pity on 
 a much-wronged man; and Mabruk, thinking the 
 inquiry over, began to breathe more freely. But 
 the Inquisitor beckoned his scribe, and conferred 
 with him in whispers. " Read the description 
 well, and look about thee !" he said aloud, in 
 conclusion. Mabruk's heart beat in his head as 
 the Copt unfolded a paper, and, reading it, 
 proceeded to scan each face of the assembly. 
 Looking at the examiner, Mabruk recalled his 
 comrades at the School of Medicine, and pictured 
 their civilized horror when they heard he was a 
 convicted felon. 
 
 " It is hard to judge from this," the scribe 
 murmured apologetically. " A pity the young 
 man was too ill to bear us company."
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 75 
 
 " He was not ill, he was afraid," said the 
 Mufettish irritably, snatching the paper. "Take 
 some uncommon feature and seek for it, then 
 compare the rest. That is the simplest way. 
 See here, the brows slant up and outwards ; that 
 is no common trait. Look out for that." 
 
 Then Mabruk remembered how, on the occasion 
 of the robbery, he had lengthened his eyebrows 
 with charcoal in the manner described. He dis- 
 cerned a ray of hope, but dared not entertain it 
 with a traitor sitting there beside the judge. 
 His eyes were fixed imploringly on Said Bey. 
 
 Having scrutinized all the faces twice over, in 
 a silence broken only by an occasional whisper 
 between the Inquisitor and Said Bey, or a 
 querulous prayer to Allah from this latter, who 
 was visibly suffering much from the heat, the 
 Copt went out with the paper in his hand. 
 
 "Close the door behind thee, O son of a dog!" 
 roared his chief. " We suffocate as it is, without 
 that breath of Gehennum." 
 
 To Mabruk, as he sat there in the darkened 
 room in momentary expectation of his doom, it 
 seemed that the eyes of the Mufettish were for 
 him only, that Said Bey kept pointing him out 
 with a malignant gesture, that all the fellahin 
 were staring at him in alarm. So strong was 
 the delusion that he had some ado to refrain 
 from falling at the great one's feet and confessing 
 all. He might in the end have done so, distraught 
 as he was, had not the scribe returned with a 
 ghafir named 'Ala'd-din in custod3^ It was then 
 as if a hand that had compressed his throat let go
 
 -je THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 suddenly ; his breath came again in short sobs. 
 This 'Ala'd-din had brows that sloped up and 
 outward, for which reason he was surnamed the 
 Afrit. Moreover, in figure he was not unlike 
 Mabruk. 
 
 " This is the very man !" said Said Bey loud 
 enough to be heard of Mabruk, at whom he cast 
 a private glance of sly intelligence, which caused 
 the youth to reform his hasty judgment on the 
 instant. A traitor ? No ; he was a good old 
 man, the very best and kindest under Allah, and 
 mindful of the law of hospitality. Tears of grati- 
 tude filled the eyes of the young fellah. 
 
 " Yes, I am he, O Excellencies !" owned the 
 ghafir bashfully. " It was I, under Allah, who 
 secured the wicked robber." So little did the 
 poor wretch understand of the matter that he 
 supposed he had been sent for to hear compli- 
 ments upon his prowess. 
 
 "They might as well have selected a babe from 
 the breast," whispered Rashid in his brother's 
 ear. " 'Ala'd-din is a good man, with no more 
 guile than has a sheep. He is, perhaps, the 
 best they could have chosen, for his innocence 
 will be manifest on the slightest examination. 
 But Allah repay the guile of that old man ! It is 
 seen now how they hold together all these great 
 ones, and spread the net to slay poor righteous 
 men. Yet he has some dregs of honour, for a 
 moment since I thought he would betray thee, 
 and so bring ruin on the house that shelters him." 
 
 "Thou art accused of robbing and attempting 
 to kill a certain Shami," said the Inquisitor to
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE tj 
 
 the ghafir, who only gaped upon the information, 
 and, pitching on the last word, said with a 
 grin : 
 
 " Shami — I am no Shami, O Beatitude ! 
 Thanks to Allah, I am a true believer born in 
 Masr." 
 
 " Thy imbecility is well acted," said the In- 
 quisitor angrily, conceiving himself mocked. " In 
 sh' Allah, we shall presently find means to dissi- 
 pate it." 
 
 With that he bade two soldiers bind the 
 rogu€. At the same time Said Bey Ramadan 
 called loudly for his servant to prepare the 
 mule. 
 
 " Our work here is now done, by the grace of 
 Allah," said the Inquisitor, rising ; and the whole 
 room rose with blessings on His Honour. 
 
 "The world outside is not fit for your Excel- 
 lencies," protested the omdeh. "All is khamsin. 
 Rest here, I beseech you, until the evening. My 
 house is your house. Do me the honour." 
 
 But the Mufettish took no heed of his polite- 
 ness, and Said Bey Ramadan seemed at last really 
 bent on departure. Outside the door the fat Bey 
 fell a-blubbering. He embraced Mabruk and 
 blessed him tenderly, and then called for Na'imeh, 
 his little bride. Mabruk assisted him to mount 
 his mule, and saw him lean towards the Mufettish, 
 who was already in the saddle, and address him 
 in a whisper. The Turk replied aloud, with a 
 curious smile : 
 
 " Such things regard not Efendina personally. 
 Besides, thou knowest how his soul hates
 
 78 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 subtlety. Nevertheless, thy services shall be 
 recorded. What wouldst thou, O my dear ? 
 How can we pay thee ? The guerdon of a 
 common spy would be too little." 
 
 Whereat the poor old man seemed sore dis- 
 mayed, and fell to weeping and lamenting as at 
 his first coming.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 The wife and children of Muhammad en-Nuri, and 
 the whole family, even to the grandmother, of 
 the unfortunate 'Ala'd-din, followed the soldiers 
 and their prisoners, while the little band of great 
 ones, the omdeh among them, rode on ahead. 
 Mabruk with the rest of the villagers crowded 
 out on the dust-heaps to watch them depart, 
 calling down curses on the rulers of the land, the 
 soldiers — all who vex the poor and make life 
 dangerous. The Sheykh Mustafa, at parting 
 from his sons, had made known to them in brief 
 the dispositions of his will, lest, peradventure, he 
 might not return ; and the eyes of both young 
 men were dim in consequence as they watched 
 the sad procession wend along the Nile bank. 
 
 It was noon, but the sun was darkened. A 
 brown cloud continually rising off the face of the 
 earth met a brown cloud continually falling from 
 the lowering sky. From the dykes and the em- 
 bankment of the railway, from the fallows and 
 the dust-heaps of the village, dust rolled like 
 smoke in dense whirls distinct from that sus- 
 pended in the atmosphere, which discoloured the 
 whole world. The little procession, amid the 
 
 79
 
 80 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 stifling gloom, seemed, for all its diverse move- 
 ment and bright hues, a thing imprisoned. The 
 very cries of the women, mourning as for the 
 dead, were mufQed by the thick air. 
 
 All at once a man [cried, " Pray ! It is for 
 impiety this grief has come upon us. Pray, O 
 my children, for the appointed hour draws near !" 
 and straight began to chant the call to prayer. 
 It was Hafiz, the blind khatib. All those who 
 were left behind made haste every one to his own 
 house, there to perform his ablutions and the 
 noonday prayer. The world had never known 
 so dark a day. 
 
 Mabruk found Zeynab spread out upon the 
 ground in grief, in keen remorse for her decep- 
 tion of Muhammad en-Nuri. 
 
 "Alas, the ill-used man, the poor one! He 
 blessed me as they led him forth to die. By the 
 Prophet, he is a martyr, nothing less ; for he is a 
 Muslim, while his accuser is a pig, a Nazarene, a 
 Shami, worse than a Copt ! Would to Allah we 
 had not denied to him those five gold pieces. And 
 the wicked ones will slay our father, the righteous 
 Mustafa. At least they will beat him on the feet, 
 the poor one ! O ruin of our house ! O my 
 terror ! O my despair !" 
 
 Mabruk sat down on the ground, in the darkest 
 corner of the little room, and hid his face in 
 his hands. Zeynab, as her manner was when 
 agitated, busied herself with cleaning of utensils 
 and moving this and that without a cause, never 
 ceasing to bemoan the evil day. The door was 
 closed, the window shuttered to keep out the
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 8i 
 
 stifling wind. The child, oppressed by the heat, 
 was fretful, and kept crying ; the like sounds of 
 lamentation came from across the yard, where 
 the voice of Rashid could be heard, striving in 
 vain to comfort the older women. Mabruk, by 
 dint of sitting still, sank at last to sleep. He 
 was wakened by Zeynab's two hands upon his 
 shoulders. She lay along the ground, and with 
 bosom resting on his knees, held her face close to 
 his, while her eyes implored him. 
 
 " I ask a boon of thee, O beloved. Take the 
 five pounds we so cruelly withheld from that 
 poor robber, add to them other five pounds, and 
 give the whole to his wife and children, who will 
 now be destitute. See, I have got the money 
 ready in this little purse. Thus we may make 
 amends. Say not No, I entreat thee, for my 
 peace of mind." 
 
 " In the name of Allah," assented Mabruk, and 
 took the purse. 
 
 The plan of generosity eased him of the sense 
 of baseness which had weighed him down. Having 
 devoured some food his wife prepared for him, 
 and smoked a little to compose his mind, he put 
 the purse in his bosom and strolled forth along 
 the Nile bank, meaning to waylay the wife of 
 Muhammad as she returned from the town. The 
 warm wind still blew, and as it drew towards 
 evening the colour of the dust-laden air changed 
 slowly from drab to coff"ee colour. The Nile 
 bank, usually thronged at that hour, was entirely 
 deserted. He crossed the railway with pre- 
 caution, and sauntered on till he came to the 
 
 6
 
 82 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 passenger-bridge, near the end of which he sat 
 down and waited. The Nile, reflecting the pre- 
 vailing brown, seemed all of mud. The roof-lines 
 of the town appeared and disappeared by caprice 
 of the clouds of dust which drove across them. 
 He had not sat long ere his ears heard footsteps 
 on the bridge, and, looking, he beheld a little 
 crowd approaching. Cowled women raised their 
 hands and cried to heaven as they shuffled to 
 keep up with some men, who bore what seemed 
 a dead or dying man. He knew them; they were 
 people of his village. 
 
 "There is no power nor might save in Allah, 
 the High, the Tremendous !" he ejaculated, fear- 
 ing to see the corpse of his own father, ere he 
 inquired: "What is it, O ye people? Who is 
 dead ?" 
 
 "Alas, the poor one! O the ill-used man! O 
 'Ala'd-din, may Allah comfort thee !" The women, 
 quite regardless of his question, pursued their 
 grievous outcry ; but one of the men explained : 
 " He is not dead, O Mabruk. But they have made 
 his feet so that he cannot walk." 
 
 " O Allah Most High ! But it is not civilized 
 to treat men thus. It has been forbidden by the 
 law these many years." 
 
 " Nay, by thy leave, O my dear, it is lawful to 
 be done in private. The law only forbids it in 
 public and by authority. The Inquisitor knew 
 nothing of it ; the soldiers of the town did it in 
 their zeal to further business. Thou under- 
 standest, there is a consul in this affair, and 
 when a consul demands justice, all things are
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 83 
 
 lawful ; his lust must be satisfied. I blame not the 
 torturers, for a blind man could see they were at 
 their wits' end. Yet it is hard on 'Ala'd-din, since 
 after all he is released and found quite innocent. 
 But what would you, O my masters? The world 
 is so." 
 
 "What chiefly grieves me, O my lord Mabruk," 
 complained the tortured man himself, in a weak 
 voice, " is that I am no longer a ghafir — I who 
 caught the robber this same morning, and was 
 stabbed in the arm by him. When the Shami 
 told them I was not the man, I thought they 
 would have restored me to my office. But it 
 matters less, because thy father is deposed from 
 being omdeh. I love thy honoured father, and 
 should not care to serve another man." 
 " What of my father ? Tell me." 
 "All is well, in sh' Allah, though they still 
 detain him. In an hour or so, please God, he 
 will return in safety. They have treated him 
 honourably, save that he is to be no more omdeh." 
 " And the wife of Muhammad en-Nuri and his 
 children?" 
 
 "The woman told us her intention to follow 
 the robber to Masr. She has money, and hopes 
 by her alms to ease his lot in prison." 
 
 " In the name of Allah, Merciful, Compas- 
 sionate !" exclaimed Mabruk. 
 
 Going close to 'Ala'd-din, he took the purse 
 from his breast and thrust it into a horny hand 
 which pain made claw-like. It took the sufferer 
 time to guess the nature of the gift, but when he 
 realized it he cried out : " But — merciful Allah ! — 
 
 6—2
 
 84 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 why to me, O dear one ? What have I done to 
 deserve such generosity ?" 
 
 " What has he given thee ? Let us see !" ex- 
 claimed the women, crowding round ; and when 
 it was shown to them they cried in gladness : "A 
 purse of gold I May Allah reward his bounty ! 
 Now art thou well again. Now will the pain 
 feel less, thou poor ill-used one ! Ah, the kind, 
 generous youth, thus to enrich thee !" Neither 
 they nor the men begrudged good fortune to a 
 tortured wretch, but made much of it to divert 
 his mind, smiling amid their grief to show him 
 happiness. 
 
 " But — O Salvation ! — what have I ever done 
 to merit this from thee ?" asked 'Ala'd-din once 
 more. 
 
 Mabruk leaned close and whispered in the 
 sufferer's ear. " Dost understand ?" he asked 
 aloud. 
 
 Intelligence was slow to dawn upon that face 
 distressed with pain ; but when at length it broke, 
 the man cried out as if in fear : 
 
 " Now Allah prolong thy life. Our Lord reward 
 thee ! Truly thou art the most generous of all 
 men living. By Allah, I had not an inkling of the 
 truth. Thou hadst no debt to me. There is not 
 thy like in all the world for honour. The Prince 
 of Believers himself could not have dealt more 
 honourably. 'Ala'd - din is now thy slave till 
 death."
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 At early dawn Mabruk came out into the yard 
 and met his father. The air was clean and sweet. 
 A breeze stirred the plumes of the palm-tree 
 overhead. Gloom and oppression had vanished 
 with the khamsin, making the horrors of the day 
 before incredible as a remembered nightmare. 
 The face of the Sheykh Mustafa shone with the 
 gladness of a man reprieved from execution. He 
 devoted more time than usual to the morning 
 prayer, and in the performance of that duty 
 showed a saintly fervour edifying to behold. 
 Rising at length, and returning to things of earth, 
 he kissed his son repeatedly on both cheeks, and 
 gave loud thanks to Allah and the Sayyid Ahmed 
 el-Bedawi. 
 
 "By Allah's leave," he cried, "I shall visit the 
 shrine of the Father of Consolation with thee and 
 all my house upon the occasion of his birth-feast 
 in the coming month. I vow to touch his noble 
 tomb with the hand of honour in circumambula- 
 tion seven times on every one of the seven days 
 which the Molid lasts, and also to make an offer- 
 ing of money to the guardians of the sanctuary 
 for distribution to the poor of Tanta, in thanks- 
 
 85
 
 86 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 giving for my miraculous deliverance. For 
 yesterday, at the coming of the Inquisitor, my 
 soul cried in me : ' O Sheykh of the Arabs !' and 
 on the way to the town, and while the prisoners 
 were being examined, I ceased not from impor- 
 tuning our Lord Ahmed. And the Sheykh of 
 the Arabs — may Allah accept him ! — was not deaf 
 to my petition, for here I am unhurt in wealth 
 and person. Seeing I was the friend of Said Bey 
 Ramadan, the slaves of Power did not ill-use me. 
 Their reprimand was clothed in terms polite, 
 so that I, who expected obloquy, esteemed it a 
 gracious favour. I am no longer omdeh, it is 
 true, but that will be my gain in peace and quiet. 
 How much better to sit at ease with the many, 
 and find fault, than to toil alone on high, and be 
 found fault with ! By the Coran, I am curious to 
 see how Mahrus will thrive in my place — a man 
 with the intelligence of an ass and the patience of 
 a crossed hornet ! It is sure to be a fine display. 
 The praise to Allah and the Sayyid Ahmed !" 
 
 So saying, he opened the stable-door for the 
 cattle to come forth, and, taking up a goad, 
 followed them out to the field, Mabruk with him. 
 It was the hour when shadows stretch them- 
 selves like waking men, and every surface look- 
 ing towards the sun is gilded redly. The faces 
 of all whom they met bespoke the gladness of 
 immense relief. Mabruk alone was pensive, 
 fearing lest search should yet be made for him. 
 Someone called to him from behind, when, turn- 
 ing, he saw 'Ala'd-din hobbling after him as fast 
 as he could with the help of a staff.
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 87 
 
 " In the name of Allah," said that ill-used man, 
 when he had come near enough to whisper, " flee 
 this place; for this night, as I lay awake because 
 of my feet hurting me, it became evident to my 
 mind that thou art still in danger. That infidel, 
 whose truthfulness released me, is still in the 
 neighbourhood. Take thy wife and child and 
 thy staff, and journey an hour or two to some 
 friend's house, where thou canst abide in safety 
 till the affair is forgotten. By Allah, the wealth 
 thou gavest is my shame until I know thee safe. 
 Run and take counsel with thy respected father, 
 while I return and warn the people of thy house, 
 and make ready the ass for thee, that no time may 
 be lost." 
 
 Mabruk required no further urging. Hot-foot, 
 he ran and overtook his father near to that bunch 
 of ancient trees which shades the sakieh. At 
 his first word the Sheykh Mustafa sat down and 
 gave his mind to cogitation, leaving the cattle 
 to their own devices. Before him, across a field 
 of bright green clover, rose a whitewashed cube 
 surmounted by a dome of mud, fig-shaped and 
 finely fluted. It was the tomb of the village 
 saint, Selim the Donkey-driver. At its base old 
 Hafiz, the blind khatib, was sitting with the child 
 who served as eyes to him, stretching his face to 
 meet the sun's full rays, enjoying their warmth. 
 The Sheykh Mustafa called to him : 
 
 " O Hafiz ! I dedicate the price of a fine 
 new covering to the tomb of the favourite of 
 Allah, if Allah delivers my house from a certain 
 danger."
 
 88 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 The quavering voice of the divine made answer 
 across the clover-field : 
 
 " In good luck, O my soul ! May Allah preserve 
 thy house from every danger !" 
 
 Then, after a moment's reflection, the Sheykh 
 Mustafa counselled his son, saying : 
 
 " Go thou to Kafr Zeyn, to the house of one 
 Abd-ur-Razic, and claim hospitality in the name 
 of Allah. He v;^ill not deny thee when he learns 
 whose son thou art. That place has been already 
 searched ; the slaves of Power have done with it. 
 Abide there till I send to tell thee all is well. 
 With safety, go ; and keep thy journey's end a 
 secret even from her that bore thee!" 
 
 With that the elder took up the goad once 
 more, and resumed his way as if nothing had 
 happened. 
 
 Hastening back to the village, Mabruk met 
 'Ala'd-din, who came limping forth to tell him 
 all was ready. In the yard of his father's house 
 he found a donkey standing between two bundles 
 nicely balanced, and Zeynab beside it with the 
 baby in her arms, while his mother and the other 
 women wrung their hands and moaned despair- 
 ingly. He straightway mounted, and, kicking 
 with both heels, cried, "Yallah!" The donkey 
 ambled forth among the hovels, Zeynab running 
 after in the wake of dust. 
 
 Up on the Nile bank, where the woman ran 
 beside, Mabruk kept glancing over his shoulder 
 in the direction of the town, fearing to behold 
 soldiers. But the groups in sight were all of 
 country people, so far as could be seen for dust ;
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 89 
 
 and after a little he complied with Zeynab's 
 request that they should go more slowly. He 
 now felt safe enough to look forward. The 
 village of Kafr Zeyn had terrors for him, the 
 mere fact of its existence in the world having, 
 since the crime, disturbed his rest of nights, 
 seeming a mute, inexorable witness of his guilt. 
 But the place, when its mud towers came at 
 length in sight, peeping among the leaves like 
 watchmen's libdehs, appeared most pleasant, 
 bosomed as it was in trees and with the coo of 
 doves about it. 
 
 Inquiring for his father's friend of those at 
 work in the fields, Mabruk was told that the 
 Sheykh Abd-ur-Razic was at that moment mending 
 the norag on his threshing-floor. Children, of 
 their own accord, ran on to warn him of the 
 approach of visitors, and long ere the travellers 
 reached the spot among the trees which had been 
 pointed out to them, a noble-looking old man 
 came running to know their will. Mabruk dis- 
 mounted with reverence and delivered his father's 
 message, whereupon the sheykh flung formality 
 to the winds, and, embracing the young man, bade 
 him welcome for a year if need be. He led the 
 way into the village to his house, where, giving 
 Zeynab and the baby in charge to the womenfolk, 
 he set meat and drink before Mabruk with his 
 own hands. Neither then nor afterwards did he 
 ask the cause of the visit, and when Mabruk 
 of his own will revealed it, he seemed quite 
 indifferent. 
 
 The robbery was already forgotten in Kafr
 
 90 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 Zeyn, except, perhaps, by the omdeh, who had 
 been flogged for it ; which served him right, 
 people said, since he had flogged others with as 
 little justice, and had caused much misery by 
 sending men, the sole support of households, to 
 the military service. What now perturbed the 
 minds of the villagers was the wantonness of 
 some Greeks, khawagat from the town, who, two 
 days ago, had come with guns and destroyed 
 several hundreds of pigeons for pastime merely. 
 
 " A pretty pastime, Allah knows !" said Abd- 
 ur-Razic, with indignation ; " to take the life of 
 hundreds of God's creatures for no better reason 
 than that each may boast : ' I killed so many.' 
 If they shot our pigeons on the lands of other 
 villages it would be well, for there they fly scat- 
 tered, and are counted wild ; but here, where 
 they flock to rest, and before our eyes, it is a 
 shame, by Allah ! And when we remonstrated 
 with them, they laughed at our beards, and said : 
 * We have permission from the omdeh.' As if the 
 omdeh had power of life and death among us !" 
 
 Mabruk listened politely to the ceaseless talk 
 concerning pigeons, but still deemed his own 
 affairs the more important. When he walked 
 out among the trees in the cool of the day, his 
 feet seemed drawn magnetically towards the 
 scene of the robbery, and he had much ado to 
 restrain them, for he feared to go there. His 
 imagination pictured the spot as haunted by a 
 vengeful spirit born of the wrong done there, and 
 it seemed to him as if this spirit waited and would 
 sooner or later claim its due from him. But his
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 91 
 
 constant thought of the place constituted a fascina- 
 tion stronger than his will, and at length one 
 evening, coming in sight of it, and beholding 
 many people unconcerned upon the road, he took 
 his courage in both hands, and walked right past 
 it. Turning, he had the scene which he remem- 
 bered. It was the same hour. The sunset red- 
 dened the palm - trunks, and turned the dust 
 kicked up by wayfarers to a fiery cloud beyond 
 which the trees and pigeon-towers of Kafr Zeyn 
 appeared as a denser cloud of rich deep blue. 
 
 With heart in mouth he scanned the place of 
 crime. Here he had fallen on the Syrian, here 
 they had rolled together down the dyke ; it 
 seemed the dust of the slope was still disturbed. 
 There was the clump of reeds where the brigands 
 had lain in wait ; and there, by the foot of the 
 reeds, lay something shining — a small thing, not 
 much bigger than a snuff-box. He passed the 
 place three times, with eyes furtively intent upon 
 that gaud, ere he dared go down and view it 
 closely; for things of worth are sometimes thus 
 exposed by evil spirits, watchers over hidden 
 treasure, and when one is rash enough to lay 
 hands on them, the rassad seizes him. It was 
 only by devoting his mind to thoughts of civiliza- 
 tion and the scepticism of the Franks that he 
 mustered the courage necessary to act upon his 
 soul's prompting ; and then, with the thing in his 
 hand, he fled up the bank, as if Gann ibn Gann 
 himself had been at his heels. The evening 
 breeze on the nape of his neck seemed the breath 
 of a devil.
 
 92 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 An old man riding an ass overtook him going 
 towards the village, and wished him joy of the 
 evening. The voice made him jump; it brought 
 him back so suddenly to things human. He 
 thrust the thing quickly into his bosom, having 
 seen that it was a cigarette-case. 
 
 In the house he examined his find more care- 
 fully. It was of silver or the like and nicely 
 made, inscribed with the names " Habib Lateyf" 
 in Prankish characters. 
 
 •' It is the name of the Shami who was robbed," 
 remarked his host, when it was read to him. 
 
 Inside the case were five cigarettes, which, 
 upon inspection proved to be of the best quality. 
 Abd-ur-Razic accepted one of them, Mabruk took 
 another, and they smoked in silence, gazing on 
 the silver box. 
 
 ** In thy place, I should bury it," said Abd- 
 ur-Razic at length, " for fear it should be used 
 against me." 
 
 " By Allah ! but that were a pity," said Mabruk, 
 eyeing it lovingly. " My mind is to keep it until 
 destiny confronts me with the owner." 
 
 He could not think of burying the silver box, 
 and yet it irked him to have the thing in his 
 possession, for fear harm should come of it. 
 Would he have felt so irresistibly drawn to re- 
 visit that place of sin, would the trinket have lain 
 there unperceived so many days, unless it had 
 been so written on the tables of destiny? The 
 little box was a talisman belonging to his fate for 
 good or ill. Did he cast it into the middle of the 
 river, did he bury it in the depths of the earth,
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 93 
 
 none the less, he felt assured, it would return to 
 him. He showed it to Zeynab when he went 
 to rest, and she, lighting one of the remaining 
 cigarettes, coolly asked for it to keep some beads 
 in. Mabruk consented, glad to have it out of his 
 immediate keeping. 
 
 Zeynab had but one idea in those days — it was 
 that her husband should find the treasure of 
 Muhammad en-Nuri, and therewith return to 
 the city, to the life she loved. That a treasure 
 existed was clear, she argued, since Muhammad 
 had all his life practised the most lucrative of 
 trades, and yet had never seemed to have much 
 money with him. His wealth was buried some- 
 where, and, he being dead, it belonged of right 
 to Mabruk, who had been his bosom friend and 
 partner at the last. Mabruk rebuked her crossly 
 for such talk. He himself believed in the exist- 
 ence of the treasure, and would have had no 
 objection to appropriate it if found ; but there 
 was not the slightest clue to its whereabouts, 
 and he shrank from every reminder of Muham 
 mad's dreadful fate. 
 
 Yet on the whole his stay in Kafr Zeyn passed 
 very pleasantly. Every evening there was a 
 gathering in some elder's house, or, as the nights 
 grew warm, upon some threshing-floor beneath 
 the stars, where men told jovial tales of Uncle 
 Abu Nowwas and Hag Gohha ; where the news 
 of the day, good or bad, was discussed philo- 
 sophically, with praise to Allah. And Mabruk 
 was received by all as an honoured guest. When 
 'Ala'd-din, with feet quite healed, appeared one
 
 94 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 morning, staff in hand, and told Iiim all was safe 
 for his return, it was with regret that he once 
 more mounted his ass and left behind him the 
 sunlit trees and towers of Kafr Zeyn. 
 
 " Thou goest to Tanta, to the Molid of our lord 
 Ahmed. In sh' Allah, we shall meet thee there in 
 a day or two. Till then may Allah hold thee in 
 safe keeping !" were the parting words of the 
 Sheykh Abd-ur-Razic, who, with his sons and 
 others of the village, escorted the wayfarers some 
 distance forth among the cornfields. And on 
 arrival at his father's house, Mabruk heard talk 
 of nothing but the coming Molid. The pilgrim- 
 age from that village was to start betimes on the 
 morrow ; such of the fellahin as were dervishes 
 were furbishing up the badges of their order; the 
 banner of the sainted donkey-driver, inscribed 
 with the belief and sacred monograms, was un- 
 furled and dusted ; and in every house there was 
 cooking of provisions for the journey. 'Ala'd-din 
 showed Mabruk a number of fine sweetmeats he 
 had prepared for sale at the fair, hoping thus, 
 with Allah's blessing, to lay the foundations of a 
 petty trade. Mabruk alone, under Allah, was to 
 be thanked for the opportunity, for without his 
 gracious bounty 'Ala'd-din would never have been 
 able to afford the requisite cooking utensils and 
 rich ingredients. 
 
 That night Mabruk's conscience greatly troubled 
 him, because of what remained of the money taken 
 from the Syrian. The Sayyid Ahmed el-Bedawi 
 was a saint renowned through all the world for 
 the righting of wrongs, and especially for his
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 95 
 
 address in restoring stolen goods to the lawful 
 owners. For a man to visit the shrine of the 
 Father of Consolation with wrongful wealth in 
 his possession would have been foolhardy in the 
 extreme. Zeynab, when consulted, shared his 
 apprehensions. She advised him to leave the 
 gold where it was, buried in a hole in the floor, 
 vowing to distribute it in alms on his safe return. 
 In that way it became no longer his, and at the 
 same time was devoted to a pious use. And, 
 after all, it was improbable that the Sayyid 
 Ahmed, who was a Muslim — none like him — would 
 go to any great trouble on account of a Nazarene. 
 Had the man despoiled been a true believer, it 
 would have been another matter. She herself 
 intended to ask the Sheykh of the Arabs of his 
 kindness to find the treasure of Muhammad en- 
 Nuri for Mabruk, the rightful heir of that good 
 robber. 
 
 Early next morning the start was made. Every- 
 one took care to pass the threshold right foot first, 
 and say, " In the Name of Allah the Merciful, the 
 Compassionate !" that the religious aspect of the 
 merry-making might be borne in mind. Some of 
 the men, who were dervishes, sported red turbans 
 in honour of the Sayyid Ahmed. The women 
 raised their cries of joy and clapped their hands 
 in measure as the train set forth. Children seated 
 before their parents upon the backs of mules and 
 asses clapped their hands likewise or beat time 
 on little drums. The procession streamed along 
 the Nile bank, raising clouds of dust. In its 
 midst, upon a camel, rode Hafiz, the blind khatib.
 
 96 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 bearing on high the banner of the sainted donkey- 
 driver, its rich fabric rippling on the breeze. 
 After a little while the banner, growing too 
 heavy for his aged hands, was consigned to a 
 pedestrian, and the zagharit and clapping ceased 
 awhile, until they came to a village, when once 
 more the joyful noise arose and the banner floated 
 on high from the back of the camel. All who met 
 them blessed their journey ; and after the midday 
 halt, they fell in with other like processions, until 
 the long, straight dyke before them seemed alive 
 with people, all moving in one direction, a march 
 of ants across the endless plain. At length, on 
 the horizon, something broke the level. A dome 
 and minarets were seen upon the summit of what 
 seemed a little cloud, but was in truth the kom of 
 a populous town. At that the multitude cried 
 praise to Allah, and a man with a beautiful voice 
 began to sing : 
 
 " Tanta, on thee is light ! 
 In thee a hero bright ! 
 
 Ya ahl el 'adl* 
 Balm to the soul thou art, 
 Rest to the weary heart ! 
 
 Ya sahib fadl!"t 
 
 * O race (or family) of justice ' 
 f O Lord of Kindness !
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 The riders dismounted at a temporary khan, one 
 of many erected in the approach to the town, and 
 left the beasts there. Then the party dispersed, 
 the greater number heading straight for the city 
 of tents out in the fields, scene of all kinds of 
 merry-making and of the pious orgies of the 
 dervishes, whither the banner of the Sheykh 
 Selim was borne with acclamation, Mabruk, 
 however, with all his father's house, went to 
 the mosque of the Sayyid Ahmed, advancing 
 slowly, at the mercy of the crowd which choked 
 the streets. The great court of the mosque was 
 full to overflowing, and it was some time before 
 the Sheykh Mustafa and his sons could force a 
 passage into the spacious alcove where was the 
 saint's tomb. 
 
 From visiting the shrine Mabruk went out 
 alone to look for 'Ala'd-din, who was crying his 
 sweetstuff somewhere in the fair. He had to 
 fight every inch of his way down the main street, 
 lined with stalls, upon which tradesmen sat on 
 high among their wares, invoking the patronage 
 of the Sheykh of the Arabs ; and when at last he 
 won clear of buildings, the concourse and the 
 
 97 7
 
 98 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 clamour grew instead of lessening ; for out there 
 in the fields across the railway, land held in 
 mortmain by the saint, canvas tents great and 
 small, booths, wooden stalls, huts and screens 
 covered with matting of palm -fibre, made a 
 second town, about a mile in length, where 
 pleasure in every form was offered cheaply to a 
 pleasure-loving people. It was folly, he soon 
 perceived, to attempt to find one individual in so 
 vast a throng; so he wandered on, content, from 
 show to show, trusting to chance to throw the 
 sweetmeat-seller in his way. 
 
 The sunset flamed and died across the flats. 
 The dome and minarets of the Sayyid's mosque 
 blushed pink a space against a turquoise sky, 
 then faded with the world to ashy grey. The 
 outline of the tents grew black. Soon lights 
 shone out here and there, while high over all, 
 upon the summit of the kom on which the town 
 is built, the minarets of the saint wore rings of 
 flickering fire, and fire ran as a circlet round the 
 base of his dome. 
 
 At one moment Mabruk was deafened by the 
 name of Allah bawled in concert by a moving 
 rank of dervishes ; the next he was ogled by 
 a row of tinselled dancing-girls, shaking their 
 breasts upon the stage outside a show-tent, to an 
 accompaniment of tar and darabukkeh. " In the 
 name of the Sayyid !" cried the water-carriers, 
 giving drink without payment to all who thirsted. 
 *' In the name of the Sayyid !" cried the soldiers 
 keeping order, when they beat back the crowd 
 for the passage of some dignitary. " O Sheykh
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 99 
 
 of the Arabs ! O Father of Consolation ! O Lord 
 of Kindness !" cried all who yawned, or found 
 themselves at a loss for a word. The very harlots 
 called upon the saint to send them custom. 
 
 At length, when it had been some time night, 
 he came to a part of the fair which was not 
 crowded, a wide open space with a high pole in 
 the midst, theatre of the great doings of the der- 
 vishes. Here he had to step gingerly to avoid 
 treading upon people who had lain down to sleep 
 upon the trampled grouiid. Near one end of the 
 square two cressets tossed their flames this way 
 or that as the wind listed, lighting the faces of a 
 circle of onlookers. Within the ring a burly 
 giant flourished a quarter-staff, calling for a man 
 to match him at that weapon. A champion pre- 
 sented himself, but was quickly worsted amid 
 much laughter. Mabruk then, having nothing 
 else to do, pushed his way into the arena, and 
 had a long staff handed to him. 
 
 ** Ah, he is brave, this stripling, this young 
 buck. Now see how in a minute I will eat him 
 up !" bellowed the challenger, with a grimace so 
 hideous that all the strength ran out of Mabruk's 
 limbs. Nevertheless, he managed to go through 
 the formal preliminaries, striking the ground with 
 graceful deliberation, first on the right hand, then 
 on the left, then clashing staves with his opponent 
 in mid-air. The other's face was huge and hair- 
 less, bearing many scars ; it seemed a devil's in 
 the waving torchlight. All at once it rushed at 
 him with a yell, and Mabruk sank cowering on 
 the ground, his staff struck clean out of his hand. 
 
 7—2
 
 100 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 His look of terror gave the crowd much merri- 
 ment. The youth picked himself up at length 
 and retired, laughing ; while the victor bellowed, 
 "O who in all the world can conquer me, seeing 
 our lord el-Bedawi strengthens my right arm !" 
 
 " Is it thou, O Mabruk ?" said a voice at his 
 elbow as he left the crowd, when, turning, he 
 saw 'Ala'd-din. " I was drawn to watch the staff 
 play, and so found thee. I have sold much sweet- 
 stuff, the praise to Allah, and given some away 
 for the sake of the Sayyid, and now I have put 
 aside my tray and barrow to seek amusement. 
 Hast seen the tent of the mudiriyeh ? There was 
 delicious music before it when I passed just now. 
 Come, let us see !" 
 
 He led Mabruk across the open space and in 
 and out among the tent ropes till they came to 
 a second square, where was much concourse 
 before a large marquee very grandly illuminated. 
 From the tent mouth came strains of heavenly 
 music, of lutes and zithers, cymbals and dulcimers, 
 pipes and drums, blended together cunningly. 
 Mabruk and his friend drew near and joined the 
 crowd around the musicians, who were seated on 
 the ground in the entrance to the tent. Beyond 
 them, in the presence of the great who lounged 
 within, a man, also cross-legged on the earth, was 
 giving a performance with two cobras. The 
 snakes coiled round his neck, struck their wicked 
 heads into his face, and even licked his lips with 
 their forked tongues, so that the fellahin who saw 
 it sought refuge in Allah. But the great ones, 
 who reclined within upon couches such as are in
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE loi 
 
 king's palaces, paid no regard to this or to the 
 music, but talked one to another with weary looks. 
 Most of them wore the official tarbush, frock-coat, 
 and dark trousers. 
 
 " Who are those men ?" asked a child held up 
 on a man's shoulder. 
 
 " They are some of God's creatures, O beloved," 
 was the scornful answer. 
 
 The vulgar herd of spectators formed a half- 
 circle at the open end of the tent. Mabruk, at 
 one extremity of this crescent, had in full view 
 the faces of men at the other. Suddenly, with a 
 thrill, he became aware of the countenance which 
 had so long haunted him — that of the Syrian 
 whom he had robbed at Kafr Zeyn. Beneath the 
 high red fez it looked white and foreign amid the 
 swarthy, turbaned crowd of fellahin. Pulling 
 'Ala'd-din's sleeve, he withdrew very hastily. 
 
 " May Our Lord protect thee !" exclaimed the 
 sweetmeat-seller, with fervour, when the need for 
 this sudden departure was explained to him. 
 "Let us hasten to the tent of the Shinnawiyeh 
 dervishes, of whom I am the least. There thou 
 art safe, in sh' Allah; for the Shinnawiyeh are the 
 chief order of the Ahmediyeh, and who would 
 affront our lord Ahmed on the occasion of his 
 Molid?" 
 
 So saying, he led Mabruk with speed to another 
 marquee, hardly less brilliant than that of the 
 mudiriyeh. Here a zikr was going forward. 
 Some forty professed devotees of the saint, 
 holding hands in a ring round one of the tent- 
 poles, were gasping out the name of Allah, with
 
 102 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 sharp nods to right and left and convulsive 
 jerkings of the whole body. 'Ala'd-din, leading 
 Mabruk by the hand, passed by the performers 
 into the heart of the tent, where some old men, 
 richly clad, sat in pleasant converse, enjoying the 
 refreshments which a servant offered. 
 
 'Ala'd-din kissed the hand of him who sat as 
 host — no less a personage than the Grand Sheykh 
 of the Shinnawiyeh — and the hand of one on his 
 right — one of the learned from the Sayyid's 
 mosque, he informed Mabruk afterwards in a 
 whisper. Mabruk followed his example. They 
 then retired to low seats, where refreshment was 
 brought to them. 
 
 Seeing one of the zakirs drop out of the ring, 
 'Ala'd-din sprang up and took his place, and began 
 hurling forth the name of Allah with low bows to 
 right and left. Mabruk was left sitting alone. 
 He felt secure, in sanctuary, having the name of 
 Allah round about him. He saw in the crowd, 
 which had collected outside the tent to watch the 
 zikr, the baffled forces of his enemy, gnashing 
 their teeth for rage at his escape. His mind had 
 leisure to comprehend the talk of the elders who 
 sat near him. 
 
 *' Wallahi," said the sheykh from the mosque, 
 with a boding wag of the head, " things go badly 
 in the country nowadays. Men who have come 
 to-day from the capital assure us that the murmurs 
 of the soldiery are on the increase. The impunity 
 of their insolence of three months back planted 
 fear in the hearts of Ahmed Arabi and his con- 
 federates lest Efendina should but bide his time
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 103 
 
 and smite them unawares. Every night they meet 
 in the house of Arabi for counsel how to make 
 their power redoubtable. They have caused to 
 be sent through all the provinces a list of wrongs, 
 asking the notables to put their names to it and 
 support them in demanding just reforms. Multi- 
 tudes have signed through fear of the power of 
 Arabi as displayed in the recent mutiny. Ah, it 
 is a pity that our present ruler did not heed the 
 warning of his subtle father, for it is said that 
 Ismail, before he went, advised his son to make 
 an end of Ahmed Arabi and all his friends. But 
 Muhammad Tewfik, in the greatness of his mercy, 
 spared them. However that may be, I pray Allah 
 to avert any serious rebellion, for Efendina is a 
 Muslim and a man most upright." 
 
 " He did wrong to abolish the Doseh," said the 
 chief of the dervishes, with a dissenting frown. 
 
