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Tutorial 6: Creating a Web Form

TRUE/FALSE

1. HTML supports tags that allow you to create forms and analyze the information submitted on forms.

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: HTML 397

2. The earliest and most common of the languages used for server-based programs are called CGI scripts,
written in a language called Perl.

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: HTML 398

3. PHP and ASP are popular languages widely used today for writing server-based programs.

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: HTML 398

4. The get method appends the form data to the end of the URL specified in the action attribute.

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: HTML 400

5. Typically, forms only contain form elements and no page elements.

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: HTML 399

6. Among the attributes included with the <form> tag are attributes that include information on how to
process the form.

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: HTML 399

7. A single Web page can contain at most one form.

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: HTML 399

8. One way of organizing a form is to group similar fields into field sets.

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: HTML 402

9. A password text box hides text entered by the user.

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: HTML 405

10. Access keys can be used with hyperlinks and are particularly helpful to users with impaired motor
skills who find it difficult to use a mouse.

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: HTML 408

11. Field sets are block elements that limit the numbers of characters the text box can hold.

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: HTML 404

12. HTML allows you to formally link a label with an associated text box element for scripting purposes.
 ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: HTML 408

13. Unlike a default field value, a placeholder is not stored in the data field and is not sent to the server as
a field value.

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: HTML416

14. An access key is a single key that you type in conjunction with the Alt key for Macintosh users.

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: HTML 408

15. When the <input> tag is used to create radio buttons, the tag also creates labels for radio buttons.

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: HTML429

16. Users are limited to a single selection from a selection list.

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: HTML 422

17. Check boxes are selected by default.

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: HTML 437

18. A command button runs a command that affects the contents of the Web page or the Web browser
itself.

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: HTML 456

19. Data values do not need to be tested or validated before they are used.

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: HTML 461

20. One advantage of the current validation checks is that they occur after a user has completed and
submitted the form.

ANS: F PTS: 1 REF: HTML 466

MODIFIED TRUE/FALSE

1. Input boxes are a form control element used for text and numerical entries. ____________________

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: HTML 397

2. Option lists are a form control element for long lists of options. ____________________

ANS: F, Selection

PTS: 1 REF: HTML 397

3. The earliest and most common server-based programs are CGI scripts written in a language called
Perl. ____________________
 ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: HTML 398

4. The get method sends form data in a separate data stream. ____________________

ANS: F, post method

PTS: 1 REF: HTML 400

5. The language used to create a server-based program depends on the Web server.
____________________

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: HTML 399

6. The <table> tag identifies the beginning of a form. ____________________

ANS: F, form

PTS: 1 REF: HTML 399

7. The <form> tag includes attributes that control how the form is processed. ____________________

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: HTML 399

8. To associate text with a control element, you can use the label element.. ____________________

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: HTML 408

9. When you link a label with an associated input box element, you use the name attribute of the field.
____________________

ANS: F, id

PTS: 1 REF: HTML 408

10. A placeholder is a numeric string that appears within the control element and provides users with
information about the kind of information accepted by the field. __________________

ANS: F, text

PTS: 1 REF: HTML 416

11. An access key is a single key that you type in conjunction with the Command key for Macintosh users,
to jump to one of the control elements in the form. ____________________

ANS: F, Control

PTS: 1 REF: HTML 408

12. A selection list is a list box that presents users with a group of possible field values for the data field.
____________________

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: HTML 422

13. Like selection list items, only one radio button can be selected at a time. ____________________
 ANS: F, Unlike

PTS: 1 REF: HTML 429

14. A control element that allows extended text entries is the textarea element. ____________________

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: HTML 366

15. Input boxes with the number data type are displayed using a spinner control in which users click an up
or down arrow to increase or decrease the field value, respectively.____________________

ANS: T PTS: 1 REF: HTML 447

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. Information entered into a field is called the field ____.

a. index c. attribute
b. rating d. value
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: HTML 397

2. Each control element in which the user can enter information is called a(n) ____.
a. field c. value
b. index d. area
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 397

3. Text ____ are used for extended entries that can include several lines of text.
a. areas c. rosters
b. buttons d. matrices
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 434

4. Selection lists usually appear in a ____ box.

a. value list c. form
b. radio d. drop-down list
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: HTML 426
5. As shown in the accompanying figure, the form contains ____ elements, which are commonly used in
Web page forms.
a. control c. access
b. formula d. box
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 459

6. The item marked ____ in the accompanying figure is an input box.

a. 1 c. 4
b. 2 d. 6
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 407

7. The item marked ____ in the accompanying figure is a selection list.

a. 1 c. 3
b. 2 d. 6
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: HTML 425
 8. The items marked 3 in the accompanying figure are ____ buttons.
a. check c. option
b. group d. cluster
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 431

9. The item marked 4 in the accompanying figure is a(n) ____ button.

a. report c. option
b. reset d. spinner control
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: HTML 447

10. The item marked 6 in the accompanying figure is a ____ area.

a. registration c. text
b. form d. list
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 436

11. The item marked 5 in the accompanying figure is a ____ box.

a. text c. check
b. field d. form
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 438

12. Option buttons are sometimes called ____ buttons.

a. group c. radio
b. cluster d. aggregate
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 429

13. You should check with your ISP or system administrator to find out what ____ are available and what
rights and privileges you have in working with them.
a. scripts c. passwords
b. access keys d. XMLs
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 399

14. CGI scripts can be written in which of the following languages?

a. TCP c. Perl
b. JavaScript d. Any of the above
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 398

15. Forms are created using the ____ element.

a. <field> c. <html>
b. <form> d. <input>
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: HTML 399

16. The ____ attribute of the <form> tag represents the older standard for identifying each form on the
page.
a. id c. name
b. identification d. what
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 399

17. The ____ attribute has two possible values: get and post.
 a. value c. method
b. id d. name
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 400

18. ____ sets are used to organize form elements.

a. Option c. Text
b. Radio d. Field
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: HTML 402

19. HTML 4 supports ____ different input types.

a. 10 c. 16
b. 15 d. 17
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 404

20. If you do not include the type attribute in an <input> tag, the Web browser assumes that you want to
create a(n) ____.
a. check box c. option button
b. input box d. submit button
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: HTML 404

21. Which input type displays a browse button to locate and select a file?
a. type= “attach” c. type= “file”
b. type= “find” d. type= “browse”
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 405

22. Which input type creates a field that is not viewable on the form?
a. type= “conceal” c. type= “view”
b. type= “off” d. type= “hidden”
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: HTML 405

23. Which input type displays an inline image that can be clicked to perform an action from a script?
a. type= “image” c. type= “picture”
b. type= “inline” d. type= “action”
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 405

24. Which input type displays an input box that hides text entered by the user?
a. type= “hidden” c. type= “user”
b. type= “password” d. type= “hide”
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: HTML 405

