第 7 页

As Bunbury and his companions turned into a cross street, Roden tripped and fell. In rising to his feet he lost his cloak and burnoose, thus revealing his identity to the pursuing dervishes.

There was no further need of concealment now, and the others flung off their disguises in order to run the faster.

The little band sped like deer along the narrow street, driving before them half a dozen ruffians who had bolted out of doorways.

The dervishes in the rear fell back a little when Godfrey sent two rifle-balls whistling over their heads.

The town. was now in a state of alarm from end to end, and hundreds of throats blended in a roar that was like the breaking of surf on a rock-bound coast.

The fugitives dashed on, fearing every minute to be cut off and surrounded.

But fortunately they were near the verge of the town, and it was a glad moment when the straggling street ended, and they saw before them the open spit of sand that lies at the intersection of the two rivers.

Panting and exhausted they staggered on, and when they came within a dozen feet of the shining water the foremost of the yelling dervishes were close behind.

Bunbury stopped and threw up his arms in despair. "The boat is gone!" he cried hoarsely.

Yes, the boat was indeed gone. No trace of it was to be seen on the shore, or so far down the river as the eye could reach. Hope had turned suddenly to bitter despair. It was a terrible moment for the fugitives, and they nearly lost the self-control that had sustained them so long. They halted at the water's edge, and turned around. The dervishes were close behind, howling with delight at the way they had trapped their victims.

* * *

Chapter X

With a passionate exclamation Godfrey aimed his rifle and fired. One of the ruffians was seen to drop. His companions gathered around the body for a moment, and then fell back a few paces.

"They will soon be upon us," cried Bunbury. "Heaven help us! We are as good as dead men. It is doubly hard just when escape was no near."

"Is there no hope at all?" exclaimed Arthur.

"None, my dear brother," Roden hoarsely replied.

"Let us face the worst bravely."

"We will have a minute or two of grace," declared Godfrey, "if only there were a way to utilize it to our advantage. See, the group of dervishes yonder are waiting for a larger force to arrive. They don't care to risk their lives recklessly, for they know that we are tightly trapped and cannot escape. But I see no ray of hope. We must make up our minds to die like brave men."

"It will soon be over, then," said Arthur. "Look, here come hordes of the bloodthirsty ruffians."

The lad was right. A dark mass could be seen pouring out upon the sand from the mouth of the street. Hoarse and savage yells came floating on the night air.

Just at this critical moment Roden made a discovery.

"What is that?" he cried eagerly, as he pointed a trembling hand at a misty object that lay some thirty feet up the right shore of the sand spit, and was nearly opposite the waiting group of dervishes.

All eyes were turned to the spot.

"It's a boat," shouted Bunbury, "not our boat, but one that would do as well could we get possession of it."

"And why can't we?" demanded Arthur.

"Because the moment we rush in that direction the enemy will discover our purpose and cut us off," Bunbury replied. "We will be butchered instantly."

"That's where you're wrong," exclaimed Godfrey. "Instead of the boat being hopelessly out of reach, I think we can capture it by a clever stratagem, for the dervishes have evidently not yet seen it. This is the plan, comrades. We will dash straight at the ruffians, I shooting and you yelling as savagely as you can. Ten to one the dervishes will fall back, and then we will quickly turn aside, gain the boat, and push it into the current. "

"Hurrah!" cried the boys; "it will work like a charm."

"I think it will myself," exclaimed Bunbury, " but——"

"No time to lose," Godfrey interrupted. "Here come the rest of the mob, and we can't hope to drive them back. Are you ready? —- ; off we go, then. Look sharp, and don't lose courage."

With this the four desperate fugitives charged straight at their foe, yelling at the top of their voices. As he ran, Godfrey fired shot after shot, nor did he aim carelessly, for several of the swarthy ruffians were seen to fall.

Terrified with the death-dealing rifle-balls, and by the reckless daring of the little band, the dervishes actually did turn, and run back in cowardly confusion to join the nearby reinforcements.

"Now, comrades, for the boat!" Godfrey's voice rang loud and clear, and as his companions quickly swerved aside and sped for the shore, he followed at their heels, guarding the rear.