 "As to that, I know not; it is not my business. 
 It has angered you good people out of measure, 
 yet can hardly be considered detrimental to the 
 Faith. We learned deplore rather his con- 
 cessions to the Franks in the matter of slaves. 
 To suppress the raids in the Sudan was one 
 thing, but to interfere with our household 
 arrangements is quite another. The Coran 
 enjoins humanity towards slaves, and how can 
 one be humane towards what is not?" 
 
 Here Mabruk could not refrain from putting in 
 a word, but he spoke humbly, with hands hidden 
 in his sleeves and eyes downcast, much in awe of 
 the learning of men who could quote a tradition 
 of the Prophet or his Companions in support of
 
 104 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 their lightest statement. From his modern educa- 
 tion he had derived no knowledge to compare 
 with theirs, all he had learnt being without 
 Divine authority. He submitted : 
 
 " But is it bearable that all the wealth of Masr 
 should pass into the hands of the Frank com- 
 missioners ?" 
 
 "Ah, my son!" replied the sheykh of the 
 mosque, with a pleasant smile. " Is that our 
 business, yours and mine ? What share might 
 we, at any time, hope to receive from out the 
 revenues of this region of Masr? It is Efendina || 
 
 alone who suffers, as heir to his father's debts. 
 The Powers of Europe to-day are the slaves of 
 Jewish usurers who hate the Muslimin, and Efen- 
 dina, by quiet compliance with their demands, 
 hopes in the end to pay them off and rid the land 
 of them, for, in a limited sense, they are just and 
 abide by contracts. Many think that this pre- 
 dominance of the Jews foretells the coming of 
 Antichrist. Allah knows ! But it is certain that 
 a rebellion now would give the Franks their 
 opportunity — that, in the name of Efendina, they 
 would take possession of this province. There 
 can be no gehad against a properly constituted 
 Muslim authority ; such would be mere insurrec- 
 tion, without religious motive or sanction ; and 
 the province of Masr, cut off from the rest of El 
 Islamiyeh, would soon be conquered by the 
 Franks. That is why some people assert that 
 Ahmed Arabi and his helpers are in the pay of 
 the Europeans. But I am well assured that that 
 is not the case. He is merely a well-intentioned
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 105 
 
 man, egged on towards he knows not what by 
 the plaudits of the soldiery." 
 
 " By the Most High, thou speakest like an 
 angel from Allah," said the aged sheykh of the 
 dervishes when his friend had .finished speaking. 
 ** Yet must I differ from thee ; for not only has 
 Efendina made mistakes in respect of the Dosch 
 and the slave-trade, it is also rumoured that he 
 favours free-thinking, and doubts the authenticity 
 of the miracles of the saints." 
 
 This was uttered with a sly twinkle of the eyes, 
 as the old man grasped his beard and watched 
 sidelong for the effect of the thrust; for his friend 
 was one of the guardians of the shrine of the 
 Sayyid el-Bedawi, a post which the miracles of 
 the saint made very lucrative. 
 
 " Pshaw " the sheykh of the mosque was be- 
 ginning; but he saw the trap in time, and changed 
 his tone, continuing in his professional voice : 
 
 " There be false miracles, doubtless, fancies of 
 the silly vulgar ; but who shall dare to deny that 
 there are true ones ? Certainly not we of the 
 house of our lord el-Bedawi, who have daily 
 evidence of the might of his intercession. Hear 
 this, for example : 
 
 " A poor Copt of this town, being employed by 
 the priest of his church to cleanse certain vessels 
 of gold which are used in that erroneous worship, 
 was carrying them, wrapped in linen and hidden 
 in his bosom, to his own house, when he was set 
 upon in a lonely place by ruffians, and the vessels 
 were taken from him. The priest, for all the poor 
 man's tears and lamentations, believed that he, and
 
 io6 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 no other, had stolen the precious vessels, which by 
 that Faith are idolatrously reverenced. He not 
 only beat him soundly, but anathematized him 
 and expelled him from the community. The poor 
 Copt was in despair. He called on all the saints 
 of the Nazarenes, but none heard his prayer. At 
 length he bethought him to invoke the aid of the 
 Sayyid Ahmed el-Bedawi — may Allah accept 
 him ! — when straightway, as he walked in the 
 market, he saw the vessels in a certain shop, but 
 soiled so that they seemed not gold. He seized 
 on them and ran, a crowd pursuing, to the 
 church, where the priest received them from him. 
 The merchant roared : ' Ya Muslimin !' and called 
 for justice ; and the priest, demanding nothing 
 better, all went together before the Cadi, who, at 
 the name of the Sayyid el-Bedawi, gave judgment 
 for the Copts ; and the merchant named the 
 thieves sooner than lose his right hand. The 
 poor Copt came yesterday to the door of our 
 illustrious mosque, begging to speak with one of 
 the learned. I went out to him, and he told me 
 his story, humbly presenting an offering for the 
 shrine and a trifle of alms for the poor. Who 
 shall doubt thy influence, O Sheykh of the Arabs, 
 seeing the very infidels themselves attest it?" 
 
 The zikr was now at an end, and its per- 
 formers, panting from their exertions, sat or lay 
 upon the ground in groups. They, with all who 
 heard the story, praised Allah for His mercies; 
 but Mabruk sat blind and dumb, his temples 
 throbbing, in the dazed state of one thrown 
 suddenly off a camel. Till now he had thought
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 107 
 
 it most unlikely that a Muslim saint would stoop 
 to interfere on behalf of an infidel, but now he 
 beheld in his mind the whole might of the 
 She3'kh of the Arabs arrayed against him. What 
 else could have brought that cursed Syrian to the 
 feast ? 
 
 Prudence urged him to depart at once from 
 these religious men, servants of the lord Ahmed, 
 who might at any moment be inspired to seize 
 and bind him ; or so it seemed to his disturbed 
 intelligence. So, on a word to 'Ala'd-din, he took 
 leave of the holy ones, and the twain resumed 
 their wanderings through the streets of the canvas 
 town. Informed of the fresh trouble in his friend's 
 mind, 'Ala'd-din strove to reassure him, saying : 
 
 "That story has no bearing on thy case. It 
 concerned a man poor and lowly who called upon 
 our lord in his extremity. The poor, even of the 
 infidels, are dear to Allah, for they never forget 
 Him. But' thy Shami is rich and prideful ; he 
 would not call upon our lord. And the Sayyid 
 will take into account thy generosity, the noble 
 gift thou didst make to one poor like me." 
 
 'Ala'd-din stood still before a flaring tent, where 
 a man with the lungs of a bull called all mankind 
 to view the wisdom of the Franks as displayed in 
 the magnificent Greek circus, the property of one 
 Iskender, where all kinds of miracles were even 
 now being performed. He was for going in, but 
 Mabruk objected, the trouble in his mind making 
 vain all entertainment. The cries of other show- 
 men, the smiles of plump dancing-girls, failed to 
 allure him. So in the end they supped together
 
 io8 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 in the street of tents appropriate to the pur- 
 veyors of rotten fish, and then, forsaking the fair, 
 strolled out on to the open plain, which, after the 
 din and concourse, seemed an empty hall. The 
 piled-up town encroached upon the starry sky. 
 It was all dark save for the illuminations of the 
 Sayyid's mosque, which, beginning to flag, were 
 broken, showing gaps of darkness. Upon a bank 
 beneath an ancient mulberry-tree the two friends 
 named the name of Allah, and lay down to sleep. 
 The night breeze flapped the leaves against the 
 sky, by which it seemed as if the stars kept 
 winking. Wrapped in their cloaks, they hid 
 their faces in their arms, and the noise of the fair 
 died away for them.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 Mabruk dreamed. 
 
 He had stolen some precious vessels from the 
 shrine of the Sayyid Ahmed, and was running 
 with them hidden in his robe, pursued by a yell- 
 ing mob whose leader was that accursed Syrian. 
 He had gained the open plain and saw hope of 
 escape, when an old man stood and barred the 
 way before him. A pair of bright, stern eyes 
 flashed from beneath the head-dress of the desert 
 Arabs. Those eyes paralyzed him so that he 
 sank helpless, while the hunters fell upon him. 
 They were in act to rend him limb from limb 
 when he awoke. 
 
 The town and its sovereign mosque were 
 haloed by the dawn. A pallor hung in the air 
 above the endless plain, still veiled in night, and 
 watched by peaceful stars. 'Ala'd-din slept on. 
 
 Mabruk could hardly doubt but that he had 
 had true vision of the Sheykh of the Arabs. 
 In that chill hour of dawn remorse possessed 
 him ; he was moved to humble himself at once 
 before his great antagonist. Dedicating his works 
 to Allah, he left 'Ala'd-din to his slumbers, and 
 strode towards the town. 
 
 109
 
 no THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 On every dry bank and in the lee of every tent 
 men, women, and children lay asleep ; the streets 
 themselves were strewn with sleeping forms. 
 Here and there a man sat up and rubbed his 
 eyes, or lifted his hands to heaven. The few 
 who were already afoot stalked in the same 
 direction with Mabruk, up towards the lofty 
 portal of the Sayyid's mosque. 
 
 The shadow on the world was turning blue 
 when Mabruk passed beneath the ornate gateway 
 into a large cloistered court, where, on common 
 days, the thousand students of the university sat 
 in groups round their instructors. It was now 
 close-packed with fellahin, who had spent the 
 night there. So great a crowd beset the place of 
 washing that Mabruk half feared that he would 
 miss the hour of prayer, but he finally succeeded 
 in performing his ablutions, and joined the throng 
 of worshippers that pressed towards the mihrab 
 just as the sweet voice of the muezzin fell like 
 dew from heaven. 
 
 Having prayed, he passed to the shrine of the 
 saint, where the press was again so dense that 
 he had difficulty in getting near enough to touch 
 the tomb with outstretched hand. From all 
 sides came salutations and blessings in terms 
 of passionate love. One old dervish close to 
 Mabruk waved arms aloft, and extolled the provi- 
 dence of Allah as one inspired. 
 
 " We are allowed to visit thee once more, O 
 Sheykh of the Arabs ! May Allah take pleasure 
 in thee and save thee, O Father of Consolation ! 
 . . . Ho, all who have done evil, come hither,
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE iii 
 
 and behold the boundless mercy of the Most 
 High. Turn now and do good, and in His 
 mercy the good shall outweigh the evil at the 
 last day." 
 
 The cry and its message went straight to the 
 heart of Mabruk, as if the saint himself had 
 uttered it. As a first step in the way of atone- 
 ment he vowed then and there to become a sacca 
 for three hours in the heat of the day, and pour 
 out cooling drink for all who thirsted, in the 
 name of the Sayyid. Upon that he went forth 
 from the shrine and picked his way among the 
 seated throng in the court, looking for someone 
 of his acquaintance to whom he could impart his 
 vow and so confirm it. 
 
 In the cloister walls were many windows with 
 deep ledges, on which some of the fellahin had 
 deposited their womenfolk and baggage for 
 security. The women, squatting up there, were 
 munching nuts and sweetstuff, and peeping 
 through the gratings at the street without. 
 Mabruk, taking stock of his surroundings, saw 
 two of the veiled ones making signs to him, and 
 drawing near them, recognized his wife and 
 mother. 
 
 "Hast seen thy father, O Mabruk? He seeks 
 thee. Allah, pity ! Calamity has befallen thy 
 brother Rashid. By the Prophet ! he did wrong 
 to leave his wife behind ; for last night a friend 
 led him to a place of lewd amusement, the haunt 
 of foreigners, and our dear one was stricken with 
 love for a Nazarene woman, who danced before 
 all men there. He tossed and moaned and called
 
 112 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 upon her name through all the night, and now 
 this morning he is very angry and will speak to 
 no one. Perchance thy voice might soothe him, 
 for he loves thee much." 
 
 Mabruk engaged to do what he could to help 
 the sufferer. He was going on to tell the women 
 of his own trouble, when Zeynab produced from 
 her robe the silver box which he had found at 
 Kafr Zeyn. She was proceeding calmly to open 
 it and look for something kept there, when he 
 snatched it from her hand with a malediction. 
 Was his wife mad to bring this memorial of his 
 crime to the shrine of the righter of wrongs ? 
 No doubt it was for this the saint was wroth 
 with him. 
 
 " Thou art mad thyself," the girl protested, 
 whimpering, in a fright at his sudden vehemence 
 " The box is thy gift to me, and Allah knows 
 it was not stolen, but simply picked up off the 
 common ground. And assuredly our lord Ahmed 
 is not against thee, for he has shown us how to 
 find the treasure of Muhammad en-Nuri. Is it 
 not true, O my mother ? These women tell of a 
 Mughrabi in this town, who has not his match in 
 all the world for revealing hidden things. The 
 name of the man and his abode are known to us. 
 Come with us after noon this day, and make trial 
 of his art." 
 
 Mabruk by this was somewhat mollified, yet 
 he still kept hold of the silver case, and it was in 
 his bosom when, a few minutes later, he made his 
 way out of the mosque. He prayed that chance 
 might bring him near his enemy in a public place
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 113 
 
 that he might thrust the box on him " in the 
 name of the Sayyid," and vanish instantly amid 
 the crowd. 
 
 Now, in the early sunlight, the streets were 
 once more filled from wall to wall. From the 
 steps of the mosque the heads appeared as thick 
 in motion as the sand in an hour-glass. Mabruk 
 was putting on his slippers before the door when 
 he caught sight of 'Ala'd-din and his own father 
 among the inflowing throng. 
 
 " Praise to Allah, at last I find thee," cried the 
 Sheykh Mustafa. ** Rashid thy brother is quite 
 mad, the poor one ! A girl has snatched his wits 
 away. I have reasoned with him, but to no pur- 
 pose. Come now and see what thou canst do." 
 
 He turned back from entering the mosque, and 
 shouldered his way across the street to the mouth 
 of an alley, where was much less concourse. Here 
 the three were able to walk abreast and look 
 about them at the shops on either hand, whose 
 owners strove to entice them in the name of the 
 Sayyid. A little boy ran after Mabruk, and 
 clutching the hem of his robe, made graceful 
 reverence. " In the name of the Sayyid," he 
 lisped, and thrust a rose into the young man's 
 hand, making off as swiftly as he had come. 
 
 From this alley of shops they turned into a 
 lane quite empty, and came at length to a 
 small open space where one of the mud-built 
 houses had fallen down or been demolished. 
 Here, on a heap of rubbish, sat the luckless 
 Rashid, watched by a little group of young 
 companions. The new arrivals joined this band
 
 114 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 of sympathizers. They called on Allah to relieve 
 the dear one, and in a gentle, indirect way tried 
 to engage his attention. But he gave no heed at 
 all to them. He sighed and groaned and rocked 
 himself, giving utterance, from time to time, to 
 passionate words. 
 
 " O my sweet, did I ever wrong thee that thou 
 hast dealt me such a wound? Veil thy face, I tell 
 thee ; in mercy, veil it ! It is a sin for thee to 
 kill men with such loveliness. . . . Thou dancest 
 very badly, O my soul ; not a daughter of the 
 country but has more dexterity; and yet methinks 
 the black-eyed maids dance thus in paradise. . . . 
 I looked upon the sun in splendour, and that image 
 is a seal upon my eyes for ever. I am blind, and 
 wander groping. Where is the beloved ? O 
 Sheykh of the Arabs, lead me to her abode, 
 and incline her heart to pity, that she drive 
 me not away unsatisfied. O Helwehl Helweh! 
 Helweh!" 
 
 " O Lord of the Worlds !" moaned the youths 
 who heard him. "His disease is catching. We 
 also burn with love. O Sheykh of the Arabs ! 
 O Helweh! Helweh!" 
 
 "Her name, it seems, is Helweh," whispered 
 the Sheykh Mustafa in Mabruk's ear. "She is 
 one of those who flock hither from Esh Sham 
 to make money by infatuating the rich Turks and 
 khawagat. Alas ! she sets upon her favours a 
 price beyond the reach of common men, else 
 might Rashid have peace." 
 
 Mabruk, who loved his brother, sat watching 
 him sadly. The space of rubbish-heaps and the
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 115 
 
 surrounding walls of houses were mud-coloured, 
 which made the jewel sky more brilliant, like a 
 bright eye in a face dry and withered. All at 
 once, hearing Rashid cry out, " O Sheykh of the 
 Arabs !" a hope occurred to him. He took up 
 the cry. 
 
 " O Sheykh of the Arabs ! In thy name I give 
 drink to the thirsty this day at noon. Let Rashid 
 become the partner of my toil, that so, by thy 
 merit, in sh' Allah, he may win his dear." 
 
 Rashid leaned towards the speaker, smiling as 
 though he heard sweet music. Slowly the dull 
 look vanished from his face. 
 
 " Thou sayest well," he murmured. " We will 
 toil together through the heat, and afterwards, 
 when night arrives, thou shalt come with me to 
 the scene of my misfortune. Call it a bargain, 
 O my soul 1" 
 
 All who sat by praised Allah for his swift 
 recovery. He rose, and submitted to be led to 
 a tavern, to eat and drink a little in preparation 
 for the task before him ; while 'Ala'd-din, who 
 knew all the ins and outs of the fair, went off to 
 hire the necessary outfit for them. 
 
 In the heat of the day the two young men, each 
 with ajar of cooling drink upon his back, moved 
 here and there amid the multitude, clashing two 
 cups together and shouting : " O ye thirsty !" 
 Out among the tents, where the air was thick 
 with dust, at an hour when the heat of the sun 
 made all things colourless, they bore their heavy 
 burdens, bowing to the request of the poorest, 
 so that a jet of lemon-flavoured drink poured 
 
 8—2
 
 ii6 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 over the shoulder into one of the cups ; and 
 Mabruk felt happy in the pious business, sure 
 that the Syrian had no power to hurt him. He 
 wished that the accursed one would appear 
 before him, craving drink, that, with the liquor, he 
 might give to him the cigarette-case, and so be 
 rid of obligation towards him. 
 
 Not until the second hour after noon did the 
 brethren desist from their task of mercy, and, 
 having restored their vessels to the owner, return 
 with aching backs to the tavern whence they had 
 set out. There Rashid, who had not closed his 
 eyes that night, threw himself upon the ground and 
 went to sleep. Mabruk was thinking to follow 
 his example, when he became conscious of the 
 gaze of someone passing in the street without. 
 In the torpid state of his intelligence it was quite 
 a minute ere he realized it was the Syrian, and 
 by that time the man was gone. Mabruk gave 
 chase, thinking here was his opportunity to give 
 back the silver box ; but the man was not in 
 sight, and at the street-end moved a crowd in 
 which it had been hopeless to seek for him. He 
 returned to the tavern, feeling in his garment for 
 the case, but it was gone. At first dismay was 
 his one sensation on this discovery, but pre- 
 sently, upon reflection, he gave praise to Allah. 
 Perhaps the Sayyid Ahmed, in consideration of 
 his great repentance, had himself relieved him 
 of the tiresome charge. Perhaps it had been 
 miraculously transferred to the rightful owner. 
 He prayed that it might be so. 
 
 Returned to the tavern, he had flung himself
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 117 
 
 down to rest beside Rashid, when the voices of 
 his mother and Zeynab struck his ear. Their 
 veiled forms darkened the entry. They asked if 
 he was minded to consult the wise Mughrabi 
 concerning the treasure of Muhammad en-Nuri. 
 He replied, " In the name of Allah !" and went 
 with them. 
 
 Guided by a small boy, they threaded tortuous 
 byways of the town, where nothing broke the 
 monotony of mud-built walls save here and there 
 a little whitewashed shrine, or the ornamented 
 gateway of some lesser mosque. In a blind alley 
 they knocked at a low door, which was the 
 solitary feature of a high brown wall. A deep 
 voice with a foreign intonation bade them enter 
 Their guide forsook them suddenly, and fled.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 The room within seemed so dark that the women 
 instinctively murmured: "Your permission, 
 blessed ones !" as one says when entering a place 
 where demons dwell. But as their eyes forgot 
 the sunlight they saw that it got some light 
 through a doorway from a room behind. The 
 same voice which had before addressed them 
 came again from that inner sanctum, and, passing 
 to it, they were met by the magician, who 
 seemed to have just risen from a bed upon the 
 floor, of which the coverings were all disordered. 
 
 He was a tall, gaunt man of middle age, lean- 
 jowled, and of a copper complexion. His eyes, 
 too close to a large aquiline nose, conveyed a 
 sinister impression which the excessive bland- 
 ness of his smile seemed designed to correct. 
 His turban — a very deep one — and the robe he 
 wore were made of rich material, but old and 
 dirty. His legs and feet were bare and copper- 
 coloured like his face. 
 
 The women talking volubly, MabrOk had time 
 to look about him. Besides the bed already 
 mentioned, there was a brazier in a corner, with 
 vessels of strange shape upon the floor around it. 
 
 Il8
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 119 
 
 What light there was to see by entered through 
 wide cracks in the wooden shutter closing a 
 window, which gave upon another street, appa- 
 rently, for voices and passing footsteps were 
 heard beyond it. 
 
 " Can you tell me in what neighbourhood the 
 treasure was buried ?" inquired the sorcerer. 
 " Did I know that, I could, for a payment, per- 
 ambulate the region and, in sh' Allah, locate it by 
 means of the divining-wand. That is the simplest 
 method and the surest. . . . Ah, thou sayest 
 truth, O veiled one ! It is a course which would 
 involve some risks of publicity. . . . Thou 
 wouldst know the secret of the matter here and 
 now ? Thou askest : Is it possible ? I reply : 
 It is possible, since the owner of the wealth is 
 dead. Were he in life, no power on earth could 
 compess it. But I warn you, this will come much 
 dearer than the simpler method. This noble 
 youth is the rightful heir, you say ? Without a 
 doubt he will give much for possession of the 
 inheritance." 
 
 '• I will give thee a tithe of the treasure," said 
 Mabruk lavishly. 
 
 The wizard shook his head, and cunning crept 
 into his ceaseless smile. He said : " Not so, by 
 Allah ! The price must be paid beforehand, 
 which means — now. Without it I will not 
 embark upon the business, which is arduous and, 
 I warn you, rather terrible. That is my last 
 word. Now, how much wilt thou give ?" 
 
 At that there were lively protests from the 
 women. It was not right to pay for work till
 
 120 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 work was done. The warlock only enlarged his 
 knowing smile, and repeated : " It is my last 
 word." 
 
 At length the mother of Mabruk, who had 
 come provided with money for the purpose, made 
 a bid which the wizard repelled with indignation, 
 and the bargaining began in earnest. Mabruk, 
 less greedy for the treasure, left the adjustment 
 of preliminaries to the women, and sat by, brood- 
 ing on his own perplexities. The silver case 
 might have been stolen from his person, or he 
 might have dropped it. In any case he could not 
 divest his mind of a sense that there was some- 
 thing miraculous in its disappearance at this 
 juncture, nor yet decide whether the accident 
 was ominous of good or evil. 
 
 Matters were finally arranged, and the wizard, 
 in possession of the money, warned his sup- 
 pliants that their courage was about to be tried 
 to the utmost. 
 
 He then cried: "O Daud !" and clapped his 
 hands, when a small boy appeared so suddenly 
 from the dark ante-room that to Mabruk and the 
 women he seemed to spring out of the ground. 
 
 " Make all things ready for the greater magic !" 
 
 The boy Daud first stopped up the cracks in 
 the shutter with rags and dry dung; then he 
 pulled the brazier out into the middle of the 
 room. He knelt awhile and blew its embers to a 
 glow, then brought a chafing-dish and an array 
 of phials. The sorcerer took seat behind the 
 brazier. 
 
 " Let no one name the name of Power !" he
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 121 
 
 cried in a harsh voice, and added to the boy : 
 " Take the rose from his hand !" 
 
 Mabriik was not aware that he had been smell- 
 ing at the rose which had been presented to him 
 that morning in the name of the Sayyid, till Daud, 
 with an imploring gesture, took it from him ; but, 
 curiously, the moment it was gone he missed it 
 greatly, and felt that he had lost his last support. 
 The boy had returned to his master's side. At a 
 word from the magician he took up one of the 
 phials and the chafing-dish, and flung what 
 seemed fine dust upon the brazier. A cloud of 
 thick white smoke went up and spread through- 
 out the room. 
 
 The wizard muttered a long incantation, of 
 which Mabruk could not catch a word. From 
 time to time he interrupted himself to breathe a 
 word to the boy, who thereupon mixed fresh 
 powders on the chafing-dish and cast them on 
 the fire. Each time a puff of perfumed smoke 
 arose, until the air of the room was dense with it, 
 and Mabruk's head swam with the potent fumes. 
 
 The walls of the room had vanished. At one 
 minute it seemed they were in the desert, home 
 of all enchantments, the next that they were 
 seated on a magic carpet travelling through the 
 air at lightning speed. The shrouded forms of 
 the two women sitting with their backs towards 
 him, the crouching shape of the wizard whose 
 face, in the glow of the brazier, was at moments 
 hidden by the gush of smoke, the boy erect and 
 moving silently — all seemed to be rushing onward 
 towards some land unknown. He now knew
 
 122 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 what was coming — a thing most awful, and, no 
 doubt, a sin. He had looked for a display of 
 second sight, some trick of divination, and behold 
 him seated at a show of necromancy. The fear 
 he had felt at sight of the Syrian was as nothing 
 to this. He heard the name of the dead robber 
 called three times by the magician. The whole 
 group now seemed to be travelling at a frightful 
 speed, the smoke whirling round them. An un- 
 earthly cry went up. The earth split open in 
 their midst, and out of the fissure rose vague 
 shapes with sounds of fear. One of the spectres 
 drew Mabruk's gaze. Slowly it condensed, the 
 others fading. The figure of a man in Prankish 
 clothes, with fez pushed back carelessly, the 
 phantom stared at Mabruk. It was the Syrian, 
 in the same posture in which he had passed the 
 tavern an hour before. Mabruk knew no more 
 till he awoke to find the room made light once 
 more, the women weeping, the magician bending 
 over him, applying restoratives. 
 
 " Dost fear the dead, O my son ?" he asked, 
 with his cunning smile. 
 
 " I saw no dead," Mabruk shuddered ; "but the 
 likeness of a living man, my enemy." 
 
 "A strange thing !" frowned the wizard, in real 
 perplexity. " It must be that thou hadst that face 
 in mind. Did I not bid thee think on him we 
 named ?" His tone became suddenly wrathful. 
 "Allah destroy thy house, O son of a dog! 
 Darest thou mock the enchanter and those who 
 deign to serve him? The spell failed through thy 
 fault. No form appeared distinctly. Get thee
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NH.E 123 
 
 gone, O pig, lest I call all the underground folk 
 to rend thee limb from limb! And you women, 
 also, in safety go !" 
 
 The women and Mabruk professed their respect 
 for his great powers and their perfect innocence 
 of any wish to anger him. But the necromancer 
 would not be appeased. With angry words he 
 drove them from his house, and they went forth 
 shamed into the sunlit alley, feeling as if they had 
 robbed him, though he had their money.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 Mabruk inhaled great breaths of the outer air, 
 but it was long ere he could purge his throat and 
 nostrils of the necromancer's fumes or his mind 
 of the shadow of that ghastly scene. Having 
 escorted his mother and his wife as far as the 
 gateway of the Sayyid's mosque, he returned to 
 the tavern where he had left Rashid asleep, to 
 find it a centre of some excitement. 
 
 A young fellah, with his hands bound, seated 
 on the ground between two soldiers was sending 
 out his voice in wild appeal to the passers-by, 
 some of whom stopped out of curiosity, forming 
 a little crowd. 
 
 " What is there ?" Mabruk inquired of one of 
 these inquisitives. The answer came on a 
 shrug : 
 
 "That poor young man, it seems, was chosen 
 by the omdeh of his village to serve in the army ; 
 but he escaped by flight. Now the omdeh, who 
 is his enemy, has seized him here at the Molid, 
 and delivered him up to these soldiers, who will 
 take him presently to el-Cahireh. It is said there 
 is a plot among the omdehs, and that other poor, 
 righteous men are like to be kidnapped ere the 
 
 124
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 125 
 
 feast is done. By the Prophet, it is an insult to 
 the Sayyid ; it is for the learned to denounce 
 such wickedness." 
 
 "Ya Muslimin ! Help! Save me, for the love 
 of Allah !" cried the captured youth. " It is by 
 injustice that I was chosen in the first place. The 
 omdeh is my enemy — a wicked man. My father 
 is dead. My mother and five little ones look to 
 me for support ; yet that devil picked me out for 
 the arm}^ My petition was lodged at the mudi- 
 riyeh, yet he has caused me to be seized, as it 
 were in the very sanctuary of our lord el-Bedawi ! 
 I may be sent to the land of devils, to the horrid 
 Sudan, unless, in the mercy of Allah, 1 can find a 
 substitute. O true believers, is there not one 
 among you who will redeem an ill-used man ? 
 Behold, my mother is a widow, and will be desti- 
 tute. What can she do alone with five quite little 
 ones? O Sheykh of the Arabs! Is justice no- 
 where to be found ? Is the race of the generous 
 quite extinct among us ?" 
 
 The spectators murmured of pity. By Allah, 
 here was an ill-used man, none more so, yet no 
 one felt a call to be ill-used instead of him. 
 
 "Oh, surely in all the hundreds of thousands 
 gathered hither to the Molid of our lord Ahmed, 
 there will be found one generous !" 
 
 At that the foremost of the crowd exclaimed: 
 
 "Allah knows! Perhaps that is so. In sh' 
 Allah, thou wilt chance on such an one," 
 
 " By Allah, he does wrong to make such moan," 
 cried one of the soldiers, a little nettled by the 
 crowd's compassion. " To hear him complain
 
 126 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 one would think he was leaving his mother out- 
 cast, like our lady Hagar, instead of in a village 
 full of her relations. And as for the portion of 
 soldiers, it is better than that of the fellahin, since 
 Ahmed Arabi — may Allah guard him ! — is become 
 our spokesman. The rulers hear our voice and 
 obey our judgments. Efendina himself is forced 
 to show us favour. After a little, in sh' Allah, a 
 gehad will be proclaimed, and we shall sweep the 
 dirty Franks into the sea. Then every soldier- 
 man will be a lord in the province of Masr — Arabi 
 Bey, our friend, will see to that." 
 
 Mabruk, growing tired of the dispute, pushed 
 his way into the coffee-house, and inquired of the 
 proprietor for his brother Rashid. The taverner, 
 with a merry grin, pointed to the floor near the 
 feet of one of the soldiers. Rashid lay there 
 asleep upon his arm, just as Mabruk had left him. 
 He had slept through all the outcry of the hapless 
 conscript. 
 
 Mabruk would not arouse him. He ordered a 
 mess of boiled beans, and cleaned out the dish 
 then entered into conversation with the soldiers 
 and their disconsolate charge. The latter still 
 kept entreating passers-by to provide a substitute. 
 Mabruk joined the warders in jeers at his in- 
 fatuation. 
 
 '* Wallahi, let him find his substitute if he can," 
 said one of them. "We, for our part, have nought 
 to say against it. Perhaps we had better send a 
 crier crying through the fair this cry : ' In the 
 name of the Sayyid. Whoever loves to do a 
 gracious deed, let him come forward and take the
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 127 
 
 place of a poor young man who has been selected 
 unjustly for the military service.' If he offered 
 money, it were another matter. For a good 
 round sum of money he could have a thousand 
 offers. 
 
 The youth turned fiercely on the speaker, 
 saying : 
 
 "Thou knowest well I have no money. Thou 
 seest my sad plight, yet mockest me. Thou 
 devil ! May Allah blast thee !" 
 
 "Now bless the Prophet, and retract thy curse. 
 It is wrong for thee to get so very angry. Find 
 thy generous man, since thou art set on it, and 
 peace to thee. There is time enough, for other 
 runaways have to be captured, and it is unlikely 
 we shall start before the morning." 
 
 Then it was sunset. In the third hour of the 
 night Rashid heaved a deep sigh, and his eyes 
 opened. 
 
 "O Mabruk, is it thou?" he said, and, raising 
 his head upon his hand, he yawned capaciously. 
 Regaining fuller consciousness, he asked: "What 
 hour is it ?" and, when informed, would hardly 
 stop to eat the food which the tavern-keeper, at 
 Mabruk's command, made haste to set before him 
 He whispered: "Thou wilt see her, O my dear, 
 and lucky thou ! But Allah save thee from such 
 pangs as I now suffer." 
 
 As soon as he had eaten a little, they went out 
 hand in hand, Rashid discoursing of his love with 
 frequent sighs, and the soldiers, who had heard 
 the story from the taverner, rallied them good- 
 humouredly as they set forth. Passing by the
 
 128 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 central mosque, round which the throng had 
 dwindled to some sauntering groups, they made 
 their way through dim bazaars to a part of the 
 town till then unknown to Mabruk — a quarter 
 down by the canal, where a number of the shops 
 were still open, and half of the people in the 
 streets wore Prankish clothes beneath the fez. 
 Here Rashid, struck speechless, dragged him to 
 a lighted entry. A man of rude address, with 
 the bleating Beyrut accent, demanded the price 
 of admission, and, when they had paid it, gave 
 no further heed to them. Rashid holding his 
 brother's hand as in a vice, they passed in to 
 what, for both of them, was a scene of 
 marvellous brilliance.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 A PIECE of waste land, bounded on three sides by 
 blind walls, had been roofed temporarily with 
 matting supported on wooden poles. Screens of 
 the same material were so disposed as to shut out 
 all view from the street, while leaving a passage 
 for those who paid to enter. Lamps hung from 
 pieces of wood nailed crosswise to the posts which 
 upheld the awning, and a string of paper lanterns 
 swung above a platform at the far end. On a 
 couch at the back of this stage lounged a dozen 
 girls, Syrian and Jewish by their types of 
 countenance, with flowers in their hair, and clad 
 in gowns whose fashion aped the Prankish. On 
 either side, a row against the wall, sat the 
 musicians, cross-legged on the boards. The rest 
 of the enclosure was set about with stools and 
 small tables, at which a number of men sat smoking 
 and drinking coffee or less lawful drinks. 
 
 Rashid, keeping tight hold of Mabruk's hand, 
 led the way to the front, and chose a vacant table 
 close to the stage. Here, in their white turbans 
 and long black cloaks, the brethren sat alone 
 among men in the high-crowned fez and European 
 garments; others of the fellahin, abashed at enter- 
 
 129 9
 
 130 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 ing a place so vicious, having chosen seats as near 
 as possible to the exit. 
 
 " Is it not a splendid place ?" said Rashid, with 
 eyes feverishly bright. He looked at his brother 
 or else down at the floor, powerless to bring 
 his eyes to bear upon the stage and its inhabi- 
 tants, whose near neighbourhood burned him like 
 fire. 
 
 A girl with a clear-cut Jewish face devoid of 
 softness was singing a love-song — very badly, it 
 appeared to Mabruk, who had heard real singers 
 in the capital. It was done in a way that suggested 
 the cold, methodical music of the Franks, without 
 subtlety as without invention. But Rashid vibrated 
 passionately to every word and note, the love that 
 held his soul enforcing them. 
 
 "Dost behold her face?" he whispered. "O 
 Helweh ! O my life !" He kept his shoulder 
 towards the stage, nor had Mabruk yet seen him 
 glance in that direction; yet he continued: "She 
 is seated third in order from that fat one on thy 
 right. See how content she looks, how cruel, 
 wanting nothing! She leans back, smiling, com- 
 plete in beauty. ... O Sheykh of the Arabs! 
 Knows she what love is ? Can she give her soul 
 to one, yet go unveiled ? . . . O Allah, make her 
 discontented ! Give her but a small desire to 
 mate with mine ! O Lord, let me kill her lover 
 if she has one!" 
 
 Rashid's voice was rising, attracting undesirable 
 notice among the fashionables. Mabruk, whose 
 mind had assumed urbanity on entering such a 
 place as naturally as one puts on woe at a funeral,
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 131 
 
 strove hard to silence him, pointing out that the 
 girl was a harlot undeserving of these raptures, 
 that the place was public and disreputable. But 
 Rashid would not be calmed, and in his secret 
 soul Mabruk acknowledged some intoxicating 
 charm in their surroundings. The scene recalled 
 his old poetic cult of civilization, revivingmemories 
 of Sharlas and Kamil. 
 
 They had ordered coffee of a man who asked 
 for their commands, and Rashid, having emptied 
 his cup, called for another, deaf to all dissuasion. 
 He grew visibly more excited, and now stared 
 fixedly at the stage. Mabruk, following his gaze, 
 for the first time took note of the woman. She 
 appeared in the bloom of youth, and looked demure 
 as, leaning back on the couch, she trifled with her 
 bracelets. When it came to her turn to perform, 
 she got up slowly, and bestowed on her companions 
 a shrug and a smile expressive of reluctance. Her 
 grace in movement was enhanced by sh3mess. 
 Coming to the front of the stage, she stood still 
 a moment, hesitating, with eyes averted, as if 
 ashamed to face so many eyes. Some of the 
 fashionables hailed her loudly by name, and flung 
 jokes at her with disrespectful mirth. The eyes 
 of Rashid flashed round a moment murderously, 
 then returned to their devotions. 
 
 The music broke into a dancing measure, to 
 which the players with their voices added the 
 traditional Kurdish refrain ; and she began to 
 dance, or rather move about the stage, advancing 
 and shrinking like a timid child, her arms extended, 
 on her lips an appealing smile. It was a poor 
 
 9—2
 
 132 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 travesty of the ancient dance, but Mabruk, scarcely 
 less than Rashid, was ravished by it. Her hesita- 
 tion, her awkwardness were so refined ! Just so, 
 he thought, would the incomparable Kamil have 
 borne herself if compelled by an unkind fate to 
 dance in public. 
 
 The transports of Rashid found vent in 
 prayers to Allah. He called her his own eyes, 
 his very soul, and begged her to come down at 
 once and save his life, in a way to provoke a smile 
 from the most courtly. The burst of laughter 
 all around him humiliated Mabruk. 
 
 The lover called for a third cup of coffee, 
 though Mabruk reminded him of the adage, " The 
 third for the sword." 
 
 " For the sword be it I" said Rashid, with 
 exultation. " O Allah, send to me a sword this 
 minute !" 
 
 Mabruk could only invoke the Sheykh esh 
 Shadili, patron of coffee-drinkers, and trust in 
 Allah for his brother's safety. 
 
 The girl, her performance over, came round 
 among the tables with a saucer in her hand, 
 collecting money. Rashid having dropped a 
 silver coin into the dish, would fain have de- 
 tained her at his side a minute; but she slipped 
 from his grasp as glibly as a lizard, and with a 
 laugh back at him pursued her way, leaving 
 behind her a perfume in which he basked. 
 Presently he caught sight of her sitting at a 
 table with some men, infidels by the looks of 
 them. In a fury he bade his brother look, but 
 Mabruk would not turn his head, fearing to meet
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 133 
 
 the stares which he felt sure were being aimed at 
 him. He managed to prevent his brother from 
 calHng for more coffee, which at one moment he 
 seemed bent on doing, and at length, to his own 
 great relief, succeeded in persuading him to quit 
 the shameful scene. Rashid, however, would 
 insist on passing close to the place where Helweh 
 sat, which was not in their direct way out, and 
 on saying good-night to the girl with a scowl 
 at her companions. Helweh laughed contemptu- 
 ously. One of those unbelievers who sat with 
 her made a rude remark as the brothers moved 
 away, in which the words "stinking fellahin " 
 were plainly audible. It was all that Mabruk 
 could do to restrain his brother from returning 
 to drink the blood of the foul-mouthed heathen 
 Rashid the peacemaker, gentlest and most benign 
 of creatures, was by the poison of love trans- 
 formed into a raging lion.
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 The street without seemed still pretty busy, 
 though it was long past midnight. Mabruk 
 looked up with thanksgiving at the quiet stars 
 and yawned luxuriously. Now that his nerves 
 were relieved of the strain which his brother's 
 conduct of the last four hours had laid upon 
 them, he became suddenly aware that he was 
 very tired. Taking Rashid's hand, he proposed 
 that they should straightway find some nook and 
 go to sleep. But the demented one still listened 
 for the sounds of music, for the talk and laughter, 
 at present muted in their ears ; he refused to leave 
 behind that place of sin, but kept walking up and 
 down before the entry, deaf to all remonstrance. 
 
 ' Go thou and sleep since thou art weary. For 
 me it is not to be thought of. The turmoil in my 
 soul forbids it. Leave me ! Go, I say !" he mur- 
 mured crossly. 
 
 But Mabruk would not forsake him, so they 
 walked up and down together for what seemed 
 an age, the street growing ever more deserted. 
 The monotony of the exercise was soporific. 
 Mabruk kept losing consciousness, and awaking 
 to hear his brother's frenzied mutterings. 
 