25. When a form is submitted, the server receives the data in ____ pairs.
a. name/value c. id/value
b. label/name d. value/label
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 404

26. To create an input box for ____ entry, add the element <input type=”type” name=”name” id=”id” /> to
the web form, where type specifies the type of input control, rhe name attribute provides the name of
the field associated with the control element, and the id attribute identifies the control element itself.
 a. numeric c. text
b. label d. character
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 405

27. When you link a label with an associated text element for scripting purposes, you must bind the label
to the ____ attribute of the field.
a. id c. label
b. name d. what
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 408

28. To associate a label with the control element with the id of "city", you would enter ____.
a. <label id="city"> c. <label element="city">
b. <label for="city"> d. <label associate="city">
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: HTML 408

29. Label elements are normally ____ elements.

a. inside c. inline
b. outline d. outside
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 412

30. The ____ style can be used to change label elements into block elements.
a. type:block c. display: block
b. format: block d. block: block
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 413 | HTML414

31. The placeholder automatically disappears as soon as a user selects the ____ box.
a. label c. text
b. input d. textarea
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: HTML 416

32. To set the number of options displayed at one time in the selection list, add the attribute_______,
a. selected = “selected” c. multiple=”multiple”
b. size=”value” d. select = “select”
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: HTML 423

33. To define a default field value, add the attribute ____.

a. size =”value” c. input =”value”
b. value=”value” d. value = “chars”
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: HTML 415

34. Another way you can specify the width is to use the ____ attribute.
a. size c. length
b. maximum d. characters
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 415

35. To avoid confusion, set the width either with _____ width style or the HTML size attribute, but not
both.
a. CIS c. CGI
 b. CSS d. PHP
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 415

36. Many browsers include a(n) ________ feature that automatically fills in input form values if they are
based on previously filled out forms.
a. autocorrect c. grammar check
b. autocomplete d. spelling
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: HTML 411

37. To define a default value for a field, use the following syntax: ____.
a. <input field= “value” /> c. <input default= “value” />
b. <input main= “value” /> d. <input value= “value” />
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: HTML 415

38. Press the ____ key to move between input boxes.

a. Shift c. Ctrl
b. Tab d. Alt
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: HTML 408

39. You can specify an access key for an input element by using the ____ attribute.
a. shortcut c. accesskey
b. key d. keypress
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 408

40. The ________ automatically disappears as soon as a user selects the input box.
a. input box c. textarea
b. text box d. placeholder
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: HTML 416

41. ____ buttons can be placed into a group so that selecting one deselects all of the others.
a. Checkbox c. Command
b. Image d. Radio
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: HTML 429

42. To group option buttons so that selecting one deselects all of the others, you must make the ____
attribute the same.
a. name c. id
b. type d. value
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 430

43. To identify the specific options for option buttons, you use the ____ attribute.
a. name c. id
b. type d. value
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 433

44. To specify that an option button be already selected, you type ____.
a. checked="yes" c. checked="checked"
b. value="checked" d. value="yes"
 ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 434

45. A ____ should be used to provide visual indication that option buttons belong in the same group.
a. fieldset c. table
b. label d. value
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 430

46. In the general syntax for the <select> and <option> tags, each ____ tag represents an individual item in
the selection list.
a. <option> c. <index>
b. <item> d. <each>
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 425

47. By default, the ____ tag displays one option from the selection list, along with a list arrow to view
additional selection options.
a. <index> c. <option>
b. <select> d. <checked>
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: HTML 423

48. HTML allows you to organize selection lists into distinct groups called ____ groups.
a. option c. unique
b. selection d. category
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 428

49. You can change the number of options displayed in a selection list by modifying the ____ attribute.
a. display c. size
b. list d. number
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 426

50. When using the password data type, any information that a user enters will be displayed as a series of
____ or asterisks, protecting the information from prying eyes.
a. dashes
b. dots
c. ampersands
d. plus signs
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: HTML 429

51. For noncontiguous selections from a selection list on a PC, press and hold the ____ key while you
make your selections.
a. Ctrl c. Esc
b. Shift d. Alt
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 427

52. For a contiguous selection in a selection list, select the first item, press and hold the ____ key, and then
select the last item in the range.
a. Ctrl c. Esc
b. Shift d. Alt
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: HTML 427
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53. ____ are used to check for the presence or absence of something.
a. Check boxes c. Group boxes
b. Option boxes d. Text boxes
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 437

54. To make a check box selected by default, you add ____.

a. selected="true" c. checked="checked"
b. selected="selected" d. checked="true"
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 438

55. The ____ attributes define the dimensions of a text area.

a. height and width c. top and bottom
b. rows and cols d. high and wide
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: HTML 434

56. In a text area, the default value of the wrap attribute is ____.
a. on c. soft
b. off d. hard
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 435

57. In a ____ wrap, information about where the text begins a new line is included with the data field
value.
a. soft c. off
b. hard d. on
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: HTML 435

58. When a user tabs through the form, the tab order will reflect the order of the items in the ____ file.
a. HTML c. CSS
b. CGI d. PHP
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 437

59. Typically, users navigate through a Web form using the _____ key, which moves the cursor
from one field to another in the order that the field tags are entered into the HTML file.
a. ALT c. SHIFT
b. TAB d. CTRL
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: HTML 437

60. For most browsers, if no value for the wrap attribute of a text area is specified, a value of ____ is used.
a. hard c. soft
b. off d. on
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 435

61. To create an action for a(n) ____ button, you have to write a script or program that runs automatically
when the button is clicked.
a. option c. group
b. radio d. command
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: HTML 456
62. To create a button that will allow a user to send the form data to the server, you use a type of ____.
a. command c. option
b. reset d. submit
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: HTML457

63. To create a button that will clear the form fields, you use a type of ____.
a. command c. option
b. reset d. submit
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: HTML 457

64. The ____ control element is used to create a custom button.

a. command c. input
b. file d. button
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: HTML 460

65. Validation can occur after the data is sent to the server with _________.
a. client-side validation c. HTML validation
b. server-side validation d. HTML5 validation
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: HTML 460

66. A _____ is a concise description of a character pattern.

a. regular expression c. character string
b. regex d. both a and b
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: HTML 464

67. The ____ method of the <form> tag packages form data by appending it to the end of the URL
specified in the action attribute.
a. post c. put
b. get d. keep
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: HTML 400

68. The technique of immediate data validation and reporting of errors is known as _________.
a. online validation c. inline validation
b. regular expression d. immediate validation
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 466

69. ______ refers to the state in which an element has been clicked by the user, making it the active
control element on the form.
a. Cursor c. Focus
b. Insertion point d. Directive
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 467

70. The pseudo-class _____ matches check boxes or option buttons whose toggle states (checked or
unchecked) cannot be determined.
a. indeterminate c. invalid
b. checked d. required
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 467
 Case-Base Critical Thinking Questions

Case 6-1
Oscar owns Oscar's Skateboard Shop. He wants to create a Web form to allow users to specify the type
of skateboards they would like to buy. This includes the make, model, type and color, and board
options. Oscar's skateboards come in Children, Young Adult, and Adult sizes. Oscar's skateboards
only come in color, pattern, and themes. He has over 25 makes and models of skateboards.

