"Then, Excellency, we must accept our fate. We shall be taken to Khartoum, where the beaten force will rally and defend it to the last." "Not rally here, Ibrahim?" said Frank eagerly. "No, Excellency. This is no place to defend. The well-drilled troops would sweep through it after their heavy guns and scatter the mud-houses into heaps. No, the dervishes will hoist their standards at Khartoum. But we must make a brave effort to avoid being shut in there." He said no more, for there seemed to be no more to say, and the desire of all was to listen to the distant thunder, which had been increasing as he spoke, telling plainly enough of the terrible battle going on, while suddenly, and as if close at hand, there came the heavy reports of guns away to the east. "The gunboats," said Ibrahim quietly, "and the forts answering back. This is the day that the fate of the Soudan must be known." How the time went no one could tell in that wildly exciting, agonising time of doubt. The firing from miles away to the north continued, and the cannonading from the river was maintained, but there was no news of how the fight progressed, and a feeling of despair was attacking the prisoners when all at once the firing ceased. What did it mean? That the collected army of the Khalifa was immense they were well aware. Had it swept on and on in the great white wave the Sheikh had described, vastly overlapping the Anglo-Egyptian force, and, curling round its flanks, achieved the Baggara Emir's threat of sweeping the infidels into the river, now cumbered with the slain? For the silence was ominous; even the gunboats had ceased firing, and their guard had made no sign. In the hurried discussion which ensued, the professor drew attention to this; but it was repelled with contempt by Harry. "What of that?" he said. "The forts were so much mud, with a few poorly served guns. They have been silenced, and there is nothing more to fire at. Even now the boats may have landed men who are marching into the town." "But the firing on the field!" said Frank excitedly. "Oh, if we only knew!" Almost as he spoke the Emir's officer came in, and there was a look of triumph in his eyes as he said to the Sheikh-- "There will be no journey to-day, O Sheikh, for the enemies of Allah are being swept away. The Emir my master will be back before night, and all my prisoners are safe." He left them, and they saw that he went in the direction of the women's part of the palace, evidently to give his good news there and set the poor creatures at rest; but he could hardly have reached their quarters before the firing broke out again, certainly nearer and fiercer than before. "He spoke too soon!" cried Harry excitedly. "We shall beat the savage wretches yet!" The firing rose and fell, and rose again, and to the hearers the suspense grew unbearable, Frank and his brother feeling that at all risks they must try by some means to get tidings of how the battle fared.