 134
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 135 
 
 Out of one of these fits of slumber he was 
 startled by shrill screams. Rashid was gone 
 from his side ; he woke in earnest. By the light 
 of a lantern hanging at the entrance to the place 
 of entertainment he beheld a struggle of two men 
 — a turban and long robe contending with a fez 
 and Prankish suit. He flew to the spot. A 
 woman who had shrunk back to the entry 
 clutched at him as he passed, imploring him, 
 with chattering teeth, to save her brother. It was 
 Helweh, her finery hidden in a long black cloak 
 and hood. He broke from her and caught his 
 brother's arm, imploring him to bless the Prophet, 
 to desist, to fly at once ; but he only got involved 
 in the struggle, and received some blows for his 
 pains. Yet he persevered in vain attempts to 
 part the combatants till they were sundered 
 effectually, the watch surrounding them. Two 
 men had much ado to overpower Rashid, while 
 one sufficed to hold both his adversary and 
 Mabruk. Men seemed to spring up out of the 
 ground, for in the twinkling of an eye it seemed 
 a crowd was round them. The girl Helweh ran 
 from one to another of the watchmen as one dis- 
 traught, clutching their robes, imploring them to 
 release her brother. 
 
 " By Allah, it is not his fault, the poor one. 
 We came forth peaceably to return to the house, 
 when these two wicked persons fell upon him 
 for no reason, unless because we are Nazarenes. 
 Our Lord knows the iniquity of the men of Masr. 
 O Allah, shield us from their cruel fanaticism ! 
 Think not, because we are Nazarenes, that we
 
 136 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 lack protection. My brother is the agent of a 
 rich Greek, a great one, and the Greek Consul 
 will certainly see his wrongs avenged. Let him 
 go, I pray ! For the love of Allah, let him come 
 with me ! How can I go alone by night in a 
 strange city ? I swear to you by the Gospel he 
 has done no wrong." 
 
 But the watchmen would not give way. She 
 offered money, but they refused it. Her ill- 
 judged mention of the consul had put them on 
 their best behaviour, and lifted the whole affair 
 out of the category of those that can be treated 
 pleasantly. Their leader assured the girl that 
 her brother would suffer no hardship, but simply 
 be detained in custody until the morning, when 
 he would be asked to tell his tale before the 
 Cadi. 
 
 " Is it in truth her brother?" murmured Rashid 
 distractedly. 
 
 The watchmen waited a little, not unmoved by 
 the girl's complaints, for she was comely ; but a 
 second mention of the consul threw them back 
 upon the regulations, and their sheykh gave com- 
 mand to lead on. Then, as the guard between 
 them moved obediently, Mabruk caught sight of 
 the face of his fellow-prisoner, turned in anguish 
 towards the girl. He could not repress a 
 cry. 
 
 " What ails thee ?" asked the guard who held 
 his wrist. 
 
 It was the face which had pursued him since 
 last evening, the same which had appeared to 
 him in the wizard's den, the face of the man
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 137 
 
 whom he had robbed at Kafr Zeyn. The Sheykh 
 of the Arabs had so willed it. All was said. It 
 was from Allah, 
 
 But as they were led through the deserted 
 streets resignation gave way to terror in 
 Mabruk's mind. He saw the whole extent of his 
 danger if confronted with this man in daylight 
 before the Cadi, Rashid had little to fear, since 
 he had sinned in the madness of his love, and not 
 for gain. All men, for pity, would condone his 
 fault ; but for himself he would, perhaps, be 
 hanged like Muhammad en - Nuri. At the 
 thought despair endowed him with a strength 
 and courage not his own. 
 
 In passing by the entrance of a dark side alley, 
 talking amicably with his captor, he gave a 
 sudden wrench, a blow, and ran for his life. 
 From the outcry which ensued behind him he 
 learnt that the other two prisoners had taken 
 advantage of the surprise to break away. His 
 strained ears caught no sound of steps pursuing, 
 the shouts seemed rather to recede from him ; 
 nevertheless, he continued to run with all his 
 might till he came to the bank of the canal. 
 There, finding the coast quite clear, he paused to 
 recover breath and look about him. At a little 
 distance was a large Nile barque moored to the 
 bank, the first of a row, extending to the distant 
 bridge, with masts and furled sails dimly seen 
 against the stars. Neither light nor sound came 
 from it; it seemed uninhabited; and, deeming it 
 as good a hiding-place as man could wish, he 
 drew near and stepped on board. But on the
 
 138 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 instant a dark form rose before him, and, naming 
 the Holy Name, inquired : " Who art thou ?" 
 Mabruk, who had just then no wits to reason, 
 terrified by the apparition, sprang back on to the 
 shore and ran once more for his life, till he was 
 lost in the mazy alleys of the town, dogs snarling 
 at his heels. Of a sudden, close before him, he 
 saw the lofty walls of the Sayyid Ahmed's 
 mosque. His mother and his wife were sleeping 
 within those walls. He would have liked to go 
 and rouse them to take counsel, but dared not, 
 since the Sayyid was against him. At a loss what 
 next to do, he cried to Allah. Then suddenly he 
 remembered the poor conscript in the tavern 
 who had prayed some generous man to be his 
 substitute. If only it were not too late ! 
 
 There was still a light in the tavern — two 
 wicks burning in a saucer of oil set on a stool 
 gave light to the soldiers who were playing 
 backgammon. The prisoner lay asleep on the 
 floor at their feet. 
 
 " Merciful Allah !" they exclaimed at sight 
 of Mabruk. " Art thou, then, a watcher like 
 to us ?" 
 
 "The cry of that ill-used man has brought me 
 to you at this hour. Deign to accept me as his 
 substitute !" gasped the hunted youth. 
 
 " In good luck, O my dear !" replied the elder 
 of the two. *' Loose the cord from the wrists of 
 that squealer, if thou canst do so without waking 
 him. At last he is tired out, the praise to Allah !" 
 Holding up the light, he eyed Mabruk. " Hast 
 killed a man, or what ? Nay, be not angry.
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 139 
 
 Who am I to blame thee? None join us willingly 
 save such as flee from justice or oppression ; and 
 the disorder of thy looks betrays thee. Lie down 
 on the floor here ; pull this cloak well over thee. 
 None will look for thee here. In an hour or two, 
 in sh' Allah, we start for Masr on the iron 
 road."
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 About the fifth hour of the day, when the sun shone 
 with full strength, Mabruk trode once more the 
 streets of the Victorious City, as one of a group 
 of conscripts under escort ; and the contrast of 
 his present ignominious position with that of a 
 student in the School of Medicine put dust and 
 ashes in his mouth. From being examined with 
 the rest at Casr-en-Nil he was marched, with five 
 companions in misfortune, towards the Abdin 
 barracks. He had seen no one of his friends ere 
 leaving Tanta. His wife, his parents, would seek 
 for him in vain, and mourn loudly, thinking him 
 dead. Nor would their grief be much diminished 
 when they knew his fate ; for what was the 
 military service save a living death ? Sometimes, 
 after years, men returned thence to their homes ; 
 but they were still soldiers at the beck and call 
 of the Government, such temporary release being 
 a mere excuse for not paying them. 
 
 He observed the soldiers marching near him. 
 In their tight-fitting clothes they walked like 
 nothing human, with stiff legs keeping step, 
 bellies in as when one holds his breath, and faces 
 bright with conscious pride in the achievement. 
 Even allowing for the lapse of months and years, 
 
 140
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 141 
 
 Mabruk could not believe that he would ever 
 grow content, as these men seemed, with that life 
 of bridled steeds, of herded sheep. 
 
 Leaving behind the spacious streets of the 
 modern quarter, they threaded a maze of alleys 
 teeming with careless life, where full dogs slept 
 by the foot of the walls, and every doorway 
 breathed forth homely smells. Some of the con- 
 scripts had begun to weep anew, when they 
 emerged upon a vast meydan, surrounded by 
 great dull buildings on a foreign pattern. Here 
 a band was playing, while soldiers moved about 
 coherentl}', fifties and hundreds of them appear- 
 ing in their evolutions only as slabs and slices 
 from a general mass. On one side were the 
 barracks, with countless windows fixed in per- 
 petual admiration of the Khedive's palace facing 
 them across the square, the barrack-yard being 
 cut off from the meydan by long iron bars set 
 upright in the coping of a low wall. Once behind 
 those bars, the conscripts became the butt of 
 some lounging soldiers, who, for some reason or 
 other, were excused from drill. They were fair 
 game, being known for poor runaways, men who 
 had relied on their own cleverness to escape the 
 common fate, and had failed. One merry man 
 caught Mabruk by the arm, and, calling him 
 "uncle," turned him round to get a look at his face. 
 
 " Have a care !" cried the ombashi who had 
 been at Tanta. " That one is not like the rest, a 
 blubberer. By the Prophet, he is no other than 
 a devourer of men, a blood-drinker. He is here 
 of his own free will."
 
 142 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 At that the would-be joker fell back dismayed. 
 The ombashi whispered in his ear significantly. 
 He in his turn whispered to the other idlers, who 
 all began to make friendly overtures to Mabruk, 
 one asking to know his name and origin, another 
 offering a cigarette. They all shrank away at 
 the approach of a high officer, but gathered round 
 Mabruk again indoors, after the formalities 
 attending the reception of the conscripts had 
 been completed, and pointed him out to their 
 comrades who poured in from drill. 
 
 " Wallahi, is the young man tired of life 
 already, that he joins of his own free will ?" cried 
 one and another, subsiding on their heels to gaze 
 their fill at the phenomenon. But, on a whisper 
 from the showmen, they praised Allah for His 
 mercies, and stared at Mabruk with still closer 
 interest. The youth then learnt that he was 
 taken for a dare-devil, the ombashi from Tanta 
 having told them he had killed a man. Perceiving 
 bravery to be required of him, he allowed the 
 imputation, and, when called upon for an 
 anecdote, embroidered freely on his recollections 
 of Muhammad en-Nuri, making it appear that he 
 had killed not one man only, and had robbed and 
 beaten more than he could count. His hearers 
 vowed by Allah so brave a youth was wasted in 
 the army, where personal valour must give place 
 to discipline. 
 
 " Here, in the town, it is bearable," sighed one. 
 "But — O Protector! — suppose they send us to 
 the accursed Sudan !" 
 
 At that ghastly suggestion all sought refuge in
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 143 
 
 Allah, and fell a prey, it seemed, to sudden tooth- 
 ache. 
 
 "Nevertheless," remarked another, "thou art 
 come at a fortunate time, for since the Frank 
 commissioners have got control of the finances, 
 our wages are paid more regularly. And after a 
 little, in sh' Allah, Ahmed Arabi, the dear one, 
 will persuade Efendina to dismiss all the Turkish, 
 Arnaut and Circassian officers who make our life 
 a burden, and to drive the Franks into the sea, 
 and will cause every soldier to be treated as a 
 king in Masr," 
 
 " In sh' Allah ! In sh' Allah !" cried the rest in 
 concert. "And the officers who are sons of the 
 country will be forbidden to beat our faces with 
 their canes, and flogging will be abolished. Then 
 we shall be kings indeed." 
 
 This friendliness of the old inhabitants made 
 the first days in barracks tolerable for Mabruk. 
 With other new-comers, he was cursed and 
 roughly handled by the drill -instructor; but 
 when he came in, smarting all over from strokes 
 of the cane, horrified and angry at such indignities, 
 he escaped the jests and horseplay reserved for 
 others, his contemporaries. And after a week or 
 two, when he had learnt all the exercises and 
 came to take a pride in their performance, he was 
 not unhappy. His comrades were, for the most 
 part, good, light-hearted men, careless so long as 
 they had food to eat and tobacco to smoke — men 
 who could sing a good song and tell a good story; 
 and many an hour was spent in pleasant converse. 
 Indeed, the life in barracks would have been quite
 
 144 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 desirable, as compared with the fortune of man- 
 kind in general, had all who held command been 
 natives of the country. The Egyptian officers 
 showed no more than that natural arrogance 
 which everyone must feel who has men under 
 him. They used their canes upon the men, but 
 in reason, and were not above a civil word in 
 private. It was the Turks, and still more the 
 Circassians and Albanians, who were hated. For 
 them the men were all mere dogs and swine; 
 and they did not disguise their contempt for 
 every son of the Nile, whether officer or private. 
 "A fellah has no shame," was a proverb they 
 were always quoting; and in their eyes all the 
 people of Egypt, includingtownsmen, werefellahin. 
 
 It was as the spokesman of the native officers 
 against the overweening arrogance and occasional 
 brutality of such oppressors that Ahmed Arabi, 
 called the peasant-soldier, had gained the good 
 word of the whole army ; and Mabruk heard his 
 name invoked by men ill-used as often as that of 
 his sainted namesake, the Sayyid el-Bedawi. 
 
 Among the officers with whom Mabruk came 
 in contact was one Amin Bey, a Circassian, a 
 swaggering, drink-loving brute, who knew no 
 fear. This man one night, when in his cups, 
 chased the soldiers in the corridors with 
 drawn sword, for mere pleasure of seeing 
 them run, calling out that he would defile 
 the mouths of all the dastardly Egyptians, the 
 accursed spawn of Pharaoh. This being the 
 besotted brute barbarian's idea of fun, many were 
 the plots to slay him hatched in whispers, and it
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 145 
 
 was all Mabruk could do to resist the honour 
 thrust on him of being the murderer, for, since he 
 had already done some killing, assassination, it 
 was argued, might be called his business. 
 
 "Why does he call us misbegotten sons of 
 Pharaoh?" the men wailed. "We are Muslimin, 
 and have nothing to do with Pharaoh, who at the 
 beginning of the world was a sorcerer and the 
 worst of infidels. Why talk of the men of Masr 
 as if they were a tribe, a separate people ? Is a 
 man less a Muslim because it was ordained that 
 he should be born on the banks of the Nile, and 
 are not all the Muslimin alike brothers? Are we 
 Copts to be thus treated as the seed of Pharaoh ? 
 It is very impolite to talk as he does. By Allah, 
 if Efendina could be shown the way he treats us, 
 His Highness would be very angry, and would 
 stop his mouth with dirt. O Ahmed Arabi, thou 
 friend under Allah of poor, righteous soldiers, 
 take our cause in hand !" 
 
 On the first occasion when he was permitted to 
 walk alone in the city Mabruk bought reeds and 
 ink and paper, that he might write to his father. 
 On his return, he was sitting on the shady side of 
 the barrack-yard, shaping one of the reeds with a 
 knife, when a comrade, observing his occupation, 
 gave tongue, and summoned others to the sight. 
 
 "Thou canst write, O Mabruk? Thou canst 
 write true Arabic ? O blessed thou ! Now it is . 
 known for certain that thou art the son of a good 
 house, as we always suspected." 
 
 They crowded round him, watching while he 
 wrote. 
 
 10
 
 146 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 **Ma sh' Allah ! He knows his business. It is 
 written like the best of scribes. It is worth the 
 seeing. By the Prophet, O Mabruk, a man well 
 educated on thy likeness ought not to remain a 
 common soldier, poor like us. In thy place, I 
 would write to Ahmed Bey Arabi, who loves us 
 soldiers, and petition for some employment more 
 befitting my great talents. He need not know 
 that thou hast killed and been a robber. That is 
 what I should do, and very quickly." 
 
 " Wallahi, and so should I," exclaimed the rest 
 in chorus. 
 
 Mabruk at that time only smiled at their advice, 
 deeming it a dream of poor, ignorant men who 
 always ascribe to education the powers of magic. 
 But on the morrow, happening to hear that a levy 
 of troops for service in the horrid Sudan was 
 shortly to be made, he changed his mind very 
 suddenly. He had no wish to go to that accursed 
 region, where thousands of poor, righteous soldier- 
 men had perished miserably by pestilence, by wild 
 beasts, and the spears of ugly devils. There 
 seemed just a chance that, with his education, he 
 might, by petitioning, obtain a clerkship. So, 
 encouraged by his comrades, he sat down in a 
 quiet corner and covered a whole sheet with 
 praise of Ahmed Arabi, inserting humbly in the 
 midst his own poor name and modest plea to be 
 allowed to serve His Highness in a clerical 
 capacity. Two similar petitions of less length, 
 one in the French language, the other in the 
 English, were enclosed as samples of his skill; 
 and one of his comrades, who boasted a friend
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 147 
 
 among Arabi's servants, pledged his word that 
 the precious missive should not miscarry. 
 
 But days passed, and the petition remained 
 unanswered. Mabruk, impatient, inquired the 
 names of other great men, and wrote to them 
 in terms that would have flattered a stone into 
 affability ; but those letters, like the first, got no 
 response. He was beginning to despair of ever 
 advancing by this means, and to cast about in 
 his mind for some new way to try, when, one 
 morning, going as usual to the railings of the 
 yard with intent to chaff passers-by, he saw a 
 sweetmeat-seller's stall close by those railings, 
 and in the person of its owner recognized 'Ala'd- 
 din. 
 
 The latter gave a cry of joy, and springing on 
 the low wall, exchanged kisses with his friend 
 between the railings. He exclaimed : 
 
 " I ask pardon of Allah ! O Sheykh of the 
 Arabs ! What do I behold ? The light of my 
 eyes a soldier, in the garb of servitude, and caged 
 in bars like any savage beast ! O the sin of it ! 
 Yet have courage, O my soul ! My father charged 
 me to seek thee here, and bid thee hope. He has 
 a friend, thou knowest, Said Bey Ramadan, that 
 same old man who dwelt so long with us and, as 
 some say, played the traitor towards Muhammad 
 en-Nuri. He gave me a letter for him, which I 
 delivered yesterday in the evening, on my arrival 
 in this city. His Beatitude received me very 
 kindly; and by my life, I never saw so fine a house. 
 He kissed the letter first, and, having opened it, 
 he wept to read of thy unhappy plight. Though 
 
 10 — 2
 
 148 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 he is no longer of the house of Efendina, he is 
 very rich, and so has many friends ; and he 
 promised to speak at once on thy behalf to the 
 great Arabi, who is all-powerful in the War 
 Department. To-morrow, at this same hour, be 
 here ; by then, in sh' Allah, I shall have good 
 news for thee." 
 
 'Ala'd-din was as good as his word. On the 
 following day he was able to inform Mabruk that 
 the post of secretary to a certain great one had 
 been obtained for him ; and that same evening 
 the glad news was confirmed officially, the com- 
 mandant of the barracks in person announcing to 
 Mabruk his temporaryrelease from military duties. 
 While he collected his few belongings and put 
 them together in a bundle, his comrades flocked 
 around him, vying one with another to bespeak 
 his interest. '* Say that Muhammad Kheyr is a 
 good man, and well deserving to be made an 
 ombashi !" " Speak for thy friend Hassan, that 
 he be not exiled to the Sudan !" They clung so 
 thick about him that it was with difficulty he 
 could make his way down the stairs and out 
 through the yard. His pride in this storm of 
 popularity was great, and his affability conse- 
 quently boundless, when, with a shout of "Out 
 of my road, ye bastard sons of Pharaoh !" a cane 
 descended on the heads of those in front of him. 
 The crowd dispersed in haste, and Mabruk stood 
 face to face with Amin Bey, the Circassian. 
 
 " Dog of a Masri ! Son of a defiled mother ! 
 Dost dare to block my way and stare at me ?" 
 cried the officer; and seizing the bewildered young
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 149 
 
 man by the throat, he shook and flung him on 
 one side. 
 
 Mabruk measured his length on the ground, 
 which seemed to be more than that brute beast 
 intended, for he showed some compunction, asking 
 if the dog was hurt, and, pulling out his purse, 
 flung a silver coin at his victim. 
 
 Mabruk rose slowly, grinding his teeth with 
 rage. Recovering his bundle, he left the coin 
 where it lay, and strode forth to where 'Ala'd-din 
 stood by the gate awaiting him. He vowed under 
 his breath to cut that wild beast in a thousand 
 pieces, and give each piece to a different street 
 dog, that so the defilement of the whole body 
 might appear at the last day. He scarcely heard 
 the kind wishes of the soldiers who manned the 
 railings, as, gripping 'Ala'd-din's hand, he went 
 forth into the city. 
 
 He was led straight to a hostelry, where the 
 sweetmeat-seller had retained a room. There 
 ' Ala'd-din soon prepared a little feast, the materials 
 for which he had purchased beforehand, apologiz- 
 ing all the while for the poverty of the place, so 
 far beneath what he would have desired for his 
 soul's dear one. Nevertheless it was a matter 
 for great praise that his beloved had been rescued 
 from that accursed gaol. Would to Allah that he 
 could have been freed for life from servitude; but 
 alas! that was impossible without the payment of 
 a sum of money so considerable that, had the 
 She3^kh Mustafa disbursed it, it would have 
 advertised his wealth and led to ruin. 
 
 So Mabruk was still a soldier ; but, in sh' Allah,
 
 ISO THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 and by the protection of Said Bey Ramadan, that 
 seeming disgrace might yet be turned to honour. 
 Zeynab and his mother had wept much on account 
 of his uncertain fate, and had put dust on their 
 faces when they learnt he was a soldier. Rashid, 
 in consequence of the brawl that night at Tanta, 
 had been subjected to a small fine and set at 
 liberty. He was, happily, cured of his passion 
 for the bad dancer. The two friends sat up late 
 into the night, remembering days gone by, and 
 making plans for the future.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 Early next morning 'Ala'd-din took Mabruk to 
 the house of Said Bey Ramadan — a fine house 
 with a walled garden situated in the Ismailiyeh 
 quarter. The Bey was not yet up, but, their 
 visit being announced to him, he called to them 
 from an inner room to have patience while he 
 washed and prayed. So they sat on their heels 
 in a pleasant court adorned with shrubs in pots, 
 and having in its centre a tank of clear water, 
 where, after an hour or two, His Honour found 
 them. 
 
 "I seek refuge in Allah! O Protector!" he 
 exclaimed, in horror, catching sight of Mabruk's 
 uniform. " Did not my friend, the commandant 
 of the barracks, say I had obtained permission 
 for thee to dress as a scribe ? Go out at once 
 and purchase such a dress, and, when the change 
 is made, return hither, and I will go with thee to 
 the house of thy employer and make thee known 
 to him." 
 
 Though the Bey commanded Mabruk thus 
 loftily to go out and buy, he did not offer to 
 provide any money for the purchase. The soldier 
 had nothing in his hand, and 'Ala'd-din, for all his 
 
 151
 
 152 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 eagerness to help, could not make up a third of 
 the price of a decent gown and turban, not to 
 speak of drawers and other niceties. However, 
 by free use of the name of Said Bey Ramadan, 
 Mabruk obtained what was required upon the 
 earnest of a small deposit. 
 
 He changed his clothes at the shop, amid con- 
 gratulations from the merchant and some passers- 
 by who stopped to look, and, bidding 'Ala'd-din 
 transport the discarded uniform to their hostelry, 
 returned alone, and with high looks, to the house 
 of his patron. 
 
 The Bey was waiting for him. Immediately 
 on his arrival a servant of the house ran out and 
 fetched a carriage, into which His Excellency was 
 raised with the support of all the household. He 
 graciously bade Mabruk take seat beside him, and, 
 holding his hand, spoke very kindly as they 
 were borne in sunlight towards the heart of the 
 city. 
 
 " I ask pardon of Allah ! Thank me not, O my 
 dear! Allah knows it is a joy for me to serve the 
 son of thy most worthy father, who showed me 
 such tender consideration in the first grief of my 
 disgrace, before I had learnt to bear the pain of it 
 with resignation. That pain, O my soul, is always 
 with me. I still sigh for the grand routine, the 
 stately ceremonial, the learned quarrels in the 
 household concerning precedence and the proper 
 forms of reverence. By the Prophet, the very 
 trials and discomforts of that life are sweet in the 
 memory. Praise be to Allah, I am rich and 
 respected, as thou seest ; but what are wealth
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 153 
 
 and consideration to compare with the habit of a 
 lifetime? I have written endless petitions; I 
 have made rich gifts to men of influence ; I have 
 rendered various and great services — such as the 
 denouncing of that dreadful wild beast of a robber, 
 with whom thou — rash youth! — wast foolish 
 enough to associate ; but all my exertions hitherto 
 have been in vain. Our good lord is inexorable, and 
 that — merciful Allah ! — at a time when he has great 
 need of men's devotion, when his authority is set 
 at nought, and all who seek preferment court the 
 favour of his enemies. His uprightness holds still 
 aloof from me, though, Allah witness, my fault 
 was of the smallest and quite unintentional. Now 
 1 seek in my mind to do him some service so 
 momentous that the tidings of it cannot fail to 
 turn his face towards me." The old man dropped 
 his voice to a coaxing whisper, and softly fondled 
 Mabruk's hand. "Ahmed Arabi and his confede- 
 rates are all good friends of mine, for it behoves a 
 man of my possessions to make sure of friends in 
 power, whatever happens. But they manifest un- 
 kind distrust of me ; they exclude me from their 
 councils. Now thou, O Mabruk, art a very clever 
 youth and well educated ; moreover, I love thee 
 as my own son. In the honourable position in 
 which I am about to place thee thou art in the 
 heart of their intrigues, and canst well oblige me 
 by letting me know from time to time the details 
 of their policy without impediment to thy career, 
 which is my affair. The information shall be re- 
 warded, I assure thee, in proof whereof accept this 
 trifle. And now, not a word, for we draw near
 
 154 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 the place. This matter is a secret between me 
 and thee." 
 
 His Honour closed the hand of his accomplice 
 upon a golden pound, and pressed it tenderly. 
 
 The carriage, which for some time past had 
 been engaged in a labyrinth of unpaved, straitened 
 ways, now reached a point where it could go no 
 further, Mabruk helped his patron to alight, and 
 gave him the support of his arm to mount a 
 passage sloping upwards between high old houses. 
 Nothing could exceed the meanness of this narrow 
 lane, nor the squalor of the doorways opening on 
 to it. Mabruk was quite unprepared, when they 
 passed in at one of those doorways, to find him- 
 self of a sudden in a well-appointed, even stately, 
 dwelling. A servant, who appeared himself a 
 man of station, ushered them up a flight of clean 
 stairs to a room well furnished in the Prankish 
 manner, where he left them with choice blessings, 
 saying he would go at once and call his master. 
 The Bey, after proving the discomfort of a chair 
 or two, settled himself upon a divan near the 
 window. MabrOk, a prey to nervousness, remained 
 standing. 
 
 After a little while the door opened, and the 
 lord of the house came in. He ran at once to 
 Said Bey Ramadan, to stop his rising, which was 
 a slow and painful process because of his fat, and 
 bade him welcome and thrice welcome, with dis- 
 tinguished blessings. Then, at a motion from 
 the Bey, he took notice of Mabruk, who stood 
 before him lowly, with feet and hands religiously 
 hidden and eyes downcast, yet secretly observant
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 155 
 
 of his new employer. Like Said Bey Ramadan, 
 the master of the house was clad in high red fez 
 and black frock-coat, and his face and complexion 
 were those of a pure Osmanli, His close-clipped 
 beard was red, his skin was sallow, his brown 
 eyes, rather deep-set in the head, kept flashing 
 and clouding beneath a pair of prominent and 
 bushy red eyebrows. The tarbush pressed low 
 down on the forehead gave to the face a false 
 effect of sternness, like a constant frown. His 
 name, it transpired, was Omar Efendi Fehmi. 
 
 Said Bey, having performed the introduction, 
 was in haste to depart. Omar Efendi ushered 
 him forth deferentially, leaving Mabruk alone 
 with his disappointment at finding himself in the 
 service of a Turk, the type of arrogance. From 
 his experience in barracks he had learnt to hate 
 the Turks, and why Ahmed Arabi, the soldier's 
 friend, the champion of the Egyptians, should 
 admit this Turk of Turks to his counsels baffled 
 imagination.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 Omar Efendi soon returned. He called for pens 
 and ink and a supply of paper; and when they 
 were brought by the servant, he bade Mabruk 
 sit down at a table and write from his dictation 
 to a high official of the Government, himself 
 taking his ease upon the divan and throwing out 
 suggestions carelessly while he smoked a cigarette. 
 As soon as the letter was complete he asked to 
 see it, and, having read, remarked, " Perfect," and 
 tore it across. By that the scribe understood 
 that he was on his trial, and his heart beat in his 
 brain, confusing it. 
 
 When required to pen a letter in French from 
 His Excellency's dictation in Arabic, he hesitated, 
 and had to beg for every sentence to be repeated. 
 His taskmaster asked for the document as before. 
 He smiled maliciously as he observed, "Very 
 nice," then tore and flung it aside. The next 
 demand was for a letter in English, which MabrQk 
 made better than its predecessor by the simple 
 expedient of not listening, but writing just what 
 struck himself as fitting, using words he knew. 
 Omar Efendi at this seemed much amused. He 
 did not tear up the epistle, but laid it down beside 
 him on the divan. 
 
 156
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 157 
 
 Mabruk was beginning to ache all over from 
 long continuance in an unnatural posture, and 
 his soul condemned the father of that Frankish 
 chair. Yet the tyrant kept him thus for nearly 
 an hour, till the pain in his back and knees 
 became excruciating, and he had much ado to 
 keep from groaning aloud. 
 
 At length his chief exclaimed : "Enough. Thou 
 art a passable scribe, but not an excellent. Come 
 now, sit here by me!" 
 
 Mabruk obeyed, marking, however, a respectful 
 distance. 
 
 " Dost drink smoke ?" inquired His Excellency, 
 and reached him a cigarette. Mabruk imprinted 
 a kiss upon the gracious hand, with praise to 
 Allah for such affability. Lighting his cigarette 
 from that of his lord, held out to him for the 
 purpose, he began to feel more at ease. 
 
 "Thou art a clever youth and well educated," 
 said Omar Efendi after a pause ; " but I should 
 have sought one cleverer and more highly trained 
 had I required a scribe only. Said Bey hinted 
 thou hadst been in mischief, and the fact of thy 
 volunteering for the military service interested 
 me. I caused inquiry to be made at the barracks 
 amongst the soldiers, and thus learnt that thou 
 hast been a robber and killed men. Is that true?" 
 
 " I ask pardon of Allah ! It is false . . ." Mabruk 
 began in fear to protest, but a flash of the Turk's 
 eyes silenced him. 
 
 " Think not I blame thee, or desire thy punish- 
 ment. Nay, a bold man is worth his wages in 
 these troublous times, and criminals serve well
 
 158 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 him who knows their secret. If thou doest ill by 
 me, I shall deliver thee up to justice ; but so long 
 as thou doest well, I know of naught against thee. 
 Shrink not from any task with which I charge 
 thee, indulge no scruples in my service, and 
 peace be with thee." 
 
 Mabruk could not reply. He saw in a flash his 
 liabilities, the awful depths to which his foolish 
 lie might lead him. The Turks, it was known, 
 had no compunction. He might be called upon 
 to kill a man in earnest. It was in his mind to 
 confess the truth, and risk being sent back to the 
 barracks ; but his manhood could not bear to face 
 such shame, and in a little the emotion passed 
 from him, and he accepted the part allotted, trust- 
 ing to Allah and his own ingenuity to escape 
 from crime. 
 
 Omar Efendi lay back upon the couch, and, 
 smiling, watched his perturbation. Suddenly 
 leaning forward, he said : 
 
 " How much did the old pimp give thee ?" 
 " What meanest thou, O my lord ?" 
 The Turk did not explain at once, but said : 
 " Now listen ! His Excellency Said Bey 
 Ramadan is a friend of mine and thine, but he 
 cares for neither of us. His sole intent is to 
 regain the post at Court which he so stupidly 
 forfeited. He looks to the Khedive, lacking wit 
 to see that the Khedive is finished, done with." 
 Here Omar Efendi clashed his hands together, 
 like cymbals, to express finality. *' Hundreds 
 beside himself have suffered from the demand of 
 Muhammad Tewfik and the Franks for honesty,
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 159 
 
 which, carried to excess, is mere stupidity. They 
 have all cast in their lot with the friends of revo- 
 lution and reform. He alone seeks reinstate- 
 ment, being a poor-spirited old man, without 
 initiative. Be not like him, or thou wilt harvest 
 grief and disappointment. For suppose, for the 
 sake of argument, that the party of the Court 
 triumphs, and that thou hast conduced to their 
 triumph by furnishing information through Said 
 Bey Ramadan. What is thy reward ? Perhaps 
 a place in the ranks of the bodyguard, perhaps a 
 little clerkship in the Ministry of War; and in 
 either post thy tenure would be most precarious, 
 dependent on thy neglecting the natural talents 
 God has given thee. By the Prophet, it is asses, 
 it is oxen, they require, not men. Whereas, it 
 thou cast in thy lot with us, thou mayst rise to 
 any eminence, once the reform is made." 
 
 " But — forgive me, O my lord — as yet I under- 
 stand not perfectly. Is not all well with the 
 land, by the blessing of Allah ?" 
 
 " A fellah or a merchant might think so," said 
 the Turk, turning his shrewd eyes on Mabruk 
 with a subtle smile ; ** but that is not the view of 
 men of parts and spirit, who would rise to 
 fortune. What hope is there for such in the 
 present order, where, to earn promotion, a man 
 must emulate the stupidity of an ox turning a 
 sakieh." 
 
 " But, O Excellency, with what eyes would the 
 Majesty of the Sultan view a revolution ?" 
 
 Omar Efendi laughed at the interruption. He 
 said :
 
 i6o THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 ** Be assured, O my dear, the Sultan knows his 
 business ; and I, who am an Osmanli from 
 Istanbul, am not likely to forget his sovereign 
 dignity. If the movement is called National and 
 Popular, it is to attract the Franks, who look for 
 peoples and nationalities. Arabi Bey has friends 
 among the French and English who inform him 
 what is required. Now, tell me what that some- 
 time pander to the lusts of Ismail gave thee by 
 way of bribe ?" 
 
 Mabruk then showed His Excellency the piece 
 of gold, and declared himself a Nationalist from 
 his cap and turban down to the very soles of his 
 feet. Omar Efendi remarked that the sum struck 
 him as disproportionate to the services required, 
 and himself gave thrice the amount to Mabruk, 
 on the understanding that he was to exaggerate 
 the strength of the revolutionary party in his 
 reports to Said Bey Ramadan. 
 
 "Thou canst say that the learned and a 
 majority of the notables are with us. Such a 
 rumour, coming from a source held trustworthy, 
 can hardly fail to work its own fulfilment. From 
 the beginning we have held the Prince and his 
 Ministers inactive through vague terror by means 
 of reports cunningly disseminated, thus gaining 
 time to create and marshal forces, which did not 
 at first exist. Now tell me, thou who comest 
 from the barracks, how do the soldiers speak of 
 their friend Arabi ?" 
 
 " Wallahi, as the sun at his rising; as the river 
 when it overflows and brings us plenty !" 
 
 "Good. I would have thee continue to mix on
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE i6i 
 
 friendly terms with the common soldiers, and 
 bring me word of their complaints and grievances. 
 Arabi must obey their lightest whim. Knowest 
 thou of any crying evil that could be redressed ?" 
 
 Mabruk, with comely diffidence, recounted the 
 brutal jests of the Circassian officers (he would 
 not include the Turks, out of regard for his 
 companion's feelings), how they called the men 
 " accursed spawn of Pharaoh," and treated them 
 worse than dogs. As an example, he told of the 
 ill-usage he himself had endured at the hands of 
 that wicked devil-may-care, Amin Bey. Omar 
 Efendi seemed interested, and, taking a little 
 book from his pocket, made certain notes. 
 
 "Amin Bey, a Circassian, sayest thou? And 
 his removal would please the soldiers ? In 
 sh' Allah, he and his associates will give us an 
 opportunity before long. They are Ahmed Arabi's 
 personal enemies, firmly rooted in their allegiance 
 like senseless trees. Now, O Mabruk, I have 
 talked to thee freely as to a friend. It remains 
 only for me to bid thee have a care. Betray my 
 confidence to Said Bey Ramadan or any other, 
 and thy corpse will be found floating in the river 
 one fine morning." 
 
 Mabruk strove to treat the menace as a laughing 
 matter, but could not, with the Turk's eyes fixed 
 on him. In those eyes blazed the ferocity of 
 some ghoul or savage beast. He reproached his 
 patron's doubts of him, swearing that his soul 
 reposed between the two feet of His Excellency, 
 and that His Highness was nothing less than his 
 father and his mother. 
 
 II
 
 +HE 
 
 i62 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 " Retjurn! to-morrow at the third hour," said the 
 Turk. 1" N'ow go in safety." 
 
 It wa^^some time ere Mabruk could get rid of 
 the disagreeable impression left by the great 
 man's threats, and the horrid glance which had 
 enforced them. Only by constantly recalling his 
 own innocence of the least intention to betray 
 His Honour's secrets could he escape the convic- 
 tion that his death was imminent. However, it 
 appeared that his employment was to be a peace- 
 able one, for the present at any rate ; there was 
 no immediate call for the exercise of his supposed 
 bravery, and that, at least, was matter for thanks- 
 giving. By the time he rejoined 'Ala'd-din at 
 their hostelry, his mind was cheerful once again, 
 and he retailed the whole adventure with elation. 
 
 " I ask pardon of Allah !" murmured the sweet- 
 meat-seller, horror-struck, when all was told. 
 *' Who would have believed there were such 
 bold, wicked men in the world ? To conspire 
 against Efendina, who, all agree, is good and a 
 friend of justice ; verily, this is a thing to be 
 recorded in books and stored up in libraries, that 
 the wise may relate it to the ignorant, the father 
 to the son, and so the memory of it may endure 
 until the world's end. If it were told in our 
 village, men would not believe it. Nevertheless, 
 it is from Allah ; it is not our business. Our 
 business is to praise God for His mercy in re- 
 leasing thee, Mabruk, from shame and slavery, 
 and putting thee in a way by which men rise 
 to honour." 
 
 It being the Day of Assembly, the two friends
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE N-ILE 163 
 
 went together to a mosque at noon, jand heard 
 with rapture an impassioned sermbn on the 
 intrinsic vanity of worldly aims. They spent 
 the remainder of the day in viewing the sights 
 of the town, and, having supped at a public 
 eating-house, sat up on the high flat roof of their 
 hostelry, looking over the huddled, drowsy city 
 to the Mocattam Hill, where the dome and minarets 
 of the citadel appeared in silhouette against the 
 starlit sky. 
 
 II-
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 'Ala'd-dIn was of help to MabrOk in his new 
 business of an informer, for the sweetmeat-seller 
 visited all the taverns in the quarter with his 
 tray of candies, and in his slow progress through 
 the crowded markets overheard the remarks of 
 all kinds of men ; and, ever mindful of Mabruk's 
 interests, his ear caught all that was political, 
 and stored it in his brain for repetition. The 
 merchants, with most peaceful citizens, were 
 adverse to the revolutionary party. They cursed 
 the name of Ahmed Arabi and all who held with 
 him, marvelling at the Khedive's long-suffering, 
 and blaming it not a little. Their dislike of the 
 standing army was great, and that soldiers should 
 presume to meddle with the government appeared 
 to them the last impertinence. Mabruk informed 
 his patron of their attitude ; but Omar Efendi 
 shrugged his shoulders, saying : 
 
 *' Merchants, fellahin, oxen — all are one ! So 
 long as they feed and sleep in peace, what do 
 they care ? They are fixed and callous, like 
 the trees, the desert hills, and in like manner 
 negligible." 
 
 For the first few days Omar Efendi was on 
 164
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 165 
 
 his guard with his new servant ; and Jvlabriik, 
 wherever he went, even on his own errands, had 
 an uneasy sense of being watched. But after a 
 while, when he had given proofs of zeal and 
 honesty, His Honour trusted him with less 
 reserve, and each day, lounging in his morning- 
 gown, discussed the prospects of the party frankly 
 with him, reviewing the work done and laying 
 plans for the day. Omar Efendi showed an actual 
 hatred of Said Bey Ramadan, saying that he 
 carried silliness to inexcusable lengths. Many 
 were the schemes he invented for gulling the 
 poor old man and leading him on to conclusions 
 wholly erroneous ; and in this, as in all else, 
 Mabruk was his willing slave. 
 
 Admitted to the intimacy of his chief, he soon 
 came to rate himself on an equality, and, adopting 
 the Turk's standpoint, looked on all mankind as 
 simple ministers to his ambition. He renewed 
 acquaintance with some of his former comrades 
 in the School of Medicine, and finding them to 
 be ardent supporters of the revolutionary faction, 
 which stood in their minds for civilization, he 
 made use of them to spread those lying rumours 
 of which his chief was fertile. He would fain 
 at this time have resumed the Frankish dress, 
 as becoming one who marched in the van of 
 progress ; but when he mentioned this desire to 
 his patron, Omar Efendi forbade him to gratify it. 
 