71. Since make and model are normally lists, Oscar should use a ____ tag to specify the lists.
a. <checkbox> c. <select>
b. <file> d. <command>
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 422 TOP: Critical Thinking

72. Oscar should use ____ to allow users to select the skateboard type.
a. radio buttons c. command buttons
b. check boxes d. group boxes
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: HTML 437 TOP: Critical Thinking

73. For the color, Oscar should most likely use ___.
a. radio buttons c. command buttons
b. check boxes d. group boxes
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 429 TOP: Critical Thinking

Case-Based Critical Thinking Questions

Case 6-2
Wyona, owner of Wyona’s Hat Designs, desires to have a Web site built for customers to order
custom-made hats. They can pick from straw, leather, and material hat collections. Customers can
specify one of their existing patterns, which include about 50 designs. They can also choose a custom
pattern instead and then provide information about the pattern they want for Wyona to custom create.

74. In order to provide customers plenty of room to enter the information for a custom pattern, which type
of field should Wyona provide for the user?
a. textarea c. text
b. radio d. select
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 434 TOP: Critical Thinking

75. Wyona wants to separate the different options for straw, leather and material. Which element can she
use to create these groups?
a. check box c. radio
b. select d. fieldset
ANS: D PTS: 1 REF: HTML 430 TOP: Critical Thinking

76. Wyona wants to label each group. Which element would be the best for her to use?
a. label c. legend
b. caption d. text
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 403 TOP: Critical Thinking
 77. For her address she wants to make sure the zipcode is set to 5 characters only. Which attribute of a text
box will allow her to do this?
a. maxlength c. length
b. size d. characters
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 466 TOP: Critical Thinking

Case-Based Critical Thinking Questions

Case 6-3
Larry has just bought an online Web hosting solution from a popular ISP. He knows the ISP provides
some scripts to allow people to create logon pages for their Web site if they want to have a
password-protected blog, for example. Larry wants to create such a page for his blog about video
games.

78. Before Larry builds his form, which of the following should he consult concerning required fields?
a. his ISP c. his desired form design
b. his other Web pages d. none of the above
ANS: A PTS: 1 REF: HTML 399 TOP: Critical Thinking

79. Which element will Larry most likely use to create the password element?
a. select c. textarea
b. input d. option
ANS: B PTS: 1 REF: HTML 405 TOP: Critical Thinking

80. What type of method will Larry most likely be using for submitting his form data?
a. get c. post
b. submit d. reset
ANS: C PTS: 1 REF: HTML 391 TOP: Critical Thinking

COMPLETION

1. Information entered into a field is called the field ____________________.

ANS: value

PTS: 1 REF: HTML 397

2. CGI stands for ____________________.

ANS: Common Gateway Interface

PTS: 1 REF: HTML 398

3. A(n) ____________________ is a box placed around a set of fields that indicates that they belong to a
common group.

ANS:
fieldset
field set
 PTS: 1 REF: HTML 402

4. The input type=“____________________” displays an option button.

ANS: radio

PTS: 1 REF: HTML 405

5. The input type=“____________________” displays a button that submits the form when clicked.

ANS: submit

PTS: 1 REF: HTML 405

6. A(n) ____________________ field is an input box in which the characters typed by the user are
displayed as bullets or asterisks.

ANS: password

PTS: 1 REF: HTML 429

7. If most people enter the same value into a field, it may make sense to define a(n)
____________________ value for a field.

ANS: default

PTS: 1 REF: HTML 415

8. ____________________ buttons are similar to selection lists in that they display a list of choices from
which a user makes a selection.

ANS:
Option
Radio

PTS: 1 REF: HTML 429

9. Selection lists are used for long lists of options, usually appearing in a(n) ____________________ list
box.

ANS:
drop-down
drop down

PTS: 1 REF: HTML 426

10. Adding the ____________________ attribute to the <select> tag allows multiple selections from a list.

ANS: multiple

PTS: 1 REF: HTML 427

11. ____________________ boxes specify an item as either present or absent.

Other documents randomly have
different content
prayers, but it seemed to be reproaching them, separating them,
tearing them asunder, reminding them of where they were now, and
what they were, and that God was over them.
 Music fragment

Their lips parted, their arms fell away from each other, and
irresistibly, simultaneously, as if by an impulse of the same heart,
they dropped to their knees to pray for pardon.
The voice of the muezzin ceased, and in the silence of the
following moment they heard a soft footstep coming behind.
It was Ishmael. He did not speak to either of them, but seeing
them on their knees, at the hour of mid-day prayers, he stepped up
and knelt between.

