gotiations with King John of Abyssinia, for the
ransom of the captured wives and children, and at the same time he sent
the Emir Yunes with a large force to Gallabat. The immediate necessities
having thus been dealt with, Abdullah prepared for revenge.

Of all the Arab leaders which fifteen years of continual war and tumult
throughout the Soudan produced, none displayed higher ability, none
obtained greater successes, and none were more honourable, though
several were more famous, than the man whom the Khalifa selected to
avenge the destruction of the Gallabat army. Abu Anga had been a slave
in Abdullah's family long before the Mahdi had preached at Abba island
and while Egypt yet oppressed the country. After the revolt had broken
out, his adventurous master summoned him from the distant Kordofan home
to attend him in the war, and Abu Anga came with that ready obedience
and strange devotion for which he was always distinguished. Nominally
as a slave, really as a comrade, he fought by Abdullah's side in all the
earlier battles of the rebellion. Nor was it until after the capture
of El Obeid that he rose suddenly to power and place. The Khalifa was a
judge of men. He saw very clearly that the black Soudanese troops, who
had surrendered and were surrendering as town after town was taken,
might be welded into a powerful weapon. And in Abu Anga he knew a man
who could not only fashion the blade, but would hold it ever loyally at
his master's disposal. The former slave threw himself into the duties
of his command with extraordinary energy. His humble origin pleased the
hardy blacks, who recognised in their leader their equal in birth, their
superior in prowess. More than any other Emir, Abu Anga contributed
to the destruction of Hicks's army. The Jehadia, as his soldiers were
called--because they had joined in the Jehad, or Holy War--were armed
with Remington rifles, and their harassing fire inflicted heavy losses
on the struggling column until it was finally brought to a standstill,
and the moment for the spearmen to charge arrived. Henceforward the
troops of Abu Anga became famous throughout the land for their weapons,
their courage, and their cruelty. Their numbers at first did not exceed
5,000; but as more towns were taken and more slaves were turned into
soldiers they increased, until at one time they reached the formidable
total of 15,000 men. During the siege of Khartoum the black riflemen
distinguished themselves by th