THE ESCAPE

The moment George realized he had been discovered, the spirit of "do or die" entered into his soul, and he flew along at the utmost speed at his command. He did not even check his hope that the race would end in his favour; he did not pause to wonder where he was going, or how he would elude his pursuers. He had got a short start of them which he meant to keep, and, if possible, increase. He could hear the gibbering of the mob gradually getting louder and louder as the crowd gathered up fresh recruits and surged along in pursuit of him. The distant burr increased to yells and shouts, and the clatter of fire-arms became so loud that George began to fear that his attempt at escape was quite futile. He never lost heart, however, and raced on and on at a pace surprising even to himself.

A man never learns what is possible until he is placed in a position that requires the apparently impossible. This was the situation George was now in. If he had stopped to ask himself the question, "Can I do it?" he probably would have been forced to answer it in the negative. As it was, he paid no heed to the danger behind, and thought only of the safety in front, if he could but keep up his speed long enough.

The infuriated rebels finding themselves unable with even their greatest efforts to come up with their prey, now began to fire at him, but, as their shots were not those of very expert marksmen, George became more amused than frightened as the bullets dropped either short of him or flew far above his head.

He was now getting into the inhabited part of the town, and tried to elude the pursuers by turning abrupt corners, but there was little chance of success in these tactics, for the "blackies" knew more about the place than he was ever likely to, and kept cutting him off in an alarming manner.

The day was beginning to break, and George felt that he must soon give in. As he was making a rapid turn in his path a well-aimed nabout came most uncomfortably close to his head. This incited him to greater effort, not so much from fear of being hit, as from the knowledge of the nearness of his pursuers.

Breathless, and with the life almost run out of him, he continued his mad career, the hue and cry of the mob goading him on and lending wings to his feet. Swift of foot as the blacks had been, they had shown themselves no match so far for the trained athlete they were pursuing. But there comes a time when even the best man must give in, and that time George felt was rapidly approaching. He had been running now for a long time, and had traversed a lot of ground. However, he was not done yet, and he still kept on, although in what direction he knew not. The street he was now in looked like one of the principal thoroughfares, and, as he was nearing the end of it, he saw, to his horror, another crowd ahead, running towards him.

Instinctively he turned into a bye-way, and darted along in the shadow of the buildings. The turning proved fatal—it was a blind court, and ended in a small paved square, hemmed in on all sides by the best class houses. Seeing the mistake he had made, George paused for a moment to glance round. The mob were tearing down the court, their cries filling the air and making the calm morning hideous with discord.

Seeing no means of escape, Helmar made up his mind to sell his life as dearly as possible, and, rushing into the porch of the biggest house he saw, put his back to the wall and waited the oncoming mob.

Headed by a dozen or more soldiers, he saw the crowd enter the square. At sight of him standing at bay a loud, exultant cry went up, and they dashed towards him. He was fairly trapped now, and he knew it; with his iron bar upraised he awaited the leaders, determined that three or four should not escape him before he was done to death. At this instant he heard a sound beside him, and glancing in the direction, saw a door suddenly thrown open.

With instinct of self-preservation, he ran to it, and, without waiting to see who was inside, rushed in, and immediately the door was closed with a slam.

He had not the faintest idea where he was, and, for all he knew, might have fallen into a worse trap than before; but the opportunity had been too good for him to refuse to accept, and, as he paused in the dim hall, ready to strike down any one who attempted any violence, he was surprised to find it deserted.

Outside, the disappointed fanatics beat and hammered at the door, and every moment Helmar expected to see it forced in. He scarcely knew what to do. Suddenly he noticed in front of him a curtained archway; he ran towards it, and flinging back the heavy tapestry he started back as if he had been struck—he stood face to face with a smiling countenance. He dropped his weapon and rushed forward with hands outstretched, crying—

"Naoum! Friend Naoum! Thank God!"

"Luck is with you, friend Helmar," said the Arab quietly. "Allah is great! Allah is good! He has brought you to me in your extremity. But come in here, I must quiet the children of darkness."

He led the way in, and George found himself in a room of great splendour, arranged in Eastern style. Turning to his old friend he was about to speak, but the latter interrupted him.

"No, no, wait. There is danger; I must go and speak to the rebels," and he turned swiftly and left the room.

In a few moments the hammering and noise ceased, and presently Naoum returned.

"Now tell me what all this means," he said, glancing at George's dishevelled appearance, and doubtfully eyeing the torn clothes and the worried face in front of him.

"It simply means that they wanted to murder me by roasting me alive, and, failing that, with knives and clubs."

Helmar then recounted all that had happened to him from the time he had left Alexandria with the patrol. When he had finished, Naoum looked thoughtful.