The boat was a rude flat, long, broad, and heavy, but it rested lightly on the sand. Bunbury was the first to spring in, and as Arthur and Roden jumped after him they heard the crack of rifles, and felt bullets and spears whistle by them.

On turning quickly to look back, they saw the horde of howling dervishes dashing toward the spot Godfrey had halted ten feet from the boat to face the enemy.

"Come on, Godfrey," cried the alarmed boys; "run for your life."

"The reckless fellow will be killed," exclaimed Bunbury.

But Godfrey knew what he was about. With uner ring aim he poured shot after shot into the midst of the dervishes, himself miraculously escaping harm from flying spears and musket balls.

Then, as the foe wavered and hung back a little, he turned, and gained the boat in three strides. With a shove of his muscular arms he drove it, into the current, and sprang over the gunwale with a flying leap.

"Down —- down for your lives!" he cried. "Lie flat on the bottom."

Bunbury and the boys at once obeyed the command, and Godfrey threw himself beside them. On and on swung the now rapidly moving craft, pitching and tossing in a manner that showed it to be in the embrace of a swift current. The air rang with hideous cries of rage, and showers of spears and bullets spattered the water on all sides.

But at length the tumult and the shooting grew fainter, and then ceased altogether. The trembling fugitives ventured to lift their heads above the gunwale, and then to sit up.

What they saw filled their hearts with a great wave of gratitude and joy.

In front was the broad moonlit bosom of the Nile —- the mighty flood formed by the junction of the two great branches. To right and left the misty outlines of the shore could be seen far away.

A quarter of a mile behind lay Khartoum and its spit of land. There was still some commotion, and lights were flashing here and there.

"We are clear of the ruffians at last," said Godfrey. "That's the closest shave I ever made. Ugh! I shiver to think of it."'

"It was you who saved us," replied Arthur, "and at the risk of your own life."

"We shall never forget it," said Roden, in a grateful tone.

"It was the only thing to do," Godfrey answered, "and I did it as well as I knew how. The rascals were neatly tricked, I admit. I'd give a good deal for a glimpse of Safid Pasha's face just now."

"Your wish is likely to be gratified before many hours have passed," said Bunbury, who had been gaz ing sadly and thoughtfully on the water. "Without means of navigating this boat we are little better off than we were before. There are fortunately no steamers at Khartoum, but there are plenty of other craft, large and small, and in these the Arabs will surely pursue us."

"And we can't hope to keep ahead of them long, even with the swift current?" asked Godfrey.

"It is only a question of time," Bunbury answered.

"And without poles or oars we can't reach either shore?" resumed Godfrey.

Bunbury shook his head.

"We are in mid-river," he muttered.

Godfrey pulled hard at his mustache, and gazed sternly upstream at the dark blotch that marked where Khartoum lay. Arthur and Roden sat side by side in the stern of the boat, made sad and silent by the storm-cloud of danger that seemed to be gathering over them.

"It is fate, my friends," said Bunbury. "We cannot avert it. Whatever Heaven wills, that must we submit to."

For an hour the boat sped swiftly down the broad Nile, and in that time there was but little conversation. The castaways sat in gloomy silence, straining their eyes over the misty waters. At length Godfrey called attention to a number of black specks that were visible in the moonlight far up the river.

"It has come at last," declared Bunbury. "They are boats full of Arabs, and they are moving swiftly."

"How soon will they overhaul us?" asked Arthur.

"Perhaps in an hour," was the reply.

Another hour of suspense and waiting for death! It was maddening to think of, and the fugitives paced restlessly up and down the flat, pausing now and then to note the progress of the hostile fleet.

Presently it was seen that two boats of unusually large size had crept far in advance of the others. They came on rapidly, and before the hour had passed they were only half a mile behind the fugitives, while the rest of the fleet seemed to be making scarcely any progress.

Bunbury now showed signs of great agitation. He paced to and fro in the stern of the boat, keeping his eyes fixed up the river, and holding fast to the mysterious object that was under his cloak. He was evidently disinclined to talk.

