THE ESCAPE
The moment George realized he had been discovered, the spirit of "do
or die" entered into his soul, and he flew along at the utmost speed
at his command. He did not even check his hope that the race would
end in his favour; he did not pause to wonder where he was going, or
how he would elude his pursuers. He had got a short start of them
which he meant to keep, and, if possible, increase. He could hear
the gibbering of the mob gradually getting louder and louder as the
crowd gathered up fresh recruits and surged along in pursuit of him.
The distant burr increased to yells and shouts, and the clatter of
fire-arms became so loud that George began to fear that his attempt
at escape was quite futile. He never lost heart, however, and raced
on and on at a pace surprising even to himself.
A man never learns what is possible until he is placed in a position
that requires the apparently impossible. This was the situation
George was now in. If he had stopped to ask himself the question,
"Can I do it?" he probably would have been forced to answer it in
the negative. As it was, he paid no heed to the danger behind, and
thought only of the safety in front, if he could but keep up his
speed long enough.
The infuriated rebels finding themselves unable with even their
greatest efforts to come up with their prey, now began to fire at
him, but, as their shots were not those of very expert marksmen,
George became more amused than frightened as the bullets dropped
either short of him or flew far above his head.
He was now getting into the inhabited part of the town, and tried to
elude the pursuers by turning abrupt corners, but there was little
chance of success in these tactics, for the "blackies" knew more
about the place than he was ever likely to, and kept cutting him off
in an alarming manner.
The day was beginning to break, and George felt that he must soon
give in. As he was making a rapid turn in his path a well-aimed
nabout came most uncomfortably close to his head. This incited him
to greater effort, not so much from fear of being hit, as from the
knowledge of the nearness of his pursuers.
Breathless, and with the life almost run out of him, he continued
his mad career, the hue and cry of the mob goading him on and
lending wings to his feet. Swift of foot as the blacks had been,
they had shown themselves no match so far for the trained athlete
they were pursuing. But there comes a time when even the best man
must give in, and that time George felt was rapidly approaching. He
had been running now for a long time, and had traversed a lot of
ground. However, he was not done yet, and he still kept on, although
in what direction he knew not. The street he was now in looked like
one of the principal thoroughfares, and, as he was nearing the end
of it, he saw, to his horror, another crowd ahead, running towards
him.
Instinctively he turned into a bye-way, and darted along in the
shadow of the buildings. The turning proved fatal--it was a blind
court, and ended in a small paved square, hemmed in on all sides by
the best class houses. Seeing the mistake he had made, George paused
for a moment to glance round. The mob were tearing down the court,
their cries filling the air and making the calm morning hideous with
discord.
Seeing no means of escape, Helmar made up his mind to sell his life
as dearly as possible, and, rushing into the porch of the biggest
house he saw, put his back to the wall and waited the oncoming mob.
Headed by a dozen or more soldiers, he saw the crowd enter the
square. At sight of him standing at bay a loud, exultant cry went
up, and they dashed towards him. He was fairly trapped now, and he
knew it; with his iron bar upraised he awaited the leaders,
determined that three or four should not escape him before he was
done to death. At this instant he heard a sound beside him, and
glancing in the direction, saw a door suddenly thrown open.
With instinct of self-preservation, he ran to it, and, without
waiting to see who was inside, rushed in, and immediately the door
was closed with a slam.
He had not the faintest idea where he was, and, for all he knew,
might have fallen into a worse trap than before; but the opportunity
had been too good for him to refuse to accept, and, as he paused in
the dim hall, ready to strike down any one who attempted any
violence, he was surprised to find it deserted.
Outside, the disappointed fanatics beat and hammered at the door,
and every moment Helmar expected to see it forced in. He scarcely
knew what to do. Suddenly he noticed in front of him a curtained
archway; he ran towards it, and flinging back the heavy tapestry he
started back as if he had been struck--he stood face to face with a
smiling countenance. He dropped his weapon and rushed forward with
hands outstretched, crying----
"Naoum! Friend Naoum! Thank God!"
"Luck is with you, friend Helmar," said the Arab quietly. "Allah is
great! Allah is good! He has brought you to me in your extremity.
But come in here, I must quiet the children of darkness."
He led the way in, and George found himself in a room of great
splendour, arranged in Eastern style. Turning to his old friend he
was about to speak, but the latter interrupted him.
"No, no, wait. There is danger; I must go and speak to the rebels,"
and he turned swiftly and left the room.
In a few moments the hammering and noise ceased, and presently Naoum
returned.
"Now tell me what all this means," he said, glancing at George's
dishevelled appearance, and doubtfully eyeing the torn clothes and
the worried face in front of him.
"It simply means that they wanted to murder me by roasting me alive,
and, failing that, with knives and clubs."
Helmar then recounted all that had happened to him from the time he
had left Alexandria with the patrol. When he had finished, Naoum
looked thoughtful.