 " For negotiations with the Franks, it had been 
 well," he said ; " but thy skill is insufficient for such 
 work, I employ thee for dealing with the men of 
 Masr, so the dress of Masr best becomes thee."
 
 i66 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 That was one of many little snubs by which 
 the young man was put back in his place when 
 he moved out of it. But, being administered in 
 private, such rebukes only dashed his spirits for 
 the moment, and did not prevent his posing to 
 the outside world as the great man's guardian. 
 In this capacity he, in common with the major- 
 domo, received gifts from all who sought his 
 master's favour; indeed, such presents were a 
 recognized part of his wages, and, with those 
 which he received from Said Bey Ramadan, they 
 enabled him to cut a figure in private life. 
 
 In the course of his various avocations he 
 gleaned all that was commonly known concerning 
 the Turk, his master. Though generally disliked, 
 Omar Efendi was implicitly trusted, not less by 
 the learned doctors and rich notables, who, as a 
 rule, fought shy of the reforming party, than by 
 Arabi, Tulba, and the so-called Nationalists. He 
 was said to be a secret envoy from the very 
 throne of Power, the Sublime Gate itself. Mabruk 
 had ample evidence that he held all the threads 
 of the political tangle in his hands, and saw all 
 the issues far more clearly than did the reputed 
 leaders, who depended much on his advice. 
 
 Beyond the writing of a letter now and then, 
 Mabruk's situation was clerical in name only. 
 Now he attended the levies or the macamat of 
 men of station, as an accredited agent ; now he 
 dogged the footsteps of some individual, or 
 gathered information by eaves-dropping, as a 
 common spy ; so that in his heart he knew not in 
 what light to regard himself, but took refuge in the
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NH.E 167 
 
 supposition that men were created for equivocal 
 employments, since every son of Adam is provided 
 with two hands, one honourable, the other shameful. 
 Being haunted on his errands by a dread of secret 
 agents of the Government, he sometimes changed 
 clothes with 'Ala'd-din, and borrowed his tray of 
 sweetmeats for an hour. Sometimes he appeared 
 in filth and rags like a holy beggar, at others 
 in black frock-coat and trousers like some small 
 official. But disguise as he would, some acquaint- 
 ance was sure in the end to recognize him and 
 explode in laughter — a thing which mortified him 
 not a little, and made him discard a dress so 
 insecure. Thus, through no fault of his own, 
 he was put to much expense in the matter of 
 clothes. 
 
 One morning he brought his master news of 
 the arrival in the city of a mad fanatical dervish, 
 newly come from Yenbua, who went about the 
 streets urging men to rise and slay the infidels. 
 Omar Efendi asked if any hearkened. 
 
 " P>w gave any heed," replied Mabruk, "and 
 those in pity, as is natural, for he is evidently 
 mad, the poor one!" 
 
 Omar Efendi exclaimed on the callousness of 
 the inhabitants of Egypt, whom even the sacred 
 cry of religion failed to animate. Nevertheless, 
 he seemed to think that something might.be done 
 with that dervish, for he enjoined MabrCik to seek 
 him out and ascertain his mind to earn some 
 money. 
 
 As it happened the fanatic in question made 
 his abode not far from the hostelry where Mabruk
 
 i68 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 lodged with 'Ala'd-dtn, in a recess in the inner 
 wall of a great gateway, the entrance to one of 
 the most crowded bazaars in all the city. Here 
 he invoked the Most High through the heat of 
 the day, and slept at night. Hither, in accordance 
 with his instructions, Mabruk repaired at the 
 noonday hour, and found him seated on the 
 ground below his niche. 
 
 The hair of his head, all long and matted, hung 
 down upon the shoulders of an ancient coat of 
 skins ; that of his face had never felt a comb. By 
 his side, against the wall of monstrous stones, 
 leaned his mahganeh, the mystic's staff. He sat 
 in the breath of the crowd as if in solitude, mut- 
 tering petitions, with his eyes closed. The hand 
 which held out a little can for alms alone seemed 
 conscious of the passers-by. Mabruk, for a be- 
 ginning, dropped a trifle in the can, and blessed 
 the owner thereof in choice Arabic. The man 
 returned the salutation mechanically, and went 
 on muttering without opening his eyes. Then 
 Mabruk, rather at a loss how to proceed, took 
 the boldest course, and sat down beside the 
 ascetic with his back to the wall. He began to 
 speak of gold in a low voice, and how honourably 
 it" could be earned nowadays by one who hated 
 the Franks and had the welfare of El Islam 
 at heart, watching his man narrowly all the 
 while out of the corners of his eyes. Sitting 
 in the depth of shadow, he could see, beyond the 
 profile of the mad dervish, the fierce sunlight 
 reigning in the street without, which circled 
 approaching figures with a white halo, lost the
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 169 
 
 moment that they came beneath the ancient 
 gateway. 
 
 The dervish appeared to be listening, for he 
 ceased to mutter, though he kept his eyes shut ; 
 and Mabruk was going on to beg him to present 
 himself at such a house at such an hour, when 
 the recluse sprang up suddenly, and with eyes of 
 fire — eyes mad with the drug hashish — roared : 
 
 " I seek refuge in Allah from Satan the 
 Stoned !" 
 
 In the twinkling of an eye he seized his staff 
 and fell to beating Mabruk about the head and 
 shoulders, yelling : 
 
 ' Gold ! Gold ! It is the cry of the Frank ! 
 Who recks of gold that looks for Paradise ? 
 May Allah blast thee, ugly servant of Eblis !" 
 
 He was stillj shouting and leaping wildly with 
 his staff on high when Mabruk rushed in at the 
 door of his hostelry, having covered the distance 
 of two hundred yards or more with a speed to 
 inconvenience other wayfarers. 
 
 When next morning he reported his failure, 
 Omar Efendi laughed, and said : " He is not of 
 Masr," with a plain innuendo which distressed 
 Mabruk. As if the Muslimin of Egypt were more 
 venal than those of Turkey or Arabia ! 
 
 As summer advanced, and the burden of the 
 noonday sun became intolerable, the merchants 
 in the unroofed bazaars put up each his piece of 
 matting for a shelter, and the variety of awnings 
 down the length of every market resembled the 
 spread wings of hanging bats. The modern 
 quarter, with its wide, open streets, was shunned
 
 170 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 of all men save in the late evening, and wore the 
 aspect of a deserted city. The Court and all 
 high functionaries had removed to the cool sea- 
 air of Iskenderiyeh, But Mabruk's employer still 
 remained in the capital, quiet as a spider amid his 
 strengthening web of intrigue. 
 
 In those first days Mabruk met none of the 
 leaders in revolution at the house of Omar 
 except the Sayyid Abdullah Nadim — a political 
 divine, and editor of a journal called Fostdt, 
 famous for its fury against Europeans. An 
 elderly man, of modest — nay, demure — aspect, 
 he usually told his beads with eyes downcast, 
 silent while Mabruk was in the room. But the 
 youth was soothed by his devout demeanour, 
 and impressed by the tenderness with which the 
 Turk deferred to him. In truth, there was about 
 the man an old-world saintliness which raised a 
 sob in the throat of the beholder, and the evident 
 regard of this zealot for Omar Efendi sanctified 
 the dissimulations of the latter's spy. Owing 
 much to the countenance of this good man, which 
 lulled his conscience, Mabruk grew happy in his 
 new position, and at the end of three short weeks 
 felt so established that he resolved to send for 
 Ze3mab to come and join him. 'Ala'd-din also 
 longed to see his wife and children once more, 
 so it was arranged that he should go to the 
 village and escort both women, Mabruk defraying 
 all expenses of the journey. The next point for 
 consideration was a place of residence. 'Ala'd-din 
 experienced no difficulty in finding a single 
 room which was all he needed. But Mabruk
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 171 
 
 desired a suite of rooms, in a dignified quarter 
 where respectable Muslims resided with their 
 womenfolk, and Zeynab need fear neither con- 
 tact with infidels nor the insulting pursuit of 
 lewd, unsettled bachelors. The lodging he had 
 occupied of old, when at the School of Medicine, 
 occurred to him as fulfilling all his requirements. 
 He had recourse to the landlord, and hearing it 
 was again to let, paid the rent for three months 
 in advance, and went at once with 'Ala'd-din to 
 take possession. 
 
 The doorkeeper failed at first to recognize 
 Mabruk, and gaped when the latter greeted him 
 by name ; but soon remembering, he grinned 
 delightedly, and touched hands with him. 
 
 "Is the lady also returning?" he asked, as he 
 led the way up the well-worn stairs. Getting 
 answer in the affirmative, he murmured, " Praise 
 to Allah," with a face of grave concern. " In 
 sh* Allah, thy house shall flourish and thy seed 
 increase." 
 
 While Mabruk and 'Ala'd-din were looking 
 through the rooms, he remained by the door, and 
 muttered to himself uneasily; and when they 
 issued forth again he pointed to the wooden bolt, 
 which was loose, and advised the tenant to have 
 it strengthened. 
 
 "Why? What ails thee, O sheykh ?" ex- 
 claimed Mabruk, amused at such solicitude. 
 
 The doorkeeper protested that there was 
 nothing the matter, that he spoke but in a 
 general way, as for security ; yet all the time 
 his mind seemed troubled, for he muttered in
 
 172 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 confusion, with eyes hidden, and his grin was 
 mirthless. 
 
 Mabruk, inquiring after other inmates, was 
 informed with the same sad grin that they were 
 all away. He had already noticed the unusual 
 silence of the house ; but that was nothing odd, 
 for it was summer, a season when many of the 
 well-to-do betake themselves to the villages. 
 The two young men could make nothing of the 
 behaviour of the old Nubian. They joked upon 
 it, marvelling, as the}' went their way.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 'Ala'd-dIn was prepared to start at once for the 
 village, but when Mabruk offered him the price 
 of a third-class ticket on the iron road, he refused, 
 declaring there would be enough to pay when he 
 returned with the women and children. His 
 plan was to walk to the port of Bulac and there 
 take boat. It would be strange indeed if, among 
 all the mariners there congregated, he could not 
 find some true believer sailing northward who 
 would take him on board for company. 
 
 Mabruk, having the remainder of the afternoon 
 on his hands, journeyed with him to the river- 
 side, and there lingered in converse with the 
 sailors, hearing talk of variable winds and the 
 river's changing bed and rising flood, till after 
 sunset, when he set out on his return to the city 
 proper. 
 
 That evening had been fixed for a convocation 
 of the cautious learned to debate on the political 
 situation, and Mabruk was under orders to 
 attend the gathering and observe closely the 
 speech and behaviour of one man, the Sayyid 
 Muhammad Hafiz, from whose attitude the party 
 of reform had most to hope or fear ; so at least 
 
 173
 
 174 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 said Abdullah Nadim, who was well acquainted 
 with the characters of all the learned, though 
 himself in bad odour with the more discreet 
 among them. 
 
 The place of meeting was the house of a great 
 notable, who was known for a friend of Ahmed 
 Bey Arabi. Through a clean-swept court and 
 antechamber Mabruk was shown into a large 
 cool room, lighted at the far end by a solitary 
 hanging-lamp of fine workmanship, whose rays 
 fell upon the turbans of a circle of grave elders 
 sitting cross-legged on the dais, and roused the 
 sheen of their silken robes. The young man 
 made obeisance from the threshold, and con- 
 tinued figuratively to scoop up dust until he 
 came near the foot of the dais. Here he would 
 have stopped and sat down humbly, but the 
 owner of the house prevented him, saying : 
 
 " Thou art expected, and very welcome. My 
 house is thy house. His Excellency Omar 
 Efendi has our deep respect, and we are glad to 
 have his friend and servant with us." 
 
 He drew Mabruk into the circle and presented 
 him, adding : " We shall speak freely." 
 
 These sentiments were echoed by all the 
 company ; but as for speaking freely, it seemed 
 now beyond their power to do so, though at his 
 entrance the discussion had been unreserved. 
 One and another spoke, but their remarks were 
 purely complimentary, of the kind men use to 
 temporize and hide their thoughts. 
 
 After such colourless polite speeches, the voice 
 of the Sayyid Muhammad Hafiz, grave, sincere,
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 175 
 
 impressed Mabruk like the grasp of a firm 
 hand. 
 
 The Sayyid was still in the prime of life, and 
 his face, as he fingered his beard and spoke quite 
 naturally, was of perfect self-reliance, without 
 arrogance. His eyes were large and ratherpromi- 
 nent — eyes of the seer, not the man of action ; 
 but the trenchancy of his arguments and the 
 decision of his rare gestures made it clear that 
 he was no mere dreamer. Though younger by 
 many years than most men there, he was heard 
 by all with respect, for his clear descent from the 
 Prophet combined with his wealth and famed 
 uprightness to give him influence. Only three 
 days since he had returned from Esh Sham, 
 where he owned much property. In truth, he 
 belonged to no one province, but to El Islamiyeh, 
 and was as much at home in Samarcand or 
 Mekka as here in Egypt. Viewing this world 
 from the heights of true religion, he saw in its 
 political concerns, for the most part, only a strife 
 of base ambitions, of which the strivers would 
 be ashamed at the Last Day. Yet he was sus- 
 ceptible of fervour where a religious principle 
 seemed at stake ; and, by insisting on the affront 
 to religion in certain of the changes lately ordered 
 by the Khedive, the friends of discontent had 
 hopes to win him to their side. 
 
 " In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Com- 
 passionate," he began devoutly, " it behoves us 
 Learned in Religion who have to think for the 
 Muslimin, not in Masr only, but in all the world, 
 not to be deceived by vain appearances ; but
 
 176 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 where there is discontent, to examine the grounds 
 thereof, as well as the character and general con- 
 duct of its exponents, before we say that it is just 
 and lawful. Now, the spokesmen of the disaffected 
 in this province come to us as men devoted to 
 the religion of our lord Muhammad (God bless 
 and save him !). They call the late restrictions 
 on the sale of slaves an outrage done to El Islam ; 
 they denounce His Highnes-s the Khedive as a 
 dangerous innovator, a willing tool in the hands 
 of Jews and Nazarenes. That is one face of 
 them, and, were it the only one, we might give 
 ear ; but to the Franks they pose as ardent 
 champions of the civilization of Europe and its 
 so-called progress. They state their aim to 
 establish in this district a Government by the 
 many, on the pattern of that in France, a Govern- 
 ment contrary to the dispositions of Allah most 
 High, who gives discretion only to the few ; and 
 to every man who harbours an ambition they 
 speak the language of his worldly lust. Where, 
 then, 'vs their great and single-hearted concern 
 for El Islam ? The Faith of Muhammad (God 
 bless and save him !) is the care of One Above. 
 It requires of a man that he shall make himself 
 small, not great; and these disturbers have no 
 notion of its dignity, since they range it among 
 the threads of their private intrigue. 
 
 "Now, I abhor the Franks and shun their 
 company, yet is my abhorrence not of the men 
 themselves, for their best are conscientious and 
 well-meaning, nor of their interference with the 
 Government, so much as of their civilization.
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 177 
 
 which is a foe to all religion — theirs as well as 
 ours. It extols the science of men's brains in 
 place of God; it regards not the world to come; 
 and Allah knows we have enough of it. These 
 foreigners insult our customs, they demoralize 
 our population, they treat us Muslimin as 
 savages, they take advantage of a privilege, con- 
 ceded to protect their subjects from oppression 
 and violence, to instal their vices in our midst. 
 Their governors mean well, it may be, being 
 men of standing ; but the low people in those 
 lands outcry the rulers, and their word is the 
 word of the ignorant — for evil always. 
 
 " Now, there is among them in their lands a 
 kind of man whose trade it is to stir up anger in 
 the people. Ahmed Arabi has heard tell of such 
 an one, and how he rose to greatness. But he 
 has to reckon with the temper of a race not mad, 
 like the Franks of to-day (who combine together 
 easily, rebel for nothing, and often spend their 
 lives in the pursuit of vain abstractions), people 
 who, though subject to occasional excitements, 
 soon recover their wits — the praise to Allah I — 
 and see clearly, every man his own objective. 
 We have been often assured that this soldier and 
 his friends are not rebellious. Then, I put it to 
 you in the name of the Highest, whither are 
 they tending? If a strong party is with pains 
 collected, every member of which seeks his own 
 advancement at the expense of the present order, 
 and is personally hostile to the ruler, if the army 
 is deliberately seduced from its allegiance, who, 
 save Allah Most High, can avert rebellion ? And 
 
 12
 
 178 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 if rebellion comes — which Allah forbid ! — what 
 then, I ask you ? Will not the Franks invade the 
 country and restore order with fire and sword, 
 rather than lose the money which their subjects 
 have invested in this region ? In their lands 
 there is but one voice stronger than the voice of 
 the illiterate for the guidance of affairs : it is that 
 of the Jew, the usurer. And even were Arabi to 
 succeed, what would ensue ? Without capacity or 
 experience for the work of government, he would 
 be trodden under foot of his late supporters, 
 everyone struggling for the highest power. The 
 land would be plunged in anarchy, and its 
 innocent inhabitants would suffer frightful hard- 
 ships. 
 
 "Are either of these contingencies to be pre- 
 ferred to the rule of an upright man, a true 
 believer, and stanch friend of justice ? 1 say 
 Muhammad Tewfik is all this, not because he is 
 my friend from childhood, but as one who speaks 
 the truth before Allah. He submits to the Frank 
 commissioners only in order that the huge debt 
 which his father incurred may by their help in 
 time be paid off, which done, there will be an 
 end, in sh' Allah, to an interference which His 
 Highness deplores as much as we do. 
 
 " So far as I, by the grace of Allah, am able to 
 judge, it behoves us all as sane men and believers 
 in The One God to support the authority of His 
 Highness, who has done nothing to forfeit our 
 approval, unless by his too great leniency towards 
 such disturbers. Would to Allah he had given 
 ear to his father's word which he spoke at parting
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 179 
 
 concerning these firebrands. But his own worth 
 blinded him. Allah is greatest !" 
 
 The Sayyid Muhammad Hafiz held his peace. 
 A whisper of relief ran round the circle. Its 
 members shifted in their seats, with furtive 
 glances at Mabruk as at a point of danger. 
 
 " But suppose the present Government were 
 overthrown, what then, O Beatitude ?" the dele- 
 gate of Omar Efendi questioned lamely. 
 
 " Then it would be from Allah. We are 
 Muslimin. Then we should have to take counsel 
 what man to support in the interests of the poor 
 inhabitants of this region. But I thought that 
 the aim of your party was not rebellion." 
 
 ** But the favour of the Sultan . . . His Excel- 
 lency Omar Efendi ?" put in the master of the 
 house, with a pleading glance at Mabruk. 
 
 " If Omar Efendi is in truth an envoy of the 
 Suzerain, he is not accredited, and so may be 
 disowned. He bears a good character, and is 
 reputed clever, thus much I have ascertained ; 
 but he is not a counsellor to put much faith in. Had 
 he anything of moment to communicate, he would 
 have come to us himself, not sent his servant." 
 
 At this remark of the Sayyid, Mabruk rose with 
 as fine a show of indignation as might consist 
 with his humble standing amid such great ones, 
 and, in spite of the efforts of the master of the 
 house to detain him, took a dignified leave. 
 
 He borrowed a lantern from the night watch- 
 man at the outer door, and with that and his 
 staff fared forth by narrow alleys, into - /hich the 
 stars peered as down a well, under archways 
 
 12 — 2
 
 i8o THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 and through tunnels, to his own abode. Twice a 
 watchman summoned him to attest the Unity of 
 God, and a fellow-wayfarer with a lantern wished 
 him a happy night as he sped by. At one point 
 he caught the sounds of revelry, of stringed 
 instruments and the rhythmic beat of drums, 
 from some house where a wedding or a circum- 
 cision was being celebrated. But for that, and 
 the occasional rush and snarl of a dog on his 
 passage, the streets were empty and wrapped in 
 silence. His mind was still much disturbed by 
 the speech he had just heard. If the Sayyid had 
 spoken truth in denouncing the revolutionaries 
 and prophesying their failure, it might be wise 
 for him (Mabruk) to court the favour of Said Bey 
 Ramadan. But he stood in such awe of the 
 Turk, his present master, that he dared not face 
 the thought of playing false to him. To fail and 
 perish with him were better than to incur his 
 anger. It was a sore dilemma for a poor righteous 
 youth, whose sole endeavour was to do his best 
 with the talents God had given him. 
 
 Lost in such speculations, he was approaching 
 the door of his house, when footsteps sounded 
 close behind him. By the light of the stars he 
 saw a tall man in an officer's uniform staggering 
 after him up the narrow lane. 
 
 Mabruk made haste to gain his own doorway, 
 and was proceeding to rouse the doorkeeper, 
 asleep upon a couch before it, when a voice cried : 
 
 " Out of my way, polluted son of Pharaoh !" 
 and he was flung back with violence against the 
 wall, while the new-comer assailed the sleepy 
 doorkeeper with hideous imprecations, bidding
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE i8i 
 
 him make haste and open. It was Amin Bey, the 
 Circassian. Mabruk watched him enter the house 
 as one who dwelt there, and then, as his heavy 
 footfalls receded up the stairs, Mabruk sprang 
 upon the old Nubian and gripped him fiercely by 
 the arm, hissing : 
 
 *' Why didst thou not tell me that a bully dwelt 
 here ?" 
 
 " Wallahi, O my dear, that is not my business. 
 For me to disgust a tenant would be to anger the 
 proprietor, and so lose my place. I did my best 
 by hints to convey something of the matter to 
 thy intelligence. Besides, he is not altogether a 
 bad man. He is generous and makes me presents, 
 more than all the rest did put together. He is 
 only to be feared when very perfectly drunk, and 
 that is not the case more than once in a month. 
 Place a new strong bolt upon thy door, and thou 
 with all thy house shalt dwell in safety, in sh' 
 Allah." 
 
 Mabruk now understood why the house, which 
 had been so full, was thus deserted. Sober, 
 urbane men, with wives and concubines, had fled 
 the proximity of a dissolute ruffian. To the 
 danger of that proximity he had, all unwittingly, 
 exposed Zeynab, a woman young and lively, and 
 free with her eyes, as he had noticed once or 
 twice. Moreover, he feared for his little son, 
 having heard that it is a favourite exercise of the 
 Circassians for two men to draw their swords 
 and toss a naked babe from point to point. Amid 
 the darkness, and alone, all the horrors in the 
 world seemed imminent. Locked in his rooms, 
 he spent a wretched night.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII 
 
 In the morning Mabruk went in indignation to 
 the owner of the house, but the rogue, a fat 
 merchant, declined to treat his complaint seriously, 
 and when he angrily asked for his money to be 
 returned, threatened to hale him before the 
 judge. Unable to afford to throw away so large 
 a sum, Mabruk saw no escape from dwelling 
 with Zeynab in the house of peril; so, with 
 mouth full of curses, he sought out a carpenter's 
 shop, and implored the professor who sat within 
 to lose no time in fitting a strong new bolt to the 
 door of his apartments. The craftsman, when the 
 urgency had been explained to him, promised with 
 Allah's leave to complete the job that very day. 
 
 By then the sun was up above the city roofs, 
 and wayfarers in the street kept the shady side. 
 Mabruk made haste to the house of Omar 
 Efendi, and was shown to his private room, 
 where the Turk in a silk kaftan was lounging 
 on a divan near an open window. 
 
 " Thou art late," was his remark, as Mabruk 
 made reverence, " and I expected thee early, in 
 impatience to hear thy report." 
 
 " Alas, O my lord !" replied the youth, with 
 182
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 183 
 
 voice made hopeless by his private grief; " all is 
 finished. The Sayyid Muhammad Hafiz holds 
 with Efendina. He denounced us patriots in 
 terms of so fierce an eloquence that all who 
 heard him knew that he spoke truth." 
 
 " May Allah cut short his life !" muttered Omar 
 Efendi ; and he demanded a minute account of 
 the speech and its effect upon the audience, 
 cramming both ends of his moustache into his 
 mouth as the tale proceeded, and gnawing them 
 savagely with eyes fixed on' the ground. When 
 Mabruk had done speaking, he sat thus a moment 
 in silence, then broke out : 
 
 " The wild beast 1 The monster of pride and 
 arrogance ! If he contemns Ar^bi thus openly, it 
 is only because Ar^bi is a soldier and the son of 
 a fellah, with no pretensions to be ranked among 
 the learned. He derides him for fashioning his 
 schemes upon the model of the Franks, as if the 
 best of the inhabitants of Masr were not apes, as 
 if the soil of Masr ever produced anything of its 
 own except reeds and thistles ! In sh' Allah, he 
 shall learn that Arabi has a will and an intelli- 
 gence superior to his, the coxcomb ! They wait 
 to see our power, do they, those greybeards ? In 
 sh' Allah, they shall see it shortly, and with 
 trembling. In the meanwhile, how to silence 
 this intrusive marplot ? He is the intimate 
 friend of the Khedive, and may advise strong 
 measures, which just now would ruin all, for our 
 strength is not yet ripe. And if the substance of 
 his speech against us gets abroad, it may weaken 
 our supports, for many look to him."
 
 i84 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 " By the Prophet, he deserves to die," agreed 
 Mabruk feelingly. 
 
 "Ah, there speaks the eater of blood, the prac- 
 tised murderer !" cried the Turk with malice, and 
 a sudden turn to mirth. " Thou thinkest only of 
 blood, forgetting the price thereof. ... O my 
 friend, knowest thou that I have a drinker of 
 blood, a brigand, in my service ? Allow me to 
 present to thee Mabruk el-Masri, the greatest 
 dare-devil thy province has produced since Ali el- 
 Masri of the Thousand Nights and a Night." 
 
 The Sheykh Abdullah Nadim, who had come 
 in quietly behind Mabruk, touched hands with 
 the Turk and exchanged the usual cordialities 
 ere turning his eyes upon the monster thus 
 denounced to him. 
 
 " I seek refuge in Allah," he piously exclaimed. 
 " But can it be ? This youth looks innocent and 
 most polite. Doubtless his crimes were caused 
 by sudden anger, or the flame of jealousy which 
 burns to madness." 
 
 " No, no ! I assure thee, by Allah, he has 
 hewn men limb from limb in cold blood all for 
 gain. He has been a cutter of the road, a com- 
 panion of the most desperate villains. . . ." 
 
 ** I call Allah to witness ! Our dear lord does 
 but jest. Hear him not, O Excellency," protested 
 Mabruk, between shame and gratification at his 
 master's pleasantry. 
 
 "To kill is not necessarily a crime," observed 
 the visitor thoughtfully. " Who shall forbid the 
 good to smite the erring, the righteous to destroy 
 the wicked in the world ? Since thou art brave,
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 185 
 
 my son, direct thy valour against the evil-doer 
 and the infidel, and all the headstrong who resist 
 good counsel." 
 
 "Go out now, O Mabruk, and smell the air, 
 for I have to talk with His Reverence," said 
 Omar presently. " After two hours return, and 
 
 1 will tell thee what to do." 
 
 Mabruk went out obediently, and sat with the 
 doorkeeper till the time appointed. When he 
 returned, it was to find the Turk alone and in 
 good humour, to judge by the laugh which ceased 
 as he opened the door, and the difficulty which 
 His Excellency seemed to experience in keeping 
 a straight face. 
 
 " Have the kindness to sit down," he told his 
 henchman, " Wallahi, these holy ones are rare 
 sons of dogs ! His Reverence told me a story 
 the like of which I never heard for funniness. 
 Now let me collect my wits, for I have com- 
 mands of high importance for thee." 
 
 Mabruk, with a light obeisance, professed his 
 readiness for any service, and then sat patient 
 till his patron had succeeded in driving the droll 
 recollection from his mind and had recovered his 
 accustomed sneering calm. At last, in hard, in- 
 cisive tones, His Honour spoke : 
 
 " The Sayyid Muhammad Hafiz threatens to 
 trouble us. If he encourage the Government to 
 move at once against us, all may well be lost. 
 As yet all display of power, all arrogance, must 
 be on our side, to inspirit waverers. Most of the 
 native officers are with us, but not so many of 
 the common soldiers. Whole regiments might
 
 i86 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 hang back on an emergency. Thou saidst well, a 
 short while back, he ought to die, and weal betide 
 the man who rids us of him. Thou thyself hast 
 been a robber and killed men. Think on the 
 matter, I beseech thee. It is worth thy while." 
 
 With that he fell to telling the beads of his 
 chaplet, observing his prey the while shrewdly 
 out of the corners of his eyes. At one moment 
 it seemed the funny story told by the zealot 
 recurred to his mind, for a tide of mirth threatened 
 to overcome him ; but he controlled it, and pre- 
 served the demeanour suited to so fierce a 
 proposal. 
 
 Mabruk's jaw fell. He stared at the floor as 
 if he saw hell opened. At that moment he wished 
 that he had been in truth a desperado, when he 
 could have refused the dreadful task at once and 
 nobly, calling his deeds to witness it was not 
 through cowardice. But now he could not belie 
 his own pretensions without for ever forfeiting 
 his chief's regard. He stood mopping and mowing 
 at his feet, while his head and hands shook 
 wretchedly. 
 
 " I ask forgiveness of Allah I" he exclaimed 
 scarce audibly. "It is too much to require of 
 any man. That which I did formerly was done 
 in the excitement of a struggle or in anger ; they 
 were men of no account ; and yet their death 
 is heavy on me. But this Sayyid is a man set 
 high in honour, of the family of our lord 
 Muhammad (God bless and save him!). No such 
 crime has been committed since the slaying of 
 our lo'"d Hoseyn (on him be peace !). It is a sin
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 187 
 
 to darken heaven, to bring the wrath of Allah 
 on this land. It is to earn the execration of all 
 true believers." 
 
 " By Allah, thou knowest thy business !" Omar 
 sneered. "Wouldst look on thy reward before- 
 hand, clever one ? Thy reward will be escape 
 from punishment. Wouldst rather be dragged 
 before the Cadi as a thief and slaughterer? The 
 choice is with thee. Go and think on it. And 
 take this letter to the house of Khalid Efendi. 
 Go, I say I" 
 
 Mabruk went forth from his patron's presence 
 half blind, and with a singing in his ears. A few 
 steps from the outer door, in the narrow dirty 
 alley, he sat down in the dwindling shadow of 
 the wall and wept, with chin upon his breast. 
 The sunlight, blanching the high houses opposite, 
 bearding with shadow their projecting lattices, 
 ended close before his knees in an edge as sharp 
 and dazzling as a sword-blade. Overhead was 
 white fire. A doorkeeper asleep upon a threshold ; 
 a few dogs, sleeping likewise ; a circling kite 
 which kept crossing the strip of sky, its shadow 
 flying up the house-fronts like a second bird ; 
 nothing else alive was in sight. 
 
 Mabruk cursed the day that ever he had set 
 eyes upon the Turk, his master; cursed that quick 
 responsiveness of his brain to suggestion which 
 had caused him to boast of crimes he had never 
 committed. It was like a Turk to propose murder 
 thus lightly, in the same tone that he would have 
 used to order the removal of a stone from his 
 path. Might Allah destroy the whole race of
 
 i88 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 Osman, for their wickedness mocked high Heaven ! 
 And the Sheykh Abdullah too! To what lengths 
 had not zeal transported that devout, good man ! 
 Mabruk was minded to fly from the city and 
 return to his own village, to the slow, faithful 
 life of the fellahin. But all men knew him for 
 a soldier, and his father's enemy, the Sheykh 
 Mahrus, was omdeh now. He would be appre- 
 hended as a deserter and brought back to be 
 flogged and imprisoned, even if Omar Efendi 
 failed to pursue him as he had threatened. He 
 thought of the Franks as a refuge, for they were 
 known to be averse to violence ; but of that race 
 he was acquainted with but two men, the Mussiu 
 Dibun and the Mister Bawwil, who had been 
 among his teachers formerly, and of those he 
 knew not the present whereabouts, nor could he 
 hope, in view of their remembered haughtiness, 
 that they would condescend to hear him if he did 
 approach them. 
 
 A man, coming up the street with back bowed 
 beneath a full and dripping skin of water, beheld 
 the young man weeping, and stood still a minute 
 to inquire the cause of woe. 
 
 " I have been robbed," was the rejoinder. 
 
 " May Allah right thy wrong," said the man 
 feelingly, as, dashing the sweat from his brow, 
 he went his way. 
 
 Mabruk could not impart his grief to any man, 
 nor seek advice of any true believer. This isola- 
 tion, thus brought home to him, made his case 
 more hopeless, and he wept anew. Even 'Ala'd-din 
 would shrink from him in horror, did he learn the
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE i8p 
 
 truth ; for there was only one way out of his 
 present quandary, and that was by doing as the 
 Turk enjoined him. Yet that, too, was impossible. 
 He knew that he would die of horror in the act ; 
 and surely there was not in all the world a human 
 creature at once so base and so courageous as to 
 do it for him. Muhammad en-Nuri was finished, 
 and, even had he been in existence, would certainly 
 have demurred at so revolting a crime. 
 
 When his tears were exhausted, and the sun's 
 rays had some time reached him, he rose and 
 wandered in the streets, not caring whither. As 
 if by predestination, he found himself passing the 
 house of the Sayyid Muhammad. He had called 
 there once with a letter from Omar Efendi ; and 
 the doorkeeper hailed him now as an acquaintance, 
 and made him come into the entry and rest upon 
 his bench a while. He sat there talking with a 
 group of servants when the master of the house 
 went forth alone. All rose and saluted as he 
 passed, and he repaid their greeting as to friends 
 and equals. Mabruk watched his stately form 
 recede down the street, which was empty at that 
 hour, and noticed how he seemed in reverie, 
 never once looking round, his loose robe swelling 
 out behind him. It had been easy for a man 
 to steal up unperceived and plant a dagger in 
 between those noble shoulders : this sole con- 
 ception was to Mabruk so piteous that he had 
 to gulp hard to restrain fresh tears. 
 
 Taking leave at length of his friend the door- 
 keeper, he called to mind the letter he had been 
 charged to deliver. The notable to whom it was
 
 190 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 addressed inhabited a distant suburb; yet Mabruk 
 chose to go on foot the whole way, though he 
 did not lack the wherewithal to hire an ass, or 
 even a carriage, for his need. In like manner, 
 his errand done, he returned with hurried step, 
 the step of guilt, not strolling like your man of 
 quiet conscience. He traversed a quarter decked 
 with masts and flags, and thronged with merry- 
 makers, in honour of the Molid of some local 
 saint. On all hands he was invited to stop and 
 share the fun, but he passed through the midst 
 of the rejoicings without a thought for them. 
 By then the sky was flooded with warm colours, 
 and down in the streets men moved in a wondrous 
 twilight tinted richly like the depth of clear water. 
 Mabruk, with fevered brain, strode on, disconso- 
 late. He dared not do the deed required of him, 
 yet dared not face his patron with the deed 
 undone. He could not brook the thought of rest 
 or food, or of anything else save self-abasement 
 before Allah. 
 
 At the hour of the sunset-prayer he entered 
 the mosque of the Hasaneyn, and there, by a 
 pillar, spent the livelong night, watching from 
 afar the lamp which burns before the shrine 
 where rests the head of the martyr Hoseyn. 
 He slept not a wink, but wept and prayed 
 despairingly till a greyness of the dawn enveloped 
 his surroundings, making them new and strange, 
 increasing hopelessness. In that austere, pale 
 hour his course was clear to him. 
 
 It was to denounce the Turk and all his wicked- 
 ness, reckless of punishment, were it death by
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 191 
 
 torture. This day he would go betimes to Said 
 Bey Ramadan, and, confessing all, implore that 
 poor good man to warn the Sayyid of the plot 
 to murder him. Then he himself would fly to 
 the sea-coast, and seek a passage to some distant 
 land, where the arm of Omar's fury might not 
 reach him. Surely, on the revelation of so 
 base a plot, Efendina and the Franks would 
 strike at last, and make an end of all the wicked 
 patriots. 
 
 At the call to prayer from the minarets, when 
 hosts of light rode up the sky, though night 
 still lurked beneath the cloisters, he rose from 
 off the flag where he had sat through all the 
 darkness, and went and washed himself, and 
 prayed the prayer of morning. Then he re- 
 turned to his stone beside the pillar, and, with 
 mind refreshed and vigilant, reformed his project. 
 
 His thought of Said Bey Ramadan as a go- 
 between was foolish, he now perceived ; for the 
 old man was proverbially timorous, and had lately 
 been so lavish of alarms that his warnings were 
 become a standing joke. And there was no need 
 for Mabruk to blacken the face of Omar Efendi, 
 who had been often kind to him, by denouncing 
 him as instigator of the crime. No, by the 
 Prophet ; there should be no betrayal. He 
 himself would go, as emissary of the Turk, and 
 entreat the Sayyid to save himself by flight, since 
 danger threatened him. When once that noble 
 sheykh was safe away, Mabruk could plead his 
 absence in excuse for sparing him. 
 
 The sun had been some two hours seen above
 
 192 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 the desert hill, and its rays were felt in the streets 
 when Mabruk presented himself at the house of 
 Muhammad Hafiz, He had come running, and 
 his haggard looks and manifest disorder impressed 
 the servants deeply. They supposed themselves 
 in presence of the supernatural, and whispered 
 one to another, " He has seen a vision." His 
 petition for immediate access to their lord was 
 heard with reverence. One ran hot-foot to inform 
 His Grace, while another showed Mabruk to the 
 guest-chamber. 
 
 ** Salvation be upon thee !" 
 
 The dignified figure of the Sayyid appeared in 
 the doorway of the dim, cool room before Mabruk 
 had time to look about him or collect his wits. 
 The young man cast himself at the feet of that 
 benign one and kissed the hem of his robe, 
 pouring forth his story with groans and agonized 
 entreaties. 
 
 " Fly at once, O Emir. It is the word of my 
 master, who loves thee, though an enemy. He 
 bade me implore your Highness not to linger in 
 the city another hour, for he has knowledge of a 
 hateful plot to slay thee. There are lawless men 
 in the party, of whom the leaders have no firm 
 control. For the love of Allah, I entreat thee, 
 lose no time! Nay, if it become known that I 
 and my lord have warned thee, behold us dead, 
 the two of us ! I implore thee, breathe no word 
 to any man, but save thyself! Fly now, and 
 secretly !" 
 
 The Sayyid heard with stupefaction. There 
 was no questioning the sincerity of the messenger.
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 193 
 
 and yet so extraordinary a tale was hard to credit. 
 He would fain have cross-examined the strange 
 envoy ; but Mabruk, prompted by his good angel, 
 only multiplied wild entreaties, and sobbing, "I 
 have done my part ; Allah witness, I am guiltless 
 of thy blood !" kissed the Sayyid's hand suddenly, 
 and fled from the house. 
 
 13
 
 CHAPTER XXIV 
 
 Not until he had traversed many streets, dodging 
 constantly so as to confound pursuit, did Mabruk 
 stop to fetch his breath. Then, seeing a cookshop 
 near at hand, he went thither and ordered a large 
 mess of beans, devouring which, he talked and 
 jested with the professor. Once more there was 
 pleasure in life. After an hour, spent amid the 
 appetizing vapours of the cookshop, he hailed an 
 urchin passing in the street, and sent him running 
 with an urgent message to the doorkeeper of the 
 Sayyid's house, who soon came, hurrying, with a 
 face of grave concern. 
 
 "How fares it with thy master?" inquired 
 Mabruk when he drew near. 
 
 The doorkeeper's answer was he could not tell, 
 because half an hour after Mabruk's strange visit 
 His Honour had started suddenly upon a journey. 
 
 " Whither does he travel ?" inquired the youth. 
 
 " Wallahi, that is not known ! He set forth 
 suddenly and with scant preparations, yet he 
 bade me not to expect him back for many days." 
 
 " Praise be to Allah ! That is well !" replied 
 Mabruk with a sigh of relief so profound that 
 the doorkeeper pressed for an explanation. But 
 
 194
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 195 
 
 Mabriik, sitting up in the shop, surveyed him 
 critically, and coolly blessed him for a man too 
 curious. The doorkeeper then bowed and kissed 
 his feet, and craved the signal honour of his 
 benediction, calling him holy one and patron ; 
 for from the manner of his visit at the house that 
 morning, and its strange effect upon the master, 
 there was no doubt in the old slave's mind but 
 that this youth was some known favourite of the 
 Deity. 
 
 Having dismissed that man, Mabruk took leave 
 of the caterer, and strolled away, well satisfied. 
 He had disobeyed his orders, it was true, and yet 
 might suffer for it ; but what pains soever dis- 
 obedience brought on him must be light as com- 
 pared with the sense of iniquity which had 
 oppressed his soul this night. Now, by his 
 instrumentality, the Sayyid Muhammad Hafiz 
 was saved from assassination, and a poor righteous 
 youth escaped the guilt of murder. He walked 
 the streets, exultant in his work and praising 
 Allah. 
 
