"Have they taken him?" he was saying.
"Taken whom?" asked Gordon.
"Our English brother—the Colonel—Colonel Lord. Have they arrested him?"
It was not at first that Gordon could command his voice to reply, but at length he said—
"Not yet—not when I came out of Cairo."
"El Hamdullillah!" (Praise be to God!) said the sentry, and then in a louder voice he cried—
"Peace to you, O brother!" Whereupon Gordon answered as well as he could for the thickening of his throat which seemed to stifle him—
"And to you!"
More sure than ever now that God's hand was leading him, he walked on with a quicker step than before, and presently he saw in the distance a dark group which he recognised as Osman and the camels.
"Allah be praised, you've come at last," whispered Osman.