Produced by David T. Jones, Alex White & the online Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net
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, do you know,” said Stasch Tarkowski to his friend, an English girl, “that yesterday the Sabties (policemen) arrested the wife and children of Overseer Smain—the same Fatima who often visited our fathers’ offices?”
Little Nell, as pretty as a picture, looked up at Stasch (Stanislaus) with her greenish eyes, and half astonished, half afraid, asked:
“No, but they would not allow them to travel to Sudan, and an officer has been stationed to watch them so as to prevent their taking a step outside of Port Said.”
Stasch, who was now fourteen years of age, was much attached to his eight-year-old comrade. He regarded her merely as a child, and assuming a very superior air answered:
“When you are as old as I am you will know everything—what is taking place on the canal from 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’t know whether he is ugly or not. The Sudanese think he is handsome; but to call a man who has killed so many people ‘naughty’—that is a word only a little girl, with short dresses reaching down to her knees, would use.”
“He used that word in speaking to you because you would not have understood anything else. He would not have used it in speaking to me. The Mahdi is worse than a hundred crocodiles. Do you understand what I say? The word ‘naughty’ is a good word to use when talking to little children.”
But when he saw the troubled look on the child’s face he said: “Nell, you know that I don’t want to vex you. The time is coming when you will be fourteen, too.”
“Yes,” she answered, with an anxious expression. “What if the Mahdi should take Port Said, and eat me?”
“The Mahdi is not a cannibal and therefore does not eat people; he murders them instead. Besides, he will never take Port Said; even if he did capture it, and were to try to kill you, he would have me to deal with.”