28 GORDON AND THE MAHDI.
Aba, the messengerfound the object of his quest on a raised seat, holding a staff in his right hand, and
surrounded by five hundred follow7ers in coats of mail, and withswords unsheathed. To Abou Saoud's question
as to what he really wanted,he replied by announcing his divine appointment as the Mahdi. To the assertion that the governing authorities of the province belonged to Islamas wellas himself,he retorted thatsuch wasnot the case, as the said authorities allowed Christians to have churches and protection, and moreover they col- lected taxes. To the messenger's advice not to rise againstthe Governmentbut to givehimself up,since he
wouldbe helpless to accomplish anything in opposition to theirsoldiers,breech-loaders,cannons,and steamers,he boldly answered:"If the soldiers shoot at me and my
followers, the bullets will do us no harm;and if they
come against us with steamers, the steamers and the cannon will sink together." Consequently7, Abou Saoud had to return to Khartoum withhis errandunfulfilled.
coming comparatively wealthy he collected disciples, and marriedseveral wives, whomhe was careful to select
from amongst the daughters of the most influential Baggara Sheikhs. Tokeep within the number of four prescribedby the Koran he wasin the habit of divorcing
them andrenewinghisrelationswith them according to his fancy. Gradually he acquired a great reputation for holiness,and, as local head of the Gheelan or Kadrige order of dervishes, assembleda number of these fanatics aroundhim.
Raouf Pasha, finding it necessary to take thebull by the horns,dispatched three hundred men, with a single cannon, on board a couple of steamers, to assail the Mahdi. The three principal officers, Ali Effendi, Ibrahim Effendi, and Abou Saoud, quarrelled all the way as to which was entitledto the supremecommand of the expedition. On their arrival at Aba, a further
dispute occurredas to whether they should land by day or by night. Finally, onAugust 11, a handful of troops, withAliEffendi at their head, disembarkedat daybreak a little distance from the village. Seeing a man with severalothersaround him observing their approach,Ali Effendi jumped to the conclusion that this must be the
Mahdi, andresolvedto settle the whole affair at a single blow. Accordingly, with more zeal than discretion, he
marchedup to theman, asked why he was creating such disturbances in the district, and, withoutwaitingfor an answer,incontinently7 shot him down. So bold a move possibly deserved success, only the stranger did not happento bethe Mahdi, and within a very few minutes ofhis fall,AliEffendi andhis followers werecut down to a man. Theremaining soldiers came straggling up by companies,and finally refused,point blank, tofire at the Mahdi. Thelatter'sfollowers,however, were notequally considerate, but assailed the soldiers, killing about a hundredand thirty, andobliging the rest to throw down their arms and run.
A SOUDAN DERVISH.
TheMudir of Fashoda, who exercised jurisdiction over Aba, was, like most of the Egyptian Governors in the Soudan, anxious to enrich himself at the expense of the population overwhomheruled,andmadeademandupon Mahomed Ahmed for extraordinary taxes. The latter having resisted, the Mudir sent wordthatifhe did not pay,he wouldhave himbrought toFashoda withachain roundhis neck, and dispatched soldiers to the island to carry out this threat. They werehowever allkilled, and
the news spreadingfar and wide causeda great commo- tion. MahomedAhmed saw his opportunity,and, as the true Mahdi w*as to make his appearance in 1883, he determinedtotaketimeby the forelock, and toputforward pretensions which,in the then state of the Soudan, were
sure to be w*ell received. About the end of May, 1881, he began to writeto his fakir brethren, announcing that he wasthe Mahdi foretold by Mahomed, and thathe had a divinemission to reformIslam, to establish auniversal equality, a universal law, a universal religion, and a "beyt-ul-mal " or community of goods, whilstall,be they Christian,Mahomedan, or Pagan, who didnot believe in him,shouldbe destroyed. In August, during the Feast of Ramadam, he publicly proclaimed his mission, and thousands at once flocked to his standard at Merabieh, avillagenearAba.
The steamer had meanwhile arrived abreast of the village,and the officer in chargeof the gun was ordered to fire at theMahdi, who couldbe descried onhorseback
a few yards from the bank. But the fellow was panic- stricken by the mere sight of the holy man, and after protesting that he could not find either powder or ball, on the gun beingeventuallyloadedfired in theair. The Mahdi rode quietlyoff, and AbouSaoud, with the troops
who had saved theirlivesby7 flight, returned to Khartoum crest-fallen. The result of thisdefeat of the government troops was alarge andimmediate addition to theMahdi's followers, and something like a panic in Khartoum. Eventually MahomedSaidPasha,Mudirof Kordofan,w7as
sent against theMahdi with astrongbody of troops from his own Mudirate,reinforcedby detachments from other
garrisons. Mahomed Ahmed, realizing his peril,retired to the Tekelemountains with his followers, like an Old Testament hero,and established himself at Gebel Gedir to the north-west of Fashoda,among the Nubian negro descendants of the Fung, notable for their warlike qualities and according scarcely a nominalallegiance to the Khedive,Mehemet Ali having failed to subdue them whenhe conquered Kordofan. MahomedSaidPasha had
Information of the nature of the Mahdi's letters had reached Raouf Pasha at Khartoum in July. Early in August he dispatched his lieutenant,Abou Saoud, a man
whom Gordon had triedand found sorely wanting, with instructions tobring Mahomed Ahmedto Khartoum. At