L'Elfi seemed not to hear him. He beckoned to the Mamelukes who had
come with him, greeted his friends with a proud inclination of the
head, and galloped away.
At a short distance from the camp a small body of English horsemen
awaited L'Elfi and his Mamelukes. With them the Mameluke chieftain
rode off, riding day and night until they reached Tantah; there
fresh horses awaited them, and thence they continued their journey
until they reached Alexandria. Here L'Elfi Bey embarked with the
Englishmen. For the second time he left Egypt. He wished to forget
in a foreign land that Mourad's widow, the beautiful Sitta Nefysseh,
had rejected him and his love. It was no consolation to him that
Bardissi had suffered the same fate. Unrequited love causes bitter
anguish. L'Elfi thought only of his heart's misery, and cared
nothing for war and military renown. He will return home when his
heart's anguish is stilled. Then L'Elfi Bey will draw his sword
again to fight for victory and renown. Bardissi felt differently. If
the former felt that it was necessary to go into solitude to heal
his heart's wounds, the latter preferred to seek distraction in
inflicting wounds on his enemies. "For every sigh that passes his
lips he will make a Turk exhale his life's breath," so thinks
Bardissi the brave.
Immediately after L'Elfi's departure, Bardissi called the kachefs of
his Mamelukes, and those of Ibrahim Bey and Hassan Aga together, to
hold a grand council of war on the plain of Damanhour.
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