In the Mahdi's Grasp

The professor's were experienced hands, and he had ample funds at his disposition. The result of his inquiries that morning was that he found he could by starting the next night...

"Don't you insult my clock, my boy," said the doctor. "It keeps as good time as any one in London. It's you who are too fast. Keep cool, my lad, keep cool."

It was one bright evening, just about dusk, that, utterly exhausted by a long day's march, the head of the long line of horses, camels heavily laden, and marching men, came with...

"How are you getting on, Sam?" said Frank, after they had progressed about a mile, during which the outskirts of the city had given place to garden, cultivated field, trees dott...

Out by the gate in the dazzling sunshine sat Ibrahim upon his tall camel, the headgear for the present carefully arranged so as to make a brave show, and the seven mounted guard...

As soon as the first disappointment had passed off it was decided to make the best of their position--one whose advantages soon grew upon the adventurers. So the Hakim settled d...

It was just before daybreak on the fifth morning that everyone in the cluster of tents was astir. Much had been done over night to advance the preparations, so that nothing rema...

The professor had hardly finished speaking when something dark loomed up through the silvery gloom, and the camels began making a peculiar, complaining sound, while they slightl...

On the other side of the dining-room door Doctor Morris, a thoughtful-looking man of goodly presence, and the better looking for a calm ignorance of his being handsome, was seat...

The night glided slowly on, seeming to be as long as several to the weary watchers, and during the latter part, when the bustle of preparation had long ceased in the women's par...

It was a strange experience to sit outside the tent door that night, breathing the soft moist air which seemed so different from the dry, harsh, parching wind of the desert. The...

"No, my lad," said the Hakim, as the position was discussed, for the twentieth time perhaps; "it is horrible, but we have the choice of being friends with these people or their...

The English party had ample proof of Ibrahim's words, for the narrow ways of the city were thronged that day with the wild troops that had ridden in from the desert, many too fr...

The young Baggara chief was evidently in a wild state of excitement, and turned at once to the professor, saying something in his own tongue, which the Englishman struggled hard...

What with the excitement and the change, as it were, into another life such as he had only read of in books, Frank Frere's was a very poor night's rest, so that after dozing off...

Those were minutes of agony to all concerned, for there was the trouble of Frank's calls while the doctor was speaking. It was nothing that the strange officer had heard them, b...

Now it so happened that Sam soon ceased to congratulate himself upon his good luck. He had thrown himself upon the couch provided for his resting-place. He had discovered by tur...

It was more from hearing than seeing that Frank Frere gathered the fact that the Baggara chief had returned, for after a short pause the camel train was once more in motion, and...

It was one bright evening after an exciting day, during which the prisoners, shut up as they were within the walls of the Emir's so-called palace, had gone through hours of feve...

As Frank was about to raise the glass to his eye, the doctor, who was some little distance in advance, checked his camel for them to come up alongside, and pointed the while awa...

One evening after the young chief had lain watching the desert in vain he signed for the Sheikh to come to him, and in a stronger voice bade him fetch the leader of the men left...

The wandering tribes of the desert, who exist by their sword and spear, live the life of the wild beast of prey whose eyes are ever on the look out for the furtive blow or strok...

The Hakim's patient was evidently a man of stern determination--of iron will; but he was only human after all, and he turned slowly to his brother chief, to lay his uninjured ha...

Then all was over, the doctor dropping the stick and scrambling up; Frank putting the tongs into the fender, Sam stooping to pick up the letter from the carpet, and the professo...

After the first surprise the latter felt all eagerness, for the reason expressed by his friend, and going out into the garden he found the young Emir impatiently waiting for him...

Those were startling minutes, and though the incident was nothing more than had been anticipated as one of possibly many, it had taken them by surprise, being long before it was...

The Hakim was carefully prepared the next morning for his visit to his patients, Sam making the preparations, even to the extent of having a brass pot of boiling water for the r...

The doctor's patient needed his help badly, for the exertion of the journey and triumphant entry had taxed his strength too much, and once more he was fully under the Hakim's ch...

The day broke at last, after a long and watchful night of silence, during which the Hakim had never left his patient's side, but he had insisted upon his companions taking watch...

As is generally the case when one's heart feels most sick, a good rest brings light and hope back from behind the clouds, and Frank Frere awoke the next morning feeling ready fo...

Frank was puzzled for a few minutes; then he was convinced that the men he saw were prisoners taken in the previous night's encounter, for there was no doubt about their being m...

"`Stirrup?' I says, `what stirrup, sir?' and then he went on: `You English are not fit even for slaves. Be quick! Can't you see that your lord and his friends are waiting to see...

Fortunately for Frank's plans the Emirs who led the late arrivals of forces took up their residence right at the other end of the city, outside which their savage followers were...

Before the sun rose Frank's rescue party fully realised their position-- that they were prisoners, guarded by about twenty of the Baggara chief's followers, and in charge of a t...

The Hakim, even if looked upon by the semi-savages of the desert as a prophet, was human enough to require a second meal before he had finished what to ordinary people would hav...

The people at the hotel were too much occupied with their own affairs to pay much heed to three ordinary visitors and their servant. It was rumoured that one of them was a famou...

As Ibrahim had said, the task was easy, for the next morning, before the Hakim had commenced with his sick and wounded, one of the Soudanese harness-makers was at the palace gat...

The meal prepared by the Sheikh's people astounded the little party-- there were crisp cutlets, freshly made cakes, bowls of a porridge made with fresh milk and some kind of fin...

He could say no more, but sat holding Frank's hand, his lip trembling, and moved as neither of them had seen him before. For in all things he had been the calm, stern doctor, se...

It was settled that a stay of three days was to be made at the encampment, a period that seemed grievously long to Frank; but there were excellent reasons for the delay.

Sam--or, as he liked to be called, "Mr Samuel," or "Mr Downes," holding as he did the important post of confidential and body-servant to Dr Robert Morris, a position which made...