If Youssouf Bey is victorious, Mohammed must
return to Cairo with his troops, and the former will have reaped all
the honors of the campaign. But if Youssouf Bey is defeated,
Mohammed will have to march to his assistance with all possible
speed, and will, nevertheless, arrive too late, when the battle is
already lost. Then a new battle will have to be fought, and the
Mamelukes, elated with their success, will hurl themselves upon his
forces, and probably rout them. Victory would then be merely
possible at best, and shall he rely on this possibility? It is to be
his first great battle, and dare he allow it to be a defeat?
But what can he do?
He considers this, and his present relations with the viceroy. Has
the time come when he can lay hands to his task with ruder touch;
will it do to substitute stern words for soft flattery? He will not
be able to decide until after this battle--that is, if he is to take
part in it at all.
While he lies there absorbed in thought, all has become still
without. The men are asleep; no one moves, no eye is open. No one
sees a dark shadow flitting across the desert toward the tents. Now
it halts near that of the sarechsme. A smaller shadow separates from
the larger one; it stoops low, and glides along slowly and
cautiously.
All are wrapped in slumber. The shadow stops before the tent; and
now something glitters, like two sparkling stars fallen from heaven.
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