ahdi, the supposed English officer, and
Ahmed Wad Suleiman sitting on a straw mat. We saluted the Mahdi, who
returned our salute in a most gracious manner. He was smiling, and
seemed much pleased. He introduced the Englishman to me, and asked me
to question him about his coming. My imagination, in which I had
pictured an Englishman, received a rude shock, for I beheld before me a
young man with blonde hair, blue eyes, a sunburnt face, and a nose from
which the skin was peeled off. He wore a dirty tarbush; his clothes were
made of rough canvas, and he looked very much like the fireman of an
engine. Before anything else I expressed to him my sincere pity at his
having fallen into the hands of savages, for I did not then know that he
had come of his own accord. I asked him his name; he replied, "Gustav
Klootz, of Berlin," and said that he was the correspondent of an
important newspaper. He afterwards gave me a true account of himself. I
translated everything to the Mahdi. I then asked him about the state of
the army. He said that it consisted of barely 10,000 men, and he added
that it was generally believed by the European officers that they would
be defeated. It was with the greatest difficulty that I concealed the
blow to my feelings which this news occasioned. I asked him why he
deserted, and he excused himself by saying that he did so to save his
life. I now knew that he could be no soldier; but, of course, I did not
translate to the Mahdi the wretched account he gave of the army. At this
moment I received a kick in the ribs from Ahmed Wad Suleiman, who cried
out, "Ask him how many guns are in possession of the unbelievers?" I was
then given a small book, which turned out to be Klootz's diary, and was
told to translate it. There were only a few leaves, in which the date of
departure from Shatt and other places was noted; the number of camels
that died daily; a few observations on his master, and sundry other
things.

The Mahdi then asked whether, if he wrote to Hicks, he would be likely
to surrender, to which Klootz naturally replied that he was sure nothing
would induce him to do so.

The Mahdi further asked whether Klootz thought he or General Hicks was
the more powerful, to which Klootz answered that he thought the Mahdi
would be successful; but that he would probably lose a number of his
followers, as Hicks's force was well supplied with good firearms, to
which Wad Suleiman added, "Death will be our reward."

Th