Never had vessels taken such risks on the Nile before, never had pilots trusted so to instinct, for there were sand-banks and ugly drifts of rock here and there.

A safe journey for phantom ships; but these armed vessels, filled by men with white, eager faces and others with dark Egyptian features, were no phantoms.

They bristled with weapons, and armed men crowded every corner of space.
For full two hours from the first streak of light they had travelled swiftly, taking chances not to be taken save in some desperate moment.
The moment was desperate enough, if not for them.

They were going to the relief of besieged men, with a message from Nahoum Pasha to Claridge Pasha, and with succour.

They had looked for a struggle up this river as they neared the beleaguered city; but, as they came nearer and nearer, not a gun fired at them from the forts on the banks out of the mists.