62 WITH THE CAMEL CORPS UP THE NILE.

time, but to deliver up the city to himself, the " divine worker of miracles " ; how Gordon had replied that if he could work miracles, he had better swim his army across, and take the town ; how the Mahdi had accordingly collected his army, chanted some spells, and sent them all into the river, with the result that two hundred fanatics were drowned, and the rest paddled back half-dead ; how, in consequence, the Mahdi's prestige had declined, and he was residing in a hole underground in fear of his life ; how his Emirs had bade him lead them and their men in an assault, since his life was so charmed that no infidel bullet could touch him ; how he had refused to risk his valuable self; how his army was perishing from want of food ; how the presence of half-a-dozen Englishmen would raise the siege ; in fact, every story they (the spies) thought would be acceptable to us, whether true or not.

The great difficulty the Intelligence Department had to contend against was, of course, the untruscworthiness of news from all parts. The natural bent of a native's mind, when asked for news, is, without any reference whatever to the real truth, to state