"They ran?"

"Not back--they were slow in getting on."

"But they fought it out?"

"They had to--root hog, or die. You see, Saadat, in that five hundred
I'm only counting the invincibles, the up-and-at-'ems, the blind-goers
that 'd open the lid of Hell and jump in after the enemy."

The pale face lighted. "So many! I would not have put the estimate half
so high. Not bad for a dark race fighting for they know not what!"

"They know that all right; they are fighting for you, Saadat."

David seemed not to hear. "Five hundred--so many, and the enemy so near,
the temptation so great."

"The deserters are all gone to Ali Wad Hei, Saadat. For a month there
have been only the deserted."

A hardness crept into the dark eyes. "Only the deserted!" He looked out
to where the Nile lost itself in the northern distance. "I asked Nahoum
for one thousand men, I asked England for the word which would send them.
I asked for a thousand, but even two hundred would turn the scale--the
sign that the Inglesi had behind him Cairo and London. Twenty weeks, and
nothing comes!"

He got to his feet slowly and walked up and down the room for a moment,