"If they do that, we shall be near the Atbara before it is dark. It is ten o'clock now, and if General Hunter's map is right, we have only about eighty miles to go, and I should think they are trotting seven miles an hour."
They carried their rifles slung behind them and across the shoulders, rather than upright, as was the Arab fashion. The spears were held in their right hands.
"We must see if we can't fasten the spears in some other way, Zaki. We should find them a nuisance, if we held them in our hands all the way. I should say it would be easy to fasten them across the saddle in front of us. If we see horsemen in the distance, we can take them into our hands."
"I think, Master, it would be easier to fasten them behind the saddles, where there is more width, and rings on the saddle on both sides."
A short halt was made, and the spears fixed. Gregory then looked at his compass.
"We must make for that rise, two or three miles away. I see exactly the point we must aim for. When we get there, we must look at the compass again."
They kept steadily on for six hours. They had seen no human figure, since they started.
"We will stop here for half an hour," Gregory said. "Give the animals a drink of water, and a handful or two of grain."
"I don't think they will want water, Master. They had as much as they could drink, before starting, and they are accustomed to drink when their work is over."
"Very well. At any rate, we will take something."