“Great tidings, O my mother! All the Franks are flying! Ali and I have been to watch them at the railway station. Such a crowd! The faithful, past all patience, have risen up at Tantah and Iskenderîyeh and slain thousands of them.”

A number of the loyal Turks were also flying. Amînah Khânum and Bedr-ul-Budûr came to take leave of Barakah. They were bound for Alexandria, in the train of the Khedive, and thence would take ship for Constantinople if things grew no better. Muhammad, when informed of their departure, rendered praise to Allah.

“They are vanquished,” he remarked. “But would to Allah that we had more Turks on our side. These fellahin, though braggarts, are great cowards. They need the whip to urge them into battle. I, who am half a Turk and half an Englishman, cannot endure the sluggishness of this Nile mud.”