"I remember that fellow Daireh; he would have had a short shrift if we
had caught him! It was unlucky, though, that he was found out before
you came; he could not have done us much more harm, and the finding him
here would have done you a great deal of good. By George! You are a
nasty fellow to have for an enemy, Forsyth! What a sticker you are--a
regular sleuth-hound. Fancy following your enemy to the very end of the
world! Such a little innocent chap as I remember you, too. I don't
think I bullied you much, did I? By George, I should have thought twice
about offending you if I had known what a Red Indian I had to deal
with!"
"I did think you rather a beast sometimes," said Harry, laughing; "and I
took it out of the next generation, when I had a fag in my turn. But
there is no revenge or vice in my present journey; it is simply to get
my money. I had been a good bit of the way already on other people's
business, and that put me up to coming on my own. Do you remember
Kavanagh?"
"Very slightly; he was a little fellow--Brown's fag."
"He is not a little fellow now!" said Harry, laughing. "I should say he
would weigh down the pair of us."
"And you can talk the lingo!" said Howard, admiringly. "It is very few
words that I have been able to pick up. But what are you going to do
now?"
"That is just what I was wondering when that row took place, and sent
all my ideas and reflections spinning. I must sleep on it."
"Look here," said Howard, presently. "The chances are that that fellow
Daireh has gone to the Mahdi's head-quarters, which are at El Obeid.
Now we are going to El Obeid; therefore come with us there."
"A capital idea!" cried Harry, hope dawning once more in his breast.
"There will be a chance of catching the fellow, after all, that way.
But how can it be managed? Will Hicks Pasha be bothered with me?"
"He does not want any useless mouths, it is true," said Howard; "but I
expect that he will be able to make some use of you. An Englishman who
has shown sufficient energy to make his way out to Khartoum, and who can
understand and speak Arabic, and that at an age when his sisters and
their she friends would call him `a nice boy,' and patronisingly teach
him the newest waltz steps, is sure to be available in some capacity,
especially for a leader with the resources of our chief. At any rate
there is no harm in trying, and if you come with me I will introduce
you. You need not tell him your story, you know, unless he asks you for
it, because it is rather long, and he is very busy. Later, over a
bivouac fire, it may interest and amuse him. Just say who you are, what
you can do, and offer your services, and I do not doubt you will find
yourself a man in authority over a certain number of Egyptians."
"What sort of soldiers do these Egyptians make? They did not do much
good against us under Arabi."
"No; and we have a lot who ran away at Tel-el-Kebir here. They are no
good. The Egyptian rule has been a curse to the Soudan, and the
Egyptian troops are the greatest curs that ever tempted a brave but
unarmed people to throw off the yoke. But suppose we go to the camp."