Ahmed el Biskri—the Mahdi’s double—was also reported to have died. But nothing would have been easier than for the leading Senussi sheykhs to find someone to personate their veiled prophet on his return from “staying with Allah,” and to have used the immense prestige that their puppet would have obtained amongst their credulous followers to increase the influence of the sect, to attract new followers and to work upon their fanaticism. The “reappearance” of the Senussi Mahdi in this way is still a possibility that is worth remembering.
News as to the doings of the leaders amongst the Senussia living in the wilds of the Libyan Desert has always been very difficult to obtain; but at that time they were reported in Dakhla to be somewhere in the neighbourhood of Tibesti, which lay to the south-west of Dakhla Oasis, in the direction of the road we had been following, and it seemed likely, if they were really contemplating a descent upon Egypt, that they might attempt, if water existed upon this road, to make their way along it into Dakhla, and so on to the Nile Valley.
With these considerations in view, I decided to make another trip into the desert before returning to Egypt, to see if we could not manage to reach the well, or oasis, to which the road ran, and to ascertain if the road we had found was feasible for a large body of men.
I sent a note to one of the British officials I had met in Cairo to let the authorities have news of the rumoured invasion, for what it was worth, and set to work to prepare for the journey.
I had not calculated on staying out in the desert so late in the season, so my provisions had almost run out. The few tins of preserved meat that remained had all suffered considerably from the heat and were not fit for use. I had, however, still a few tins of sardines, which in spite of their pronounced tinniness were still quite edible, and a number of emergency rations, which had not suffered in the least from the heat. These with a large skin of Arab flour and a few pounds of mulberry jam, which Dahab made from some fruit that the good people of Rashida sent me, provided ample food for another journey.
After a few more days spent in feeding up the camels and restoring them to a suitable condition for a long desert journey during the hot weather, Qway thoroughly inspected the beasts, dug his thumb into their quarters to test the consistency of their flesh, expressed himself satisfied with the distended state of their tummies, buttered the red camel again for mange, and then, as he declared the beasts to be in first-rate condition, we prepared to start.
CHAPTER X
THE discovery of the five green bushes that we had made on our last journey, insignificant as it may appear, proved of the greatest value to us.
I calculated that by the time we reached the bushes we should have about consumed a camel-load of water and grain; so by taking with us just sufficient firewood to last us till we reached them, and then, loading up the unloaded camel with fuel from the bushes, we should be able to devote yet another camel to the water and grain—so on this journey we had three extra baggage beasts, in addition to my hagin, loaded with these indispensable commodities. We hoped in consequence to be able to cover considerably more ground than on our previous attempts.