CHARGE! Ten minutes later the truth was known and every man in the camp was up and armed.

At first there were some signs of panic, but these with the help of Babemba we managed to control, setting the men to make the best preparations for defence that circumstances would allow, and thus occupying their minds.

For from the first we saw that, except for the three of us who had horses, escape was impossible.

That great camel corps could catch us within a mile.
Leaving old Babemba in charge of his soldiers, we three white men and Hans held a council at which I repeated every word that had passed between Harut and Marut and myself, including their absolute denial of their having had anything to do with the disappearance of Lady Ragnall on the Nile.
"Now," I asked, "what is to be done?
My fate is sealed, since for purposes of their own, of which probably we know nothing, these people intend to take me with them to their country, as indeed they are justified in doing, since I have been fool enough to keep a kind of assignation with them here.

But they don't want anybody else.