CHAPTER XXII

When Gordon had time to examine the new situation in which he

found himself he saw that he was now in a worse case than before.
 It had been an inexpressible relief to realise that he was not the
first cause of the General's death, and therefore that conscience did
not require him to go into Cairo in order to protect Ishmael from the
consequences of a crime he did not commit. But no sooner had he
passed this great crisis than he was brought up against a great test.
What was it to him that he could save his life if he had to lose
Helena?
Helena was now Ishmael's wife—betrothed to him by the most
sacred pledges of Mohammedan law. If the barrier of blood which
had kept him from Helena had been removed, the barrier of
marriage which kept Helena from him remained.
"What can we do?" he asked himself, and for a long time he
saw no answer.
In the fierce struggle that followed, honour and duty seemed to
say, that inasmuch as Helena had entered into this union of her own
free will—however passively acquiescing in its strange conditions—
she must abide by it, and he must leave her where she was and
crush down his consuming passion, which was an unholy passion
now. But honour and duty are halting and timorous guides in the
presence of love, and when Gordon came to think of Helena as the
actual wife of Ishmael he was conscious of nothing but the flame
that was burning at his heart's core.
Remembering what Helena had told him, and what he had seen
since he came to that house, he reminded himself that after all the
marriage was only a marriage pro formâ, a promise made under the
mysterious compulsion of fate, a contract of convenience and
perhaps generosity on the one side, and on the other side of dark
and calculating designs which would not bear to be thought of any
longer, being a result of the blind leading of awful passions under
circumstances of the most irresistible provocation.
When he came to think of love he was dead to everything else.
Ishmael did not love Helena, whereas he, Gordon, loved her with all
his heart and soul and strength. She was everything in life to him,
and though he might have gone to his death without her, it was
impossible to live and leave her behind him.
Thinking so, he began to conjure up the picture of a time when
Ishmael, under the influence of Helena's beauty and charm, might
perhaps forget the bargain between them, and claim his rights as a
husband, and then the thought of her beautiful head with its dark
curling locks as it lay in his arms that day lying in the arms of the
Arab, with Ishmael's swarthy face above her, so tortured him that it
swept away every other consideration.
"It must not, shall not, cannot be!" he told himself.
And that brought him to the final thought that since he loved
Helena, and since Helena loved him and not her husband, their
position in Ishmael's house was utterly false and wrong, and could
not possibly continue.
"It is not fair even to Ishmael himself," he thought.
And when, struggling with his conscience, he asked himself how
he was to put an end to the odious and miserable situation, he
concluded at once that he would go boldly to Ishmael and tell him
the whole story of Helena's error and temptation, thereby securing
his sympathy and extricating all of them from the position in which
they were placed.
"Anything will be better than the present state of things," he
thought, as he reflected upon the difficult and delicate task he
intended to undertake.
But after a moment he saw that while it would be hard to
explain Helena's impulse of vengeance to the man who had been the
object of it, to tell him of the message she had sent into Cairo would
be utterly impossible.
"I cannot say anything to Ishmael about that," he thought, and
the only logical sequence of ideas was that he could not say
anything to Ishmael at all.
This left him with only one conclusion—that inasmuch as it was
impossible that he and Helena could remain any longer in that
house, and equally impossible that they could leave it with Ishmael's
knowledge and consent, there was nothing for them to do but to fly
away.
He found it hard to reconcile himself to the idea of a secret
flight. The very thought of it seemed to put them into the position of
adulterers, deceiving an unsuspecting husband. But when he
remembered the scene in the guest-room that day, the moment of
over-powering love, the irresistible kiss, and then the crushing sense
of duplicity, as Ishmael entered and without a thought of treachery
knelt between them, he told himself that at any cost whatsoever he
must put an end to the false position in which they lived.
"We must do it soon—the sooner the better," he thought.
Though he had lived so long with the thought of losing Helena,
that kiss had in a moment put his soul and body into a flame. He
knew that his love was blinding him to certain serious
considerations, and that some of these would rise up later and
perhaps accuse him of selfishness or disloyalty or worse. But he
could only think of Helena now, and his longing to possess her made
him dead to everything else.
In a fever of excitement he began to think out plans for their
escape, and reflecting that two days had still to pass before the train
left Khartoum by which it had been intended that he should travel in
his character as Ishmael's messenger, he decided that it was
impossible for them to wait for that.
They must get away at once by camel if not by rail. And
remembering Osman, his former guide and companion, he
concluded to go over to the Gordon College and secure his aid.
Having reached this point, he asked himself if he ought not to
obtain Helena's consent before going any further; but no, he would
not wait even for that. And then, remembering how utterly crushed
she was, a victim of storm and tempest, a bird with a broken wing,
he assumed the attitude of strength towards her, telling himself she
was a woman after all, and it was his duty as a man to think and to
act for her.
So he set out in haste to see Osman, and when, on his way
through the town, he passed (without being recognised) a former
comrade in khaki, a Colonel of Lancers, whose life had been
darkened by the loss of his wife through the treachery of a brother
officer, he felt no qualms at all at the thought of taking Helena from
Ishmael.
"Ours is a different case altogether," he said, and then he told
himself that their life would be all the brighter in the future because
it had had this terrible event in it.
It was late and dark when he returned from the Gordon College,
and then old Mahmud's house was as busy as a fair, with people
coming and going on errands relating to the impending pilgrimage,
but he watched his opportunity to speak to Helena, and as soon as
Ishmael, who was more than commonly animated and excited that
night, had dismissed his followers and gone to the door to drive
them home, he approached her and whispered in her ear—
"Helena!"
"Yes?"
"Can you be ready to leave Khartoum at four o'clock in the
morning?"
For a moment she made no reply. It seemed to her an incredible
happiness that they were really to go away together. But quickly
collecting her wandering thoughts she answered—
"Yes, I can be ready."
"Then go down to the Post Landing. I shall be there with a
launch."
"Yes, yes!" Her heart was beating furiously.
"Osman, the guide who brought me here, will be waiting with
camels on the other side of the river."
"Yes, yes, yes!"
"We are to ride as far as Atbara, and take train from there to
the Red Sea."
"And what then?"
"God knows what then. We must wait for the direction of fate.
America, perhaps, as we always hoped and intended."
She looked quickly round, then took his face between her hands
and kissed him.
"To-morrow morning at four o'clock," she whispered.
"At four," he repeated.
 A thousand thoughts were flashing through her mind, but she
asked no further questions, and at the next moment she went off to
her own quarters.
The door of her room was ajar, and the face of the Arab
woman, who was within, doing something with the clothes of the
child, seemed to wear the same mocking smile as before; but
Helena was neither angry nor alarmed. When she asked herself if
the woman had seen or heard what had taken place between
Gordon and herself, no dangers loomed before her in relation to
their flight.
Her confidence in Gordon—his strength, his courage, his power
to protect her—was absolute. If he intended to take her away he
would do so, and not Ishmael nor all the Arabs on earth could stop
him.