 But presently, when joy grew stale, his thoughts 
 pressed onward towards the interview with Omar 
 Efendi. He dreaded that keen, cruel flash of the 
 Turk's eyes, which was of power to disconcert 
 the coolest liar. If Omar found the tale too trite 
 or plausible, he would suspect his veracity and 
 make inquiries. When he learnt how Mabruk 
 himself had given warning to the Sayyid, his 
 wrath against the traitor would be formidable. 
 As the young man pondered these things, his 
 brow clouded, and his step became less elastic. 
 
 13—2
 
 196 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 In this chastened mood he reached his own 
 abode, where the doorkeeper informed him that 
 his wife had just arrived. Speeding up the stairs 
 on those tidings, he could hear the voice of 
 Zeynab raised shrill and scolding; and when he 
 burst into the room he found his wife in act 
 to slap the face of the wife of 'Ala'd-din, who had 
 stayed to help her with the house-things. The 
 child, in a corner on a heap of clothes, was 
 sleeping peacefully. 
 
 No sooner had Mabruk appeared on the scene 
 than she turned her wrath upon him, and exposed 
 her grievance. 
 
 " What is this ?" she cried. *' Our coming was 
 not hid from thee ; we were expected, yet none 
 welcomed our arrival. I was made a laughing- 
 stock for idlers in the street, who cried : ' She 
 seeks her lord, but he has fled from her.' They 
 mocked me loudly, holding their sides. And 
 what kind of house is this for me to come to ? 
 Out on the stairs, while yet old Ali fumbled for 
 the key, an officer of the soldiers touched me 
 rudely. He strove to pull away my veil, and 
 spoke vile words. By the Prophet, I shall not 
 stay here ! As soon as I am rested I shall return 
 to the village." 
 
 The wife of 'Ala'd-din gladly left them to adjust 
 their difference, and repaired to her husband's 
 dwelling. 
 
 Painfully, by slow degrees, Mabruk inveigled 
 and cajoled his spouse to take more cheerful 
 views of her surroundings. At length her sharp 
 reproaches sank to gusty generalities. Mabruk
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 197 
 
 had never been a knowing man, nor strong enougli 
 to make a model husband. He had never looked 
 before him where he walked, nor yet behind to 
 see if foes were near. Could anything, for ex- 
 ample, exceed the folly of his indifference con- 
 cerning the treasure of Muhammad cn-Nuri, his 
 rightful heritage ? He had left the search to 
 others. For weeks all the rascals of the village 
 had been digging every night, now here, now 
 there. And now it was certain that the Sheykh 
 Mahrus had found it — his house's enemy ! For 
 since his elevation to the post of omdeh, the old 
 rogue had let men see that he had wealth. Not 
 until the evening had she recovered sufficiently 
 for him to recount his troubles of the past two 
 days, and confide to her his present terror of his 
 patron's wrath. 
 
 She scoffed at his alarms, declaring he had 
 done most wisely. 
 
 " The man is gone, no one knows whither. 
 Say thou hast killed him ; who shall contradict 
 thee ? So thy lord will be pleased, and perhaps 
 reward thee." 
 
 Mabruk deliberated this advice, and found it 
 excellent. It offered him the respite which was 
 all he asked, since the future was in Allah's 
 government. The Turk might die, or change his 
 mind completely, long ere the Sayyid's fate was 
 truly known. Glad of his wife's return, Mabruk 
 slept long and soundly. 
 
 In the morning he presented himself at the 
 house of Omar Efendi, where he was hailed with 
 loud thanksgivings by the servants, who had
 
 198 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 begun to fear that he was lost for ever. The 
 Turk was straightway informed of his arrival^ 
 and sent for him at once. 
 
 " Praise be to Allah, I behold thee once again !" 
 he exclaimed at sight of him. " By the Prophet, 
 I began to fear my words had scared thee right 
 away. That would have grieved me, for I have 
 a fondness for thee. . . . Well, what of the Sayyid 
 Muhammad ?" he asked, laughing. 
 
 Mabruk bowed his head sorrowfully, and struck 
 his palms together to express finality. 
 
 " Our Lord have mercy on him !" he said. 
 
 " I seek refuge in Allah !" Omar Efendi sat up 
 suddenly, and stared at his pupil with dilated 
 eyes. "Thou sayest. . . . But it cannot be! I 
 have watched thee ! Thou art a timid youth, 
 inclined to pity ; neither a brigand nor a murderer, 
 except in jest ! While laughing at thy pretensions 
 with my friend before yesterday, it came into my 
 mind, for fun, to scare thee. By Allah ! it repented 
 me an hour later, and yesterda}^, when thou camest 
 not, I felt vexed, believing I had frightened thee 
 in earnest, and should never see thee more. Yet 
 now thou sayest . . . Our Lord have mercy upon 
 him! May Allah pardon thee, and me also! There 
 is no power nor might save in Allah the Tre- 
 mendous ! I call our Lord to witness that I spoke 
 in jest. May Allah search out the heart of Abdullah 
 Nadim, who suggested the game to me. Allah is 
 greatest !" 
 
 Mabruk's concern was real at this disclosure. 
 He had passed a day and a night in extreme 
 anguish, had driven the best of men into banish-
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 199 
 
 ment, had strained his ingenuity to madness, and 
 gazed on hell — for this. Truly these great ones 
 had strange views of humour. Might Allah destroy 
 the whole accursed race of Osman, who even for 
 their mirth must cause men misery. He lifted 
 his eyes upon his patron not in deference. Had 
 there but been a weapon to his hand, he could 
 have slain the heartless tyrant where he sat. 
 But, strange to tell, no heartless tyrant met his 
 gaze, but a strong man wrestling with remorse 
 and misery. Omar writhed upon the divan, tears 
 rolling down his cheeks, his lips trembling. 
 
 "Out of my sight, unhappy one! Fly! Hide 
 thyself! Go to the Sheykh Abdullah, who ma}' 
 reward thee !" he moaned despairingly. 
 
 Mabruk was nicely avenged. Soothed by the 
 sight, and emboldened by his master's terror, he 
 fell at the great man's feet, and told his story. 
 His own audacity set a pulse beating in his brain, 
 which made him deaf awhile. But soon he heard : 
 
 "The praise to Allah ! He is gone, our enemy 
 — that strong, proud man ! And yet no blood has 
 been shed, no crime committed. My joke is nothing 
 to this jest of thine. Go on, O Mabruk, as thou 
 hast begun ; and, by thy life, thou shalt attain the 
 highest eminence. By the Prophet, thou hast 
 done our patriots the greatest service, and I will 
 see to it that they prove not ungrateful. From 
 this day forth I love thee like my son. . . . Never 
 again will I despise the intelligence of these fel- 
 lahin. No, Allah help me, never!" 
 
 And raising up Mabruk, the Turk embraced 
 him.
 
 CHAPTER XXV 
 
 All this while Mabruk was not forgetful of Said 
 Bej'^ Ramadan, but visited him once or twice in 
 every week, and fed him full with tales of the 
 spread of discontent, causing the poor old man to 
 cry, " O Great Protector !" and wheeze and tremble 
 on the brink of death. In return for such informa- 
 tion he received gifts, which decreased in value, 
 however, as the Bey made sure of him. In this 
 way Said Bey learnt of a plot to assassinate the 
 noble and disinterested Muhammad Hafiz — a plot 
 so horrible as to appal the very leaders in con- 
 spiracy, who had themselves given secret warn- 
 ing to the intended victim, enabling him to find 
 safety in flight. This news seemed to His Excel- 
 lency so momentous that within an hour of hearing 
 it he set out in person for Iskenderiyeh, where 
 the Court then was. He performed the journey 
 in a fluster of concern which threatened every 
 instant to cut short his days ; and on his return 
 the following evening to the capital, he sent at 
 once for Mabruk and assured him it was all too 
 true. The Sayyid had taken refuge in the noble 
 city of El Cuds, and from thence had written to 
 one of the Ministers a letter which confirmed 
 
 200
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 201 
 
 Mabruk's report. On this occasion he omitted 
 altogether to fee Mabruk, nor did he thenceforth 
 make him any remuneration beyond the promise 
 of his protection and interest. 
 
 This story of Muhammad Hafiz was one of a 
 multitude of devices employed about this time by 
 the Turk for striking terror in the hearts of the 
 Court party; but from the accidental manner of 
 its conception, which gave it all the colouring 
 of truth, it proved effective. As its good results 
 became apparent, Omar praised Allah more and 
 more for his henchman's cleverness. He would 
 stare at Mabruk for minutes together, saying : 
 "Who would suppose a devil lurked beneath 
 that mean exterior ?" Nourished on such en- 
 comiums, Mabruk soon came to believe himself 
 a fiend indeed. His face and manner nowada3^s 
 denoted subtlety, and a malicious smile was 
 seldom absent from the corners of his mouth. In 
 imitation of his chief, he bought a rosary, and 
 told the beads thereof, with eyes downcast, when 
 momentarily at a loss for words. The love of 
 disguise, which had taken him at first through 
 cowardice, now grew to mania through excess 
 of guile. He even, on one occasion, borrowed 
 raiment from Zeynab, and set forth in the like- 
 ness of a woman ; but before he had gone many 
 steps such laughter followed him, that, seized 
 with horror and alarm, he fied indoors. 
 
 His patron now received him in the closest 
 intimacy, and showed him the whole outlook of 
 the revolutionary party ; and the young man was 
 astounded by the daring of the schemes thus
 
 202 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 spread before him. Till now he had supposed 
 himself the only agent employed by Omar; but 
 now he grew aware of hosts of others. The 
 Turk had spies even in the Prince's chamber, 
 spies upon his enemies, spies upon his friends, 
 spies upon his spies. All the plans of the reputed 
 leaders seemed to be either inspired or else 
 revised by him. Mabruk heard at one moment 
 of a secret embassy to the desert Arabs, eternal 
 terror of the land of Egypt, with a view to 
 alliance ; at the next, of negotiations with an 
 impressionable section of the Europeans. He 
 saw the process by which ills which had hitherto 
 been regarded as natural, and from the hand of 
 Allah, were elevated into grievances and laid at 
 the door of the Government ; and, convinced of 
 the power of Omar, grew more than ever eager in 
 his service. 
 
 That the great mass of the people should 
 remain indifferent was only to be expected, and 
 troubled nobody. When once the army and the 
 city mob were theirs entirely, the reformers 
 would be courted by the Ulema and the great 
 notables, and become the virtual lords of Egypt. 
 
 In the city generally there was a feeling that 
 interference by infidels with the government of a 
 Muslim land was impious and unjustifiable; and 
 Riaz Pasha and his Cabinet were not popular, 
 being regarded as creatures of the French and 
 English. The Council of Notables had of late 
 been much neglected, and the members, grieved 
 by their loss of importance in the public eye, de- 
 sired to reassert its former influence. The days of
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NH^E 203 
 
 Ismail Pasha, when an easy corruption reigned 
 in all departments, were remembered as a golden 
 age by many persons. The young and ambitious 
 resented the calm superiority of the Turks, and 
 their monopoly of the higher posts in the 
 Administration. These and other causes com- 
 bined to clothe the figure of the peasant-soldier, 
 standing forth with his cry of " Egypt for the 
 Egyptians," with charms for not a few outside the 
 army. But their sympathy was speculative, and 
 wholly passive. For action, it was necessary 
 either to convince each individual that he person- 
 ally stood to gain by a change of government, or 
 else to furnish a display of power so formidable 
 as to set the whole world cringing. 
 
 Mabruk saw all this through his master's eyes 
 more clearly than was pleasant to him. To use 
 the same measure for friends as for enemies, 
 which Omar did invariably, seemed to him injus- 
 tice. Indeed, while working for revolution with 
 unsparing zeal, the Turk had a sneer for the 
 cause, and all to do with it. He esteemed no one 
 in Egypt, unless it were the Khedive, and other 
 Turks by race, whom it was his business to 
 oppose. But Mabruk was less shocked by this 
 disdain for the children of the Nile than he was 
 awed by the great man's pitiless exposure of the 
 motives underlying the enthusiasm of his closest 
 friends. That, surely, was a scrutiny best left to 
 Allah. It took an Osmanli thus to even friend 
 with foe, and keep his wits collected amid so 
 much fervour. 
 
 For all the sons of Egypt those were days of
 
 204 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 nerve-racking excitement, of vague and madden- 
 ing apprehensions, when no man dared to glance 
 beyond the moment, and small events were 
 magnified to ghastly horrors. An incident which 
 had occurred at Iskenderiyeh perturbed the minds 
 of men of all opinions, and was made to bear a 
 significance it could never have assumed in times 
 of order. A soldier of the artillery having been 
 knocked down and injured by the carriage of a 
 foreign merchant, his comrades gathered him up 
 and carried him in a crowd to the palace of Ras- 
 et-Tin with cries for justice. The Khedive spoke 
 kindly to the demonstrators, and appeased their 
 wrath ; but after a few days, when they had 
 forgotten the whole business, he had their leaders 
 brought to trial on a charge of mutiny, and con- 
 demned : the victim of the accident to penal 
 servitude for life; his eight bearers to three years* 
 imprisonment, to be succeeded by foreign service 
 in the dreaded Sudan. 
 
 Abdul Aal Hilmi, one of the revolutionary 
 leaders, sent to Mahmiid Sami, Minister of War, 
 a violent protest against the inhumanity of this 
 judgment ; Arabi and the rest cried " treachery "; 
 Abdullah Nadim, in his newspaper, thundered 
 against the tyrant ; and there was a general 
 impression in the capital that the end of all things 
 was at hand. The outcry was embittered by the 
 chance that the month was Ramadan — a mid- 
 summer Ramadan — when street-cries are hushed, 
 and the mildest are rendered irascible by discom- 
 fort of a parched mouth and an empty belly. But 
 its result was the opposite of that intended. It
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 205 
 
 scared the Khedive in truth, but so exceedingly 
 as to nerve him to yet stronger action. The 
 Ministry was summoned b}^ telegraph to Isken- 
 deriyeh; Mahmud Sami, Arabi's partisan, was 
 ejected from the War Department ; and measures 
 were concerted for silencing the incendiary press. 
 
 Omar Efendi chuckled at the consternation of 
 the Nationalists, while by precept and example 
 he strove to restore their confidence. It was now 
 Arabi's turn to be distraught with fear. If 
 Muhammad Tewfik fully asserted himself, Ahmed 
 Arabi and all who had held with him were dead 
 men. But something feverish and excessive, 
 pointed out by onlookers, in the vigour of the 
 Khedive's tactics, suggesting desperation of sheer 
 terror rather than conscious might, gave the 
 schemers hope that by some bold expedient they 
 might yet reduce their Sovereign to obedience. 
 For more than a month Arabi and his friends 
 took counsel nightly, shaping forth their project. 
 B}^ the time an order came for an exchange of 
 troops between Iskenderiyeh and the capital, 
 replacing a trusty regiment by one still attached 
 to the Khedive, their plan was ripe. The order 
 was ignored, and openly derided ; and Arabi sent 
 to every regiment a list of complaints against 
 the Government, that no soldier might rest 
 unaware of grievances. 
 
 It was then that one fine evening Mabruk at- 
 tended Omar to a certain house, where Ahmed 
 Arabi sat in council with his intimates, on a chair 
 at a table, in the latest manner. Mabruk could not 
 enough admire the grave demeanour of the con-
 
 2o6 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 spirators, nor the elegance of the salutations with 
 which they rose and welcomed the Osmanli. The 
 famous peasant-soldier was a tall, thick-set man, 
 deliberate and something ponderous, but urbane, 
 and owner of a very pleasant smile. Tulbah 
 Ismet, sitting next to him, seemed to Mabruk 
 a fox that guides a lion. Omar Efendi presented 
 his attendant to the leader, saying : 
 
 "Thou didst hint, O my dear, some need of 
 messengers. I commend to thee this rogue of 
 mine, who may be trusted." 
 
 "Give him the letters for the citadel, and let 
 him hasten," said Tulbah, who appeared in great 
 excitement. " Riaz and his colleagues have sold 
 us all to the Inkliz. Even the price is known," 
 he added, to explain the urgency. 
 
 Ahmed Arabi made Mabruk draw near, and 
 spoke to him kindly as he gave the letters. The 
 messenger then kissed the gracious hand, and 
 sped upon the errand. 
 
 Great events were brewing. Arabi, Tulbah, 
 Abdul Aal, and the rest had judged the times ripe 
 for a display of power. The leader had therefore 
 sent to the Khedive a letter informing His High- 
 ness that, on the fifteenth of Shawwal, by Allah's 
 leave, the army would visit him at his palace of 
 Abdin to lay before him certain just demands. 
 He wrote at the same time to the foreign consuls 
 bidding them have no fear, since the proceedings 
 would be marked with all urbanity. 
 
 Omar Efendi evinced distaste for this mode of 
 trumpeting great deeds beforehand. It was like 
 a fellah, he sneered, to take his role thus seriously,
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 207 
 
 and strain at a dignity which the Sultan's self 
 would laugh to contemplate; the blow, to be 
 effective, should be sudden ; all this fanfaronade 
 was done by the advice of an irresponsible Frank; 
 and so forth. But he lent Mabruk to do the ser- 
 vice of the conspirators, and showed indulgence 
 for the youth's excitement. 
 
 On the morning of the fifteenth of Shawwal, 
 when Mabruk presented himself as usual at the 
 Turk's abode, he found his patron dressed as 
 for the street. The great man took his hand at 
 once, and led him forth, saying: 
 
 " Thou wouldst not miss the sight, I know. 
 We go together." 
 
 It was the first time that Mabruk had been thus 
 honoured, in his pleasure, and he choked with 
 pride. 
 
 The day was Friday, so a public holiday, and 
 the inhabitants of the capital strain always for 
 a peep at every show. A huge crowd of sight- 
 seers of all classes filled the square before the 
 palace of Abdin, rustling with conversation like 
 a cornfield in the breeze. Sellers of water and 
 other comforts picked a slow way through the 
 mass. Rather to Mabruk's disgust his patron 
 chose to mingle with the herd. He had hoped 
 through him for some exclusive standpoint, where 
 his greatness might be seen of all beholders. 
 This regret was sharpened in his mind when 
 'Ala'd-din, crying sweetmeats, stopped and spoke 
 with him a moment, unconscious of the great man 
 at his elbow. 
 
 The demands whrch Arabi would present were
 
 2o8 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 known and freely canvassed by the joking crowd. 
 They were first, the resignation of the present 
 Ministry; then an increase of the army, the pro- 
 motion of his bosom friends, especially Tulbah ; 
 the repeal of certain laws dishonouring to the 
 Egyptian soldiers, the rehabilitation of the Cham- 
 ber of Deputies, the downfall of the She3dvh el- 
 Islam. Each clause found friends and opponents 
 among the merry-makers, and the arguments 
 raged and fell amid much laughter. 
 
 Soon the troops began to arrive. The specta- 
 tors named the leaders as they recognized them. 
 First came the cavalry of Ahmed Bey Abdul- 
 Ghaffar. Then the regiment of Ahmed Arabi, 
 and then a regiment of artillery, under Ismail Bey 
 Sabri. An army of three thousand men, under 
 discipline, with arms flashing in the sun, was 
 drawn up before the palace of Abdin, where the 
 consuls of the Powers and all the Ministers were 
 known to be in council with the Sovereign. Then 
 a murmur ran through all the crowd. The Khe- 
 dive Muhammad Tewfik had come forth to the 
 entrance of the palace, with the foreign consuls 
 at his back. He gave some orders, which the 
 crowd could soon interpret, for Arabi rode up to 
 the portal, sitting stiff and upright on his charger, 
 drawn sword in hand ; around him ten high offi- 
 cers, likewise mounted and with swords drawn. 
 The leader saluted. At the bidding of the Khedive 
 he sheathed his sword, and dismounted. The Khe- 
 dive conversed with him, the consul of the English 
 standing very near — a piece of impudence which 
 the crowd took for proof of what was said about
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 209 
 
 the sale of Egypt to the English. Then the whole 
 group of great ones entered the palace, and were 
 lost to sight. 
 
 "There is no more to see; the result will be 
 heard afar," said Omar Efendi in Mabruk's ear. 
 " If thou wilt, we will go and take refreshment." 
 
 Extricating himself from the press by force of 
 good-humour, he led Mabruk to a certain tavern, 
 the resort of great ones, where he regaled him 
 upon such dainties as the poor good youth had 
 seldom tasted. Pashas and Be3's w^ere among 
 their neighbours at the meal, and they all took 
 notice of the Turk's companion. It was the 
 proudest day of Mabruk's life. 
 
 After three hours, shouts were heard in the 
 street, and a slave belonging to one of those great 
 ones rushed in, panting, to relate that the downfall 
 of the Ministry and Tulbah's promotion had been 
 conceded, that the Khedive had sw^orn to consider 
 favourably the rest of the demands, and, after 
 consultation with the Sultan's Majesty, to grant 
 them one by one, as he judged politic. Sherif 
 Pasha was charged with the formation of the new 
 Ministry. All gave praise to Allah, for great had 
 been the fear of a disturbance. The music of the 
 regiments could be heard in the distance, as the 
 troops returned to their respective quarters. 
 
 " What I most admire in this business," said 
 Mabruk to his chief, with tears of real enthusiasm, 
 " is the urbanity which has characterized the 
 whole proceeding. Here have been no uncouth 
 insults, no indignities. All has been done politely, 
 in the latest manner. They say Arabi asked 
 
 14
 
 210 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 nothing for himself, but spoke only as repre- 
 senting the army and the Council of Notables. 
 Allah witness, what magnanimity! What refined 
 strategy." 
 
 " Clever enough, as it happens," said the Turk, 
 laughing, " but there remains in our dear one a 
 vein of strong credulity, which will be his ruin. 
 Save for that, he would have asked the will of 
 the Successor of the Prophet, instead of lending 
 ear to the disquisitions of some renegade Franks." 
 
 Mabruk kept silence, deferentially ; though, 
 after the display of power that day, there was no 
 longer any doubt in his mind but that Arabi was 
 the noblest of all living men.
 
 CHAPTER XXVI 
 
 That evening, by his lord's suggestion, Mabruk 
 went to a certain coffee-tavern, the resort of quiet 
 men, to overhear the talk which passed there. 
 Customers sat on stools in an open place beside 
 the street, while the host and his assistants 
 loitered in and out of a little chamber, hollowed 
 in the massive outer wall of a great mosque, 
 where glowed the brazier. A lantern hanging in 
 the entrance to this little cave, with others in the 
 hands of passers-by, furnished what light there 
 was, except that of the moon, which the high 
 mosque wall debarred from all the company. 
 
 These were men for whom the new ideas were 
 nonsense; the Prankish dress and ways, an affec- 
 tation ; the talk of progress, a bad joke. That a 
 thing was useful or expedient was no recom- 
 mendation ; they asked at once. Has it the 
 sanction of God's word or sound tradition, or 
 was this thing revealed in sleep to any seer ? 
 On the strife of ambition they smiled pityingly, 
 and harboured a gentle contempt for the great as 
 this world reckons. 
 
 That night they were very guarded in their 
 converse, as men too shocked as yet to trust 
 
 211 14 — 2
 
 212 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 their judgment. Mabruk learnt nothing from 
 them, nor from anyone else, until the morrow, 
 when, again by Omar's suggestion, he accom- 
 panied a funeral out to the southern cemetery. 
 
 The deceased, a rich and respected merchant, 
 had come to be ranked with the learned for the 
 sake of his varied travels and his great good 
 sense. The most intelligent of the sober citizens 
 followed his corpse to the grave, and sat in the 
 tent close by till after nightfall, hearing readings 
 from the august Coran, and partaking of refresh- 
 ments. Mabruk returned to the city in the star- 
 light with a group of men, to whom he was a 
 stranger. From his dress and bearing, they 
 judged him, like themselves, a man of substance, 
 from whom there was nothing to fear. These 
 cursed Arabi roundly as they went along, and 
 asked Allah to give strength to Tewfik's arm. 
 His success, which they prayed God to prevent, 
 would mean mere licence for the soldiery, a return 
 to the bad old times of the Memluk Beys, when 
 many soldier lords kept state in Masr, and fought 
 with armies one against another. For Arabi, 
 they declared, was a good sort of man, neither 
 clever nor cruel enough to control the forces he 
 had set in motion. Their hope was that the 
 Sultan would interfere, and so avert the prospect 
 of a reign of terror. 
 
 When Mabruk retailed their talk to Omar 
 Efendi, the latter rubbed his nose, and seemed 
 much pleased with it. He said those wiseacres 
 were in the right to look to Istanbul for deliver- 
 ance. The Sultan would rescue them, but not
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 213 
 
 until the Khedive had been deposed, and they had 
 enjoyed their taste of " Egypt for the Egyptians." 
 
 As a consequence of the affair of Abdin, 
 Ahmed Arabi and some of his most prominent 
 supporters had been given high commands in the 
 provinces. The leader himself was now at Ras- 
 el-Wadi, where he employed his time in extend- 
 ing his influence among the desert Arabs — a 
 pursuit which, when it came to the knowledge of 
 the Khedive, would, he knew, ensure his immediate 
 recall. Mabruk was told to drop a word of his 
 sly doings in the ears of Said Bey Ramadan and 
 other talkatives, and point to the probability of 
 an Arab rising if the peasant soldier were kept 
 longer in retirement. 
 
 With such avocations Mabruk was often absent 
 from his home for days together. At his request 
 the wife of 'Ala'd-din went every day to sit and 
 chat with Zeynab, and 'Ala'd-din himself would 
 call, whenever he had time to spare, to take the 
 child, on whom he doted, out for an airing. 
 At first Zeynab had murmured much at the rude- 
 ness of their fellow-lodger, telling how, when 
 crossing on the stairs, he tried to hold her, and, 
 passing by her door, spoke words of love. Mabruk 
 ascertained the times of his coming and going, 
 and bade her shun those hours, and keep the 
 door well fastened. The old Nubian, also, sharing 
 his annoyance, had sworn to see that she went 
 unmolested. Since then her complaints had 
 ceased, and he had felt at ease concerning her. 
 
 But one morning in the season of the inunda- 
 tion, returning unexpectedly to his lodging, he
 
 214 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 heard from the foot of the stairs his wife vitupe- 
 rating some male being, promising to make him 
 smart if he did that again. The speech concluded 
 with a merry laugh. Mabruk had been suddenly 
 told to prepare for a journey to Iskenderiyeh. 
 He had brought with him 'Ala'd-din and a porter 
 to help with the baggage. At the woman's cry 
 he sprang ahead of his companions. On the land- 
 ing stood Zeynab, with veil displaced, staring 
 upward to the floor above, where dwelt the Cir- 
 cassian. She showed confusion, and made no 
 resistance when he caught her by the arm and 
 dragged her into their apartment. There, for- 
 getting decency, he took a stick and beat her 
 furiously before 'Ala'd-din and the porter could 
 prevent him. 
 
 '* By Allah, by the Sayyid Ahmed el-Bedawi, 
 I have done no wrong!" she shrieked. "Hold 
 him fast, O 'Ala'd-din, or he will kill me. He is 
 mad ! He will kill his own child and earn the 
 curse of Allah. It is all the fault of that profligate 
 who pulled my veil and at the same time spoke a 
 word that made me laugh, so that I was angry 
 and amused together." 
 
 " Thou liest, O accursed !" roared Mabruk, and 
 spat at her. " Allah witness, I divorce thee, I 
 divorce thee thrice !" 
 
 " What words are these ?" cried 'Ala'd-din, in 
 utmost horror. " I ask pardon of Allah ! Divorce 
 is serious. But there are no witnesses ! We have 
 heard nothing. Is it not so, O man ?" 
 
 " Not a sound nor a word," replied the porter, 
 with a cordial grin.
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 215 
 
 " I am divorced and threefold ; Mabruk has said 
 it ! Am I the daughter of nothing to be thus ill- 
 treated ? His father paid full sixty pounds for 
 me, I would have it known. And Allah knows 
 I have not wronged him in the least." 
 
 There was sincerity in her tone. Mabruk, 
 already ashamed of his indecent outburst, busied 
 himself, for countenance, in preparations for his 
 journey. When 'Ala'd-din and the porter had 
 gone, he stayed behind a moment to demand 
 forgiveness, and gave her money for her living 
 in his absence, which was not likely to be pro- 
 longed. But her response was inarticulate.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII 
 
 In the busy mart of Iskenderiyeh, between the 
 still lake and the restless sea, Mabruk tarried day 
 after day, attendant on the whim of his patron, 
 who was in no haste to return to El Mahruseh. 
 The Turk did not hide the cause of his reluctance, 
 which was the presence in the capital of an ac- 
 credited mission from the Porte, sent, contrary to 
 his advice, to win the Nationalists — a false step 
 which would lower the Sovereign Power in the 
 eyes of the people of Egypt to no purpose, since 
 the fruit was not yet ripe. Omar's own judgment, 
 carefully matured upon the spot, had been for the 
 Sultan to let rebellion do its work unfettered ; and 
 then, when anarchy prevailed, and all the world 
 cried out upon the state of Egypt, to step in nobly 
 in the cause of order. The present rash impatience 
 of the High Government, upsetting well-laid 
 schemes, incensed him greatly. He animadverted, 
 too, upon the insolence of Arabi, which in the last 
 few weeks, he said, was grown ungovernable ; but 
 that, Mabruk perceived, was only jealousy of the 
 influence obtained by certain Franks. 
 
 As Omar had prophesied, the Turkish Mission 
 returned discomfited. But still he did not budge 
 
 216
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 217 
 
 from Iskenderiyeh. He continued to serve the 
 cause of revolution, but lazily, and as if for his 
 own amusement. In the character of a free- 
 thinking and enlightened person he ingratiated 
 himself w^ith Franks and Greeks and Syrians, 
 who were the virtual lords of the seaport as con- 
 trollers of its commerce. He received and visited 
 such infidels on a footing of complete equality, 
 and ate and drank abomination with the worst of 
 them. To accord with this new turn, he made 
 Mabruk don Frankish clothes and quit the turban. 
 
 As winter drew on, the young man suffered 
 much from the cold, which here was damp and 
 had a filthy taste of brine, elsewhere unknown. 
 The life of the town displeased him by its sugges- 
 tion of unrest, of ceaseless voyaging ; and, from 
 a day when he adventured with his patron in an 
 open boat outside the breakwater, the sea was 
 hateful to him. He lay and writhed in the bottom 
 of the skiff, calling on Allah Most High to end his 
 torments. It was as if one ginni stirred his belly 
 with a spoon, while several others got beneath 
 the boat and shook and rolled it. From that 
 experience he derived new admiration for the 
 mercy of Allah, who had let the land strike root, 
 and so ensured for men a happier lot than that of 
 fishes. 
 
 He inhabited with his lord a palace on the 
 shore towards Ramleh, placed at Omar's disposal 
 by a notable whose summer house it was. His 
 employment was now strictly secretarial ; and 
 most of the letters he was called upon to indite 
 were in the French language, which the Turk
 
 2i8 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 spoke well, but wrote indifferently. Omar's 
 business here was to scare the foreign merchants, 
 that the sight of their terror might embolden men 
 to smite them. But, though fitfully interested in 
 this new game, Mabruk missed the freedom he 
 had enjoyed in the capital, and longed to see again 
 his wife and little son. Moreover, money was 
 not thrust into his hand as formerly; his lord 
 now dealt with Franks who have no manners. 
 But, in compensation, he was now his lord's chief 
 friend, accompanying him in his outings, and 
 eating at his table. Omar Efendi deigned to sup, 
 and even dance, at the houses of his friends, the 
 Frankish merchants. Returning late at night 
 from these orgies, he would sometimes rouse his 
 scribe, impatient to relate some striking incident. 
 
 " Wallahi, O Mabruk, their girls are something 
 nice ! This evening, at the meal, I sat next one 
 of them — a virgin, by the Prophet ! and like the 
 moon on the night of her fulness for perfection 
 of beauty. Had she been mine or thine, we 
 should have kept her hidden, and surrounded her 
 apartments with a guard of stone-dumb eunuchs. 
 Yet these men set her close to me, our knees in 
 contact. A pearl, I tell thee, worthy of imprison- 
 ment ! By thy life, I felt ashamed for her, the 
 sweet one ! But these Franks are all alike, 
 devoid of decency. I was in Paris once, and 
 witnessed many marvels. There vile harlots are 
 enthroned, and the low singers and dancers, who 
 but minister to our amusement, are more honoured 
 and esteemed than princes." 
 
 Mabruk valued these confidences above State
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 219 
 
 secrets. They warmed his heart to the Turk, 
 showing him human. One morning, when they 
 had been indulging in such talk, he ventured to 
 present to his chief the romance of Sharlas and 
 Kamil, which he still treasured. He apologized 
 for the soiled condition of the copy. His Honour 
 thanked him for it, and read therein with some 
 avidity. 
 
 " By Allah, it is the very life !" he told Mabruk. 
 "Just so do they spoil their women. Imagine a 
 betrothal lasting more than a year, with free 
 intercourse between the parties ! The men en- 
 dure it, which shows how cold their blood is. 
 And the women take advantage of their tameness 
 and control them — artful there as here. A mad 
 race !" 
 
 Encouraged by the success of his present, and 
 his lord's good-humour, Mabruk dared to mention 
 his need of money to support his wife and child. 
 He had feared that the request would anger 
 Omar ; but his lord received it as a thing of 
 course, and, having ascertained the sum required, 
 at once produced it ; whereupon Mabruk would 
 have exhausted himself in gratitude had not the 
 Turk, in his old sneering manner, bidden him 
 keep some of his thanks for future occasions, 
 unless he had now got all he required, which was 
 not likely. 
 
 More than two-thirds of the sum thus given 
 him Mabruk forwarded through the post to'Ala'd- 
 din for the maintenance of Zeynab. He sent 
 with the remittance a letter to the effect that, 
 since the period of his absence remained indefinite,
 
 220 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 his wife might, if she chose, go back to the 
 village. 
 
 In due time he got an answer from his friend 
 and factotum, written by a public scribe, acknow- 
 ledging the receipt of the money, and informing 
 him that his lady preferred to stay where she 
 was. Enclosed was a missive from his father, 
 also the handiwork of a professional letter-writer. 
 
 The Sheykh Mustafa enlarged upon the defects 
 of the Sheykh Mahrus as omdeh, vouchsafing 
 details of his evil-doing. He had heard by the 
 voice of honourable rumour that the apple of his 
 eye, his dear Mabruk, was ennobled by the friend- 
 ship of a great man, who possessed strong in- 
 fluence with the new rulers. He desired that his 
 son would convey to the mighty and munificent 
 prince who now possessed the land in all but 
 name some knowledge of the incapacity of old 
 Mahrus, and of his own superior qualifications 
 for the post of headman ; and concluded with the 
 assurance of his perfect devotion and obedience 
 to the lightest breath exhaled by the mouth of 
 His Glorious Highness Arabi Bey, and everyone 
 of his brave companions in rebellion. 
 
 At the first opportunity Mabruk showed this 
 letter to his patron, who chuckled over it. 
 
 "Thy father, is it?" he remarked. "Well, let 
 the old man have his wish. It is well that the 
 new power should be felt even in remote villages, 
 that men may cease to look to the Khedive. 
 Write to Arabi all that pleases thee, and bring 
 the letter hither for my signature." 
 
 Again Mabruk would have exhausted thanks,
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 221 
 
 but his patron bade him save some for the next 
 occasion. 
 
 The collapse of Sherif Pasha's Cabinet, which 
 had lately seemed to favour the Europeans, and the 
 appointment in its stead of a Nationalist Ministry 
 with Mahmud Sami at its head and Ahmed Arabi 
 in charge of the War Department, caused rejoicing 
 throughout Egypt. People judged the agitation 
 at an end, since all Arabi's claims were more than 
 satisfied. The new Minister of War was loud in 
 his professions of gratitude to the Sovereign, and 
 ** Praise to Allah !" was the general cry. Deputa- 
 tions from all the provinces waited upon the 
 Khedive with thanks for his unselfishness in 
 giving way to the disturbers for the sake of peace. 
 But Omar told Mabruk to wait a little. Arabi 
 had proved his strength when out of office, and 
 now he had got control of all the resources of the 
 country. So long as the Khedive was docile, all 
 might be well ; but at the first resistance affairs 
 would be worse than ever. 
 
 Omar Efendi was dissatisfied with the result of 
 his mission to the foreign traders in Iskenderiyeh. 
 With the Greeks and the Syrians he had succeeded 
 well enough, if not quite to the height of his 
 desires. They took alarm at his repeated warnings, 
 and nearly all prepared for flight at a moment's 
 notice. In truth, the murmurs of the native 
 population were loud enough to justify extreme 
 precaution. Apart from Arabi's agitation, the 
 seizure of Tunis by the French without declara- 
 tion of war and their occupation of the sacred 
 city of Cairwan had angered all men against the
 
 222 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 infidels. But certain of the influential French 
 and English merchants ridiculed the thought of 
 danger, and their attitude inspired the smaller 
 men with confidence. There was one sheykh in 
 particular, rosy-cheeked and bright of eye, high- 
 spirited as a boy beneath his snow-white hair, 
 who, believing the Turk to be himself in deadly 
 terror, was at pains to reassure him. 
 
 " Your Excellency is too timorous," he said 
 more than once in Mabruk's hearing. " Now I 
 know these people, and I guarantee your Excel- 
 lency safer here than in Stambul. They are not 
 like you Turks or us English. By big talk they 
 imagine themselves to be brave, but at heart they 
 are cowards, every one of them. Be not afraid !" 
 
 What was to be done with men like that ? 
 Omar Efendi shrugged his shoulders and spat 
 eloquently. If they met a violent death, whose 
 fault would it be ? 
 
 There seemed little more that he could do 
 for the furtherance of revolution. He began to 
 speak of returning to the shores of the Bosphorus, 
 where he had a father and a brother who loved 
 him, besides many enemies who required looking 
 after. Moreover, he wished personally to expound 
 the meaning of the policy which he espoused for 
 Egypt, which had been misrepresented in the ear 
 of Power. 
 
 "What will become of me?" sighed Mabruk 
 feelingly on these tidings. " Deprived of thee, 
 I shall walk in darkness, I shall stumble and fall. 
 Thou art my father and my mother. Take me 
 with thee, I beseech thee, O my lord !"
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 223 
 
 Omar shook his head at that, but promised, 
 notwithstanding, to take thought for him. 
 
 "Thou must be a soldier once again," he said 
 one day, when they had been together to the post 
 to ask for letters. 
 
 At that Mabruk cried out in fear to Allah, but 
 Omar by a gesture bade him wait a minute. 
 
 " I have here the permission for thee to assume 
 the rank and style of a mulazim. For instruction 
 in the duties thou wilt go every day to Fort Adda, 
 where the commandant is my friend, returning in 
 the evening to my house. By Allah, I love thee too 
 well to wish to part with thee before it is decreed. 
 Desist, I pray thee " — Mabruk was kissing the hem 
 of the Turk's frock-coat in the public street — " it 
 is not seemly for thee, being now an officer." 
 
 Just before this speech of his patron it had 
 been in Mabruk's mind to ask for leave to go and 
 visit his wife and little son, but now the desire, 
 with all others, was lost in dancing joy at his 
 high preferment. So it happened that the spring 
 of the year found him still in Iskenderiyeh, and 
 content to stay there. 
 
 Supplied with money by his patron, he pro- 
 cured his uniform, and arrayed in it, paced the 
 streets with infinite self-complacency. He took 
 delight, too, in the tricks of drill, and was soon 
 able to perform them nimbly, to the satisfaction 
 of his instructors. It warmed his heart to order 
 men about like dogs, and beat the stupid ones 
 with his cane. He himself had been ordered 
 about and caned — a fact which gave his present 
 work a taste of justice.
 
 224 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 Recruiting on a grand scale was going on 
 throughout the whole of Egypt, spreading grief 
 and desolation among the villages. The army 
 was to be raised at one bound to twice its former 
 strength. 
 
 Ahmed Arabi was now made Pasha, and ruled 
 the War Department. All the news from the 
 capital told of his greatness. The Council of 
 Notables and a majority of the Learned looked 
 to him, while the Khedive was submissive, and 
 avoided grounds of quarrels. In truth he was 
 become the lord of Egypt, and Mabruk, as the 
 protege of a friend of his, was cherished as the 
 apple of an eye by his new comrades. In the 
 way of so much honour, he came near to resent 
 the patronizing talk of Omar. The Turk saw 
 this, and smiled a little sadly. 
 
 " So I am done with, am I ?" he observed on 
 one occasion. " You are all alike, you fellahin. 
 Arabi is the same. Wise enough in adversity, in 
 success you gaze on nothing but your own glory, 
 so are blinded. None the less, may Allah pre- 
 serve thee ! I am finished in so far as Masr is 
 concerned. Dervish Pasha is sent hither with 
 a mission to enslave Arabi. It is simply to repeat 
 the failure of last autumn. His Mightiness is to 
 be invested with the highest order of the Mejid- 
 iyeh. Pshaw ! May Allah destroy the intellects 
 which devise such folly !" 
 