Nearer and nearer came the two boats, until it was clearly seen that they were long and rather narrow. Each was filled to the gunwales with armed dervishes, and was navigated by half a dozen pairs of strong oars.

Suddenly one of the boats seemed to ground on a shallow bar or a rock. It stuck fast for five minutes, and when it was finally dislodged, it was a quarter of a mile behind the other. This intervening distance was maintained as the two came swifty [sic] on in pursuit of the fugitives.

When the foremost boat was within a hundred yards, Godfrey raised his rifle and fired three shots in quick succession.

"That will show the fiends what sort of resistance they may expect from us," he muttered, as he noted the confusion among the dervishes.

A couple of shrill cries of agony rang over the water, and were instantly smothered by yells of rage.

The oars lay motionless for a short time. Then they rapidly beat the water again, and the boat came on.

"Don't shoot any more," said Bunbury. "It can't do any good."

"I know that," replied Godfrey, "but it's some satisfaction to get even with the ruffians before they put an end to us."

"It is barely possible that they won't do that, my friend," declared Bunbury, in a quiet tone that aroused the curiosity of his companions. "The situation is looking a little better, and I think that I can purchase our safety, though it must needs be at a sacrifice of human life. I deplore the necessity for it, nor will I act without your premission [sic]."

"What do you mean?" demanded Godfrey.

He and the boys stood around Bunbury, who gingerly drew from under his cloak a tin canister about eight inches long and four in diameter. It had a knob on one end, and in the other end was a ring.

"This my friends," said Bunbury, turning the strange object over and over in his hands, "is a bomb filled with the most terrible explosives known to science. It is one of a number that I manufactured while I was an inmate of the Mahdi's palace, from chemicals left there by General Gordon. The others were in the lost boat, but this one I fortunately kept with me."

* * *

Chapter XI

"And how do you propose to use it?" asked Roden.

"You can destroy only one boat, and there are two almost upon us."

"And ten to one the bomb won't strike where it will explode," added Godfrey.

Bunbury smiled as he gently unscrewed the knob of the canister, and showed his companions the projecting end of a fuse.

"I will light this," he said, "and screw the knob tight. The bomb is waterproof, and when I tie a cord to it, and cast it under the Arab's boat it will explode."

"I see," exclaimed Godfrey, his face lighting up.

"Will the bomb explode also by concussion?"

"Yes, but that plan is too doubtful to try in the present ease." What I hope for is ' this. When the first boat is destroyed the second boat will almost certainly abandon the chase for fear of meeting the same fate. The rest of the fleet will also turn back, leaving us to cruise safely down the river. Of course the second boat may keep on, and then we are lost, for I have only the one bomb. But whatever we do must be done quickly. I await your decision, my friends."

"There can be only one answer," replied Godfrey. "Either we or the Arabs must die, and surely God gives us the right of preserving our lives."

"I am of the same mind," Arthur said. "Such bloodthirsty ruffians can scarcely be accounted human."

"That is true," added Roden, "and surely we have justice on our side. Yet it seems a pity ——"

"I will be as merciful as possible," interrupted Bunbury. "Stand back a little, my friends. The boat is very near, and I must make ready."

Yes, the foremost of the boats was now within thirty yards, and the fierce faces and gleaming arms showed plainly. The long oars dipped the water with rapid strokes. Evidently the dervishes believed that the fugitives had no more ammunition, and would submit to be slain without resistance.

The silence made the suspense almost unendurable as the boat glided steadily nearer. Arthur and Roden, standing on either side of Godfrey, watched the scene breathlessly, wondering whether death or freedom would be the issue.

Now but twenty yards intervened between pursuers and pursued. Bunbury, who stood waiting in the stern, measured the distance at a glance. Then he quickly drew a cord from his person and fastened one end to the ring in the canister, letting the slack line lie in coils at his feet.

With swift movements he produced a match-box, unscrewed the knob of the canister, scraped a wax vesta, and lit the deadly fuse. He screwed the knob on again, and held the canister in his right hand and the end of the cord tightly in his left.