THROUGH THE
DESERT
By
HENRYK SIENKIEWICZ
New York, Cincinnati, Chicago
BENZIGER BROTHERS
PUBLISHERS OF BENZIGER’S MAGAZINE
1912
Copyright, 1912, by Benziger Brothers
in the United States and Great Britain
Nell and Stasch
Through the Desert
PART I
CHAPTER I
“Nell, do you know,” said Stasch Tarkowskito his friend, an English girl, “thatyesterday the Sabties (policemen) arrested thewife and children of Overseer Smain—the sameFatima who often visited our fathers’ offices?”
Little Nell, as pretty as a picture, looked upat Stasch (Stanislaus) with her greenish eyes,and half astonished, half afraid, asked:
“Have they put them in prison?”
“No, but they would not allow them to travelto Sudan, and an officer has been stationed towatch them so as to prevent their taking a stepoutside of Port Said.”
“Why?”
Stasch, who was now fourteen years of age,was much attached to his eight-year-old comrade.He regarded her merely as a child, andassuming a very superior air answered:
“When you are as old as I am you will knoweverything—what is taking place on the canalfrom Port Said to Suez, and all over Egypt.”
“Have you heard anything about the Mahdi?I’ve heard that he is ugly and naughty.”
The boy smiled condescendingly. “I don’tknow whether he is ugly or not. The Sudanesethink he is handsome; but to call a man whohas killed so many people ‘naughty’—that is aword only a little girl, with short dresses reachingdown to her knees, would use.”
“Papa told me so, and papa knows best.”
“He used that word in speaking to you becauseyou would not have understood anythingelse. He would not have used it in speaking tome. The Mahdi is worse than a hundred crocodiles.Do you understand what I say? Theword ‘naughty’ is a good word to use whentalking to little children.”
But when he saw the troubled look on thechild’s face he said: “Nell, you know that Idon’t want to vex you. The time is comingwhen you will be fourteen, too.”
“Yes,” she answered, with an anxious expression.“What