180 TRIBES BORDERING ON KORDOFAN, He remained, during several months, in the sheikh's house, where he ingratiated himself, by his pleasing manners so much with all the inhabitants, but more especially with the children, that he was not treated like a stranger, but regarded as a member of the family. One day he was left alone with the children at home, the sheikh's wife being called away to visit a sick friend in a hut that was rather distant, while the sheikh himself was at work in the fields. He amused the children, for some time, with a variety of games, then left them for a short interval, and, on his return, invited the eldest daughter, a girl of eleven years of age, and her sister, who was rather younger, to accompany him to fetch their mother. The children, not suspecting any harm, acceded, with delight, to his proposition, and left the house in his company. He immediately led them out of the village, pretending to show them a nearer way to the hut of their mother's friend. On the road, he endeavoured to divert the attention of the girls, by relating stories, showing them flowers, and plucking fruit for them, in order that they might not observe that he was leading them on an unbeaten track. After several hours, passed with many consolatory assurances, they arrived in an open country, at a forest, where several men lay hidden among the bushes, and were feeding their horses. The ungrateful villain now again assured the children that he would soon conduct them