CHAPTER XXII WHY GENERAL GORDON HAD NO FEAR ONE of my talks with Sir Francis Reginald Wingate was of a more personal nature deal¬ ing with some of the events in which he was an historic figure. I had asked His Excel¬ lency if he would not some day write a new book on the Sudan. He wrote “Mahdism and the Egyptian Sudan” some years ago; and a few years later published a work en¬ titled “Ten Years’ Captivity in the Mahdi’s Camp.” He also translated and edited Slatin Pasha’s “Fire and Sword in the Sudan” and for years his life has been a part of the history of the country and his experiences such that no man living can tell about it better than he. The Sir¬ dar replied: “ I may write another book some day. I have kept notes of things which I have observed and which have occurred from time to time, and putting them together may give me occupation when I retire. At present my chief interest is in the development of the country, and I am too much occupied with that and with my duties here to find any time for literary work.”

Afterward our conversation turned to the conditions which prevailed here while the Mahdi was waging war against the English. Sir Reginald, then General Wingate, was one of the officers in command of the British troops and is full of vivid stories of those terrible times. As we talked 181