"So you are an escaped prisoner of Arabi's," he said at last; "that is not good. It makes my task harder, but you must be saved somehow," and he relapsed into deep thought, drumming on the side of a cabinet which he leant against. "Just now I am very powerful with Arabi, he has forced me into service, with the alternative of confiscating my property. I am now one of his means of raising money, and as my fortune is considerable, he cannot quarrel with me, but——"

"Surely," broke in George, "you are not fighting on his side?"

"No, but you do not understand. I am in his hands, and for the sake of the result of my life's work, I cannot defy him. I take no active part with him in this war, but I have no other alternative than to supply him with money on purely business securities, the same as I would to anybody else. I am, as you well know, against him in all my feelings. If I refused to do as he requires, I should forfeit everything; so you see I am compelled. Being with him, I save my property, and can prevent much mischief by using my influence over him."

"I see," exclaimed George, heartily, "you are right. It would be folly to do otherwise. Well, returning to the awkward predicament I have placed you in, what is best to be done?"

"I heard during the night that trouble had befallen you. In fact, this note in your writing was brought to me by Belbeis, one of my men, just as I returned here from Cairo," he went on, producing a bundle of papers. "I had intended to intercede for you this morning, but now the situation is more complicated. However," with a smile of meaning, "I think you can safely leave it to me. For the time being you are free from the man Abdu, and are, at present, out of reach of your enemy Arden, so you can take some rest here. Food shall be brought you at once, and I will go and see what can be done."

George thanked his friend and threw himself on a divan, while his host started on his errand of mercy.

Good luck, as Naoum had said, was undoubtedly with him, and, as he lay back, with his weary, tired eyes closed from the bright light of the rising sun, he felt that Providence had been indeed good. He shuddered again and again as he went over, in thought, the exciting events of the night, and wondered what awful fate would have been his if he had chanced to take refuge in front of any of the other houses in the square. Naoum he knew would help him to the full extent of his power, and that seemed to be considerable, judging from the manner in which he had quieted the mob outside. It was too good to hope that he would be able to get him released altogether, but, probably, he would manage to secure for him a fairly comfortable prison and save his life.

His thoughts were interrupted by the entrance of a servant with food, and, as soon as the man had retired, he set to ravenously. The food was of the most luxurious description, and Helmar marvelled the more at the mysterious man who had provided it. Who was he in reality? Naoum he knew was his name, and he had hitherto only taken him for a successful trader; but apparently he was a man of great fortune and power, or how could he supply money to the extent he appeared to be doing?

After finishing his repast, George lay back on the comfortable cushions of the divan. He was tired and worn out, his whole body ached with his efforts of the night before, and the sleep that he so badly needed was not long before it overtook him. How long he lay unconscious of his surroundings he did not know; when he awoke it was night, and the rays of a small lamp lit the chamber he was in. For a moment or two he looked about him and tried to recall what had happened. At first it seemed like some horrid nightmare, but when he stood up and stretched himself he knew that it was all reality. He was greatly refreshed with his sleep, and now awaited eagerly the return of Naoum.

Before his host re-appeared food was again brought to him, and this, with the aid of soap and water, made him ready to face the world again. A few minutes later Naoum came in.

"I have been more fortunate than I had anticipated. Arabi, who fortunately chanced to return here from Cairo this afternoon whilst you slept, has promised me at least to spare your life; but, on the other hand, he will not hear of your being released. This, however, is quite a secondary affair and a matter which we can ourselves attend to later on," and he chuckled softly. "In the meantime," he went on, "I expect you will be taken to Cairo. This he gave me to understand without actually saying so."

"Well, beggars mustn't be choosers," said George, resignedly, "and glad enough am I that I am to escape with my life."

"You may well say that," answered Naoum. "From what I can gather, this man Arden, who appears to hate you so cordially, is very powerful and enjoys Arabi's complete confidence. In fact I was shown a dispatch from that worthy recommending you to be interrogated; I dare say you know what that means. I had great difficulty to dissuade him from acting on the man's advice. Even now, notwithstanding I have his promise, your position is anything but safe, and we shall have to keep a watchful eye on them all."

"What! do you think Arabi can be persuaded to go back on his promise?" asked George.

Naoum smiled deprecatingly.

"Go back, you call it. You mean break his word, I suppose. Well, I would not like to say, but if I am not about at the time there may be trouble."

"Then the understanding is that I go to Cairo—when?"

"When he sends word. In the meantime you will see him. He intends to—how you call it—interview you; I shall dispatch some of my men to Cairo, and also write to Mariam Abagi my mother, that she may know what to do when you arrive there. So now you can rest comfortable and wait for what the future has in store for you. I shall look after you."

George thanked him for his words, and then Naoum went on—

"I must go now, for I have much work and many things to do before morning. If there is anything you want, touch this gong, and my servants will wait on you—and now, good-night."

Naoum went away and Helmar was again left to speculate and wonder.