 Mabruk, who once had listened awestruck to 
 this talk, now, full of the arguments of his new 
 comrades, was apt to quarrel with his friend's 
 conclusions. Ahmed Arabi was a great man and
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 225 
 
 powerful ; the Egyptians were a glorious people, 
 distinguished especially in the art of war, as 
 witness the conquests of the mighty Rameses. 
 The Governments of Europe did wrong to despise 
 them as uncivilized, and claim privileges for their 
 subjects here in Egypt which were only justi- 
 fiable in a country wholly barbarous. The 
 Franks needed to be taught that the Egyptians 
 were their lords in all urbanity, and would, per- 
 haps, take that lesson to heart when all their 
 subjects in the land were slain or driven forth. 
 
 The Turk's perpetual smile at his credulity 
 exasperated the young officer. To keep his 
 temper he had constantly to remind himself that 
 the kill-joy was soon to depart. 
 
 15
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII 
 
 One afternoon, as he returned from the fort, 
 Mabruk happened to traverse a street of high 
 old houses leading up from the harbour. The 
 placards of the various shops were in Arabic, 
 Greek, and Italian, indicating a mixed population. 
 The sun, though declining, still retained his heat, 
 and Mabruk was walking on the shady side, when 
 something struck his fez lightly and, rebound- 
 ing, fell upon the ground before him. It was a 
 rosebud. 
 
 Looking up, he saw an unveiled face at a 
 window just above him — a lovely face, which 
 smiled, and motioned towards a certain doorway. 
 The quarter, so far as he knew, was one of com- 
 merce, not of evil fame ; nevertheless, he sent a 
 keen glance up and down the street and at the 
 opposite shops, to make sure that no one watched 
 his movements with particular interest, before 
 diving into the entry, which he did precipitately, 
 holding up his sword to prevent its clanking. 
 He bounded up a squalid flight of stairs. On 
 the first landing, in the semi -darkness, his 
 hand was grasped, and pressed to a warm 
 bosom. A delicious scent enveloped him. He 
 
 226
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 227 
 
 was drawn into a room made shady by Venetian 
 blinds. 
 
 At length he dared to study the face of the girl 
 caressing him, and saw that it was Helweh, the 
 pretty dancer, for whom Rashid had lost his mind 
 at Tanta. Suspecting a trap, he sprang back in 
 alarm. 
 
 " Merciful Allah ! is it thou ?" he cried. 
 
 " Of course it is I !" laughed the girl, still cling- 
 ing to him ; and perceiving that she had no recol- 
 lection, Mabruk laughed with her, blessing the 
 lucky day. 
 
 " I saw thee pass yesterday at this hour," she 
 told him, "and my soul went out to thee, for thou 
 art a lovely man, thou knowest, owner of all per- 
 fection in the way of beauty; so this evening, 
 when I saw thee once again, my passion prompted 
 me to make a sign to thee. Now I will never let 
 thee go. Thou art my love for ever !" 
 
 She set before him food of her own preparing, 
 and coaxed his soul to eat by close endearments, 
 talking all the while in a voice as charming as the 
 song of birds. 
 
 ** Thou art an officer, O my soul, and wilt pro- 
 tect me — not so? At Shemm-en-Nessim the 
 wicked ones among the Muslimin have sworn to 
 slaughter us. That is well known. All talk of 
 it, and those escape who can afford to do so. 
 But as for me, I am a poor girl, without wealth 
 or influence. I have but one in all this land to 
 help me, and that is my brother, who is the 
 trusted clerk of a rich banker here. Alas ! he 
 shares my danger, for his lord has fled to Europe, 
 
 15—2
 
 228 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 leaving him in charge of the bank and all its con- 
 tents. For the love of Allah, O my soul's delight, 
 save him, save my brother also !" 
 
 " What like is this brother of thine ? Does he 
 in aught resemble thee ?" inquired Mabruk, struck 
 with a presentiment. 
 
 " Not much," she replied coquettishly, kneeling 
 down before him. " For one thing he is a man, 
 and has a great moustache — black, black as night. 
 Moreover, his eyes are dark, like thine, while 
 mine are blue." She marked each feature, as she 
 named it, upon his face with playful finger. 
 Mabrid^, quite enslaved by her blandishments, 
 undertook to protect her brother. He would 
 have promised to swallow the moon had she 
 required it. " But why dost thou ask if he re- 
 sembles me ?" she questioned. 
 
 " For little reason. Thy face recalled to me 
 the face of a man I saw at Tanta lately." 
 
 " My brother was at Tanta, but not lately. It 
 was last year, at the season of the Lesser Molid. 
 At that time he journeyed among the towns of 
 the Delta, on a mission from his employer to see 
 if there were any prospects for a bank among 
 them. Ah, the poor one ! He was robbed and 
 left for dead by mad fanatics. This land is no 
 good place for us poor Nazarenes. Many a time 
 have Habib and I wished to be back in Beyrut, 
 which, notwithstanding, Allah knows, is bad 
 enough. With thy leave, O my dear one, I shall 
 go and fetch my brother. He dwells not far 
 from here. He shall stay but a minute, that 
 thou mayest know his likeness. Promise to
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 229 
 
 abide my return ; I adjure thee by Our Lady 
 Miriam !" 
 
 Mabruk consented, glad that it was growing 
 dusk, and that his appearance was now completely 
 changed from that of the fellah who had attacked 
 and robbed men on the dyke by Kafr Zeyn. 
 Helweh threw on her veil, and went out, leaving 
 Mabruk still troubled with her perfumes. Alone 
 and waiting, he gave praise to Allah Most High, 
 who had ordained that the robber should receive 
 the homage of the man robbed, and have the 
 chance to do him some slight kindness. 
 
 Helweh soon returned with the man whose face 
 had come between Mabruk and sleep so many 
 nights, for fear of whom the young fellah had 
 joined the soldiers, and so set out upon the road 
 to fortune. That man now approached him with 
 the profoundest reverence, kissing his hand, and 
 afterwards standing in his presence with hands 
 concealed, and eyes downcast, till commanded to 
 sit down. 
 
 " Said I not, O Habib, I would find thee a pro- 
 tector ?" said his sister, fondly, as she doffed her 
 head-veil. " She is of some use, poor Helweh, 
 although thou art ashamed to call her sister. 
 She could not bear to see thee in such terror." 
 
 Her brother soon departed, thanking Allah for 
 the officer's unheard-of kindness ; and Helweh 
 flung herself into the arms of Mabruk, who spent 
 the night with her. 
 
 Going forth into the early morning sunlight, he 
 felt some remorse for misconduct so ill-becoming 
 a true believer. He thought with longing of his
 
 230 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 wife Zeynab. She was not now so fair as when 
 he used to court her of an evening in the village 
 cemetery beside the shrine of Selim the Donkey- 
 driver ; but what matter, since she loved him 
 with her whole being. The very lines upon 
 her face, her growing fatness, appealed to him 
 now. In particular, and with a sort of anguish, 
 he recalled the little tree, tattooed in green beneath 
 her under-lip, which added to her appearance 
 the beauty of a constant pout. 
 
 After all, why should he not return for a night 
 to El Cahireh ? He had neglected the dear one 
 shamefully. The distance was not insuperable, 
 and officers travelled at a reduction on the iron 
 road. The desire became a purpose. He made 
 haste to the fort, and there craved leave of absence, 
 which was given, of course, to such a favourite. 
 Then, having borrowed sufficient money from a 
 comrade, he repaired to the railway-station. 
 
 An hour before sunset he was again in the 
 victorious city ; but, happening to fall in with 
 a friend, who, made servile by his uniform, in- 
 sisted on his drinking two cups of coffee, he did 
 not approach his home till after nightfall. 
 
 " Unto whom, O Excellency ?" asked the old 
 Nubian, seated at the outer door. 
 
 " Unto my house, my spouse," replied Mabruk, 
 with a laugh ; for the doorkeeper had failed to 
 recognize him. 
 
 "Ah, now I know thee! Welcome, O my dear! 
 But what is thy desire ? Thou knowest, none 
 better, that thy house is empty, that she, who was 
 thy spouse, was lawfully married to the Circassian
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 231 
 
 weeks ago. A blessing for the neighbours, who 
 are no more afraid." 
 
 "O Abu Farrag! O Allah!" Mabruk sank 
 back against the doorpost. The next minute he 
 sprang erect, and swore to go at once and slay 
 those wicked ones. He cursed the day that he 
 was born. 
 
 The doorkeeper flung his arms round him, and 
 held him fast, bidding a little boy, who sat with 
 him, run like lightning for 'Ala'd-din, the vendor 
 of sweetstuff. 
 
 " Shame on thee, O my lord !" he said to the 
 struggling officer. " What words are these ? Is 
 it not known thou didst divorce her threefold ? 
 The girl has done no wrong. She completed her 
 period of separation before remarrying. Thy son 
 she gave in charge to the wife of thy friend 'Ala'd- 
 din. It is a sin for thee to wish to kill her." 
 
 But Mabruk only raved the more, calling his 
 wife bad names, and swearing to kill her, together 
 with the hog her paramour. A little crowd, 
 attracted by his furious shouts, asked Allah to 
 heal him of his madness. At length 'Ala'd-din 
 came, running, and, urging on Mabruk the impro- 
 priety of such an outcry in a place so public, 
 dragged him to his own house. There, in the 
 humble room, the madman cast himself upon the 
 ground in sullen fury, while the sweetmeat-seller 
 and his wife said prayers over him, and recited 
 such passages of the Coran as they possessed by 
 heart. At length he cried : 
 
 " O false friend ! O accursed ! Why didst thou 
 keep this hid from me ?"
 
 232 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 " Allah forbid that I should be the vehicle of 
 evil news !" was the reply. " Besides, I myself 
 was a witness of the divorce, and when thou didst 
 not return, both I and she supposed thee earnest 
 in the matter. Thou sentest money, that is true, 
 as thou sayest ; but we supposed that the money 
 was to support her during her 'emmeh." 
 
 But the demonstration that the blame was his 
 only increased Mabruk's dudgeon, 
 
 " I will show him his son !" cried the wife of 
 'Ala'd-din. " The sight of the little one will heal 
 his mind. Ma sh' Allah ! See how plump he is ! 
 Look, what a noble child !" 
 
 But MabrQk could not bear to gaze just then 
 upon his offspring. With muttered thanks to the 
 couple for their generosity, he hurried forth into 
 the night.
 
 CHAPTER XXIX 
 
 Mabruk wandered, aimless, the drum of his 
 own anger beating loud in his ears. It was moon- 
 light, and the shadows of the high irregular 
 houses assumed fantastic shapes. Each arch and 
 buttress trenching on the narrow streets seemed 
 an enemy intent to bar his way ; each sudden gleam 
 of moonlight seemed a sword. He walked in a 
 world of terror, unafraid, he so desired to die 
 and end his torments. A dog flew snarling at 
 him and he kicked it savagely, exulting in its 
 wounded shriek as it slunk off. Watchmen, seeing 
 his uniform, saluted, but he passed them by 
 without a look. 
 
 He strode out beneath the massive arch of Bab- 
 en-Nasr, and strayed for a while upon the sand 
 beneath the desert hill. Dogs skulked amid a 
 crowd of humble tombs, their shadows monstrous 
 in the moonlight. 
 
 He turned back and traversed the sleeping cit}'', 
 till he stood once more before that house of sin. 
 The old Nubian lay asleep, and snoring loudly 
 on his couch before the door. Mabruk quickly 
 imagined that he had bound and gagged the warder 
 where he lay, had taken the key from him, and crept 
 
 233
 
 234 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 up the stairs, drawn sword in hand ; that he had 
 entered the apartment of the Circassian without 
 a sound, and struck off the heads of the guilty 
 pair as they slept in each other's arms. Then, 
 with a sigh of disillusionment, he resumed his 
 wandering. 
 
 That Zeynab should have chosen a man so 
 warlike, of whom he was afraid, for his sup- 
 planter, made her guilt more frightful. Realizing 
 that he was but a child as compared with that 
 strong, fearless brute, he sank down in the dark- 
 ness of a doorway and began to cry. 
 
 " Have mercy, O most noble, kind afrit !" wailed 
 a scared voice in his ear. On the instant he became 
 aware that he had sat upon a human foot, and 
 asked forgiveness. But the diversion was too 
 trifling to distract his thoughts. The foot released, 
 he fell again to weeping, endeavouring to console 
 his mind with pictures of how he would have 
 dealt with a man his inferior in strength, had one 
 ventured to approach Zeynab. Presently the 
 same voice asked : 
 
 "0 Monarch of the Age, why weepest thou so 
 bitterly ?" and, from the tone in which the words 
 were uttered, it seemed the speaker was himself 
 in tears. 
 
 " I ask pardon of Allah ! Have I not cause to 
 weep? Listen, O thou, and judge! I had been 
 absent on a journey, and, returning to my house 
 this night, I found my wife rejoicing in the embrace 
 of one, my enemy." 
 
 "Oh, the wicked sinners! I behold them!" 
 exclaimed the unseen listener with a chuckle.
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 235 
 
 " In sh' Allah, thou didst slay them perfectly, and 
 give their meat to dogs !" 
 
 " I hewed their heads from off their trunks, and 
 so left them. Yet, Allah knows, my grief is not 
 abated." 
 
 " There is neither power nor might save in 
 Allah the High, the Tremendous," said the voice 
 very solemnly. " B'ismi'llah, let us go and bury 
 their bodies !" 
 
 There was the noise of someone rising in the 
 darkness, and a hand was stretched out towards 
 Mabruk, to raise him. He could not, in nature, 
 repel such ready kindness. It was necessary that 
 he should set forth with his unknown friend, and 
 trust to chances of the way to shake him off. 
 
 Out in the moonlight his companion — who was 
 clad as a fellah, and tall and wild-looking — looked 
 around him in excitement, groping with out- 
 stretched hands, 
 
 " Where — where is the house ?" he cried, as 
 if it had but now escaped him. 
 
 " It is far from here — across the river — towards 
 Gizeh !" lied Mabruk, in the hope to discourage 
 him. 
 
 " Y' Allah !" he bawled. " Let us haste, then ; 
 for the night is old, and our work must be com- 
 plete ere dawn." And, squeezing Mabruk's hand, 
 he set off at a run in the direction indicated. 
 
 Soon he stopped, however, and staring at a 
 breadth of shadow just in front of them, asked 
 how, in the name of Allah, they were to climb 
 over it. By this Mabruk knew for certain that 
 he was a victim of the drug hashish. He would
 
 236 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 have withdrawn his hand, but the tall fellah 
 detained it with a grip of iron, saying : 
 
 " No ; have confidence ! Allah will show us a 
 way. We are going to Gizeh — not so ? Think 
 not I forget. To Gizeh — ha, ha, ha !" And fling- 
 ing back his head, he laughed aloud, starting a 
 thousand echoes in that well-like place. 
 
 Mabruk was obliged to submit, and follow the 
 vagaries of his companion, who, having declared 
 one shadow to be a cliff, and surmounted it by 
 force of cunning, saw in the next a river, and 
 caught up his robe. Yet he preserved some con- 
 sciousness of direction, and often said: "To Gizeh 
 — not so ? Think not I forget," as though resenting 
 the suspicion of insanity. In the modern quarter 
 the streets, being wide, presented fewer obstacles. 
 But in the open space before the Khedive's Prankish 
 playhouse, the hashshash stood still and stared 
 about him wildly. 
 
 "All ways save one are closed," he whispered 
 hoarsely. " One only is open, and I cannot find it." 
 
 Then, as though suddenly recollecting himself, 
 he cried : " To Gizeh, y' Allah ! Think not I 
 forget !" and set forward hotly as before. 
 
 Mabruk had come to fear that he would never 
 in this world get rid of him, when — just as they 
 drew near the qouchant lions cast in bronze which 
 flank the entrance to the bridge across the Nile, 
 and his companion had bidden him have no fear 
 of them, for they were fast asleep — an owl flew 
 out of a tree beside their path, and, hurtling near 
 them, screeched as it sped by. 
 
 The hashshash sprang into the air, then stood
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 237 
 
 stock-still, as if petrified. His distended orbs 
 swept the horizon for the enemy, then searched 
 amid the dust of the roadway. All at once his 
 gaze lighted on Mabruk, whom, it seemed, he had 
 not seen before; and with a yell, " Ya Muslimin!" 
 he flung up his arms, and ran back towards the 
 city for dear life. 
 
 Mabruk stood and watched him out of sight ; 
 then, with a sigh of relief, he went on across the 
 bridge and down the shady avenue towards Gizeh. 
 Once more he was alone with his despair, and, 
 absorbed in its contemplation, gave no thought 
 to thieves, marauding Arabs, or other children of 
 the night. Having walked for near an hour, he 
 left the road, and followed a bank between fields 
 of clover which smelt sweet. Seeing a village 
 before him, and unwilling to go near and set the 
 dogs a-barking, he sat down in the shelter of some 
 reeds. With the cessation of movement great 
 fatigue took hold of him. He stretched his length 
 upon the ground and went to sleep. 
 
 He woke to see, across the whitening fields, the 
 desert ridge and the pyramids blushing to the 
 dawn against a deep blue sky, in which one big- 
 star shone with splendour. Stiffly he rose up and 
 returned towards the city, of which only a dome 
 and some minarets were seen amid the blushing 
 mists, above what seemed an endless grove of 
 trees. As he trudged up the great avenue, doves 
 were chuckling and cooing among the branches 
 overhead ; the risen sun bedaubed the knotted 
 trunks with red, and sprinkled jewels on the 
 dewy foliage. As he paced across the long, low
 
 238 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 bridge across the Nile, he saw the rapture of 
 white sails upon blue water, and heard the 
 transports of awaking life all down the river. 
 But nothing moved him ; he was an ill-used, 
 hopeless man, who cried to Allah against all 
 things earthly. He walked on through the out- 
 skirts of the town till he saw a carriage, and, 
 hailing the driver, got in and was driven to the 
 station. 
 
 On the long railway journey he held aloof from 
 the talk of fellow-travellers, entrenching himself 
 in a corner, where he sat staring out of the window, 
 gnawing his lip in anger, till the train neared 
 Tanta, when he brightened suddenly. A glimpse 
 of the minarets of the Sayyid Ahmed's mosque 
 reminded him of Helweh, The Syrian was far 
 more lovely than Zeynab had ever been ; and she 
 boasted a refinement both in speech and action 
 which brought her near to the high poetic model 
 of female deportment, the incomparable Kamil. 
 He repented of having given that book to Omar 
 Efendi ; it would have served to beguile him now.
 
 CHAPTER XXX 
 
 Omar Efendi showed great joy at sight of Mabruk, 
 when the latter presented himself after an absence 
 of three days and nights, beginning to fear that 
 harm had come to him. To forestall questions, 
 the young man confessed at once how, on a 
 sudden longing, he had gone to see his wife, only 
 to find her married to that bad Circassian. 
 
 "Allah comfort thee !" exclaimed the Turk, when 
 all was told. " But wherefore, since thy heart is 
 set on her, didst thou divorce the poor girl three- 
 fold before witnesses ? Naturally, thy prolonged 
 absence confirmed the sentence to her under- 
 standing. Thy plight seems hopeless at a glance ; 
 nevertheless, I do discern some hope for thee. 
 Amin Bey, being of the enemies of our Arabi, 
 may vanish suddenly." 
 
 He said no more upon the subject then ; but 
 a few days later, when all men talked of a con- 
 spiracy of the Khedive's Circassian officers against 
 Ahmed Arabi, he showed Mabruk a column in a 
 newspaper, bidding him read it carefully and 
 reflect upon it. It told how the hateful and 
 inhuman malefactors who had dared to speak 
 evil of the hope and pride of Egypt were now, 
 
 239
 
 240 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 happily, imprisoned in Casr en-Nil, tasting some 
 of the indignities they had designed for others. 
 The noblest in the land seemed implicated ; for 
 Mabruk saw many famous names, among them 
 that of Osman Pasha Rafki, sometime Minister 
 of War. The conspirators, forty-eight in all, 
 being under orders to proceed to the garrisons 
 of the far south, had planned to ruin and, as some 
 said, kill Arabi before starting. The plot had 
 been discovered just in time, 
 
 Mabruk was wondering why the Turk had 
 bidden him read all this so particularly, when, 
 happening to glance again along the list of names, 
 his eye found that of Amin Bey, his enemy. A 
 court-martial had decreed the lifelong banish- 
 ment of every one of the delinquents to the 
 utmost savage parts of the inhuman Sudan ; but 
 the Khedive refused to ratify so harsh a sentence; 
 whereupon Arabi and his colleagues, in their 
 righteous anger, had threatened to make an end 
 of the prince and his family, and had convened 
 the Chamber of Deputies without his sanction. 
 
 " It is the quarrel which our friends have long 
 been seeking," remarked the Turk, when Mabruk 
 had finished reading. " By refusing to confirm 
 the judgment Muhammad Tewfik only offends the 
 soldiery ; he cannot save his friends. Whatever 
 he may say or do, those men are finished ; and so 
 thy sometime spouse will be a widow. Amin 
 is hardly the man one would have chosen for a 
 mustahall ; but, supposing thy desire is still 
 towards the girl, he has served thee in that 
 capacity."
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 241 
 
 Mabruk would not make up his mind then and 
 there ; but he gave some thought to the matter, 
 and wrote to 'Ala'd-dln a letter of instructions. 
 The sweetmeat-seller was to keep an eye upon 
 Zeynab during her period of separation ; and, if 
 no fault appeared in her, was to employ some 
 reputable matchmaker to lure her fancy back 
 towards Mabruk. In the meanwhile Mabruk 
 visited Helweh ever}'- day, and every day found 
 new delights in her. 
 
 In those days the Sayyid Abdullah Nadim was 
 much in Iskenderiyeh, and often came after night- 
 fall to the house of Omar. The saintly man showed 
 joy at the sight of Mabruk's fine uniform, saying, 
 now, in sh' Allah, he would slay in the cause of 
 uprightness and true religion instead of for earthly 
 gain as heretofore. His mortified looks trans- 
 figured, he went on to speak of the downfall of 
 unbelief, and the slaughter of its adherents soon 
 to happen in the land. And Mabruk paid some 
 heed to the forecasts of the grim enthusiast, for 
 the whole garrison was even then secretly pre- 
 paring to lay low the infidels. 
 
 The Powers of Europe, through their consuls, 
 clamoured for the resignation of the Nationalist 
 Ministry, and Arabi, Mahmud Sami, and their 
 colleagues were prepared to retire. But the 
 army, with all who had gone too far in the way of 
 rebellion to draw back comfortably, being in terror 
 of their lives, resolved upon the leader's immediate 
 return to power. Accordingly, at Iskenderiyeh, 
 where was centred the wealth and influence of 
 the Frank intruders, the cannon of the forts were 
 
 16
 
 242 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 turned upon the foreign quarters ; troops were 
 told off by detachments, each with its appointed 
 area, to wreck and plunder ; and the Khedive's 
 refusal to restore Arabi would give the signal for 
 tremendous devastation. The native quarter 
 alone was to be respected, and guarded from 
 chance incursions by a strong cordon. 
 
 Mabruk, as a general favourite, easily obtained 
 control of the party charged with the looting of 
 the street where Helweh lived. He warned the 
 girl to keep her brother with her, and then 
 awaited the order to lay waste and pillage with 
 the impatience of one restrained from a good 
 work. Omar's foreboding that the Khedive would 
 yield the point, that all this warlike ardour 
 would be thrown away, seemed most unkind. 
 For the whole garrison was in a flutter ot excited 
 preparation ; the courage of the troops burned 
 clear, like a cheerful fire. Yet disappointment 
 came. 
 
 As Omar had foretold, the Khedive, threatened 
 with such grave disorders, unless Arabi were 
 reinstated within twelve hours from the moment 
 when the threatening telegram was handed in at 
 Iskenderiyeh, gave way at once. The sighs of 
 praise to Allah sent up by the troops in the 
 seaport when the tidings reached them, showed 
 how much of fear had lurked amid their martial 
 tervour. But Mabruk, for one, felt nothing but 
 pure chagrin ; he had so looked forward to the 
 thanks of Helweh. 
 
 Although this plan for the abasement of the 
 wicked had been kept secret, some word of it
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NH^E 243 
 
 must have leaked through to the Frankish consuls ; 
 for an English ironclad came to anchor before the 
 town. The advent of the warship caused Helweh 
 to cling faster than ever to Mabruk in terror, 
 though he assured her, by Allah, that all fear 
 was past ; and when, ten days later, five more 
 ironclads arrived, her tremors increased pro- 
 portionately. The danger to herself and Habib 
 must, she argued, be immense, since six warships 
 were detailed for their protection. 
 
 From the fort where he went for training, 
 Mabruk observed the great sea-castles cumbering 
 the outer harbour, and watched the stir of human 
 life upon them. The garrison, officers and men 
 alike, laughed at the folly of that empty show of 
 power ; for it was known that the admirals had 
 orders not to fight. Galadstun and the French 
 together had sworn a solemn oath to injure no 
 man. The populace mocked the red-cheeked, 
 foolish sailors when they came on shore, and 
 cursed their religion in their very teeth. The 
 news from the capital was of no peaceful kind. 
 The Franks, by the mouth of their consuls, 
 clamoured for the resignation of the Ministry and 
 Arabi's banishment, simply because the finances 
 of the country had been rescued from the hands 
 of their commissioners. Viewed in the light of 
 that impertinence, the presence of the warships 
 off the town became an insult to the minds of 
 the Muslim inhabitants, the more deadly for 
 being harmless. Did the Powers of Europe think, 
 by mere pretence, to cow the spirit of brave men 
 and true believers ? Even respectable tradesmen 
 
 16 — 2
 
 244 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 took to spitting when they passed a Nazarene ; 
 while the low blacks and Berberines followed 
 Frankish ladies in the streets, cracking lewd 
 jokes and singing filthy songs, which set the 
 crowd a-laughing. 
 
 Mabruk heard an exaggerated account of these 
 insults from Helweh, who no longer dared to 
 leave the house, but sat in her room all day, 
 smoking a narghileh, munching sweetstuff, and 
 praying between whiles. Still, he could not believe 
 that the Christians were in serious danger. The 
 Egyptians were urbane people : they would fight, 
 if need were, with their army, in the latest 
 manner, as they had purposed but now in case 
 the Khedive proved refractory; a savage, fanatical 
 outbreak was inconceivable among them. He 
 talked in this strain to Omar Efendi, when the 
 latter broached the subject one afternoon on his 
 return from the fort. But the Turk shook his 
 head, and smiled derisively. 
 
 " Thou art young, O my son, and youth sees 
 what youth pleases. Thou hast not followed the 
 sermons of His Reverence the Sayyid Abdullah 
 Nadim these days, as I have done, or thou wouldst 
 not despise the ferocity of the Muslimin of Isken- 
 deriyeh. Abdullah is a man after my own 
 heart, both as preacher and politician. He is all 
 for old-fashioned methods, which are certainly 
 the most effective. It is well that Arabi has such 
 a prophet in his counsels, to counteract the 
 influence of his Frankish friends, whose urbanity 
 Abdullah Nadim condemns as truckling. For days 
 past this saintly man has been blowing fire into
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 245 
 
 the hearts of the faithful in Iskenderiyeh, who are 
 further agitated by a rumour that the Nazarenes 
 design to slaughter them, under protection of the 
 fleet. The fellahin of Masr are a mild and peace- 
 ful folk, it may be; but the same cannot be said of 
 the rabble in this seaport, composed of the sweep- 
 ings of El Islamiyeh. So, if thou wouldst keep 
 thy word to protect thy dear one and her 
 brother, it were well to take the needful steps 
 immediately," 
 
 At that Mabruk stared speechless at his patron, 
 stunned by the exposure of his wealth of guile ; 
 for he himself had never mentioned Helweh or 
 her brother to the Turk, nor breathed a word 
 of his engagement towards them. 
 
 " Bring them both to this house this very night, 
 for who knows what to-morrow may bring forth ? 
 Nay, look not so distrustful, I entreat thee. Dost 
 think that I have trespassed on thy ground ? Not 
 so, for I employed a spy, and that a woman. 
 Surely, thou are not jealous of a girl of her 
 renown ! Dost fear to have her in the house 
 where I am ? By the cloak of the Prophet, I will 
 not go nigh her ! Rooms enough stand empty ; 
 choose one or two of them, and lock the door 
 on her." 
 
 Mabruk, though downcast, did as he was told, 
 and within an hour Helweh entered the house, 
 and was shown upstairs to the rooms prepared 
 for her. A little later, as the Turk and Mabruk 
 sat talking, they were disturbed by a violent 
 dispute before the outer door. Both rushing 
 forth, with eyes screwed up against the dazzle of
 
 246 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 the sea ablaze with sunset, beheld the brother of 
 Helweh in strife with two porters of the town 
 over the price to be paid for the carriage of a 
 good -sized box, wrapped round with matting. 
 Sweat streamed in runnels down the faces of the 
 two believers. One was screaming. 
 
 "Four piastres, all this distance, for a load like 
 that ? O hog ! O Kafir ! Perhaps it contains the 
 stinking dust of all thy defiled ancestors since the 
 time of Nimrud !" Catching sight of Omar Efendi 
 and Mabruk, the speaker changed his tone in a 
 twinkling. Cringing, he showed the money in 
 his hand, and whined most piteously. " Look, O 
 Excellencies. We be poor, righteous men, de- 
 pendent on the mercy of Allah. This for a load 
 that would have sprained the back of Antar." 
 
 " By the Gospel, it contains but a few books 
 and my personal belongings !" protested the 
 Syrian, with hunted looks. The matting had 
 drawn away from the box at one corner, and 
 Mabruk could see that it was made of iron. 
 
 Omar Efendi, out of his own purse, doubled 
 the sum already given to the porters, who, still 
 discontented, were going off, when a servant of 
 the house who had lifted the box to carry it 
 indoors, let it fall in despair, and called them 
 back again. 
 
 '* Five piastres, then," bargained the spokes- 
 man, angrily. 
 
 " Ten, in sh' Allah, and from my own small 
 wealth. Anything rather than crack every joint 
 in my body," replied the servant, staring wide- 
 eyed at the box. " It contains a ginni, surely."
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 247 
 
 " It contains but a few books and my own 
 personal belongings," murmured the Syrian, as 
 if he knew no other words. 
 
 " I like not this friend of thine," said Omar 
 Efendi, when Habib and his precious box were 
 safely housed. " If the girl is no better, I could 
 wish thee rid of her. We show him kindness, 
 yet he still distrusts us. Does he take us for 
 the lowest of men, capable of despoiling a guest 
 within our gates? By Allah! he deserves to 
 lose that box of his, which certainly contains all 
 the wealth of his master's bank. Yet he who 
 welcomes pigs must brook defilement, and it will, 
 at all events, be known that we sheltered the 
 Christians." 
 
 On the morrow, at the seventh hour, as 
 Arabs reckon, from the birth of daylight, 
 came the dreaded outbreak. For days past 
 the whole population had been in a state of 
 extreme nervous tension, each party believing 
 that the other had a mind for slaughter. Men 
 heard their own heart-beats with apprehension, 
 and a salutation seemed a blow miscarried. 
 Where all was tinder, the lightest spark sufficed 
 to make a blaze. A dispute, trifling in itself, and 
 of the commonest, between a Maltese and an 
 Arab donkey -boy, roused the Muslim mob. 
 Hundreds of men, armed with nabbuts, patrolled 
 the streets, beating to death every foreigner they 
 could find, outraging women and girls, and 
 stealing everything that they could lay their 
 hands on. The Franks and Greeks defended 
 themselves as best they could, killing many of
 
 248 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 the Muslims. In some streets a battle raged, 
 people firing from the windows on the passers-by. 
 Yet, for all that, the soldiers, whose business it 
 was to keep the peace, looked on inactive, with a 
 shrug and a callous smile whenever some poor, 
 half-killed wretch appealed to them. Mabruk 
 was quite appalled by the sight of such un- 
 civilized fury, but his comrades at the fort heard 
 the story with a shrug and a smile, which made his 
 horror seem mere childish weakness. 
 
 They exclaimed : " It is not our business; it is 
 from Allah, In sh' Allah, it will make the beasts 
 more mannerly. It is their fault for treating us 
 like savages." 
 
 He learnt that Omar Pasha Lutfi, the governor 
 of the town, had called upon the chief of 
 police to put an end to the disgraceful scenes ; 
 but the soldier replied that it was not his place to 
 interfere without specific orders from his lord 
 Arabi — orders which, in spite of many telegrams 
 to the capital, never came. And, as the hours 
 went on, the police itself, excited by the Muslim 
 war-cry, joined in the massacres. 
 
 Returning through the city at the cool of the 
 day, Mabruk chose quiet ways, having no taste 
 for horrors. But he could not escape the sight 
 of blood-stains on the ground ; he encountered 
 delicate young women, the guarded pearls of 
 honoured households, wandering half naked, 
 with mad eyes and corpse-like faces, bewailing 
 their dishonour with a painful, harsh reiteration ; 
 and at a point in his road a crowd of men rushed 
 past him, dragging among them the body of an
 
 THE CHILDREN OE THE NILE 249 
 
 aged Frank to fling into the sea. Such abomina- 
 tions made the evening sunHght a distemper, the 
 sparkle on the sea a devil's grin. 
 
 Arrived at the house, he found that Omar had 
 spent most of the day in the service of his name- 
 sake, the Governor, who, with a few chance 
 helpers, had done all in his power to abate the 
 tumult. The Turk was fatigued from his exer- 
 tions in the cause of order, but quite cheerful, 
 recounting grisly horrors in the tone of small 
 talk. He had taken care, he said, to let the Pasha 
 know that he himself protected Christians in his 
 house. How were the guests ? Out of regard 
 for Mabruk's feelings he had not been near them. 
 The servants reported them to be in the extremity 
 of comfort and good health. 
 
 Mabruk went to see for himself. He found 
 Helweh and her brother kneeling on the floor in 
 abject terror, praying to the picture of a woman 
 which they had set up against the wall before 
 them. To rebuke their idolatry Mabruk kicked 
 the thing with his foot, and made a hole in it, 
 saying that God only is to be worshipped ; 
 whereupon they screamed aloud and cursed him, 
 clearly deeming their last hour had come. 
 
 The servants, it appeared, had told them of the 
 slaughter going forward, and pleased as true 
 believers with their evident terror, had taken 
 pleasure in fomenting it throughout the day. The 
 rogues had assured them that a mob of armed 
 devils was fast approaching, whereas, in fact, 
 the house stood far removed from the scenes of 
 bloodshed. By the time Mabruk appeared the
 
 250 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 pair were at their wits' end, and scarcely could 
 recognize him. 
 
 " By the Prophet, you have no cause to fear," 
 he said to them. " The riot is confined to the 
 city and the foreign quarter. Its fury wanes 
 already. Be ashamed to show such fear when 
 His Highness Omar Efendi and I have sworn to 
 hold you scatheless." 
 
 But they would not listen. They still kept 
 calling on their broken god, and seemed con- 
 vinced that danger threatened them.
 
 CHAPTER XXXI 
 
 When Mabruk informed Omar Efendi of the 
 state of mind of the visitors, His Excellency was 
 much annoyed. 
 
 " By the Most High, it shames me !" he cried 
 out, "for they are guests of mine. Those servants 
 who have practised on their fears shall be well 
 punished. Does thy objection still survive, or 
 may I be allowed to go and visit them ? The 
 girl, I would remind thee, is not one of ours. She 
 has been used to bare her face to all beholders, so 
 that in viewing it I shall not wrong thee more 
 than many thousands of the sons of Adam have 
 already done." 
 
 Mabruk laughed at that, a little shamefacedly, 
 and declared that he had lost all fondness for the 
 girl. He smarted still from the ungrateful insults 
 which the pair had heaped upon him when he 
 smashed their idol. 
 
 Omar Efendi went and tried to comfort them, 
 but could not win a way to their understanding. 
 
 " Leave them alone," he said, returning to 
 Mabruk. " The girl is pretty, O my dear, but 
 a sad shrew. She cursed me for a Muslim and a 
 murderer — me, her host ! They are both quite 
 
 251
 
 252 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 mad, and likely to remain so till we can get them 
 out of this country. The young man and his box 
 present great difficulties. He is sure to think us 
 robbers if we try to move it." 
 
 However, on the morrow, when it was known 
 that the slaughter was at an end, the guests were 
 in more reasonable mood ; though they still 
 refused to stir out of their private rooms, where 
 they sat close together on the floor, for ever chat- 
 tering in a fearful strain. Upon inquiry it was 
 found that they had wealthy friends in Beyrut, 
 and money enough to pay the passage thither, 
 Omar Efendi at once dispatched a servant to the 
 harbour to engage a place for them on the first 
 packet. The concern of Habib for his strong box 
 then became a frenzy. He confessed that it con- 
 tained effects of priceless worth, his master's 
 property. Omar suggested that they should dig 
 a hole in the sand, and bury it ; but the young 
 man shook his head. It required, he said, two 
 mighty men to carry it, and who would hide his 
 treasure before witnesses ? 
 
 "Thou and I together might make shift to carry 
 it," said the Turk, with sly intent ; whereupon 
 that coward drew away from him, and mouthed 
 his apprehension with parched lips. 
 
 Finally Omar himself arranged for the box to 
 be deposited at the Greek consulate, its contents 
 declared, and a receipt given. The consul had 
 been sorely wounded in the riot ; but the work of 
 his office was resumed after a day; and his deputy 
 tendered formal thanks to the Turk for protecting 
 Christians, and preserving the property of a well-
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 253 
 
 known Greek subject. At a hint of fresh disturb- 
 ances, it was arranged that the staff of the divers 
 consulates, with all documents and valuables, 
 should be taken on board for security. The con- 
 suls of England, Russia, and Italy were also kept 
 in bed by grievous wounds. 
 
 When Habib still raised objections against 
 parting with his master's safe, Omar for one 
 moment dropped the courteous host, and used a 
 tone of fierce authority. That was enough. The 
 poor wretch shrank as at the sight of cruel fangs, 
 and thenceforth did as he was told, with palsied 
 limbs. The box was carried before him by two 
 porters to the consulate, and he showed the re- 
 ceipt on his return, staring with sad eyes at a 
 strip of paper which had been given in exchange 
 for so much wealth. The major-domo, a grave 
 and discreet person, escorted the quaking pair on 
 board their steamer, which was packed from stem 
 to stern with frightened emigrants. Helweh 
 caressed Mabruk at parting, and praised the Lord 
 for his kindness in exalted strains ; but he knew 
 her heart was glad to see the last of him. Of a 
 truth, it was now quite plain to his intelligence 
 that she had never, from the first, felt love for 
 him, but only wooed him for a selfish purpose. 
 Yet he could not much regret a deception which 
 had allowed him to make good the wickedness 
 he had committed months ago by Kafr Zeyn. 
 
 Though order was restored, the streets of the 
 seaport failed to regain their wonted eager life. 
 Most of the shops and places of business were 
 closed, and troops were picketed in the streets of
 
 254 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 the Prankish quarter. The rioters, on coming to 
 themselves, had fled in fear of reprisals, and now 
 lay hid among the villages, or slunk back to their 
 homes by twos and threes. The terror of the 
 foreigners was undiminished, for the town was 
 given over to the military, and every soldier 
 was a tool of the redoubted Arabi. The news 
 from the capital grew more and more alarming. At 
 the very moment when the representatives of the 
 Powers were denouncing Ahmed Pasha Arabi for 
 conniving at the recent massacres, the Sultan was 
 graciously pleased to honour the peasant-soldier 
 with the highest order of the Mejidiyeh ; which 
 the whole world naturally took to mean that the 
 Lofty Gate would help the rebels if it came 
 to war. 
 
 Omar Efendi gnashed his teeth when he heard 
 of it. Dervish Pasha was no friend of his, he said, 
 and yet he had always considered him a subtle 
 man till now. Could anything be more igno- 
 minious than the part which the Sultan's pleni- 
 potentiary was at present playing in El Cahireh, 
 shouted at by both parties, and listened to by 
 neither — he the representative of the Successor 
 of the Prophet, of the Chief Power in the 
 world ? And now to decorate the Fellah at such 
 a moment! 
 
 He could no longer endure the spectacle of 
 such ineptitude, and decided to leave at once for 
 Istanbul. The departure was decided on so sud- 
 denly that Mabruk could scarcely realize its 
 imminence till the Turk was gone. Then, when, 
 having watched the steamer leave the quay, he
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 255 
 
 turned his face towards the fort, henceforth his 
 home, the world seemed senseless. 
 
 The Turk's going lessened him in more ways 
 than one. Apart from the exchange of a stately 
 domicile for narrow quarters in Fort Adda, he 
 was made to feel a difference in the behaviour 
 of superior officers. His protector was gone 
 from the land, and there was no longer anything 
 to be gained by petting him. So he was ordered 
 about with other subalterns, and set to work. 
 
