“I know it. But let us not talk of faith or creed. You are beset with danger. Your enemies may league against you——”
“They may, but they cannot triumph.”
“Perhaps not. But if I can be of use to you while I am in the camp, I will fight under your standard, and if the English came——”
“They will not.”
“If they do, I will not leave you till the end. I am an American, and I would like to be able to tell the English to stay at home and mind their own business.”
It was a long speech for Max to make, but the Mahdi could see it came from the heart.
For several days the camp was undisturbed.
“I shall remain here until the end of the rainy season,” said the Mahdi, “and then I shall march on Kordofan.”
Mohammed and Sherif el Habib determined to stay with the new prophet, and to participate in what they believed to be his forthcoming triumphal march across the Soudan.
Max began to love the Mahdi, for the man was essentially human, grandly sublime in his ideas, and, although undoubtedly a religious fanatic, an able man.