Suddenly a shot was fired, then a hoarse shout came over the desert, then
there was silence again.

"They are in, Saadat," said Mahommed Hassan.

.......................

Day broke over a hazy plain. On both sides of the Nile the river mist
spread wide, and the army of Ali Wad Hei and the defending forces were
alike veiled from each other and from the desert world beyond. Down the
river for scores of miles the mist was heavy, and those who moved within
it and on the waters of the Nile could not see fifty feet ahead. Yet
through this heavy veil there broke gently a little fleet of phantom
vessels, the noise of the paddle-wheels and their propellers muffled as
they moved slowly on. Never had vessels taken such risks on the Nile
before, never had pilots trusted so to instinct, for there were sand-
banks and ugly drifts of rock here and there. A safe journey for phantom
ships; but these armed vessels, filled by men with white, eager faces and
others with dark Egyptian features, were no phantoms. They bristled with
weapons, and armed men crowded every corner of space. For full two hours
from the first streak of light they had travelled swiftly, taking chances
not to be taken save in some desperate moment. The moment was desperate
enough, if not for them. They were going to the relief of besieged men,
with a message from Nahoum Pasha to Claridge Pasha, and with succour.
They had looked for a struggle up this river as they neared the
beleaguered city; but, as they came nearer and nearer, not a gun fired at
them from the forts on the banks out of the mists. If they were heard
they still were safe from the guns, for they could not be seen, and those
on shore could not know whether they were friend or foe. Like ghostly
vessels they passed on, until at last they could hear the stir and murmur