d written on
December 14th that, with two hundred men, he could have successfully
kept up the defence. As his army had been starving since the 5th of
January, it is difficult to understand how he managed to hold out till
January the 26th. On this date, two days before the relief expedition
approached, the Mahdi's troops attacked Khartum, and, finding Gordon's
men too weak to fight, the defences were cut down, and the heroic Gordon
was killed by a shot at the head of the steps of the palace.

Upon learning of the death of Gordon, the relief expedition retreated,
finding that the object of their advance had proved to be a hopeless
one. A general evacuation was begun, and Dongola and the whole country
south of Wady Haifa surrendered. The Mahdi, soon after winning Khartum,
died, and was succeeded by the Califa Abdulla at Taashi. This change
facilitated the Anglo-Egyptian retreat. About the same time Slatin
Bey surrendered in Darfur and embraced Muhammedan-ism, and Lupton Bey,
following his example, also adopted the religion of Islam, and yielded
in Bahr-el-Ghazel. Emin Pasha alone retained his authority, derived
originally from Egypt, in the province of Equatoria. Sir H. M. Stanley
afterwards made his famous journey "Through Darkest Africa" and rescued
this famous pasha. This noted explorer died May 9, 1904.

In the autumn of 1885, the dervish Emir of Dongola, Muhammed el-Kheir,
advanced upon the Egyptian frontier. On December 30th he was met by the
Egyptian troops under Sir Frederick Stephenson. The Egyptian troops,
unaided by Europeans, attacked the dervishes at Ginnis and totally
defeated them, winning two guns and twenty banners. It was a source of
much gratification that the Egyptian fellaheen had proved themselves so
courageous and well disciplined in the encounter with the fierce hosts
of the desert.

[Illustration: 210.jpg LORD KITCHENER OF KHARTUM]

In October, 1886, Wad en Nejumi, the victor of El-Obeid, was sent by the
califa to invade Egypt. The advance of this army was delayed by trouble
within the Sudan; but the califa, having at length beaten his enemies,
in the year 1889 sent large reinforcements northwards to carry on
the campaign against Egypt with vigour. The Egyptian troops, with one
squadron of hussars, fought a decisive engagement with Wad en Nejumi on
August 3rd of the same year. The dervish leader, many of his emirs, and
twelve hundred Arab warriors were slain; four thousand more were taken
priso