CHAPTER XXIII

Gordon could not allow himself to sleep that night, lest he should
not be awake when the hour came to go. The room he shared with
Ishmael was large, and it had one window looking to the river and
another to Khartoum. Through these windows, which were open, he
heard every noise of the desert town by night.
Sometimes there was the dead, measured thud of a camel's
tread on the unpaved streets; sometimes the light beat of a donkey's
hoofs; at intervals there were the faint and distant cries of the night
watchmen from various parts of the town, intersecting the air like
cross currents of wireless telegraphy, and once an hour there was
the guttural voice of Black Zogal at the door of their own house,
calling the confession of faith.
"There is no god but God—no god but God!"
It had been late when Ishmael came to bed, and even then,
being excited and in high spirits, and finding Gordon still awake, he
had talked for a long time in the darkness of his preparations for the
forthcoming pilgrimage and his hopes of its progress across the
desert—three and a half miles an hour, fourteen hours a day, making
a month for the journey altogether. But finding that Gordon did not
reply, and thinking he must be sleepy, he wished him a good night
and a blessed morning, and then, with a few more words that were
trustful, affectionate, warm-hearted and brotherly, he fell asleep.
It was after twelve by this time, and though Gordon intended to
rise at three it seemed to him that the few hours between would
never end. He listened to the measured breathing of the sleeping
man and counted the cries outside, but the time passed as if with
feet of lead.
It was never quite dark, and through the luminous dark blue of
the southern night, fretted with stars, nearly everything outside
could be dimly seen. Of all lights that is the one most conducive to
thought, and in spite of himself Gordon could not help thinking. The
obstinate questions which he had been able to crush down during
the day were now rising to torment him.
"What will happen when this household which is now asleep
awakes in the morning?" he asked himself.
He knew quite well what would happen. He would soon be
missed. Helena would be missed too, and it would be concluded that
they had gone together. But after he had banished the picture which
rose to his mind's eye of the confusion that would ensue on the
discovery of their flight, he set himself to defend it.
It was true that he was breaking the pledge he had made to the
people when he undertook to go into Cairo, but he had made his
promise under a mistake as to his own position, and therefore it was
not incumbent upon him to keep it, now that he knew the truth.
It was true that Helena was breaking the betrothal which she
had entered into with Ishmael, but she, too, had acted under an
error, and therefore her marriage was not binding upon her
conscience.
But do what he would to justify himself, he could not shake off a
sense of deceit and even of treachery. He thought of Ishmael, and
how he had heaped kindness and honour upon him since he came to
Khartoum. He thought of Helena, and of the shame with which her
flight would overwhelm the man who considered himself her
husband.
"Go on!" something seemed to say in a taunting whisper. "Fly
away! Seek your own happiness and think of nothing else! This is
what you came to Khartoum for! This is what your great hopes and
aims amount to! Leave this good man in the midst of the confusion
you have brought upon him! Let him go into Cairo, innocent though
he is, and die by the cruel error of fate! That's good! That's brave!
That's worthy of a man and a soldier!"
Against thoughts like these he tried to set the memory of old
Mahmud's words at the meeting of the Sheikhs: "Man cannot resist
his destiny. If God wills that you should go into Cairo you will go,
and God will protect you!"
 But there was really only one way to reconcile himself to what
he intended to do, and that was to think of Helena and to keep her
beautiful face constantly before him. She was on the other side of
the wall, and she would be awake now—the only other person in the
house who was not asleep—thinking of him and waiting for the hour
when they were to escape.
The luminous dark blue of the air died into the soft red of the
early dawn, the "Wahhed!" of the night watchmen became less
frequent, and the call of Black Zogal stopped altogether. It was now
three o'clock, and Gordon, who had not undressed, rose to a sitting
position on his bed.
This brought him face to face with Ishmael, whose angerib was
on the opposite side of the room. The Arab was sleeping peacefully.
He, too, had lain down in his clothes, having to rise early, but he had
unrolled his turban, leaving nothing on his head but his Mecca
skullcap, which made him look like the picture of a saintly Pope. The
dim light that was filtering through the windows rested on him as he
lay in his white garments under a white sheepskin. There was a look
of serenity, of radiance, almost of divinity, in his tranquil face.
Gordon felt as if he were a thief and a murderer—stealing from
and stabbing the man who loved and trusted him. He had an almost
irresistible impulse to waken Ishmael there and then, and tell him
plainly what he was about to do. But the thought of Helena came
back again, and he remembered that that was quite impossible.
At length he rose to go. He was still wearing Hafiz's slippers, but
he found himself stepping on his toes to deaden the sound of his
tread. When he got to the door he opened it carefully so as to make
no noise; but just at that moment the sleeping man stirred and
began to speak.
In the toneless voice of sleep, but nevertheless with an accent
of affection which Gordon had never heard from him before, Ishmael
said—
"Rani! My Rani!"
Gordon stood and listened, not daring to move. After a moment
all was quiet again. There was no sound in the room but Ishmael's
measured breathing as before.
How Gordon got out at last he never quite knew. When he
recovered his self-possession he was in the guest-room, drawing
aside the curtain that covered the open doorway, and feeling the
cool, fresh, odourless desert air on his hot face and in his nostrils.
He saw Black Zogal stretched out at the bottom of the wooden
steps, fast asleep and with his staff beside him. The insurgent dawn
was sweeping up, but all was silent both within and without. Save
for the Nubian's heavy snoring there was not a sound about the
house.
Feeling his throat to be parched, he turned back to the water-
niche for a drink, and while he was lifting the can to his lips his eye
fell on a letter which had been left for him there, having come by
the train which arrived late the night before, and then been specially
delivered after he had gone to bed.
The letter, which was in a black-bordered envelope, was
addressed—

"SHEIKH OMAR BENANI,

"In the care of ISHMAEL AMEER."
At first sight the handwriting struck him like a familiar face, but
before he had time to recognise it he was conscious of a crushing
sense of fatality, a vague but almost heart-breaking impression that
while he had been spending the long, black hours of the night in
building up hopes of flying away with Helena, this little packet of
sealed paper had all the time been waiting outside his door to tell
him they could not go.
He took it and opened it with trembling fingers, and read it at a
glance as one reads a picture. It was from Hafiz, and it told him that
his mother was dead.
Then all the pent-up pain and shame of the night rolled over
him like a breaking wave, and he dropped down on the nearest seat
and wept like a child.

