We mentioned that he entered Sennar with one hundred and fifty soldiers after a raid by Aas, son of Al-Kashani, upon it. When Gordon arrived in Khartoum, he sent to Sennar to bring back Salih Bey. To Khartoum, so Sayyid departed from Sennar with two frigates, each carrying two hundred soldiers. After a journey of a day and a night from Sennar, he saw on his way that the country was entirely under the Mahdi's call. He consulted his commanders, who advised him to return to Sennar. This did not please him, as he knew the enemies would surround and attack him there. So he continued his march to Khartoum. He had barely reached the area of Dafdas, which is a village on the bank of the Nile near Al-Musallamiya, when the Mahdists who lived in Al-Musallamiya rose up and called upon the inhabitants of the nearby tribes to help them. A large number, about four thousand, gathered and attacked him. He had taken his precautions and fortified himself inside a thorn enclosure. The dervishes stormed the enclosure, and he and his soldiers stood like heroes. They killed four thousand fighters, and the rest returned in defeat and failure. Al-Khayr learned of this and advanced to Dafdas with a dense force. Of war, so he suffered a loss of three thousand men. But he was fighting the soldiers of Abu Qirja. A battle took place between him and Salih Bey, in which Abu Qirja lost more than three thousand fighters. Then Abu Qirja sent for Sheikh Al-Ubaid, who came with a steamer from Khartoum. He met the dervishes and Abu Qirja sent Sheikh Al-Ubaid to Salih Bey. He met him and told him that Khartoum had fallen into our grasp. And he swore to him to that effect. Salih Bey's messengers had reached Khartoum and informed Gordon that Salih Bey was in the Sudan.