He could not see the
outstretched hand, but his voice showed that he would hardly have taken
it if he had. He was striking the final blow at his chance of happiness.
But he did not wish to be thanked for it. "At Suakin you must take the
Greek merchant's advice and organise a rescue as best you can. It will
be a long business, and you will have many disappointments before you
succeed. But you must stick to it until you do."
Upon that the two men fell to a discussion of the details of the length
of time which it would take for a message from Suakin to be carried
into Omdurman, of the untrustworthiness of some Arab spies, and of the
risks which the trustworthy ran. Sutch's house was searched for maps,
the various routes by which the prisoners might escape were described by
Durrance--the great forty days' road from Kordofan on the west, the
straight track from Omdurman to Berber and from Berber to Suakin, and
the desert journey across the Belly of Stones by the wells of Murat to
Korosko. It was late before Durrance had told all that he thought
necessary and Sutch had exhausted his questions.
"You will stay at Suakin as your base of operations," said Durrance, as
he closed up the maps.
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