CHAPTER XXIV

Contrary to Gordon's surmise, Helena had slept soundly, with the

beautiful calm confidence of one who relied absolutely upon him and
thought her troubles were over; but she awoke at half-past three as
promptly as if an alarum-clock had wakened her.
The arms of Ayesha were then closely encircling her neck, and it
was with difficulty that she liberated herself without awakening the
child, but as soon as she had done so she could not resist an
impulse to kiss the little one, so boundless was her happiness and so
entirely at that moment had she conquered the sense that Ishmael's
innocent daughter had been a constant torture to her.
 Then dressing rapidly in her usual mixed Eastern and Western
costume, and throwing a travelling cloak over her shoulders instead
of her Indian veil, but giving no thought to the other belongings
which she must leave behind, she stepped lightly out of the sleeping
room.
The moment she entered the guest-room she heard a moan,
and before realising where it came from, she said—
"Who's there?"
Then Gordon lifted his tear-stained face to her face, and,
without speaking, held out the letter which hung from his helpless
hand.
She took it and read it with a sense of overwhelming disaster,
while Gordon, with that access of grief which, at the first moment of
a great sorrow, the presence of a loved one brings, heaped
reproaches upon himself, as if all that he had done at the hard
bidding of his conscience had been a sin and a crime.
"Poor mother! My poor, dear mother! It was I who made her
last days unhappy."
Half-an-hour went by in this way, and the time for going passed.
Helena dared not tell him that their opportunity for flight was
slipping away—it seemed like an outrage to think of that now—so
she stood by his side, feeling powerless to comfort him, and dazed
by the blow that had shattered their hopes.
Then Black Zogal, being awakened by the sound of Gordon's
weeping, came in with his wild eyes, and after him came Abdullah,
and then Zenoba, who, gathering an idea of trouble, went off to
awaken Ishmael and old Mahmud, so that in a little while the whole
of the Arab household were standing round Gordon as he sat
doubled up on the edge of a divan.
When Ishmael heard what had happened he was deeply moved,
and sitting down by Gordon's side he took one of his hands and
smoothed it, while in that throbbing voice which went to the heart of
everybody, and with a look of suffering in his swarthy face and
luminous black eyes, he spoke some sympathetic words.
"All life ends in death, my brother. This world is a place of
going, not of staying. The mystery of pain—who can fathom it? Life
would be unbearable but for one thought—that God is over all. He
rules everything for the best. Yes, believe me, everything. I have
had my hours of sorrow too, but I have always found it so."
After a while Gordon was able to control his grief, and then
Ishmael asked him if he would not read his letter aloud. With some
reluctance Gordon did so, but it required all his self-control to repeat
his mother's message.
Leaving out the usual Arabic salutations he began where Hafiz
said—
"With a heavy heart I have to tell you, my most dear brother,
that your sweet and saintly mother died this morning. She had been
sinking ever since you went away, but the end came so quickly that
it took us all by surprise."
Gordon's voice thickened, and Ishmael said—
"Take your time, brother."
"She had the consolations of her religion, and I think she
passed in peace. There was only one thing clouded her closing
hours. On her deathbed she was constantly expressing an earnest
hope that you might all be re-united—you and she and your father
and Helena, who are now so far apart."
"Take time, O my brother," said Ishmael, and seeing that Helena
also was moved, he took her hand too, as if to strengthen her.
Thus he sat between them, comforting both, while Gordon in a
husky voice struggled on—
"Not long before she died she wished to send you a message,
but the power of life was low in her, and she could not write, except
to sign her name (as you see below), and then she did not know
where you were to be found. But my mother promised her that I
should take care that whatever she said should come to your hands,
and these were the words she sent: 'Tell my boy that my last
thoughts were about him. Though I am sorry he took the side of the
false ... the false prophet——'"
"Go on, brother, go on," said Ishmael in his soft voice.
"'Say I am certain he did what he thought was right. Be sure
you tell him I died happy, because ... because I know I shall see him
again. If I am never to see him in this world I shall do so in the
world to come. Say ... say I shall be waiting for him there. And tell
him it will not seem long.'"
It was with difficulty that Gordon came to the end, for his eyes
were full of tears and his throat was parched and tight, and he
would have broken down altogether but for the sense of Helena's
presence by his side.
Ishmael was now more deeply moved than before.
"How she must have loved you!" he said, and then he began to
speak of his own mother, and what she had done for him.
 "She was only a poor, ignorant woman perhaps, but she died to
save me, and I loved her with all my heart."
At that the two black servants, Abdullah and Zogal, who had
been standing before Gordon in silence, tried to utter some homely
words of comfort, and old Mahmud, wiping his wet eyes, said—
"May God be merciful to your mother, my son, and forgive her
all her sins."
"She was a saint—she never had any," replied Gordon,
whereupon the Arab nurse, who alone of all that household had
looked on at this scene with dry and evil eyes, said bitterly—
"Nevertheless she died as a Christian and an unbeliever,
therefore she cannot look for mercy."
Then Helena's eyes flashed like fire into the woman's face, and
Gordon felt the blood rush to his head, but Ishmael was before them
both.
"Zenoba, ask pardon of God," he said, and before the thunder
of his voice and the majesty of his glance the Arab woman fell back.
"Heed her not, my brother," said Ishmael, turning back to
Gordon; and then he added—
"We all serve under the same General, and though some of us
wear uniform of red, and some of brown, and some of blue, he who
serves best is the best soldier. In the day of victory will our General
ask us the colour of our garments? No!"
At that generous word Gordon burst into tears once more, but
Ishmael said—
"Don't weep for one who has entered into the joys of Paradise."
When Gordon had regained his composure Ishmael asked him if
he would read part of the letter again, but knowing what part it
would be—the part about the prophet—he tried to excuse himself,
saying he was not fit to read any more.
"Then the Rani will read," said Ishmael, and far as Helena would
have fled from the tragic ordeal she could not escape from it. So in
her soft and mellow voice she read on without faltering until she
came to her own name, and then she stopped and tears began to
trickle down her cheeks.
"Go on," said Ishmael; "don't be afraid of what follows."
And when Helena came to "false prophet," he turned to Gordon
and said—
"Your dear mother didn't know how much I love you. But she
knows now," he added, "for the dead know all."
There was no further interruption until Helena had finished, and
then Ishmael said—
"She didn't know, either, what work the Merciful had waiting for
you in Khartoum. Perhaps you did not know yourself. Something
called you to come here. Something drew you on. Which of us has
not felt like that? But God guides our hearts—the Merciful makes no
mistakes."
Nobody spoke, but Gordon's eyes began to shine with a light
which Helena, who was looking at him, had never seen in them
before.
"All the same," continued Ishmael, "you hear what your mother
says, and it is not for me to keep you against your will. If you wish
to go back now none shall reproach you. Speak, Omar; do you wish
to leave me?"
There was a moment of tense silence, in which Gordon
hesitated and Helena waited breathlessly for his reply. Then with a
great effort Gordon answered—
"No."
"El Hamdullillah!" cried the two black servants; and then
Ishmael sent Zogal into the town and the camp to say that the
faithful would bid farewell to Omar in the mosque the following
night.
That evening after sunset, instead of delivering his usual lecture
to the people squatting on the sand in front of his house, Ishmael
read the prayers for the dead, while Gordon and Helena and a
number of the Sheikhs sat on the divans in the guest-room.
When the service was over, and the company was breaking up,
the old men pressed Gordon's hand as they were passing out and
said—
"May God give you compensation!"
As soon as they were gone Gordon approached Helena and
whispered hurriedly—
"I must speak to you soon—where can it be?"
"I ought to go to the water-women's well by the Goods Landing
to-morrow morning," said Helena.
"At what hour?"
"Ten."
"I shall be there," said Gordon.
His eyes were still full of the strange wild light.

