But Stas, clutching at the last plank for help, said:
"Then take me and let the Bedouins return with the little 'bint' For me they will surrender Fatma and her sons."
"It is yet more certain that they will surrender her for you two."
At this the boy addressed Chamis:
"Your father shall answer for your conduct."
"My father is already in the desert, on his way to the prophet," retorted Chamis.
"Then they will capture and hang him."
Here, however, Idris deemed it proper to give encouragement to his companions.
"Those vultures," he said, "which will pick the flesh from our bones may not yet be hatched. We know what threatens us, but we are not children, and we know the desert of old. These men (here he pointed at the Bedouins) were many times in Berber and are acquainted with roads over which only gazelles roam. There nobody will find us and nobody will seek us. We must indeed turn for water to the Bahr Yûsuf and later to the Nile, but will do that in the night. Besides, do you think that on the river there are no secret friends of the Mahdi? And I tell you that the farther south we go the more of them we will find. There, tribes and their sheiks are only waiting for the favorable moment to seize the sword in defense of the true faith. These alone will supply water, food, and camels, and lead astray the pursuit. In truth, we know that it is far to the Mahdi, but we know also that every day brings us nearer to the sheep's hide on which the holy prophet kneels to pray."
"Bismillah!" shouted his companions for the third tune.