shadow on the canvas. “Come inside!” Ryder urged him.
When Penrod stooped through the doorway, he was astounded. “Is it really you, Ballantyne?” You look like a wild tribesman. How did you get here?”
“I don’t have long to talk to you. I am a prisoner of the Dervish and under restraint. I would appreciate it if you waste no more time on famous questions.”
“I stand corrected.” Ryder’s friendly smile faded. “I shall listen to what you have to tell me.”
“I was captured after the fall of Khartoum. I had returned there in an attempt to discover the fate of those who had been unable to escape, especially David Benbrook and his family.”
“I can reassure you that Saffron is with me. We managed to get out of Khartoum on my steamer at the last minute. I have been trying to contact her family in England, to send her back to them, but these things take a great deal of time.”
“I know she is with you. I have been keeping watch on your camp. I saw her this evening.”
“I have been waiting to receive a message from you,” Ryder said. “Bacheet met your man, Yakub, in Omdurman. He told Yakub that Ras Hailu could carry messages between us.”
‘I have not seen Yakub since the day I was captured in Omdurman. He did not tell me anything about a meeting with Bacheet, or about this man Ras Hailu,” Penrod said grimly, “Yakub has disappeared. I think that he and his uncle, a rogue named Wad Hagma, betrayed me to the Dervish. I was able to deal with his uncle, and Yakub is next on my list of unfinished business.”
“You cannot trust any of these people,” Ryder agreed, ‘no matter how long you have known them and how well you have treated them.”
“So you know, then, that David Benbrook was killed in the sack of Khartoum, and that Rebecca and Amber were captured by the Dervish and handed over to the Mahdi:”
“Yes. Bacheet heard all this terrible news from Nazeera when he was looking for you in Omdurman. It is hard to imagine those two lovely young Englishwomen in the clutches of that dissipated maniac. I hope and pray that Amber is young enough to have been spared the worst, but Rebecca! The good Lord alone knows what she has suffered.”
“The Mahdi is dead. He died of cholera or some other disease. Nobody can be certain what carried him off.”
“I had not heard. I don’t suppose that will change anything. But what has become of Rebecca now?” Ryder’s concern was apparent. He made little effort to hide his feelings for Rebecca.
So Courtney has also had the benefit of Rebecca Benbrook’s liberal nature, Penrod thought cynically. She has had so much experience now that when she returns to London she can turn professional and ply her trade in Charing Cross Road. Although his pride was stung, it did not detract from the responsibility he felt for her safety, or for that of her little sister. Aloud he said, “When the Mahdi died the two sisters, Rebecca and Amber, were taken into the harem of the new Khalif Osman Atalan.” As he said it, there was a gasp behind him, and he turned quickly with his hand on the hilt of his dagger.
Saffron stood in the tent doorway. She was dressed in a man’s shirt, which was many times too large for her and hung well below her knees. She must been awakened by their voices, and had come from her own tent just in time to overhear his last words. The thin cloth of the shirt was artlessly revealing, so that Penrod could not help but notice her figure under it. She had changed a great deal from when he had last seen her. Her hips and bosom were swelling and her face had lost its childish roundness. She was already too mature to be sharing a camp in the remote African wilderness with a man.
“My sisters!” Her eyes were huge with sleep and shock. “First my father, and now my sisters. Ryder, you never told me that they were in the harem. You said they were safe. Is there never to be an end to this nightmare?”
“But, Saffron, they are safe. They have not been harmed.”
“How do you know that?” she demanded. “How can they be safe in the den of the pagan and the barbarian?”
“I spoke to Amber not two weeks ago,” Penrod intervened, to comfort her. “She and Rebecca are brave and are making the best of the hard blows that Fate has dealt them. It may seem impossible, but they are being treated … if not kindly then gently enough. The Dervish see them as valuable chattels, and they will want to preserve their worth.”
“But for how long? We have to do something. Especially for Amber. She is so sweet and sensitive. She is not strong like Rebecca and me. We have to rescue her.”
“That is why I am here,” Penrod told her. “It is the most incredible good fortune that I stumbled across your path. It must be one chance in a million. But now that we have met we can plan the rescue of your sisters.”
“Is that possible? Abyssinia, where we are now, is primitive and backward, but at least the people are Christians. The Sudan is hell on earth, ruled by demons. No white man or woman can remain there long with any chance of survival.”
“I will be going back,” said Penrod. “I can stay with you only a few minutes more, and then I am going to do what I can for your sisters. But if I am to get them out of the Sudan, I will need all your help.” Penrod turned back to Ryder. “Can I count on you?”
“I feel insulted that you need to ask,” said Ryder, stiffly.
It was amazing how quickly the two of them could give and take offence, Saffron thought angrily. In these dreadful circumstances why did they have to bicker and posture? Why were men always so pigheaded and arrogant? “Captain Ballantyne, we will help you,” she promised, ‘in every way within our power.”
Penrod noticed that she used the plural ‘we’ with the proprietary air of a wife. Penrod wondered if she had good reason to do so. The idea was repugnant: despite appearances Saffron was still a child. And a man like Ryder Courtney would never molest her.
“I can waste no more time,” he said. “I must return to my keepers, if my delicate position of trust with the Dervish is not to be compromised. We have much to plan. First, we must be able to contact each other and exchange news and plans. Tell me about Ras Hailu.”
“He was my friend and trading partner,” Ryder explained. “He used to travel to Omdurman in his dhow two or three times a year to trade with the Dervish. Tragically he fell foul of the Mahdi, who accused him of spying for Emperor John. He was executed in Omdurman. I have no other agents in the Sudan.”
“Well, we shall have to set up some new line of communication. Do not to try to contact me directly, for I am carefully watched at all times. You must try to get any message to Nazeera. She is allowed much freedom of movement. I shall try to arrange for a messenger of my own. There are other European captives in Omdurman. One of them is Rudolf Slatin, who was the Egyptian governor of Dongola. He is a resourceful fellow, and I suspect that he has ways of communicating with the outside world. If I am successful in finding a messenger, where will he be able to contact you?”
Quickly Ryder gave Penrod a list of his trading posts closest to the Sudanese border, and the names of his trusted agents there. “Any message they receive will be passed on to me but, as you can see, I am forced to travel great distances in pursuit of my business affairs. It may take an inordinate length of time to reach me.”
“Nothing happens swiftly in Africa,” Penrod agreed. “What I will ask from you, when the time comes, is that you make the travel arrangements to get us to the Abyssinian border as swiftly as possible. As soon as we leave Omdurman the entire Dervish army will be alerted, and will pursue us relentlessly.”
“The safety of Saffron’s sisters takes priority over everything else,” Ryder assured him.
“Where is the Intrepid this?” Penrod asked. “A steamer would be the fastest and surest method of getting us to the border. I should not like to attempt a flight on camels across the desert. The distances are enormous and the going is killing hard on the women.”
“Unfortunately I was obliged to sell the little steamer. Now that the upper reaches of both Niles have been closed to me by the Dervish, I have been forced to restrict my business activities to Abyssinia and Equatoria. The this was of no further use to me.”
“That is a great pity, but I shall devise another route.” Penrod stood up. “I can spend no more time with you. Before I go, there is one other important matter. The reason I am here is that Abdullahi is planning to attack Abyssinia, and seize all the disputed territories from Gondar to Mount Horca. He is going through all the diplomatic motions of lulling Emperor John with overtures of friendship and peace. But he will attack, probably after the big rains of next year. Osman Atalan will command the Dervish army of about thirty thousand. His first and main
