GORDON AND THE MAHDI. 40

fresh particulars that came to* light were brought to Cairo nearlya year afterwards by a young Greek gum- merchant namedCostiMuskos, whohappened to be at El

Obeid when that town surrendered to the Mahdi. He said that when the Mahdi heard Hicks Pasha was coming toEl Obeid he sent Abdul Halim instructions tofollow closely in his track, under pretence of being friendly-. General Hicks more than once wished to attack the band

which was followinghim, sleeping in his lastnight's en- campment, and intercepting his communications, but Aladeen Pasha refused. With regard to the battle of Kashgil he stated that the fight began on aSaturday

evening with heavy firing by Hicks's force on Hahm's troop, ambushed inthe woods. The rebels lost few men, but their fire on the Egyptian army in the open was deadly. The firing continued throughout Sunday and during the night, and the general assault was made on Monday morning. The Egyptian troops, starved and thirsty, had no fight left in them and were simply massacred. The massacre was over by noon. He saw the deadbodiesof Hicks and other officers. None were buried;but the Mahdiburied hisownmenas quickly as

they werekilled. It was impossible to estimatehis loss. The Mahdi went out without cannon and with about 15,000 irregulars,but was joined by many more in the courseof the fight. Thenarrator stayed a short time at Obeid as the Mahdi's servant, and obtained permission

from him to go to Khartoum, whence he went on to Cairo. Other reports tended to raise hopes that Mr. Frank Vizetelly, the artist, was still alive, his personal appearance having been described by various traders so as to place his identity almost beyond the possibility of doubt. He wasspoken of by them as drawing trees and practising medicine,and as being the only Englishman

with the Mahdi.

troops set out again. Their supply of water was soon exhausted, and the enemy surrounded them in large numbers,but after several encounters with heavylosses

onboth sides were defeated, theEgyptians againpassing the night onthe scene of action. On Sunday,November 4, the armymarched onKashgil and after it had been for four hours on its way, was attacked by a terrible fusillade. The troops suffered terribly from thirst, but managed to keep their ground during the entire day. OnNovember 5,the fightinghavingceased, the exhausted Egyptians resumed their struggle onwards towards the

wells through a rocky wooded defile. In the opening- encounters, the Mahdihad sent forward his dervishes to the assault stating that theywould conquer by Divine

aid. On this occasion,however, he seems to have relied moreupon military strategy and the regular troops who hadjoinedhis banners from the Kordofangarrisons. An extensive ambushhad beenprepared,and abouthalf an hour after the Egyptians had started, they were sur- rounded on all sides by the rebels, who openedfire on

them with rifles and artillery. Owing to the rocky formationof the ground, and the number of trees, Hicks Pasha could make no use of his guns, neither could a proper formation be maintained by the soldiers. They fought in detachedgroups, eachbody of men surrounded by Arabs, who picked them off in turn. Still though exhausted by the want of water for three days, the Egyptians struggled bravely, keeping up a lively fire until the cartridges in their pouches were expended. Then towardsmid-da}*,the rebels charged home, and in a few minutes the expeditionaryforce was annihilated. Aladeen Pasha hadbeen slain at the commencement of the battle,but GeneralHicks was oneof the last to fall. Surroundedby his staff, whodropped aroundhim oneby one,he is said tohave fought like a lion, emptying his revolverthrice, and then hacking with his sword till a lance-thrust stretched him beside his slatightered com- rades. Major Seckendorff was stabbed to death while lyingsick ona hospitalbed.

The reports further stated that Mr. Frank Vizetelly and about fifty soldiers who had been absent from the camp subsequently came up and were takenprisoners, theMahdi givingorders that theirlivesshouldbe spared. Some two hundred Egyptians, a few camp-followers,and

the greater number of the wounded also received quarter, together witha Germannamed Klootz who had

acted as orderly to Major Seckendorff*. A black lay sister whohad escaped from theconvent of El Obeid,and

Colonel de Coetlogon, who had succeeded in clearing the White Nile of the rebels, was at Duemwhen thefirst newsofthedisasterwasbroughttothattownonNovember 19, by a trustworthy sheikh. He at once fell back to Khartoumand in conjunction with the Vice-Governor, Hussein Pasha, and the General, Ibrahim Pasha, took measures for the defence of that city, and the recallas

far as possible of alloutlying garrisons, a generalretreat to Berberbeing contemplated, as the whole Soudan was

againin arms. A dervish entered the bazaarat Senaar, andhaving swornonthe Koran that Hicks Pasha'sarmy had been annihilated,induced five thousand of his lis-

teners to arm themselves and declare for the Mahdi. The garrisons of Shatt andDuemretreatedto Khartoum,

whence many of the Europeansmade ahasty flight. A Soudanese coming from Darfour, vid El Obeid,and who reached Khartoum on February 24, 1884, after being

thirty-five days on the journey,reportedthatSlattenBey,

an Austrian commanding the Egyptian garrisons in Darfour, was still surrounded at El Fashar, and that Darra, Masteri, and Foga, werealso invested. Moreover

the garrisons ofOm Shanga and Thashi had surrendered. There hadbeen no fighting that he hadheard ofat Bahr Gazelle. At El Obeidhe saw the Austrian missionaries, who seemed to be free to go about the town. He also observedin the streetthree whitemen, and was told that they were Englishmen taken at Kashgil, and thatthey

were well treated. He further stated that the Mahdi had only the old garrison of ElObeid withhim. All the

arrived at Khartoum about six weeks after the battle, brought the intelligencethatKlootzwasthesolesurviving European. Her statement seems to have been subse- quently confirmed by a Greek merchant, who asserted

moreover, thateach of the sheikhs of the Mahdi's army waspermittedto plungehis spear into the dead body of Hicks Pacha, so that he might be able to say he had

assistedat hisdeath. Otherreportsweretotheeffectthat impressedby HicksPasha's gallantry,the Arabs,resolved

tobuildatomboverhisbodyinrecognitionofhisbravery, while the heads, of the staff officers, and of theprincipal Egyptian officers were struck off and fixedover thegate

of El Obeid. The victorious Mahdi madea triumphal entry into that town wearing a yellow silk turban and prophet's green mantle Following him came a train of camels belonging to the slain army with the spoils of victory, including anumber of cannon, rifles, ifec.

For some time subsequently, reports equallyhopeful and ridiculous continuedto be circulated with regard to the safety of a portionofHicks Pasha's army,but their falsehood has long since been established. The few

Arabs had gone to their villages,but had promised to assemblein the event of further war.

During the preceding August, while Hicks Pasha was engagedinmaking those military preparations at Khar- toum which met with so untoward aresult, Tewfik Bey,