 Arabi had at heart the reparation and effective 
 arming of all the forts at Iskenderiyeh, the 
 presence of the foreign warships off the town 
 having reminded him that it was inadequately 
 guarded ; and the task was pushed forward 
 earnestly, the whole garrison working by relays. 
 It was carried on in the sight of the French and 
 English fleets, towards which the toilers threw a 
 laugh occasionally, and a glance not devoid of 
 anxiety. Every morning for a week Mabruk sat 
 out beneath a temporary shelter overlooking a 
 gang at work upon the huge brown wall that 
 sloped to the dazzling water, agreeably conscious 
 now and then of a spyglass directed on him from 
 one of the ironclads. When off duty it was his 
 recreation to stroll with a brother officer to the 
 quay or the railway-station, and watch the rout 
 of the enemy. 
 
 For the Nazarenes were now in full flight. 
 Every train from the capital brought its crowd 
 of Franks and Greeks and Syrians, whose one 
 thought was to get at once on shipboard. It was 
 a show for the simple Muslimin of Iskenderiyeh,
 
 256 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 who observed : "Allah is greatest! Who would 
 have thought there were so many unbelievers in 
 the world ?" Ships outward bound were over- 
 crowded. Ladies, the owners of charm, went on 
 their knees in prayer to rough ship's captains, 
 who, though doubtless loath, refused to take them. 
 Hundreds were left on shore expecting to be 
 killed each minute, and the pickets in the streets 
 looked on indifferently. 
 
 One day, as Mabruk was strolling up to the 
 station intent upon this pastime, he observed a 
 general movement in the same direction, and 
 heard a whisper : '* Efendina comes." The approach 
 to the station was choked with sightseers, all save 
 a space around some carriages, which was kept 
 clear by soldiers. The crowd was very quiet. 
 Mabruk heard distinctly the noise of the train 
 pulling up, and a minute later saw the Khedive 
 issue forth attended by some officers of his house- 
 hold, among whom was Said Bey Ramadan. The 
 old rogue had at last obtained the reward of his 
 dog-like adherence, and was now in the household 
 of his ruined lord. 
 
 Muhammad Tewfik Pasha stepped with dignity. 
 He took no notice of the multitude, but got at 
 once into his carriage and was driven off, some 
 horsemen galloping in front to clear a way. 
 When he was gone, the crowd broke silence with 
 a moan of sympathy : 
 
 "Efendina! He is finished — Efendina! A good, 
 upright man, in spite of all ! It is hard for him to 
 bear, the poor one! May Allah, in His mercy, 
 comfort him !"
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 257 
 
 The coming of the Khedive to his palace at 
 Ramleh, though loudly denounced by Arabi 
 as desertion to his country's enemies, was of 
 comfort to the soldiers still at work upon the 
 forts. Hitherto they had felt a lurking fear 
 lest the English and French men-of-war, whose 
 gun-ports stared at them, might fire a cannon 
 treacherously to their destruction. But Efendina 
 was a good, pious man, and loved poor people. 
 The Franks were his allies, and would do all 
 he told them. It was certain that he would 
 prevent their hurting poor innocent and righteous 
 soldier-men. 
 
 Then a shout went round the forts. Arabi had 
 come; he was in their midst, the peasant soldier, 
 the great Egyptian. Between Efendina and Arabi, 
 there could be no fear. 
 
 The English admiral, whose name was Simur, 
 wished to meddle with the work upon the forts. 
 Again and again he asked that the repairs should 
 cease. But his demands were addressed to the 
 Khedive, who passed them on to Arabi, who paid 
 no heed ; for was it Simur's business ? 
 
 Then Simur sent to say he would bombard the 
 forts unless the work was dropped immediately. 
 Men gaped at that ; but it was known to be an 
 empty threat, for had not Galadstiin sworn that 
 the French and English ships should injure no 
 man ? The fleets were there to comfort Efendina, 
 and Efendina was against bombardment. When 
 at evening of that day the French fleet steamed 
 away, leaving only English men-of-war before 
 the town, the vanity of Simur's threat was plainly 
 
 17
 
 258 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 seen; for it was sure the English dared not act 
 alone. 
 
 But ere long it became known that all the 
 English subjects left in Iskenderiyeh had been 
 ordered on board the ships ; and late at night 
 an order from Arabi went round the forts bidding 
 the soldiers prepare for the worst.
 
 CHAPTER XXXII 
 
 At earliest dawn the bugles sounded in Fort 
 Adda, and were echoed from the other forts 
 across the water ; and in ten minutes every man 
 was under arms. The morning prayers and 
 prostrations were performed in ranks, the officers 
 ranged in front, close behind the imam. Then the 
 gunners ran to their posts; the infantry, of which 
 there was a whole battalion in the enclosure 
 paraded in the yard awaiting orders. Some fifty 
 of these were detached on various services ; the 
 rest were told to keep their ranks, and wait in a 
 place of shelter near the powder-magazine, well 
 away from the embrasures. Mabruk, with ten 
 men, was told off to assist the surgeon. The 
 dawn was fair, and as he hurried to and fro he 
 felt hopeful, in spite of the ghastly nature of the 
 preparations. 
 
 But when the sun came up, and the shadows of 
 the works and men acquired precision, it shone 
 on many columns of dark smoke, which, rising- 
 straight in the still air, were clearly seen above 
 the rampart. Writhing, and with the play of 
 sunshine on them, they seemed malignant ginnis, 
 such as stalk across the deserts of the South. 
 
 259 17—2
 
 26o THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 They proceeded from the chimneys of the floating 
 castles, and when they bowed suddenly and 
 streamed out to seaward, it was known that their 
 progenitors were under way. The strain upon 
 the soldiers' nerves became unbearable. Among 
 those kept inactive by the powder-magazine, 
 some laughed and wept by turns, hysterically, 
 yet with a pretence at joke. Then came a 
 detonation which upset the world. The men 
 sent up a cry of glad relief. Suspense was over. 
 Another and another followed. Splinters of 
 stone and earth fell round Mabruk as he ran with 
 his men to pick up the first wounded. He judged 
 his last hour had come, yet felt no fear; for the 
 place was walled round strongly, there was no 
 escape : he, with all there, was entirely in the 
 hand of Allah. 
 
 The guns of the fort were talking loudly by this 
 time, and the warships answered their defiance 
 with an ugly roar. The argument of the other 
 forts filled every interval between the shocks. 
 Mabruk was deafened, jarred from head to foot, 
 yet went about his business deftly, to his own 
 amazement. The stronghold seemed to rock on 
 its foundations, the smoke to whirl around it, 
 shrieking, like dense flocks of startled sea- 
 birds. Shells hurtled overhead, and burst upon 
 the walls, with a report which mercifully drowned 
 the death-shrieks. Mabruk lost count of time. 
 It was as if he were already dead, and watched 
 another man perform his duties. The faces all 
 around were strange to him, grimed beyond 
 knowledge, and obscured by lurid gloom. For
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 261 
 
 the world was darkened with the rolling smoke, 
 and the frequent flashes were like lightning in a 
 storm. The thunder was incessant. His task 
 was now no trifle. The wounded called from 
 all sides, and the dead lay in the way. He sent 
 for ten more men, and even then could scarcely 
 cope with all there was to do. 
 
 Three of the guns were silenced. As Mabruk 
 removed the body of a gunner, charred and 
 mutilated, he saw for a moment, through the 
 embrasure, the walls of three huge ships, with 
 smoke obscuring them. The sea was dark, and 
 seemed to shudder. There came a flash which 
 blinded him. The fort was shaken. The sur- 
 geon's voice behind him cried : " Come back, O 
 madman !" He had drawn back quickly, hauling 
 the dead gunner, when the surgeon, mad with his 
 excitement, spat at him and struck his face, with 
 curses on his useless self-exposure. But at that 
 moment the fort seemed split in two ; a fount of 
 flame sprang up from out the midst of it ; then 
 came the sound as of a mountain falling, and then 
 what seemed dead silence, though the guns still 
 thundered. 
 
 " O Lord ! O High Protector ! O Most Merci- 
 ful !" cried the doctor, clutching at Mabruk. *' It 
 is the powder-magazine. Three hundred innocent 
 men! Our Lord have mercy on them. Woe! Woe!" 
 
 Dust filled the air, which, added to the smoke, 
 made perfect darkness. Protecting their eyes, 
 the two men stumbled towards the scene of 
 disaster. They came upon a man in tears. It 
 was the commandant.
 
 262 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 "O Allah, take my life !" he cried aloud. "O 
 Lord, forgive me for awaiting orders. All these 
 poor ones had no business here ; they were quite 
 useless. Their blood is on my hands ! O Mabruk, 
 and thou, O good hakim, save yourselves ! Go to 
 Muhammad Tewfik, the betrayer, and tell him 
 what vile deeds his friend has done. May Allah 
 destroy the house of that foul murderer, the wicked 
 Simur, O Muslimin, we are oppressed, undone !" 
 
 Some guns of the fort still replied to the fire of 
 the warships, as Mabruk and the surgeon with 
 many others, all powder-grimed, some wounded, 
 escaped and took the road which leads to Ramleh. 
 Soon they became involved in a considerable crowd 
 of angry soldiers, all making, like themselves, 
 for the Khedive's residence. Though the hour 
 was, perhaps, the second after noon, the sun was 
 nowhere seen. The sky was dark with lowering 
 clouds, and the darkness was reflected in the sea, 
 the war-smoke eddying round the ships and forts 
 seeming white by comparison. Smoke went up 
 from the town in two places, showing that damage 
 had been done in that direction. A haze of dust 
 enveloped the trudging crowd, whose wrath had 
 evaporated long before they saw the long fa9ade 
 of the palace, leaving anguish in its place. 
 
 " Efendina !" was their cry. "See how they 
 are killing us. Efendina, stay the hand of the 
 wicked infidels! Speak to Simur that he cease 
 from murder! Oh, it is cruel! It is a sin for 
 thee to deliver us into his hand ! Forsake us 
 not, O lord of kindness, or we shall know thee 
 wicked, and shall hate thee."
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 263 
 
 At the tumult certain officials of the Prince's 
 household looked out at a doorway, among them 
 Said Bey Ramadan, with a face of great dismay. 
 Spying some men of rank amid the crowd, they 
 summoned them to enter and make known their 
 will. Awaiting the return of their spokesmen, 
 the tired soldiers lay or sat upon the ground. 
 Some even fell asleep instantaneously, with 
 faces hidden in their arms. The great ones soon 
 returned. They said that the Khedive had been 
 greatly moved by their condition, and had sworn 
 to go himself and speak to Simur. Tulbah Pasha 
 had been sent already, but to no purpose. Now 
 His Highness would go in person and entreat for 
 mercy. At that there was a murmur of thanks- 
 giving, and most of the demonstrators turned 
 again towards the town. But a minority, of which 
 were Mabruk and the doctor, chose to lie where 
 they were and rest, being dead tired. 
 
 Mabruk and his companion slept till nearly 
 sunset. They awoke refreshed, and listened in 
 vain for the sound of firing. A servant of the 
 palace kindly gave them food and drink, and they 
 returned with new courage to Fort Adda. They 
 reached the place after dark to find it in ruins, 
 groans and weak cries proceeding from among 
 the wreckage. One part only had escaped much 
 damage, and there a light was burning and a few 
 of the survivors sat in council. 
 
 Mabruk and the doctor toiled through all 
 the night, extricating the wounded and taking 
 measures for their removal. It was known that 
 Arabi would evacuate the town next day, and
 
 264 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 that no poor soldier with the hope of life in him 
 must be left behind to bear the insults of the 
 infidels. When the firing ceased, the clouds had 
 gradually dispersed ; and now the stars shone 
 with peculiar splendour, so bright as to strike 
 light from out the sea. Fort Pharos was a shape- 
 less heap ; the minaret of the soldiers' mosque had 
 gone. Away in the town two separate fires were 
 raging ; but the flames and smoke of them seemed 
 insignificant, almost ludicrous, after the horrors of 
 the day. As he worked among the ruins, Mabruk 
 caught snatches of joyous song and shouts from 
 the English warships, showing how the heathen 
 exulted in their fell work.
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII 
 
 Retreat began in secret before the dawn's first 
 light, but Mabruk and the doctor were delayed till 
 after noon by the difficulty they experienced in 
 procuring carriages for the conveyance of the 
 wounded. When at length they left the town, 
 the sun was fierce, and its rays were blinding 
 upon lake and sea. The whole long road to 
 Kafr ed-Dowar was covered thick with troops 
 and flying townsfolk, receding in a haze of yellow 
 dust. The ambulance had often to draw aside 
 to let a baggage-train go lumbering by, or, it 
 might be, a light field-battery, the drivers plying 
 their whips, the gunners sucking apricots and 
 flinging the stones with laughter at the crowd. 
 
 Among the fugitives were many miscreants, 
 who would fain have stormed the carriages and 
 flung the sick folk out beside the road that they 
 themselves might travel more at ease ; but a 
 remnant of his helpers of the day before still 
 clung to Mabruk, and that small guard of dis- 
 ciplined men sufficed to damp the courage of 
 marauders. Destruction seemed the order of the 
 day, for gangs were seen demolishing the railway, 
 which for some distance ran beside the road, and 
 
 265
 
 266 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 breaking down the telegraph posts and wires ; 
 and soon, among the hurrying crowd, a cry arose: 
 " O Lord Most High ! The city is on fire !" 
 
 In fact, such clouds rose up into the sky as 
 to suggest a conflagration of the whole city. 
 People who had left their houses wailed aloud 
 and tore their clothing, with curses on the in- 
 cendiaries. But someone better informed cried 
 out : " It is the Frankish quarter only. It is but 
 justice for their evil deeds," when tears were 
 changed for shouts of praise to Allah. 
 
 From near Kafr ed-Dowar, where already some 
 semblance of an organized camp appeared, Mabruk 
 observed the progress of the fire. While still 
 some distance from the lines, he was relieved by 
 a party of trained servants of the medical staff, 
 and, thus set at liberty, went and sat with his 
 men beneath a dyke beside the lake. Afar, across 
 the bright expanse of water, with the white wings 
 of many sea-birds flashing over it, the seaport 
 gloomed beneath a smoky canopy, of surface white 
 and wavy like a summer cloud. From out the 
 nether darkness flames shot up, now here, now 
 there, throwing up lines of building with sur- 
 prising clearness. And still, from all the long 
 embankment road, rose the dust of the retreat. 
 
 Mabruk and his satellites, their limbs at rest, 
 were lost in moral reflections which the sight 
 engendered, when a cross voice bellowed : 
 
 " Up, O lazy ones ! May Allah cut short your 
 lives ! Is there not v/ork to do ?" A bimbashi of 
 the Engineers stood on the bank above them. 
 Seeing an officer, the speaker lowered his tone,
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 267 
 
 and besought Mabruk to haste with his men and 
 help in the work of entrenchment. The idlers, 
 shamefaced, sped in the direction indicated. 
 
 That evening men from the English warships 
 landed in Iskenderiyeh, and set to work to restore 
 order and put out the fires. By their exertions 
 that town was held for the Khedive ; Arabi 
 reigned in all the rest of Egypt. 
 
 Ahmed Arabi now stood forth against the world, 
 reposing only on the might of Egypt. The Khedive 
 demanded to know by what authority he had 
 withdrawn the army from Iskenderiyeh, and 
 destroyed the means of communication between 
 that city and the rest of Egypt. He proclaimed 
 the destitution of Arabi, and denounced him as a 
 rebel. 
 
 In return, Arabi and his council denounced 
 His Highness as a traitor, for siding with the 
 murderers of his people. And therewith, to show 
 his power, the noble Ahmed commanded the 
 mudirs of all the provinces to call upon the 
 omdehs at once to furnish an additional force 
 of thirty thousand men, including all the village 
 watchmen as inured to discipline, and further 
 to levy a tax for the expenses of the war. The 
 army applauded measures which spread despair 
 among the villages, saying here was a lord indeed, 
 none like him under heaven. Even the ban of 
 the Successor of the Prophet, solemnly laid on 
 the usurper, failed to damp their enthusiasm ; for 
 it was clear that the Sultan had been forced by the 
 Powers of Europe thus to condemn the man he 
 had so lately honoured. The soldiers, therefore,
 
 268 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 laboured with a will to complete the mighty works 
 their lord commanded, throwing up a chain of 
 strong redoubts from Kafr ed-Dowar to a point 
 on the sea-coast, protecting the camp itself with 
 a monstrous dyke and trench, and planting posts 
 for telegraph lines, while conscripts poured in 
 from the whole of Egypt. 
 
 Mabruk himself saw no more than the project 
 of these works ; for at sunrise of the fourth day 
 after the retreat from Iskenderiyeh he rode forth 
 from the camp at the head of a little troop, well 
 mounted upon horses lifted from the stables of 
 the town. Word of his coolness during the bom- 
 bardment having reached the ear of power, he 
 found himself raised to the rank of yuzbashi and 
 honoured with a small command. His task was to 
 spy out the country eastward as far as the river, to 
 ascertain the resources of each village, and assess 
 its contribution to the food-supply of the army. 
 The men were a mere handful, rendered docile 
 by inexperience. Yet, alone with them, he 
 thought it wise to seem indulgent, and regretted 
 his severity at starting, when he had thought of 
 nothing but to please beholders. 
 
 It was a joy to feel free once more, to ride at 
 ease among the palm-groves in the cool of 
 morning ; to exchange views with the fellahin, 
 and chaff the girls with burdens on their heads — 
 brown amber beauties, who passed them with 
 hips swaying and insurgent breasts. Glimpses 
 of the lake of Abu Kir, of white sails on the 
 canal, were caught between the palm-trunks. 
 The troopers sang and laughed without a cause.
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 269 
 
 Before the heat of the sun grew troublesome, 
 they turned aside into a village of the grove, 
 where Mabruk took his ease in the guest-room, 
 the omdeh and all the elders in tears before him. 
 They had nothing, they protested — no stores of 
 any kind ; how, then, should they provide food for 
 a whole army ? Moreover, now that the watch- 
 men were to be withdrawn, their stores would 
 be exposed to robbery, and might be gone from 
 day to day. 
 
 " O lying sons of dogs !" MabrCd-c cried fiercely. 
 "Are you Masriyin to talk in this way, when 
 called upon to serve your country ?" 
 
 At that there was loud weeping, and one old 
 man moaned : 
 
 " Efendim, we are Muslimin, and leave our 
 cause to God. But since when is it a crime for 
 men to dwell in this region of Masr, that we 
 should be punished, for that alone, by the loss of 
 our sons and all our substance ? How shall we 
 get in our crops, with so few hands ? O Allah, 
 look on us, for we are ruined !" 
 
 At that Mabruk, in a rage, commanded them to 
 be scourged ; but the mere appearance of the 
 kurbag in a soldier's hand was enough. Those 
 old men flung themselves upon the ground 
 before Mabruk, battling one against another for 
 the privilege of licking his boots. " Take all that 
 we possess," they cried. " Would to Allah it 
 were more, since thou, our beloved lord, hast 
 need of it." 
 
 Bidding the executioner stay his hand a 
 moment, Mabruk began again to question them.
 
 270 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 But finding they still must lie and contradict 
 each other, he gave the signal for the flogging to 
 proceed. The thong, flourished hissing, fell upon 
 the back of one and another ; and their shrieks 
 went forth. The inquiry was at this stage, when 
 one of his men appeared in the doorway, asking 
 leave to speak with him. This man, his name 
 Abbas, brought all the information which Mabruk 
 required concerning cattle and corn, having 
 gathered it in conversation with some women. 
 Mabruk then adjudged the amount of provisions 
 to be supplied every week to the camp ; and gave 
 the omdeh a certificate, intended to protect the 
 village from future exactions, which was received 
 reluctantly, with bitter tears and prayers to 
 Allah. 
 
 Four villages were thus disposed of before 
 sunset, and at a fifth the detachment prepared to 
 pass the night. Here Abbas the intelligent made 
 himself Mabruk's servant, waiting on him with a 
 deftness which disarmed objection. 
 
 " Efendim, may I say something ?" he asked 
 when his chief had shown some liking for him. 
 " It is that to-day we have not done our business 
 properly ? I was a year in the service of a mudir, 
 so know the way of it. I say it with respect : 
 it is quite wrong to use the whip at the first. 
 Your Grace should hem and groan and feign 
 concern for them, letting the truth out by degrees, 
 with due suggestion of Your Honour's power to 
 save or ruin. Vouchsafe them time to make their 
 offerings ; scourge only those who grumble or 
 give nought, and then, having taken all they
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 271 
 
 choose to give, make the assessment as seems 
 fair to thee. If it be light, they think their 
 presents won thee ; if heavy, then their presents 
 were too small. And why need Your Highness 
 toil through the heat of the day ? Choose the 
 place and hour which pleases thee, and bid all 
 omdehs of the neighbourhood attend thee there- 
 While they wait thy pleasure, I will mix with 
 them, and see that each man has his present 
 ready. So thou art enriched, and the work is 
 performed just the same. I ask pardon, Efendim." 
 
 The counsel pleased Mabruk ; he followed it 
 from that day forth, and found the work go much 
 more smoothly, the villagers feeling less cruelly 
 oppressed when allowed to make a bid for their 
 salvation. Thus, with pleasure and some little 
 profit, he spent three weeks among the peasantry, 
 winningthe esteem of all men by his great urbanity. 
 At the end of that time he entered the town of 
 Damanhur, whose mosques and houses cover a 
 high kom, eminent as a mountain in that prostrate 
 land. Here he had orders to assist the mudir in 
 a difficulty which had arisen with certain omdehs, 
 who could not, or would not, furnish men for the 
 array. 
 
 The mudir, a kind old man, sympathized at 
 heart with the offenders. 
 
 " By Allah, by our lord Ibrahim ed-Dessuki, it 
 is a shame!" he told Mabruk in private. "All 
 the rabble of the towns would volunteer in hopes 
 of plunder, so why press the villages which have 
 been drained already ? It is only because these 
 people are patient and inarticulate. Never, even
 
 2/2 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 in the days of Muhammad Ali, has there been a 
 levy so exhausting to this country, nor one con- 
 ducted with so high a hand. Look round upon 
 the condition of the provinces : no law, save 
 where the soldiers are, and there no justice. 
 Seeing there is no help in Masr, the Sudan is 
 yielding to the lying Mahdi. Allah knows v^^hat 
 will remain of us when this madness is overpast." 
 
 He ran some risk by speaking thus, even in 
 private, to one he knew not well, for Arabi had 
 established in the capital a Committee, whose 
 spies were everywhere, and men of note were 
 liable to be proscribed on the bare word of any 
 rascal talebearer. 
 
 Mabruk, unmoved by the lamentations of the 
 old official, set to work to outwit and subdue 
 the recalcitrant omdehs. Abbas again instructed 
 him how to proceed. It was no good, he 
 asserted, to go straight into a village and ask 
 the headman for so many men. The proper 
 way was first to capture as many men as 
 possible in the fields or among the houses, and 
 then display them at the omdeh's house, letting 
 their agonized relations buy them down to the 
 number required. Abbas was a good honest man 
 who knew his business thoroughly ; and Mabruk 
 did not grudge him a percentage on the profits 
 which accrued from his advice. 
 
 In this manner, from the country round Daman- 
 hur, Mabruk and the servants of the mudiriyeh 
 drove not less than five hundred able men, who 
 were kept herded in the town for a while, 
 and diligently harangued by holy sheykhs
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 273 
 
 and wild dervishes. By dint of exhortation, and 
 the excitement of frequent zikrs, the sheep-like 
 crowds of terrified peasants were soon maddened 
 and filled with furious zeal against the infidels, 
 as the source of all their ills ; and, thus fired, they 
 were deemed fit for distribution among the 
 various garrisons and camps. 
 
 The mudir had spoken truth concerning the 
 sad condition of the peasantry. The ways were 
 infested with brigands ; all the money in the 
 land was buried, and had to be dug up as required, 
 which caused vexatious delays in Mabruk's new 
 business ; the villagers, bereft of trained watch- 
 men, were apt to be terrorized by a few bad 
 characters. But the young man kept his faith in 
 the virtues of a patriotism which had raised him 
 personally above such misery. When, going to 
 mosque with his men at noon one Friday, he 
 heard prayer publicly offered for the speedy 
 termination of the war, it irked him to seem to 
 acquiesce in so mean-spirited a petition. 
 
 The town of Damanhur was not without its 
 group of ardent patriots — young men who wore 
 with ease the Frankish dress and mingled French 
 words with the virile Arabic, by means of whom 
 Mabruk saw news-sheets of the capital, and 
 heard the latest rumours. A considerable force 
 of English had landed at Iskenderiyeh, and their 
 greatest general, the Sir Wulsli, was expected to 
 take the command. Thus much might be believed ; 
 but Mabruk put not much faith in newspapers. 
 He remembered how, just after the great bom- 
 bardment, Arabi had caused to be printed in his 
 
 18
 
 274 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 official war news the statement that four English 
 ironclads had been sunk by the fire of the 
 Egyptian batteries. The surviving gunners had 
 praised his name for that. Mabruk himself had 
 seen one of them, with the blessed journal in his 
 hand, thanking Allah that his shame was turned 
 to glory. But the incident showed that His 
 Grandeur nursed the public curiosity, vouchsafing 
 only such intelligence as he judged was good for 
 it. So when Mabruk was assured by fervid 
 patriots in Damanhur that the Sir Wulsli had no 
 sooner landed in Iskenderiyeh than he fled at 
 sight of the Egyptian hosts, and sailed straight 
 back to Europe, his mind attached no credence to 
 the report. 
 
 A little later, and it was known that the Sir 
 had in truth set sail, but not for terror. His force 
 had landed to the eastward, and now occupied 
 the whole course of the Ship Canal. Arabi, 
 people said, was furious at the vile trick, and the 
 Mussiu Lassabs, lawful father of that canal, Arabi's 
 friend, was quite beside himself 
 
 '* They think us uncivilized people ; they 
 pretend we cannot guard their cursed ditch," 
 cried the patriots of Damanhur. " By the Prophet, 
 it is the greatest insult. It proclaims them savages. 
 In sh' Allah, Arabi will give them henceforth 
 neither quarter nor politeness." 
 
 On the same day on which he heard of Wulsh's 
 treachery Mabruk was joined by 'Ala'd-din, who 
 had come by train from the capital. The sweet- 
 meat-seller brought glad news for him. 
 
 Zeynab welcomed his advances, and could
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 275 
 
 marry when he pleased ; for Amin Bey had had 
 the kindness to pronounce the formula of divorce 
 at parting from her. Mabruk's child had been 
 the solace of her widowhood, the legal term of 
 which had now expired. 
 
 Mabruk was strangely moved by this announce- 
 ment. He at once craved audience of the mudir, 
 and told his story. The old man listened with a 
 pleasant smile, and took it upon himself to grant 
 the bridegroom leave of absence for four da3^s, 
 which was all he asked. Abbas, the intelligent 
 and trusty, was left in charge of the little troop. 
 
 18—2
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV 
 
 The changed aspect of the capital dismayed 
 Mabruk. The foreign quarter was deserted, 
 houses shuttered, shops closed ; only a few low 
 Greeks and Italians, too poor to think of flight, 
 were to be seen slinking about the meaner streets; 
 and these all wore the tarbush, not the hat. In 
 the Muski, wont to be densely crowded at that 
 hour, there was so little traffic that he could see 
 a funeral half a mile away, the high-prowed 
 coffin, with its coloured pall, tossing on men's 
 shoulders towards the desert hill, which closed 
 the long straight vista like a wall. The very 
 water-sellers gave their cry dejectedly, as men 
 heart-weary of this wicked world ; and when 
 Mabruk turned off into the shadowed markets, 
 the merchants in the shops, like caves, on either 
 hand, scowled at him malevolently. 
 
 "Allah knows, it is not to be wondered at," 
 said 'Ala'd-din in their excuse. " It is the worst 
 of times for all merchants and craftsmen. There 
 is nothing doing, and they blame you soldiers. 
 Moreover, the tyranny of the Committee has 
 been pushed so far, so many good men suffer for 
 an idle tale, that these are pushed to desperation, 
 
 276
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 277 
 
 and care not what may happen. Forgive them, 
 O my dear ! Patriotism is not their business : 
 praise be to Allah, it is thine, and profits 
 thee." 
 
 He spent that night at the house of 'Ala'd-din, 
 who made a feast in his honour. From him he 
 heard the gossip of his native village. Rashid 
 had joined the army, in place of a certain youth, 
 the only son of a poor blind man, whom the 
 Sheykh Mustafa had selected as being a partisan 
 of old Mahrus. The omdeh had been furious ; 
 till, hearing how both friend and foe acclaimed 
 Rashid, he too perceived the beauty of such 
 conduct, and now took credit for his son's 
 self-sacrifice. As Arabi's nominee, the Sheykh 
 Mustafa enjoyed high honour above all the 
 omdehs, so that his faction in the village had 
 been saved from all oppression. As for the other 
 faction, he had practically annihilated it by the 
 simple expedient of denouncing Mahrus and all 
 his sons to the Committee as disaffected persons. 
 They were in prison, and as good as dead. 
 Indeed, he was now so high and prosperous that 
 men whispered he had found the treasure of 
 Muhammad en-Nuri ; but the same had been 
 said of Mahrus in the day of his pride, and 
 'Ala'd-din, for one, did not believe it. The sweet- 
 meat-seller talked of him through half the night, 
 portraying his greatness for his son's content- 
 ment. 
 
 In the morning Mabruk went betimes to the 
 bath, where he passed two pleasant hours, and 
 thence repaired to his former residence, whither
 
 278 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 'Ala'd-din had preceded him. The same old 
 Nubian was at the door of the house, and made 
 him reverence, caUing the day most lucky. In 
 his old room he found good company of friends 
 and neighbours, whom the sweetmeat-seller had 
 collected to attest the contract. 'Ala'd-din, as the 
 bride's representative, sat cross-legged, facing 
 Mabruk, within the ring of witnesses. Clasping 
 their right hands, each with thumb upraised, 
 they exchanged the necessary words, when all 
 present recited the Fatiha, and the ceremony was 
 at an end. A light refection followed, prepared 
 by Zeynab and the wife of 'Ala'd-din, who were 
 at present entertaining a large party of ladies in 
 the apartment of the late Circassian ; and a pair 
 of hired performers made sweet music. 
 
 Chilled by the desolation of the once gay city, 
 Mabruk arranged for Zeynab to go back to the 
 life of the village, which was more as usual. He 
 spent two days of pure delight in the society of 
 his wife and child, and then returned, though 
 loath, to Damanhur. 
 
 Alighting with a sad face at his destination, he 
 was met by Abbas, his lieutenant, with a face of 
 glee. There was no time to be lost if His Honour 
 would behold the flogging of a mighty malefactor, 
 whom the troop had captured cleverly the day 
 before ; so Mabruk made haste with Abbas to 
 the courtyard of the mudiriyeh, where, in the full 
 sunlight of the afternoon, a burly man, stripped 
 naked, lay bound face downward on a block of 
 wood. Two soldiers, armed with knotted thongs 
 in which were nails, prepared for labour, while
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 279 
 
 the rest looked on. The Cadi and the sub-mudir 
 were likewise present. 
 
 The cries of the helpless wretch, his trickling 
 blood, distressed Mabruk. He thought the man 
 ill-used, and said as much. But the judge assured 
 him that this howling sufferer was a miscreant 
 undeserving of compassion. This man was no 
 other than a wicked brigand, who had robbed 
 poor righteous wayfarers upon the dyke, and left 
 one youth for dead. At that Mabruk felt no more 
 pity for the beast, but rejoiced with the rest in 
 the spectacle of his anguish. Amid so much 
 persecution for political causes, purely obsequious 
 in its nature, it was a relief to look on at a punish- 
 ment of which the conscience could approve in 
 sober moments. 
 
 After their capture of the brigand, just for 
 fantasy, there was nothing left for the soldiers to 
 do in Damanhur. Mabruk idled all day long in 
 company with the patriots of the place, and heard 
 their tidings of the war. The seizure of the Suez 
 Canal by the main body of the enemy obliged 
 Arabi to turn round and make his front towards 
 the sands of the Isthmus ; the camp at Kafr ed- 
 Dowar, on the fortification of which his energies 
 had till then been concentrated, becoming of 
 secondary importance. A general movement of 
 troops was the consequence, and Mabruk 
 wondered greatly why no orders came for him. 
 He heard of desperate fighting at Kafr ed- 
 Dowar, then of a victory on the banks of the 
 Canal. Picturing Rashid in the thick of the fight- 
 ing, in the helpless station of a common soldier,
 
 28o THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 he longed to reach his brother and protect him. 
 Telegrams from the seat of war and from the 
 Ministry were arriving every hour at the mudiri- 
 yeh, but there was no mention made of him in 
 any one of them. At length, upon the news of a 
 most glorious victory at Casasin, he could endure 
 it no longer, but resolved to put an end to this 
 inaction. He made formal application for his route 
 to the mudir, who straightway telegraphed to 
 the War Department. The answer came without 
 delay : 
 
 " Instruct the bimbashi to transport the men 
 and horses under his command by rail to Zacazic, 
 thence march to Tel-el-Kebir and join the army 
 there." 
 
 " It is plain that they had quite forgotten thee," 
 said the mudir, with a chuckle, as he showed 
 Mabruk the slip of paper. But the young man 
 quite forgave their past neglect, since in atone- 
 ment they had raised him to the rank of bimbashi. 
 He went at once to the station, and, with high 
 looks, bade its lord prepare a train for him. 
 That was after sunset. By the first hour next 
 morning the train was ready. Proper boxes 
 were provided for the horses, but the soldiers 
 and Mabruk had to travel all together in an open 
 truck. A deputation of the patriots of Damanhur 
 rose early and came to the station, to wish 
 their brave defenders God-speed. They extolled 
 the valour of the Egyptians, and ridiculed the 
 braggart Sir Wulsli and his host of cowards. 
 This Wulsli had but fourteen thousand homesick 
 English fellahin at his command — men who fainted
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 281 
 
 in the heat of every day ; how dared he hope to 
 overcome Arabi's hardy host of thirty thousand ? 
 He had come contemptuously, as against savages, 
 to meet a foe his superior in civilization and 
 discipline. Now, of course, he was afraid, and 
 kept his lines. He dared not venture forth into 
 the open, knowing how, by the blessing of Allah, 
 his host would perish utterly as water spilt upon 
 the burning sands. 
 
 " Be not afraid !" these jokers told Mabruk. 
 " The Sir Wulsli is almost finished. Kill but a 
 few of the Inkliz, the rest will die of fright. In 
 sh' Allah, thou wilt return to us in safety, bringing 
 Wulsli's mustachios." 
 
 They shouted blessings as the train moved off, 
 the soldiers answered with glad cries, and the 
 driver of the engine, caught by the enthusiasm, 
 kept the whistle going constantly for some ten 
 minutes. This last game pleased the troopers 
 hugely ; and after that, whenever they passed 
 near a village, there were cries of " O Muhammad, 
 make him speak again !" and Muhammad obeyed 
 with a will. Some of the men played games 
 with grains of corn upon the floor of the truck, 
 while others bit chick-peas or green pistachio 
 nuts. But after a while, the sun growing fiercer 
 and fiercer, the most part went to sleep. Mabruk 
 himself had long been napping when, opening 
 his eyes, he gazed on scenes he knew. Here 
 were fields, green or brown, whereof he knew 
 the owners, a certain clump of trees, shading a 
 sakieh, seeming jealous of its shadow in the 
 white-hot noon ; here were men he knew at work
 
 282 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 beside the line, and here was his native village 
 plumed with palms. Then the train, going slowly, 
 rumbled on the bridge ; he saw the long, broad 
 reaches of the Nile, as familiar to him as his own 
 mother's face, and surveyed the whole extent of 
 the Mountain where one night he had lain in 
 wait as a robber. And then the men cried : " O 
 Muhammad, make him speak !" and, with loud 
 whistling, they entered the station of Benha. 
 Here all was wild confusion. A troop-train from 
 the capital had just arrived, and, for some reason 
 or other, the lord of the station wished to empty 
 out its inhabitants and put them in a set of trucks 
 there waiting. A violent altercation ensued, in 
 which a crowd of mere spectators bore their part. 
 Officers were pursuing the station officials, chas- 
 tising them mercilessly. 
 
 "Allah is greatest!" Mabruk heard one poor 
 ill-used man cry out in anguish. " How should 
 I know where your Excellency's charger will be 
 put? Is it my business? Behold, all is in con- 
 fusion; all is for nothing, and our wages nowhere. 
 O Sheykh of the Arabs, great father of consola- 
 tion ! It is ruin for the railways; a century will 
 never pay for all the damage." 
 
 Soldiers stood in lines, their rifles grounded, 
 grinning broadly at all they heard and saw. 
 
 " Has the great battle happened ?" was the 
 question of Mabruk's detachment. 
 
 '• Not yet, the praise to Allah ! Wulsli fears." 
 *' The praise to Allah, we may yet be there !" 
 Their small private train was presently shunted 
 away from the noise and the cursing out upon a
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 283 
 
 siding, where it stood forgotten for at least two 
 hours. Sellers of water, nuts, bread, hard-boiled 
 eggs, and water-melons came out across the rails 
 and cried their merchandise. The soldiers haggled 
 with these merchants and devoured their wares 
 and afterwards were glad to sleep a while. But 
 at length, grown weary of the stand-still, they 
 called the engine-driver, who lay snoring, and 
 woke him, saying: " Make him talk out loud." 
 
 A series of piercing whistles rent the sunlit air, 
 and ceased not till men came in haste to learn 
 the matter. These Mabruk addressed in so superb 
 a tone that they at once declared the line quite 
 clear to Zacazic. The engine then went round 
 from head to tail, and they were pulled out in 
 the direction whence they came. 
 
 It wanted but two hours of sunset when they 
 at last arrived at Zacazic, where the scene was 
 only less confused than that at Benha. But 
 Mabruk's little company, being stalwart and of 
 one mind, soon got themselves and their horses 
 clear of the turmoil. Giving praise to Allah for 
 their preservation, they mounted and rode off in 
 good order. Leaving the mud-built town behind, 
 they followed a long, straight bank over fields, 
 between villages which gave forth a murmur as 
 the sun sank, and approached a grove of palms, 
 their shadows far before them. Presently they 
 were met by a little group of fellahin — two men 
 and one woman, with a donkey led among them. 
 The three were weeping all together, and be- 
 moaning their sad fate. When Mabruk inquired 
 the cause of this their grief, they gaped on him a
 
 284 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 space, and stared as at a portent, shielding 
 their eyes from the sun's level rays ; then wept 
 anew. 
 
 "The robber!" they exclaimed. "Merciful 
 Allah ! Woe, the wicked robber ! We were 
 bringing two sacks home from the mill when he 
 took us by the throat and beat us sorely. And 
 our sacks ! Alas, where are they ? Alas, the 
 ruin of our sacks of flour ! Allah is greatest !" 
 
 " May Allah compensate you !" replied the 
 soldiers. " By the Prophet, once the war is 
 ended, we will quickly put a stop to such ill- 
 doings." 
 
 They pursued their way, exclaiming upon the 
 wickedness of some men, when, just within the 
 grove, in tinted twilight, Mabruk espied a tall, 
 black-bearded sheykh reclining with two bulging 
 sacks for pillows. 
 
 " Praise be to Allah !" he cried suddenly. '* Is 
 it thou, O Muhammad, O Nuri? Oh, the rapture 
 to behold thee once again ! It is I, Mabruk, thy 
 friend." 
 
 At his name the sheykh sprang up and ran 
 towards him. Mabruk dismounted. Locked in 
 each other's arms, they wept a little, recalling 
 days gone by. Then they sat down by the way- 
 side, hand in hand, while the troopers took their 
 ease and smoked and chatted. 
 
 " Come with us, O Muhammad," urged Mabruk. 
 "There is work for a man like thee renowned for 
 bravery." 
 
 The robber shook his head. 
 
 " Not so, my son. I have seen that work and
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 285 
 
 like it not. When I escaped from my warders 
 on the river-banic, beyond Assiut (thou knowest 
 I was exiled to the utmost Sudan), I found 
 the army above Efendina, and so joined the 
 army. Wallahi, it was well enough in barracks 
 there in the south, and I bore myself well — 
 none better. But when they brought us north 
 to that accursed camp at Kafr ed-Dowar, and 
 bullets came out of the air and slew men near 
 me, then Muhammad knew that it was not his 
 business. Knowest thou, O my dear, that there 
 be three kinds of bullets, which are named, from 
 the voice of them, ' whirr !' ' whizz !' and ' whinn !' 
 Whirr! is tired and wellnigh harmless; whizz! 
 has still some mind for mischief; but whinn ! — oh, 
 1 assure thee, by Allah, whinn! is a perfect devil. 
 Whinn ! killed a man beside me — a kind man who 
 had made some coffee for me, and stood offering 
 it, as near as that ! It sucked the marrow from 
 my bones. My business is to make afraid, not 
 to feel fear. So I walked out from the camp, and 
 changed my clothes at the house of a poor fellah, 
 who hated the uniform and was glad to burn it. 
 I made inquiry for my wife and family, and, 
 having found them, came to dwell in the village 
 yonder. Times are bad, however. All who 
 possess money have long since buried it." 
 
