My attendant, a lieutenant, visited me daily for about three weeks. He was very keen not to waste his time on trivial matters.

The defenders of Khartoum fought with great zeal, as was their custom.

God's grace upon me, I recovered. The doctors declared the injury very serious and feared for my life. They said the wound would be impossible to heal and that my life was hanging by a thread.

The Incident at Al-Qubba Al-Qubba is a village on the eastern bank of the Nile, between Khartoum and the Nile. Its location is near the city. Its inhabitants are Sudanese, and it contains the ancient tomb of a sheikh named Khawjal. The inhabitants claim to be his descendants. It is elevated from the sea, its air is good, and the people of Khartoum visit it for recreation and sport.

When we defeated the Mahdists, Al-Fayda retreated that night and gathered in this village. He used the walls of the inn as barricades and began firing on the city until the inhabitants were unable to draw water. Gordon then ordered two cannons to be brought.

He fired one himself, and the British Consul in Khartoum, Mr. Power, fired the other. Their bullets rained down like hailstones in a dense forest. An hour before sunset, he formed a force of a thousand soldiers, equipped with rifles, to surprise the Mahdists in their positions and drive them out. The force marched from the fortress of Qasr Rasikh Bey, led by a brave officer. The Mahdists stopped firing until the force approached their barricades.

When they saw the cavalry, they opened fire on them until they turned and fled. Three Mahdist horsemen entered the fray, causing panic among the soldiers. Their ranks broke, and they fled towards the river. Gordon watched this with his own eyes.

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