ously
that a great army--not an Egyptian now but an English one--had started
southward against the dervishes under the command of General Wolseley.
They saw a multitude of steamers, which carried formidable English
soldiers from Assuan to Wadi Haifa, from whence a railroad was built
for them to Abu Hamed. For a long time all the sheiks on the river
banks,--those who remained loyal to the Government as well as those who
in the depth of their souls favored the Mahdi,--were certain that the
destruction of the dervishes and their prophet was inevitable, for no
one had ever vanquished the Englishmen.

"Akbar Allah!" interrupted Idris, raising his hands upwards.
"Nevertheless, they have been vanquished."

"No," replied the leader of the pursuing party. "The Mahdi sent against
them the tribes of Jaalin, Barabra, and Janghey, nearly thirty thousand
in all of his best warriors, under the command of Musa, the son of
Helu. At Abu Klea a terrible battle took place in which God awarded the
victory to the unbelievers.--Yes, it is so. Musa, the son of Helu,
fell, and of his soldiers only a handful returned to the Mahdi. The
souls of the others are in Paradise, while their bodies lie upon the
sands, awaiting the day of resurrection. News of this spread rapidly
over the Nile. Then we thought that the English would go farther south
and relieve Khartum. The people repeated, 'The end! the end!' And in
the meantime God disposed otherwise."

"How? What happened?" asked Idris feverishly.

"What happened?" said the leader with a brightened countenance. "Why,
in the meantime the Mahdi captured Khartum, and during the assault
Gordon's head was cut off. And as the Englishmen were concerned only
about Gordon, learning of his death, they returned to the north. Allah!
We again saw the steamers with the stalwart soldiers floating down the
river, but did not understand what it meant. The English publish good
news immediately and suppress bad. Some of our people said that the
Mahdi had already perished. But finally the truth came to the surface.
This region belongs yet to the Government. In Wadi Haifa and farther,
as far as the Third and perhaps the Fourth Cataract, the soldiers of
the Khedive can be found; nevertheless, after the retirement of the
English troops, we believe now that the Mahdi will subdue not only
Nubia and Egypt, not only Mecca and Medina, but the whole world. For
that reason instead of capturing you and delivering you to the hand