Presently the steamers opened fire, to encourage the
besieged, who replied with frenzied shouts of joy, and soon there poured
upon the sands hundreds of men in the uniform of the Effendina. These
came forward at the double, and, with a courage which nothing could
withstand, the whole circle spread out again upon the discomfited tribes
of Ali Wad Hei. Dismay, confusion, possessed the Arabs. Their
river-watchers had failed them, God had hidden His face from them; and
when Ali Wad Hei and three of his emirs turned and rode into the desert,
their forces broke and ran also, pursued by the relentless men who had
suffered the tortures of siege so long. The chase was short, however, for
they were desert folk, and they returned to loot the camp which had
menaced them so long.
Only the new-comers, Nahoum's men, carried the hunt far; and they brought
back with them a body which their leader commanded to be brought to a
great room of the palace. Towards sunset David and Ebn Ezra Bey and Lacey
came together to this room. The folds of loose linen were lifted from the
face, and all three looked at it long in silence.
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