Saba received absolutely nothing more to eat or drink; the children saved some scraps for him, but he knew how to help himself out in some way, for he arrived at the halting-places with a bloody throat and traces of bites on his neck and chest. Whether the spoils of these fights were jackals or hyenas, or perhaps even sand-foxes and gazels, no one ever knew; it sufficed that he did not appear to be very hungry. Sometimes also his black lips were wet, as if he had drunk. The Bedouins supposed that he had dug deep holes in the ground of the ravines and in this manner had reached water that he had scented through the ground. Sometimes lost travelers dig up the broken earth, and if they do not always find water, they nearly always come upon wet sand, and by sucking the water out of it quench their painful thirst.
But a great change had also come over Saba. His chest and neck were still strong, but his flanks were sunken in, which made him look taller. His bloodshot eyes had a savage and threatening look. But to Nell and Stasch he was as devoted as ever, and let them do what they liked with him; he wagged his tail at Chamis now and then, but at the Bedouins and Sudanese he barked, showed his terrible fangs, and ground his teeth like iron nails. Thus Idris and Gebhr began to be afraid of him, and they hated him so that they would probably have shot him with the gun they had captured if the desire of bringing Smain such a rare specimen of an animal, and the fact that they had already left Assuan behind them, had not held them back.
Assuan lay behind them! Stasch continually thought of this, and it slowly dawned upon him that there was great doubt of the searchers overtaking them. It is true, he knew that not only the so-called Egypt—which ends below Wadi Halfa, that is, in the vicinity of the second cataract—but also the whole of Nubia, was at this time in the hands of the Egyptian Government, and he also realized that on the other side of Assuan, and especially below Wadi Halfa, it would be more difficult to search for them, and the orders of the government would be less promptly executed. However, he still cherished the hope that his father and Mr. Rawlison, after having organized the search, would go alone by steamer from Fayoum to Wadi Halfa, and from there, after having obtained from the government soldiers mounted on camels, would try to bar the way of the caravan from the southern side. The boy calculated that he would do this if he were so situated, and so he considered that he had a good foundation for his supposition.
He did not give up the thought of attempting to escape. The Sudanese wanted powder for the gun they had captured, and to get it they decided to tear open a number of cartridges; so he told them that he only could do it, and that if one of them went clumsily at it the cartridge would explode and tear off his hand. Idris, who was usually afraid of strange things and English discoveries, in the end decided to trust this work to the boy. Stasch was glad to do it, because he hoped that the strong English powder would burst the old Arabian gun at the first shot, and he also hoped to be able to secrete a few cartridges. He found this easier than he thought. He was watched while he did it, but the Arabs began to talk among themselves, and they were soon paying more attention to their conversation than to him. This talkativeness and inborn carelessness at last permitted Stasch to hide seven cartridges in his breast pocket. Now it was only a case of gaining possession of the rifle.
The boy believed that this would not be very difficult beyond Wadi Halfa, after the second cataract, for he supposed that the watchfulness of the Arabs would slacken in proportion as they approached their destination. The thought that he would have to kill the Bedouins, the Sudanese, and even Chamis still filled him with terror, but after the murder which the Bedouins had committed he had no more scruples. He said to himself that after all it was a matter of Nell’s defense, of her freedom, and of her life, that therefore he ought not to spare the lives of their enemies, especially if they would not surrender and a fight should result. The question was now how to obtain the gun. Stasch decided to take it by strategy if he found a suitable opportunity—not to wait till they reached Wadi Halfa, but to execute his intention as soon as possible. And he did not wait.
Two days had now elapsed since they passed Assuan, and at last, at daybreak of the third day, Idris was obliged to send the Bedouins for food, which was now very scarce. Stasch, when he considered that he now had fewer opponents, said to himself, “Now or never!” and immediately turned to the Sudanese with the question:
“Idris, do you know that the country beginning at Wadi Halfa is Nubia?”
“I know it. I was fifteen and Gebhr eight years old when our fathers brought us from the south to Fayoum, and I remember that at that time we traveled all through Nubia on camels. But this country still belongs to the Turks (Egyptians).
“Yes, the Mahdi is only at Khartum—you see how stupidly Chamis talked when he told you that the army of the Dervishes extended as far as Assuan. But I should like to ask you another question. I have read in books that in Nubia there are many wild animals and thieves, who are no good to any one and who attack the Egyptians as well as the faithful followers of the Mahdi. How will you defend yourselves if wild animals or thieves attack you?”
Stasch purposely exaggerated when speaking of wild animals, but, on the other hand, since the beginning of the war attacks by robbers had become quite frequent, especially in the southern parts of the country bordering on Sudan.