CHAPTER XXV
At ten o'clock next morning Helena was at the well by the Goods
Landing where the water-women draw water in their earthen jars to
water the gardens and the streets, and while standing among the
gross creatures who, with their half-naked bodies and stark-naked
souls, were crowding about her for what they could get, she saw
Gordon coming down in his Bedouin dress with a firm, strong step.
His flickering, steel-blue eyes were as full of light as when she
saw them last, but that vague suggestion of his mother which she
had hitherto seen in his face was gone, and there was a look of his
father which she had never observed before.
"Let us walk this way," he said, indicating a road that went
down to the empty and unfrequented tongue of land that leads to
the point at which the Blue Nile and the White Nile meet.
"Helena," he said, stepping closely by her side, and speaking
almost in her ear, "there is something I wish to say—to ask—and
everything depends on your answer—what we are to do and what is
to become of us."
"What is it?" said she, with trembling voice.
"When our escape from Khartoum was stopped by the letter
telling me of my mother's death, I thought at first it was only an
accident—a sad, strange accident—that it should arrive at that
moment."
"And don't you think so now?" she asked.
"No; I think it was a divine intervention."
She glanced up at him. "He is going to talk about the betrothal,"
she thought.
But he did not do so. In his intense and poignant voice he
continued—
 "When I proposed that we should go away together I supposed
your coming here had been due to a mistake—that my coming here
had been due to a mistake—that your sending that letter into Cairo
and my promising to take Ishmael's place had been due to a mistake
—that it had all been a mistake—a long, miserable line of mistakes."
"And wasn't it?" she asked, walking on with her eyes to the
sand.
"So far as we are concerned, yes, but with God ... with God
Almighty mistakes do not happen."
They walked some paces in silence, and then in a still more
poignant voice he said—
"Don't you believe that, Helena? Wasn't it true, what Ishmael
said yesterday? Can you possibly believe that we have been allowed
to go on as we have been going—both of us—without anything
being meant by it?—all a cruel, stupid, merciless, Almighty blunder?"
"Well?"
"Well, think of what would have happened if we had been
allowed to carry out our plan. Ishmael would have gone into Cairo as
he originally intended, and he would have been seized and executed
for conspiracy. What then? The whole country—yes, the whole
country from end to end—would have risen in revolt. The sleeping
terror of religious hatred would have been awakened. It would have
been the affair of El Azhar over again—only worse, a thousand-fold
worse."
Again a few steps in silence, and then—
"The insurrection would have been suppressed of course, but
think of the bloodshed, the carnage! On the other hand——"
 She saw what was coming, and with difficulty she walked
steadily.
"On the other hand, if I go into Cairo, as I have promised to do
—as I am expected to do—there can be no such result. The moment
I arrive I shall be arrested, and the moment I am arrested I shall be
identified and handed over to the military authorities to be tried for
my offences as a soldier. There will be no religious significance in my
punishment, therefore there will be no fanatical frenzy provoked by
it, and consequently there can be no bloodshed. Don't you see that,
Helena?"
She could not answer; she felt sick and faint. After a moment he
went on in the same eager, enthusiastic voice—
"But that's not all. There is something better than that."
"Better—do you say better?"
"Something that comes closer to us at all events. Do you believe
in omens, Helena? That some mystic sense tells us things of which
we have no proof, no evidence?"
She bent her head without raising her eyes from the sand.
"Well, I have a sense of some treachery going on in Cairo that
Ishmael knows nothing about, and I believe it was just this
treachery which led to the idea of his going there at all."
She looked up into his face, and thinking he read her thought,
he said quickly—
"Oh, I know—I've heard about the letters of the Ulema—that
those suggestions of assassination and so forth were signed by the
simple old Chancellor of El Azhar. But isn't it possible that a subtler
spirit inspired them? ... Helena?"
"Yes," she faltered.
 "Do you remember that one day in the Citadel I said it was not
really Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus, and that there was
somebody in Egypt now who was doing what the High Priest of the
Jews did in Palestine two thousand years ago?"
"The Grand Cadi?"
"Yes! Something tells me that that subtle old scoundrel is
playing a double sword game—with the Ulema and with the
Government—and that his object is not only to destroy Ishmael, but,
by awakening the ancient religious terror, to ruin England as well—
tempt her to ruin her prestige, at all events."
They had reached the margin of the river, and he stopped.
"Well?" she faltered again.
"Well, I am a British soldier still, Helena, even though I am a
disgraced one, and I want to ... I want to save the good name of my
country."
She could not speak—she felt as if she would choke.
"I want to save the good name of the Consul-General also. He is
my father, and though he no longer thinks of me as his son, I want
to save him from ... from himself."
"I can do it too," he added eagerly. "At this moment I am
perhaps the only man who can. I am nobody now—only a runaway
and a deserter—but I can cross the line of fire and so give warning."
"But, Gordon, don't you see——"
"Oh, I know what you are going to say, Helena—I must die for
it. Yes! Nobody wants to do that, if he can help it, but I can't!
Listen!"
She raised her eyes to his—they seemed to be ablaze with a
kind of frenzy.
 "Death was the penalty of what I did in Cairo, and if I did not
stay there to be court-martialled and condemned, was it because I
wanted to save my life? No; I thought there was nothing left in my
life that made it worth saving. It was because I wanted to give it in
some better cause. Something told me I should, and when I came to
Khartoum I didn't know what fate was before me, or what I had to
do, but I know now. This is what I have to do, Helena—to go back
to Cairo instead of Ishmael, and so save England and Egypt and my
father and these poor Moslem people, and prevent a world of
bloodshed."
Then Helena, who in her nervousness had been scraping her
feet on the sand, said in a halting, trembling voice—
"Was this what you wanted to say to me, Gordon?"
"Yes, but now I want you to say something to me."
"What is that?" she asked, trembling.
"To tell me to go."
It was like a blow. She felt as if she would fall.
"I cannot go unless you send me, Helena—not as things stand
now—leaving you here—under these conditions—in a place like this
—alone. Therefore tell me to go, Helena."
Tears sprang to her eyes. She thought of all the hopes she had
so lately cherished, all the dreams of the day before of love and a
new life among quite different scenes—sweet scenes full of the smell
of new-cut grass, the rustling of trees, the swish of the scythe, the
songs of birds, and the ringing of church bells, instead of this empty
and arid wilderness—and then of the ruin, the utter wreck and ruin,
that everything was falling to.
"Tell me to go, Helena—tell me," he repeated.
 It was crushing. She could not bear it.
"I cannot," she said. "Don't ask me to do such a thing. Just
when we were going away, too ... expecting to escape from all this
miserable tangle and to be happy at last——"
"But should we be happy, Helena? Say we escaped to Europe,
America, Australia, anywhere far enough away, and what I speak of
were to come to pass, should we be happy—should we?"
"We should be together at all events, and we should be able to
love each other——"
"But could we love each other with the memory of all that
misery—the misery we might have prevented—left here behind us?"
"At least we should be alive and safe and well."
"Should we be well if our whole life became abominable to us,
Helena? ... On the other hand——"
"On the other hand, you want us to part—never to see each
other again."
"It's hard—I know it's hard—but isn't that better than to become
odious in each other's eyes?"
A cruel mixture of anger and sorrow and despair took
possession of her, and, choking with emotion, she said—
"I have nobody but you now, yet you want me to tear my heart
out—to sacrifice the love that is my only happiness, my only
refuge.... Oh, I cannot do it! You are asking me to send you into the
jaws of death itself—that's it—the very jaws of death itself—and I
cannot do it. I tell you I cannot, I cannot! There is no woman in the
world who could."
There was silence for a moment after this vehement cry; then in
a low tone he said—
 "Every soldier's wife does as much when she sends her husband
into battle, Helena."
"Ah!"
She caught her breath as if a hand from heaven had smitten
her.
"Am I not going into battle now? And aren't you a soldier's
daughter?"
There was another moment of silence in which he looked out on
the sparkling waters of the Blue Nile and she gazed through clouded
eyes on the sluggish waves of the White.
Something had suddenly begun to rise in her throat. This was
the real Gordon, the hero who had won battles, the soldier who had
faced death before, and she had never known him until now!
A whirlwind of sensation and emotion seemed to race through
her soul and body. She felt hot, she felt cold, she felt ashamed, and
then all at once she felt as if she were being lifted out of herself by
the spirit of the man beside her. At length she said, trying to speak
calmly—
"You are right, quite right; you are always right, Gordon. If you
feel like that about going into Cairo you must go. It is your duty. You
have received your orders."
"Helena!" he cried, in a burst of joy.
"You mustn't think about me, though. I'm sorry for what I said a
while ago, but I'm better now. I have always thought that if the time
ever came to me to see my dearest go into battle, I should not allow
myself to be afraid."
"I was sure of you, Helena, quite sure."
 "This doesn't look like going into battle, perhaps, but it may be
something still better—going to save life, to prevent bloodshed."
"Yes, yes!" he said; and struggling to control herself, Helena
continued—
"You mustn't think about leaving me here, either. Whatever
happens in this place, I shall always remember that you love me, so
... so nothing else will matter."
"Nothing—nothing!"
"And though it may be hard to think that you have gone to your
death, and that I ... that in a sense I have been the cause of it——"
"But you haven't, Helena! Your hand may have penned that
letter, but a higher Power directed it."
She looked at him with shining eyes, and answered in a firmer
voice and with a proud lift of her beautiful head—
"I don't know about that, Gordon. I only know that you want to
give your life in a great cause. And though they have degraded you
and driven you out and hunted you down like a dog, you are going
to die like a man and an Englishman."
"And you tell me to do it, Helena?"
"Yes, for I'm a soldier's daughter, and in my heart I'm a soldier's
wife as well, and I shouldn't be worthy to be either if I didn't tell you
to do your duty, whatever the consequences to me."
"My brave girl!" he cried, clutching at her hand.
Then they began to walk back.
As they walked they encouraged each other.
"We are on the right road now, Helena."
"Yes, we are on the right road now, Gordon."
"We are doing better than running away."
 "Yes, we are doing better than running away."
"The train leaves Khartoum this evening, and I suppose they
want to say farewell to me in the mosque at sunset.... You'll be
strong to the last and not break down when the time comes for me
to go?"
"No, I'll not break down ... when the time comes for you to go."
But for all her brave show of courage, her eyes were filling fast
and the tears were threatening to fall.
"Better leave me now," she whispered. "Let me go back alone."
He was not sorry to let her go ahead, for at sight of her emotion
his own was mastering him.
"Will she keep up to the end?" he asked himself.

