sum of L500 on his return to Cairo, as a gratuity for all the
dangers he had run in accomplishing his faithful mission. Besides
that, the General gave him, when he embarked with Colonel
Stewart, L13 to meet his expenses on the journey. A few days
after the arrival of my messenger at Khartoum, H.E. General
Gordon thought it proper to appoint Colonel Stewart for coming to
Cairo on board a man-of-war with a secret mission, and several
letters, written by the General in English and Arabic, were put
in two envelopes, one addressed to the British and the other to
the Egyptian Government, and were handed over to my messenger,
with the order to return to Cairo with Colonel Stewart on board a
special steamer.

"But when Khartoum fell, and the rebels got into it, making all
the inhabitants prisoners, the Government officials above
referred to were informed that my messenger had been arrested,
and all the correspondence that he had on him, addressed by
General Gordon to the Government, was seized; for when the
steamer on board of which they were arrived at Abou Kamar she
went on rocks, and having been broken, the rebels made a massacre
of all those who were on board; and as, on seeing the letters
carried by my messenger, they found amongst them a private letter
addressed to me by H.E. Gordon Pasha, expressing his thanks for
my faithfulness to him, the rebels declared me an infidel, and
decided to seize all my goods and properties, comprising them in
their _Beit-el-Mal_ (that is, Treasury) as it happened in fact.

"Moreover, the members of my family who were in the Soudan were
treated most despotically, and their existence was rendered most
difficult.

"Such a state of things being incompatible with the suspicion
thrown upon me as regards my faithfulness to the Government, I
have requested the high Government officials referred to above to
give me an official certificate to that effect, which they all
gave; and the enclosed copies will make known to those who take
the trouble to read them that I have been honest and faithful in
all what has been entrusted to me. This is the summary of the
information I have obtained from persons I have reason to
believe."

Some further evidence of Zebehr's feelings is given in the following
letter from him to Sir He