The new Amin Beit-el-Mal—El Nur El Garfawi—came to the Saier after sunset, and conducted me to Yacoub’s house. One thinks rapidly under such circumstances, and by the time we reached Yacoub’s house I had my tale thought out. I saw that if I declared that I could not do the work I should not be believed, and would be flogged and have extra irons placed on me for contumacy. To lead them on to believe that I could manufacture saltpetre meant my release from prison. After a long discussion with Yacoub, it was arranged that I was to construct three large tanks, about six feet long and four feet high, in which impregnated earth was to be mixed with water, and the solution drawn off and allowed to |176| evaporate. Believing that I should be set to make these tanks or reservoirs, I suggested them, as their construction would necessitate the removal of my chains. The following morning I was called to the anvil, the rings holding the heavy iron bar were cut and forced open, and the heavy ankle-chain I was wearing was replaced by a piece of light awning chain taken from one of Gordon’s steamers. I was thankful even for this relief, as it removed a dead weight of fifteen to twenty pounds of iron from my feet. Under an armed escort I was taken to the Nile, where I found awaiting me the Emirs Yacoub, Ahmed Fedeel—who is now causing trouble on the Blue Nile—Mohammad Hamad'na Allah—Zobheir Pasha’s old Wakeel—and a party of thirty to forty workmen with materials for the tanks. Whenever Abdullahi gave an order, immediate execution of it followed.