In the heat and brilliance of Port Said, fourteen-year-old Stas Tarkowski and eight-year-old Nell Rawlinson share a friendship that is both playful and deeply protective, set against the glittering Suez Canal and the shadow of the Mahdi's uprising in Sudan. Around them, their widowed fathers—one a resilient Polish engineer shaped by exile and war, the other a practical canal man—reflect the hardships and loyalties that have formed their families, while Stas emerges as an unusually worldly, adventurous boy who speaks several languages, knows the workers, and dreams of heroic exploits. A proposed journey to inspect canal works near Medinet fills the children with excitement: camels, tents, Lake Karûn, hunting, and the promise of wild country. Yet the adults' conversation turns serious, touching on Khartûm, Gordon, imperial policy, slave trading, and the violence unleashed by the Mahdi's revolt. Into this tension comes Fatma Smain, a desperate Sudanese woman whose plea for help exposes grief, suspicion, and compassion in equal measure. When the expedition finally moves into the wilderness, Stas must draw on all his courage as storms, floodwaters, lions, and darkness threaten the fragile camp. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.