CHAPTER XXVI

As the hours of the day passed on, Helena became painfully aware
that her courage was ebbing away.
Unconsciously Ishmael was adding to her torture. Soon after the
midday meal he called on her to write to his dictation a letter which
Gordon was to take into Cairo...
"One more letter, O Rani, only one, before our friend and
brother leaves us."
It was to the Ulema, telling them of the change in his plans and
begging them to be good to Gordon.
"Trust him and love him. Receive him as you would receive me,
and believe that all he does and says is according to my wish and
word."
Helena had to write this letter. It was like writing Gordon's
death-warrant.
Later in the day, seeing her idle, nibbling the top of the reed
pen which she held in her trembling fingers, Ishmael called for the
kufiah.
"Where is the kufiah, O Rani—the kufiah that was to disguise
the messenger of God from his enemies?"
And when Helena, in an effort to escape from that further
torture, protested that in Gordon's case a new kufiah was not
essential, because he wore the costume of a Bedouin already,
Ishmael replied—
"But the kufiah he wears now is white, and every official in
Khartoum has seen it. Therefore another is necessary, and let it be
of another colour."
At that, with fiendish alacrity, the Arab woman ran off for a strip
of red silken wool, and Helena had to shape and stitch it.
It was like stitching Gordon's shroud.
The day seemed to fly on the wings of an eagle, the sun began
to sink, the shadows to lengthen on the desert sand, and the time to
approach for the great ceremony of the leave-taking in the mosque.
Helena was for staying at home, but Ishmael would not hear of it.
"Nay, my Rani," he said. "In the courtyard after prayers we must
say farewell to Omar, and you must clothe him in the new kufiah
that is to hide him from his foes. Did you not promise to do as much
for me? And shall it be said that you grudge the same honour to my
friend and brother?"
 Half-an-hour afterwards, Ishmael having gone off hand in hand
with Gordon, and old Mahmud and Zenoba and Ayesha and the two
black servants having followed him, Helena put on a veil for the first
time since coming to Khartoum, and made her way to the mosque.
The streets of the town, as she passed through them, seemed
to be charged with an atmosphere of excitement that was little short
of frenzy; but the courtyard, when she had crossed the threshold,
was like the scene of some wild phantasmagoria.
A crowd of men and women, squatting about the walls of the
open space, were strumming on native drums, playing on native
pipes, and uttering the weird, monotonous ululation that is the
expression of the Soudanese soul in its hours of joy.
A moment later Helena was in the gallery, the people had made
way for her, and she was sitting as before by the Arab woman and
the child. Overhead was a brazen, blood-red Southern sky; below
were a thousand men on crimson carpets, some in silks, some in
rags, all moving and moaning like tumultuous waves in a cavern of
the sea.
 Helena was in the gallery

The Reader, in the middle of the mosque, was chanting the

Koran, the muezzin in the minaret was calling to prayers, the men on
the floor were uttering their many-throated responses, and the very
walls of the mosque itself seemed to be vibrating with religious
fervour.
A moment after Helena had taken her seat Ishmael entered,
followed by Gordon, and the people gathered round them to kiss
their hands and garments. Helena felt her head reel, she wanted to
cry out, and it was with difficulty she controlled herself.
Then the Reader stood up in his desk and recited an invocation,
and the people repeated it after him.
"God is Most Great!"
"God is Most Great!"
"There is no god but God! ...
"Mohammed is His Prophet! ...
"Listen to the preacher! ...
"Amen!"
"Amen!"
After that Ishmael rose from his knees before the Kibleh, took
the wooden sword at the foot of the pulpit, ascended to the topmost
step, and, after a preliminary prayer, began to preach.
Never had Helena seen him so eager and excited, and every
passage of his sermon seemed to increase both his own ecstasy and
the emotion of his hearers.
Helena hardly heard his words, so far away were her thoughts
and so steadfastly were her eyes fixed on the other figure in front of
the Kibleh, but a general sense of their import was beating on her
brain as on a drum.
All religions began in poverty and ended in corruption.
It had been so with Islam, which began with the breaking of
idols and went on to the worship of wealth, the quest of power, the
lust of conquest—Caliphs seeking to establish their claim not by
election and the choice of God but by theft and murder.
It had been so with Christianity, which began in meekness and
humility and went on to pride and persecution—Holy Fathers
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