"I say false, sir, for from the time I lay down every night till you, being tired with your hard day's work, dropped off to sleep, I never hardly said a word." "Well, now you mention it," said Frank, "I don't think you did, for I often used to think you had gone to sleep." "Yes, and you used to ask me if I had. But I never had, eh?" "Never once," said Frank quickly; "and I often used to feel ashamed of myself for being so drowsy and going off as I did." "But look here," said the doctor, "what has this got to do with your patent plan for keeping Frank from betraying himself?" "Everything," said the professor triumphantly. "That was my patent plan. I said to myself that sooner or later Frank would be letting--" "Yes, yes, of course, betraying himself," said the doctor impatiently. "But the plan, man--the plan?" "Well, that's it, my dear Hakim," cried the professor, "I said to myself, that poor fellow cannot exist without talking; the words will swell up in him like so much gas. He must have a safety valve. Well, I provided it. I lay down beside him every night and let him talk till he fell asleep." "I never thought it meant anything more than a friendly feeling," said Frank wonderingly. "Well, perhaps there is something in what you say." CHAPTER TWENTY THREE. A TRIUMPHAL ENTRY. It was one bright evening, just about dusk, that, utterly exhausted by a long day's march, the head of the long line of horses, camels heavily laden, and marching men, came within sight of the city that was their goal, and in the glimpse the English party had of the place before night closed in it seemed to be one of the most desolate looking spots they had ever seen. "But it is not fair to judge it," said the professor quietly. "We can see next to nothing; it is fully two miles away; and we are all weary and low-spirited with our long march. Wait till morning." It had been expected that they would march in that night, but a halt was called in the midst of a great, dusty plain, and preparations for camping were at once begun. Frank lay wakeful and restless for long enough. In his excited state sleep refused to come. Now that the goal had been reached it was hard to believe that they were there, and had succeeded in making their way to the neighbourhood of the far-famed cities of the Soudan with so little difficulty. Of physical effort there had been plenty, but he had anticipated bitter struggles and disappointments; attempts to reach the prison of his brother in one direction, and being turned back, to attempt it again and again in others. Instead all had been straightforward, and their ruse had succeeded beyond all expectation. But now that they were at one of the late Mahdi's strongholds on the Nile the question was, Would Harry Frere be there after all, or taken far to the south to the home of someone who held him as a slave?