 *' But thou thyself hast treasure buried, surely?" 
 "Once, years ago, I had ; but it was soon gone. 
 About that time I killed a man of station for a 
 commission, and had to spend my wealth to save 
 my life. Since then I have never earned more 
 than a sufficiency. . . . Nay, honour my poor
 
 286 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 house this night," he cried, as Mabruk rose to 
 depart. 
 
 " That is not possible," replied the other, " We 
 are ordered to make all haste to the Great Mound, 
 and the night is on us." 
 
 "Well, Allah preserve you all!" said Muhammad 
 heartil}^ 
 
 The soldiers returned his blessing, and resumed 
 their ride. 
 
 Great tranquil stars shone out ; the fields on 
 either hand exhaled sweet breaths. The tongue 
 of cultivated land, the end of the rif, went narrow- 
 ing until it formed a valley between desert banks, 
 which seemed white in the uncertain starlight 
 compared with the darker hues of vegetation. 
 Camp fires began to be seen here and there, and 
 forms of men appeared in silhouette as their 
 owners passed and repassed the flames. More 
 than once ill faces peered at them, and, seeing 
 their numbers, wished them a happy night. They 
 were passing through the zone of camp-followers, 
 rogues, male and female, the scum of every nation 
 under heaven, who flocked like vultures to the 
 scene of carnage. They traversed a village, full 
 of life, though the hour was late. The telegraph 
 office — a temporary building — showed a light in 
 every window. Orderlies hurried to and fro, and 
 all gradations of rascality and vice seemed repre- 
 sented in the jesting crowd that choked the alleys. 
 Sounds of revelry, the voice of a woman singing, 
 the notes of an add, the rhythmic beat of a 
 darabukka, were in the air. Somewhere in the 
 distance a military band was playing the Khedivial
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 287 
 
 hymn in careless mockery. Mabriik was glad to 
 leave behind a place so near to hell. 
 
 Up on a long, low ridge against the stars dark 
 lines of tents were seen, and among them many 
 points of light, some moving, some at rest. A 
 murmur floated thence, as from a city ere it sinks 
 to rest. It was the camp on Tel-el-Kebir. A 
 minute more and they were challenged by the 
 outposts.
 
 CHAPTER XXXV 
 
 Within the lines at Tel-el-Kebir there was not 
 that joyous confidence which had prevailed among 
 the patriots of Damanhur. One half of the vast 
 army there assembled had come in contact with 
 the enemy, and the other half had heard their 
 true report. At Casasin the day had gone against 
 them, with a loss of quite a thousand killed and 
 captured. In nearly every brush they had been 
 worsted. But in no case had the English tried 
 pursuit, which indicated that Sir Wulsli deemed 
 his force insufficient for offensive warfare. Now, 
 for two days there had been nothing doing. The 
 inaction fretted the Egyptian soldiers, who would 
 fain have returned again and again to the attack, 
 in hope to finish Wulsli before he could obtain 
 supports. But the chiefs thought otherwise ; and 
 they were kept within their entrenchments, pass- 
 ing the time as best they could with song and tale 
 and dull games pla3^ed with pebbles. Their one 
 hope was that the Sir, emboldened by their still- 
 ness, might be inspired by Eblis, his father, to 
 assail them here. Then his end was written, for 
 the post was nigh impregnable ; their cannon 
 would destroy him from afar. Against this hoped- 
 
 288
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 289 
 
 for contingency, the great guns were kept sighted 
 to the distance, nicely calculated, at which a foe 
 first came within deadly range. 
 
 Mabruk learnt all this on the night of his 
 arrival, when men still hoped for work upon the 
 morrow. But the morrow dawned, the far-off 
 hills of Asia shaped themselves out of the night; 
 they changed from black to grey, from grey to 
 dreamy blue; the desert sands blushed suddenly, 
 ribbed here and there with depths of velvet 
 shadow ; a few palm-trees in the Valley of Seven 
 Wells stood forth commandingly ; the coolness 
 passed to blazing noon, the noon to evening; and 
 still without an order to advance, or yet the faintest 
 sign of any enemy. The same upon the next day 
 and the next. Mabruk, whose tent adjoined the 
 camp-ground of some desert Arabs, heard their 
 young sheykh grumbling at Arabi, who had re- 
 fused his offer to dare this skulking Sir to single 
 combat in the presence of both armies. 
 
 Mabriik's lot here in camp was far from happy. 
 Upon arrival he had found no man he knew ; 
 those officers whom he did encounter had no 
 orders for him ; till, seeing how he was lost, a 
 caimmacam of the cavalry bade him dismount his 
 men, and claimed the horses, which were fine 
 ones and in excellent condition, for his own. At 
 that the robbed one had protested bitterly, crying- 
 out that he was being spoiled, ill-treated. His 
 wailing brought a great man on the scene, who 
 told him angrily to stop that noise, and join a 
 certain regiment which he named — an infantry 
 regiment, so that he need not regret his horses. 
 
 19
 
 290 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 So, with his men all muttering and cursing, he 
 inquired his way through the camp to the com- 
 mand in question. There, at last, he was made 
 welcome. The officer in charge confessed his need 
 of men, having lost two hundred in a fight near 
 Ismailiyeh. He invited Mabruk to sup with him, 
 and, struck with his refinement, arranged for him 
 to share the tent of one Murad Bey, a negro, who 
 was reckoned the exquisite of the regiment. This 
 Murad had been the slave of a rich notable of El 
 Mansureh, who, having no heir of his body but 
 one daughter, married her to this slave, a child 
 of his own house, rather than have his wealth go 
 out of the family. The black man, thus emanci- 
 pated, became, at his master's death, the greatest 
 personage in two provinces. He now served 
 with the troops for honour merely ; and his tent 
 was a comfortable place, for he had slaves to wait 
 on him. 
 
 But still Mabruk could not feel happy. The 
 turmoil of the mighty camp oppressed his soul. 
 He had inquired near and far for Rashid, but 
 could get no news of him. His superiors, in 
 moments of anger and excitement, spoke to him 
 like a dog. There was not a word of his promo- 
 tion to the rank of bimbashi, and he had lost the 
 telegram which announced it. Often in these few 
 days did he wish that he had left well alone, and 
 never recalled his existence to the War Depart- 
 ment. His men likewise grumbled, with the 
 exception of Abbas the intelligent, who, being 
 an expert barber, was in great demand. 
 
 Murad Bey, though kind, was not intelligent.
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 291 
 
 His talk was of girls, of whom he kept good store, 
 or jewellery, of which he was a judge, or land, of 
 which he owned great tracts. He had a good 
 voice, and could accompany himself upon the 
 lute. Mabruk enjoyed his singing, and some- 
 times asked for it to escape his conversation ; and 
 the good-natured black was always flattered by 
 the request, and came to hold Mabruk in close 
 affection. 
 
 One evening when the latter was depressed, 
 having been reprimanded for some negligence by 
 his commanding officer, Murad sang him back to 
 happiness, watching his face the while ; and when 
 he smiled at last, embraced him tenderly. 
 
 "The praise to Allah, thou art comforted. It 
 grieved my soul to see thy face so sad !" 
 
 *' I wish to Allah that the end would come !" 
 exclaimed Mabruk, recurring to his grievance. 
 ** I long every hour for the attack. Far better 
 to die than to be thus dishonoured — I, who myself 
 have commanded, with no man above me !" 
 
 At mention of the attack, the black's face 
 straightened. 
 
 "No fear of that, in sh' Allah!" he observed 
 very seriously. " We are quite safe here ; the 
 whole world says so ! The place is quite im- 
 pregnable unless by surprise ; and how should 
 they surprise us ? See here !" He stooped and 
 drew a plan upon the ground. "This is their 
 position, that is ours. There is but one way they 
 can take to come at us — this one, up the Valley of 
 Seven Wells ; and, praise to Allah, it is strongly 
 guarded. All else is pathless desert which they 
 
 19 — 2
 
 292 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 could not traverse save by day, when we should 
 see them coming. By Allah ! it is wrong in thee 
 to ask for death. 
 
 " Now let me tell thee all about my little Lulu, 
 my treasured, guarded pet, of whom I never yet 
 told any man. That shows how much I love thee. 
 By the Prophet, when the war is ended, thou shalt 
 come to El Mansureh, and feast with me a month 
 — a year! I will buy for thee another Lulu. O 
 my soul ! O night ! There is none like her — 
 a titbit, a delicacy, I do assure thee !" 
 
 And he expatiated, for the fortieth time, upon 
 the merits of his newest love, a Circassian child 
 whom he had purchased at an extravagant 
 price just before the martial fury seized him. 
 He described the charms of her in terms so 
 violent that Mabruk, though shocked by their 
 indelicacy, was deeply moved. He also hugged 
 himself and sighed consumedly. Long after they 
 had both lain down to sleep, and while the lusty 
 black was snoring loudly, he stared through the 
 tent-mouth at the throbbing stars, and thought 
 on Zeynab with distress of longing.
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI 
 
 He woke with a start to see the selfsame stars. 
 Bugles were sounding the alarm ; the camp was 
 stirring. He roused Murad Bey, who rubbed his 
 eyes and yawned and grumbled as he got up. 
 Both armed themselves and hastened forth. At 
 that minute the cannon roared from the Egyptian 
 batteries. 
 
 The scene was wild confusion. Trumpets 
 shrilled, drums beat deliriously; orderlies gal- 
 loped to and fro, cursing and shouting, stupefying 
 the crowds of sleepy men, whose first requirement 
 was to know precisely what had happened. From 
 the tents of the Arabs close at hand came notes 
 of a war-song, mingled with fierce cries. The 
 whiteness of first dawn was in the air. 
 
 The men of the regiment assembled as fast as 
 they could. They knew their business, and the 
 higher officers did no good by shouting at them 
 and beating them with the flat of their swords. 
 
 "There is no such hurry!" cried out Murad 
 Bey, who felt sleepy and irritable. " Our gunners 
 will keep them off — please God, destroy them." 
 
 For answer he received a slap in the face from 
 the commanding officer. At the same instant the 
 
 293
 
 294 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 cannonade ceased suddenly, leaving a floating 
 rumour in men's ears which troubled hearing. 
 A mounted aide-de-camp careering by cried : 
 " Haste, haste ! Form up ! Prepare to meet the 
 charge ! Our cannon fired too far. The sight 
 was wrong. They storm the outworks. Iblls him- 
 self must be their leader to guide them through 
 the desert in the dark. Stand firm, and fear not !" 
 The last words were drowned in the distance. 
 
 The stars were gone by now, and there was 
 light to see by. The crackle of the volleys sounded 
 near at hand ; then that sound ceased, and Mabruk 
 could hear the shouts and cries of men at the 
 death-grapple. It was clear that the English 
 were among them, on the summit of the great 
 mound, charging at the point of the bayonet. 
 Mabruk clenched his teeth, and became stone in 
 the strength of his determination not to turn and 
 fiee. Murad Bey, at his side, was sobbing like a 
 baby. The first sunlight smote them. 
 
 All at once, he knew not how, the battle was 
 upon them. A horde of red-faced men, all fierce 
 with victory, assailed the waiting ranks of true 
 believers. Those in front made stout resistance, 
 but were fast cut down, seeing which the men 
 behind in frenzy broke the ranks to run and help 
 them. In a trice the heathen warriors were 
 among them, through them. Mabruk beheld their 
 set red faces, heard them mutter as they thrust 
 and thrust again. He saw Murad Bey transfixed 
 and falling, with head and arms flung back, his 
 eyes turned over, and slashed at his murderer 
 with all his might. But at that moment he was
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 295 
 
 himself assailed with fury, and, seeing all men 
 running, turned and fled. He knew that he was 
 wounded in the thigh, but felt no pain. 
 
 The flight was a grim battle in itself; for those 
 on horseback trampled those on foot, the strong 
 oppressed the weak, each struggling for himself 
 with hate for others. Mabruk, quite helpless in 
 the tide, was carried down the slopes to the canal, 
 into which hundreds plunged, and swam across 
 or drowned, as Allah willed it. The rush was 
 for the narrow bridge, where hundreds more were 
 pushed into the stream. Shells from the great 
 mound, now occupied by the English, fell to right 
 and left, before and behind, and burst upon the 
 ground, but not one, by High Mercy, struck that 
 struggling mass of humanity. Mabruk got over, 
 holding on to a horse's tail ; when, just as the 
 throng dispersed a little, by the blessing of Allah, 
 a bit of shell knocked off half of the rider's head, 
 and he fell from the saddle. Quick as thought 
 Mabruk replaced him, and clapped heels to the 
 horse's flanks, yelling praise to Allah. Away he 
 sped like the wind, overthrowing all in his way, 
 down the valley towards the broad green rif. 
 The face which Murad Bey had made at dying 
 was still before him, causing him to laugh, he 
 knew not why. Then the glamour of the early 
 sunlight pleased him ; he watched the movements 
 of his horse's shadow with strange glee. In 
 passing some tiny fields fenced off with reeds, 
 he caught himself praising Allah, who had assigned 
 to each small plot its true proprietor. His mind 
 amused itself without his will.
 
 296 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 The village of Abu Hammad was left behind ; 
 groups of horsemen were overtaken, passed and 
 distanced. At length Mabruk came up with a pair 
 of riders, high officers by their appearance, whose 
 tired steeds took pace from his and stretched their 
 gallop. Their aim, he learnt from occasional ex- 
 clamations, was to join Arabi, who was some- 
 where ahead of them with the Sheykh Abdullah 
 Nadim. They were now on a bank between tilled 
 fields. Before them, in the distance, buildings, 
 mud-coloured or whitewashed, of the town ot 
 Zacazic were seen among palm-trees. 
 
 " In sh' Allah, we may yet find a train at the sta- 
 tion yonder," panted one of Mabruk's chance com- 
 panions, a very fat man, on the verge of apoplexy. 
 
 " In sh' Allah !" echoed Mabruk and the other 
 huskily. Their throats and mouths and lips were 
 parched with drought, with sand, and with the 
 taste of gunpowder. 
 
 But the railway-station at Zacazic was all shut 
 up. Some loiterers told them that the staff had 
 fled. At that the two superiors resumed their 
 ride. But Mabruk could no longer vie with 
 them. At pulling up his brain had reeled, and he 
 now caught his body falling forward, backward, 
 sideways, and prevented it only by repeated 
 efforts. He had noticed nothing in the excite- 
 ment of the gallop ; but now he was conscious of 
 the loss of blood from his wound. He asked 
 for water of the little crowd of fellahin, and it 
 presently was brought to him in the name of 
 Allah. The man who held the pitcher up to him 
 said that a train had gone through, a few minutes
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NH.E 297 
 
 before, from Abu Hammad, an Egyptian officer 
 standing over ihe engine - driver witli drawn 
 sword, in whom the speaker vowed he had 
 recognized Ahmed Pasha Arabi. 
 
 By that time other fugitives began to arrive ; 
 Mabruk feared to lose his horse, if they but guessed 
 how weak he was. So he rode on slowly with 
 as lively an air as he could muster. Trees, 
 houses, passed him by like shapes of cloud ; the 
 steady glide of water beneath a bridge seemed his 
 own life ebbing from him. He had a vague idea 
 of going to some mosque to die in sanctuary, yet 
 knew that it would not be wise to linger in the 
 town. Instinct prompted him to turn aside from 
 the main line of flight, and, having left the town 
 behind and feeling finished, he looked for the 
 first village, and rode blindly towards it. The 
 hour was still early. All the people were at work 
 in the fields. The narrow way between the 
 houses seemed deserted. His feeble cries for 
 help met no response. Arrived at his last gasp, 
 he got down off" his horse, and reeled, and fell. 
 
 In a trice the empty place seemed full of people. 
 He heard a man say : " There is neither Power 
 nor Might save in Allah the Tremendous !" and a 
 woman cry : " Our Lord have mercy on him !" 
 and thereby knew that he v^^as either dead or 
 dying.
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII 
 
 Mabrl^k awoke to find himself upon a couch in a 
 room such as that in which he had been born — a 
 mud-built inner room, with an oven at one end. 
 Around him were kind faces of the fellahin. 
 
 " The praise to Allah !" " He wakes up ; he is 
 alive !" " May Allah heal and strengthen him !" 
 " Our Lord preserve thee, O Physician of the Age !" 
 came their cries in concert, as his eyes unclosed. 
 And one, who sat beside his bed, whose mouse- 
 coloured face, thin beard, and almond eyes 
 proclaimed the native of Hind, praised Allah 
 likewise. 
 
 The daylight, seen through door and window, 
 possessed the deep blue tone of shadowed ways 
 at sunset. The noise that stole in with it was 
 the sigh of evening. A woman brought the 
 sufferer a bowl of milk, whereof he drank and 
 felt refreshed. The Hindi at his side, who was 
 no other than a physician, renewed the dressing 
 of his wound with muttered spells ; then bade 
 him sleep. 
 
 Sleep seemed to emanate from the bright 
 almond eyes of the man of healing, fixed upon 
 the patient while he told his beads. Mabruk sank 
 back at once with conscious ease. 
 
 ■ygS
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 299 
 
 He awoke a second time to find it night. A 
 wick burning in a saucer of oil and water upon 
 the floor gave light to the humble room, showing 
 the lord of the house and his wife asleep on one 
 side, and the physician dozing where he sat cross- 
 legged, still holding his rosary, backed by a 
 laughing shadow on the wall. He woke as 
 Mabruk sat up. 
 
 " Have no fear, O my son ! Sleep on," he said. 
 " By Allah, it is lucky I was passing through 
 this place and saw the concourse. It pleases me 
 to think my skill has served thee. Since the 
 springtime of the year I have been in this land of 
 evil, travelling with choice drugs for sale. Twice 
 have I been robbed and beaten in these last two 
 months. Your Arabi Basha was no ruler ; the 
 land is left without a Government. By the Coran, 
 I am glad that the Inkliz — curse their religion ! — 
 have devoured him quite. The land is no longer 
 any place for trade ; the inhabitants go in fear, 
 every man armed to the teeth, and hide their 
 money. Fain would I win to Suez, but I feared 
 to pass near the contending hosts." 
 
 "May Allah Most High reward thy kindness 
 to me ! Behold me healed, thanks to thy science 
 under Allah. Now I would go my way, for I fear 
 to be overtaken and made prisoner," 
 
 " Have no fear, I tell thee. A part of the army 
 of the Inkliz is already far beyond us towards the 
 capital. The rest are quiet near the battlefield. 
 Ah ! they fooled Arabi perfectly. He did not 
 know their tricks ; they marched by compass, and 
 so traversed in the dark a waste pathless by day-
 
 300 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 light. I know them and their ways. I have 
 lived with them ; and I tell thee, have no fear. 
 They are fools in victory, never pressing their 
 advantage ; though in defeat and difficulty they 
 become true devils. Their intelligence in common 
 things is that of oxen ; a child in guile can lead 
 them by the nose. Like oxen, moreover, they 
 eat not the food of men. If an ox ate man's food 
 it would fall sick and die. It is the same with the 
 Inkliz. O Lord of the Worlds, what strange and 
 various beasts Thou hast created ! Lie still, I say, 
 and sleep thy fill till morning." 
 
 But Mabruk was become, on a sudden, deadly 
 home-sick. He longed to see once more the 
 mighty Nile, and that little tuft of palm-trees 
 near its bank which sprang from out the hovels 
 of his native village. Feeling strong again, he 
 rose, and pressed a gift of money on that kind 
 physician, saying : 
 
 " Allah knows it is too little, yet it is all I 
 have." 
 
 The Hindi, after many protestations of dis- 
 interestedness, was about to accept the present, 
 when the master of the house, awakened by 
 their argument, sprang up and forbade him with 
 indignation. 
 
 " I ask forgiveness of Allah, who sent to us a 
 guest in need. Nay, all the charges are upon my 
 head. Keep the money, O my son, for thy further 
 journey. It is far to where thou sayest, and thou 
 wilt need refreshment at least, if not a lodging 
 ere thou comest thither. In sh' Allah, now that 
 the Inkliz have won, things will be settled, and
 
 THE CHILDREN OE THE NILE 301 
 
 the land will prosper. Praise be to Allah ! It is 
 known that they respect men's property. Here- 
 after, in better days, speak of payment. Ah ! 
 often, often have we cursed you soldiers, when 
 you drove our cattle and devoured our corn ; but 
 now, in your fall, all Muslimin are brothers. The 
 punishment of the Inkliz upon our land has yet 
 to be felt before we talk of peace." 
 
 ** They are mad. There will be no punishment," 
 said the Hindi ; and he spat upon the ground. 
 " I have lived with them, and know their ways. 
 They are mild w^hen men expect severity, and 
 would call it just ; and fierce for nothing when 
 the times are quiet." 
 
 " By the Prophet, they are lords of mercy !" 
 Mabruk agreed, and he related how their gunners 
 had refrained from striking with their shells the 
 dense crowd on the bridge. 
 
 "The praise to Allah, then, if that is so," ex- 
 claimed the master of the house, with deep- 
 breathed fervour ; " for they are now our lords. 
 In sooth, it matters not to quiet folk who rules 
 in Masr, so only that he be less harsh than 
 was Arabi, and give us rest to live and die in 
 peace." 
 
 With that, seeing that Mabruk was anxious to be 
 going, he brought forth his horse from an adjoin- 
 ing room, and having adjusted the saddle and 
 bridle, led it forth into the starlight. 
 
 " It is yet but the fourth hour of the night," he 
 said. " Ride slowly, lest thy wound break out 
 afresh. Thou art weak ; it is natural. I pray 
 thee nurse thy strength. By the Prophet, thou
 
 302 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 art over-bold to ride alone by night ! Best wait 
 till morning. . . , Well, thy way lies yonder." 
 
 The stars alone seemed wakeful, giving light 
 enough to see by ; but as Mabruk rode off, his 
 horse's hoof-beats roused all the dogs at hand to 
 sudden fury.
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII 
 
 The barking of the dogs ceased gradually as the 
 village was left behind. The horse, being rested 
 and well fed, was fresh at first, and danced at 
 every shadow. At one point, passing near a 
 hamlet buried under palm-trees, a rush of snarling 
 dogs amid the shadows maddened the poor beast. 
 When, upon that, a ghafir stood forth and called 
 upon the horseman to attest the Unity, Mabruk 
 could no longer hold him, but was carried onward at 
 a fearful pace, expecting every minute to be dashed 
 to pieces. After that breakneck rush, the horse 
 was quiet, and Mabruk could let his mind rove 
 where it listed. 
 
 The stars gazed down upon the face of earth, of 
 which the main features only were discerned as 
 through a veil. The cotton-fields on either hand 
 were lost in gloom, while trees and the lump of 
 villages loomed forth mysterious. Peace was on 
 all the scene, a peace which seemed the natural 
 garb of earth, the guerdon of her faithful sons 
 who till the soil. The chant of a village watch- 
 man, musical in the distance : " I trust in Him 
 who sleepeth not nor dieth !" seemed a cry from 
 the whole world's heart. 
 
 303
 
 304 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 What recked the fellahin, now sleeping in these 
 villages as natural as the plants and trees, of the 
 loss of Tel-el-Kebir ? For them it was a strife of 
 vain illusions, a cry of men who sought their own 
 advancement, forgetful of the Day of Reckoning 
 and the sovereignty of Allah Most High. To 
 Mabruk it now seemed all who fought had sinned. 
 The murmur and the fragrance of the night, the 
 steadfast stars, the fields, the quiet palm-groves, 
 taught resignation as the only virtue. 
 
 As he rode slowly, feeling languid, his brain, 
 through weakness, offered pictures to him. He 
 beheld the details of the strife, its fleeting glory, 
 and played his part again against his will. It was 
 but weariness, a cruel mockery, from which he 
 woke to beauties of the night with that disburden- 
 ment wherewith a man shakes off some evil dream. 
 The horse, forgotten of his rider, paced slowly 
 and more slowly, and at length stood still. For a 
 while Mabruk allowed him to remain so, the still- 
 ness allowing a respite from the crowding pic- 
 tures. Inhaling solace from the peaceful night, 
 he vowed before Allah to renounce ambition. 
 Riding on at a foot's pace, he heard a cock crow 
 in the distance. The call was answered in the 
 nearer villages, till, with the concert near and far, 
 there seemed a wailing of the whole horizon. 
 
 Presently the sky grew pale behind him, recall- 
 ing that dawn of horror 3^esterday upon the great 
 mound. It seemed that he had always shuddered 
 at this hour ; now he would dread it tenfold till 
 his dying day. The first awakened birds began 
 to pipe uncertainly. He could now tell the
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 305 
 
 colours of the landscape. The whiteness of a 
 minaret amid a grove of trees suggested green in 
 the surrounding foliage. Soon from its height 
 went forth the call to prayer. He could just 
 discern the figure of the singer standing in the 
 little gallery with hands crossed on his breast. 
 Soon the whole world blushed, and he met 
 peasants, men and women, going forth to work, 
 with eyes screwed up against the sun's first rays. 
 Some of these stopped to talk of the defeat. 
 They were sorry, they protested, out of mere 
 politeness, for it was evident from their smiles 
 and hearty tone that they were glad. 
 
 At length Mabruk began to recognize surround- 
 ing objects. The pigeon-towers of a village in 
 the distance were familiar. He urged his horse 
 a little, and about the third hour after sunrise 
 reached the bank. A long way off, upon the 
 further shore, he saw his village with its pluming 
 palm-trees, and beyond it the two bridges. There 
 was still far to go, and he was nearly spent. 
 But a piece of water-melon, held out to him with 
 a smile by a passing woman, refreshed him some- 
 what, and at length his horse's hoof-beats rang 
 out on the bridge. It was then the hottest of the 
 day, when men seek shelter; yet on the further 
 bank, just past the railway, he came upon a group 
 of men encamped beside it in the sun's full blaze. 
 They were folk of his own village, and his father 
 was among them. 
 
 20
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX 
 
 " But what make you here ?" was Mabruk's first 
 question, when all had thanked the Protector for 
 his safe return. 
 
 " Wallahi, we await the Inkliz," said his father 
 gravely. " Those misbegotten sons of fury — 
 which means Arabi's men — flying from Allah 
 knows where, had sought to ruin us. The last 
 trainful of them stopped just here before the 
 bridge ; and its inhabitants, pouring forth — the 
 shameless devils! — cut down our reeds and 
 shrubs, and lighted a great fire beneath the bridge 
 there, to destroy it. Look yonder, where the 
 piers are blackened. Then — f- - rrrt ! — they blew 
 their horn and off they went, careless of us poor 
 righteous men, whom they had ruined. For what 
 would happen then, inevitably ? When the 
 Inkliz arrived, and found the bridge made useless, 
 they would lay waste the nearest village, and me, 
 the omdeh, they would flog, and likely kill ! 
 What cared those sons of darkness ? But, praise 
 be to Allah, wc have stopped their wickedness. 
 The fire was a very great one ; but we toiled with 
 our nabbuts for hours, singeing our beards, our 
 clothing, and at length, by the boundless mercy 
 
 306
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 307 
 
 of the Powerful, we put it out. There remains 
 not one live ember. And now, all this night and 
 morning, we have sat here waiting to tell the 
 Inkliz what service we have done. But go thou 
 on to the house, where thy mother and thy wife 
 are mourning for thee. Heardst thou aught of 
 thy brother Rashid ? I greatly fear that he is 
 dead, the poor one. Our Lord have mercy on 
 him ! . . . That is a fine horse thou ridest. It is 
 well seen thou hast been where honours shower. 
 But on to the house and rest, for thou art weary." 
 
 Mabruk rode on, as he was bidden, and was 
 soon weeping with the women in the rapture of 
 home-coming. He tasted food, and then lay 
 down and slept. 
 
 About the fourth hour after noon, when he lay 
 awake and talking with Zeynab, one came hot- 
 foot to relate that the Inkliz had come at last. 
 Their train had stopped before the bridge, and 
 some of their great ones had stepped forth, but 
 would not listen to the villagers, but talked 
 among themselves in a strange jargon. They 
 seemed in need of something, though what they 
 could not explain, Allah having put the seal of 
 infidelity upon their tongues. The Sheykh 
 Mustafa had thought of his son Mabruk for an 
 interpreter, and had forthwith dispatched this 
 runner. 
 
 Mabruk ran forth at once beside the messenger. 
 
 From the window of every compartment of a 
 long train, drawn up on the embankment short 
 of the bridge, naked heads leaned forth, and 
 broad, red faces with pale, vacant eyes and 
 
 20 — 2
 
 3o8 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 spreading noses. Shouts and loud laughter, 
 with snatches of untuneful song, were in the 
 air. "Strange lords that Allah sends us!" gasped 
 the lad at Mabruk's side. 
 
 A group of high officers were down on the 
 ground, talking among themselves in some per- 
 plexity ; while the Sheykh Mustafa and his 
 villagers pressed round them obsequiously, try- 
 ing to tell the service they had rendered, but 
 were driven off from time to time with blows 
 and angry words. 
 
 "Allah is bountiful, O my eyes!" whispered 
 the omdeh to his son, as he thrust him forward. 
 " They are all drunk. A thing to be recorded in 
 books." 
 
 An officer finding Mabruk come close to him, 
 turned sharply round, making as if to strike out 
 with his cane. But the anger faded from his 
 face ; he grinned agreeably. Mabruk then, with 
 horror, remembered he was still in uniform. He 
 had small doubt but they would seize and hang 
 him. Trembling in every limb, he made low 
 reverence, and said, in the English tongue : 
 " Your will, O mister ?" 
 
 At that the officers gathered round him, seem- 
 ing much relieved. It was clear that they had no 
 intent to hang him. The chief among them made 
 him understand that they had expected the station- 
 master from the town across the bridge to meet 
 them at this point. He had been ordered to do 
 so by telegraph from Tanta. Why was he not 
 there ? 
 
 " He come now directly ; see," said Mabruk,
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 309 
 
 and pointed towards the other bridge, from 
 which, along the Nile bank, a small procession 
 of great ones in all the glory of frock-coats and 
 fezes, kid gloves and white parasols, mounted 
 upon asses and with pedestrian attendants, was 
 approaching with a haste undignified. 
 
 The English officers begged Mabruk to stand 
 by them and interpret. They had had a drago- 
 man assigned to them, but he proved a rascal, 
 and had run away. Could he spare the time to 
 journey with them to the capital ? 
 
 " With pleasure, sir," replied Mabruk, much 
 gratified. 
 
 The small procession now came hurrying up, 
 mopping hot faces, asking Allah's pardon. Beside 
 the station-master and his staff, there were the 
 mudir, the sub-mudir, and the cadi, with attend- 
 ants. The governor began a fine speech in the 
 French language. 
 
 " What does he say ?" asked the officers. 
 
 " He say you honour us; you very welcome to 
 our batrie, misters." 
 
 "Call the station-master," said the leader of the 
 English, though His Excellency's speech was far 
 from finished. 
 
 Mabruk was pleasantly impressed by this high 
 arrogance addressed to all save himself, and when 
 the officer bade him tell the station-master to 
 come with them across the bridge, as a mere 
 formality, he took his tone from it, and said dis- 
 dainfully : 
 
 "Get on to the train, O thou, and if anything 
 goes wrong they shoot thee dead."
 
 310 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 The quaking wretch obeyed in abject terror. 
 
 Mabruk informed his father of the honour done 
 to him, and then, at a call from the officers, entered 
 their compartment. 
 
 "Blest art thou, O Mabruk!" shouted the 
 villagers, as the train moved off", leaving the 
 mudir and other great ones sore discomfited. 
 "Speak for us, mention us, O thou high-preferred 
 one ! Forget not thine old friends, thy father's 
 house."
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Mabruk's high preferment was of short duration. 
 The great ones of the Enghsh showed him favour 
 on the journey, making it pass too quickly, like a 
 blissful dream. They received unquestioningly 
 the tale of grievous sickness, condemning him to 
 lie still and groan while men were fighting, which 
 he devised to soothe them, lest, taking him for an 
 active enemy, they might be moved to hang 
 him. But, on arrival at the city, they conferred 
 together in whispers, and then, with some em- 
 barrassment, offered to defray the cost of his return 
 journey. 
 
 *' Oh no, sirs ! I beseech you, think not of it !" 
 he replied with dignity, cut to the very soul by 
 that abrupt dismissal. Already he had seen him- 
 self at the right hand of Power, guiding that hand 
 alike in pardon and revenge. 
 
 To add to his discomfiture, he had no sooner 
 gone outside the railway-station than he remem- 
 bered that he had brought no money with him. 
 There was nothing for it but to walk to the house 
 of 'Ala'd-din, where he had formed the purpose 
 to offer himself as a guest for the night. The 
 way was long, and, what with the fatigue and 
 
 311
 
 312 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 chagrin and his late excitement, his wound broke 
 out afresh, giving him pain at every step. 
 
 The streets appeared more animated than ever 
 he remembered to have seen them. Every way 
 was thronged with happy, smiling people. He 
 felt alone in suffering, as he dragged his limbs, 
 half-dead, among them. 
 
 Within sight of his destination, he could go no 
 farther, so sat down against a wall and prayed 
 for strength. The tops of the houses opposite 
 were flushed with sunset. Their warmth seemed 
 high above him, floating like a cloud in air. 
 
 In that place and position the sweetmeat-seller 
 returning from his rounds found him quite in- 
 sensible. Weeping, he carried him to the house, and 
 laid him on his own bed, then ran for a physician. 
 The man he sought was out, but one who lodged 
 with him, at mention of an officer of the insurgent 
 army, threw down the book he was reading, and 
 questioned the sobbing messenger. 
 
 " I too am a hakim," he said. " Wait but a 
 minute and I go with thee." He then assumed a 
 pair of huge horn spectacles, which made his 
 aspect that of an afrit, sought out his case of 
 implements, and went out with 'Ala'd-din. 
 
 It proved to be the same good man whom 
 Mabruk had aided in his business at the bom- 
 bardment of Fort Adda. He lavished all his skill 
 upon so dear a patient, even removing to the 
 same house, a mean one, though verily he cared 
 not how obscure his dwelling, for, as his spec- 
 tacles proclaimed, he was in hiding. With many 
 others of Arabi's friends, he feared the ven-
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 313 
 
 geance of the English ; and shuddered at the 
 rashness of Mabruk, who had come to this house 
 through crowded streets, denounced for all men 
 by the accursed uniform. 
 
 " But he was ever a bold youth — a perfect 
 dare-devil !" he said to 'Ala'd-din, as they two sat 
 beside the unconscious sufferer. " I mind me, in 
 the great bombardment, how he showed his 
 whole form carelessly in an embrasure when the 
 ships were killing us." 
 
 "Ay," rejoined the sweetmeat-seller, with a 
 smile of sad remembrance, " thou sayest truth, by 
 Allah! He was ever the son of manliness. When 
 a mere lad he made friends with the most des- 
 perate, and performed deeds which quiet men 
 scarce dare to think on. In his life he was the 
 bravest man I ever knew, and withal a lord of 
 generosity. All I possess is owing to his kindness. 
 May Allah pardon and have mercy on him !" 
 
 " He is not yet dead, in sh' Allah !" replied the 
 sage, more cheerfully. " Go now and fetch the 
 potion which I ordered." 
 
 For long the sick man hovered between life 
 and death. His wife and child were summoned 
 to be near him, and neighbours, moved by the 
 sad case of one so young, came in to scan his face 
 and sigh and moan. The room was often full to 
 overflowing, to the joy of 'Ala'd-din, who thought 
 so many prayers and heartfelt blessings would do 
 much more than medicine for his friend's repair. 
 
 When at last the patient gathered strength 
 enough to stir abroad, it was known that the 
 English were good, harmless people, who waived
 
 314 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 their right to take the province for themselves, 
 and would not allow the Turks to punish more 
 than the few chief movers in rebellion. Loud 
 were the praises of their generosity. The English 
 manners, English speech, were in the air. Young 
 men of fashion who used to say " Banju " in 
 the French way, now said " Good-ah-day " at 
 sight of one another. English civilization was 
 the rage, and all the youth of the city flocked to 
 the taverns of the Frankish quarter in order to 
 study the right way of it. 
 
 Mabruk's physician discarded his horn spec- 
 tacles, and went about his business unafraid. 
 He had applied for medical employment in the 
 new army which the English were to frame for 
 the Khedive, and had spoken also for his patient 
 as a zealous officer. To conform in all respects 
 to English ways was now his whole desire, both 
 for himself and his friend ; and on the first day 
 when Mabruk seemed well enough he took him 
 in a carriage to a certain coff'ee-house beside the 
 most crowded street in the foreign quarter. 
 
 The invalid gazed round him with intense 
 delight. The whole street rippled in blue sun- 
 light. Grand carriages passed by with prancing 
 horses ; amid the moving, laughing crowd of 
 many colours were Frankish ladies of surpassing 
 beauty ; their forms were as soft music to his 
 soul. He thought on that sweet story which had 
 charmed his youth — the Frankish love-tale of 
 Kamil and Sharlas — and dreamed voluptuously. 
 
 The talk around them at the tables was all 
 of the Inkliz and their good deeds ; and when
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 315 
 
 any of that race passed by upon the pavement, 
 they were hailed with waving hands and cordial 
 blessings. 
 
 Mabruk was, for the time, all eyes. He espied 
 objects of interest afar off, and pointed them out 
 to his companion. A group of elderly fellahin 
 making their way along the pavement in extreme 
 bewilderment, staring at all they met, with open 
 mouths, absorbed his gaze and the doctor's at the 
 same time. Both watched them, laughing, when, 
 as they drew near, Mabruk leapt up from his 
 seat, and cried : " My father !" 
 
 The old man peered about him, stupefied, till, 
 catching sight of his son, he too cried out in joy. 
 They fell on each other's neck and wept a little, 
 while the doctor had the presence of mind to call 
 a waiter and command for every sheykh a shisheh 
 and a cup of coffee. All in time found seats, and 
 praised the benefactor. 
 
 " Now, O my father, say what brings thee here ?" 
 exclaimed Mabruk when raptures had subsided. 
 
 "A noble business, O my son! Know that I 
 and all these others — honourable men, none like 
 them, men of substance — are no less than members 
 of a deputation from all the omdehs of the seaward 
 provinces, who have this morning waited upon 
 His Excellency Riaz Basha at the Ministry of the 
 Interior, craving leave to present to the illustrious 
 and grand ginral, the victorious Sir Wulsli, and 
 also to the noble and disinterested Amiral Simur, 
 a panoply of arms and accoutrements worthy of 
 such mighty conquerors, in thanksgiving for their 
 manifold mercies towards this land of Masr. By
 
 3i6 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 
 
 Allah ! they might well have taken all the country 
 for themselves, the dear ones ; but they give us 
 back our darling Efendina. It is said that they 
 will even save from death that wicked rebel, the 
 depraved Arabi, who led us wrong, and brought 
 such grief upon us, causing thee to be wounded 
 near to death and thy brother Rashid to be made 
 a prisoner. What sin to fight against these good 
 Inkliz, who, it is well seen, are the lords ol 
 generosity ! . . , And yet I know not ; for this 
 morning I and my colleagues saw a poor man 
 ask of some of them, and they bade him begone 
 in a tone of cursing. The beggar could not leave 
 them thus in anger; he craved their blessing in 
 the place of alms, so clung to them the more with 
 piteous cries. They turned upon him then and 
 cursed his father, and made as if to beat him 
 with their sticks. An ill deed, O my son ! . . . 
 And yet it is true that they are lords of kind- 
 ness ! So thou art about to join the fine new 
 army which the Inkliz are forming for dear 
 Efendina. The praise to Allah ; they are good 
 instructors ! . , . And yet I know not. Things 
 are sadly changed. I and my colleagues have 
 been quite bewildered. It shocks me, all this 
 intercourse of clean with foul, these unveiled 
 women in the streets, these heathen manners. 
 It may be well enough, but I mislike it ; it savours 
 much of weakness in the faith. We pray such 
 things may never reach the villages. Allah is 
 greatest !" 
 
 Mabruk laughed gaily at his father's doubts, 
 looking with love upon the passing scene. He
 
 THE CHILDREN OF THE NILE 317 
 
 saw a carriage holding two fine Frankish women 
 draw up to the footwalk, and a young man of the 
 children of the Nile shake hands with its occupants. 
 Surely the days of perfect civilization — the days 
 of Sharlas and Kamil — had come at last. 
 
 THE END 
 
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