"So you are an escaped prisoner of Arabi's," he said at last; "that
is not good. It makes my task harder, but you must be saved
somehow," and he relapsed into deep thought, drumming on the side
of a cabinet which he leant against. "Just now I am very powerful
with Arabi, he has forced me into service, with the alternative of
confiscating my property. I am now one of his means of raising
money, and as my fortune is considerable, he cannot quarrel with me,
but----"
"Surely," broke in George, "you are not fighting on his side?"
"No, but you do not understand. I am in his hands, and for the sake
of the result of my life's work, I cannot defy him. I take no active
part with him in this war, but I have no other alternative than to
supply him with money on purely business securities, the same as I
would to anybody else. I am, as you well know, against him in all my
feelings. If I refused to do as he requires, I should forfeit
everything; so you see I am compelled. Being with him, I save my
property, and can prevent much mischief by using my influence over
him."
"I see," exclaimed George, heartily, "you are right. It would be
folly to do otherwise. Well, returning to the awkward predicament I
have placed you in, what is best to be done?"
"I heard during the night that trouble had befallen you. In fact,
this note in your writing was brought to me by Belbeis, one of my
men, just as I returned here from Cairo," he went on, producing a
bundle of papers. "I had intended to intercede for you this morning,
but now the situation is more complicated. However," with a smile of
meaning, "I think you can safely leave it to me. For the time being
you are free from the man Abdu, and are, at present, out of reach of
your enemy Arden, so you can take some rest here. Food shall be
brought you at once, and I will go and see what can be done."
George thanked his friend and threw himself on a divan, while his
host started on his errand of mercy.
Good luck, as Naoum had said, was undoubtedly with him, and, as he
lay back, with his weary, tired eyes closed from the bright light of
the rising sun, he felt that Providence had been indeed good. He
shuddered again and again as he went over, in thought, the exciting
events of the night, and wondered what awful fate would have been
his if he had chanced to take refuge in front of any of the other
houses in the square. Naoum he knew would help him to the full
extent of his power, and that seemed to be considerable, judging
from the manner in which he had quieted the mob outside. It was too
good to hope that he would be able to get him released altogether,
but, probably, he would manage to secure for him a fairly
comfortable prison and save his life.
His thoughts were interrupted by the entrance of a servant with
food, and, as soon as the man had retired, he set to ravenously. The
food was of the most luxurious description, and Helmar marvelled the
more at the mysterious man who had provided it. Who was he in
reality? Naoum he knew was his name, and he had hitherto only taken
him for a successful trader; but apparently he was a man of great
fortune and power, or how could he supply money to the extent he
appeared to be doing?
After finishing his repast, George lay back on the comfortable
cushions of the divan. He was tired and worn out, his whole body
ached with his efforts of the night before, and the sleep that he so
badly needed was not long before it overtook him. How long he lay
unconscious of his surroundings he did not know; when he awoke it
was night, and the rays of a small lamp lit the chamber he was in.
For a moment or two he looked about him and tried to recall what had
happened. At first it seemed like some horrid nightmare, but when he
stood up and stretched himself he knew that it was all reality. He
was greatly refreshed with his sleep, and now awaited eagerly the
return of Naoum.
Before his host re-appeared food was again brought to him, and this,
with the aid of soap and water, made him ready to face the world
again. A few minutes later Naoum came in.
"I have been more fortunate than I had anticipated. Arabi, who
fortunately chanced to return here from Cairo this afternoon whilst
you slept, has promised me at least to spare your life; but, on the
other hand, he will not hear of your being released. This, however,
is quite a secondary affair and a matter which we can ourselves
attend to later on," and he chuckled softly. "In the meantime," he
went on, "I expect you will be taken to Cairo. This he gave me to
understand without actually saying so."
"Well, beggars mustn't be choosers," said George, resignedly, "and
glad enough am I that I am to escape with my life."
"You may well say that," answered Naoum. "From what I can gather,
this man Arden, who appears to hate you so cordially, is very
powerful and enjoys Arabi's complete confidence. In fact I was shown
a dispatch from that worthy recommending you to be _interrogated_; I
dare say you know what that means. I had great difficulty to
dissuade him from acting on the man's advice. Even now,
notwithstanding I have his promise, your position is anything but
safe, and we shall have to keep a watchful eye on them all."
"What! do you think Arabi can be persuaded to go back on his
promise?" asked George.
Naoum smiled deprecatingly.
"Go back, you call it. You mean break his word, I suppose. Well, I
would not like to say, but if I am not about at the time there may
be trouble."
"Then the understanding is that I go to Cairo--when?"
"When he sends word. In the meantime you will see him. He intends
to--how you call it--interview you; I shall dispatch some of my men
to Cairo, and also write to Mariam Abagi my mother, that she may
know what to do when you arrive there. So now you can rest
comfortable and wait for what the future has in store for you. I
shall look after you."
George thanked him for his words, and then Naoum went on----
"I must go now, for I have much work and many things to do before
morning. If there is anything you want, touch this gong, and my
servants will wait on you--and now, good-night."
Naoum went away and Helmar was again left to speculate and wonder.