The long deception has nearly done its work.

I know from Ebn Ezra Bey what passed between you.

They are out against me--the slave-dealers--from Senaar to where I am.

The dominion of Egypt is over here.

Yet I could restore it with a thousand men and a handful of European officers, had I but a show of authority from Cairo, which they think has deserted me.
"I am shut up here with a handful of men who can fight and thousands who cannot fight, and food grows scarcer, and my garrison is worn and famished; but each day I hearten them with the hope that you will send me a thousand men from Cairo.