GORDON AND THE MAHDI. 63 hundred soldiers were present, some senior officers, but not Gordon Pasha. The senior Bey cried out, 'Executioners, performsentenceonthe traitors!' Immediately these advanced close, and lopped off* first their arms above the elbows, then the legs above the knees:then cut theirbodies intwain;then decapitated them. They died not till they were cut asunder;then their heads fell on their breasts,andthey expiredwitha hideous yell. Surely their fate was deserved. Icannot say whether GordonPasha knew of this manner of execution. Itell you this is the Turkish mode of punishing military traitors, and it is a just punishment."* Zebehr Pasha, a relative of Hassan's, on hearingof the fate of the two pashas,expressedapprovalof theproceeding, sayingthey had always beendoubtful subjects. Onthe other hand, Hussein Khalifa protested that Said Pasha was the Mahdi's greatest enemy, and that Gordon had acted too precipitately inhavinghimexecuted. Judging,however, from the subsequent statement of an eyewitness, a son of Salak Elmek Bey,who was a prisonerin the rebels' camp at the time, it would seem that Said Pasha richly deserved his fate. The witness, who had succeeded in bribing his captors, and making his way back to Khartoum, assertedthat when the rebelcavalry were aboutto charge, Said Pasha rode back, breaking his ownranks, with Hassan Pasha, and cut down his own men. Said then held up his bloody sword, and called to the rebel cavalry to follow him, saying,"See, Iam indeed true to you;Ihave killedmy own officers."

Shortly after GeneralGordon arrived at Khartoumhe had dispatched a letter to the Mahdi offering him the Sultanshipof West Darfour. The text of this letter, as reportedby a nativewhoprofessedto have heard it read, was frank and conciliatory, and actually offered the Mahdi for ten months' respite the whole of the Soudan. It was said to run thus, but of course allowance must be madeforinaccurate rendering:— The Mahdi, according to the native before quoted, "sent back Gordon's clothes,and forwardedto him asuit of his own uniform,and said they must fight." It was evident, therefore, that all hopes of conciliationwould have to be abandoned; and this became the morecertain when the Mahdi shortly aftei*wards addressed a letter to the Sheikh Mehemet summoning theneighbouring tribes "to rise up andbeleaguerKhartoum." Inthis letter the Mahdi said:— ■ "0 my friend, there have been numerous addresses from me for excitingandupholding and.enforcing the Jihad (Holy War), as God and His propheturged it. AsIordered youto carryonthe Jihad by the siege of Khartoum,itis not allowable for you to depart from this command, for you know that relaxing one's efforts in matters o£ religionis not proper. The Almighty hath said :'Make haste to be savedby the mercy of yourLord.' And'Paradise, its breadth is the heavens,' and 'the earth has been prepared for the believers,' especially those whoare engaged in the Jihad. The Koran is full of passages commanding the Jihad, and blaming those who abandon it.

And, moreover, yourposition necessitates the display of exertions and efforts. May yourresolution be strengthened, and may you obey God and HisProphetI On the arrivalof thisletter, rouseall the Moslems who are with you, join together, andrise up and beleaguer Khartoum. Block the roads to it inall directions. Embarrass the 'Turks,'in it, the infidels, and all who are united with them. Interrupt their affairs. Let them see your bravery and valour in God, until they listen to the commands of God, or they will be destroyed, as those before them tasted the punishment for their deeds ;and their cannon did not avail them, for the command of God has gone forth. Be zealous in the goed fight, and there is no doubt that we shall be victorious over them by God. If youdo asIhave ordered you,you will succeed. Asregards the victory you haveseen vouchsafed to us, thematter was fiicilitated to us;wekilled them easily, and they were killed in less than half an hour;we did not kill them, but God killed them. Praise be to God, who has cut down the oppressors of thepeople. Prostrate yourselvesbefore God,and thank Him for the victory of religion."

Gordon now commenced to turn the steamershe had at Khartoum to account, and sent expeditions daily up the BlueNile to shell the rebels and capture their boats andcamels. Twolarge houses on the northbank of the river, nearlyopposite the palace at Khartoum, wereloopholed, as wellas severalhouses outside the fortifications, and weregarrisonedbyBashi-Bazouks. Twohundredand seventy of these men, with their officers, having refused to occupy the posts assigned them, were promptly disarmed by General Gordon's orders, by some Soudanese troops. On March 21four steamers proceeded to shell Halfaya, anda Krupp-gun,beingtaken to the northbank of theBlue Nile,pounded away at the rebel camp, when anunexploded shell suddenlyburst amongst a crowd of Arabs who were examiningit,killingsixteenandwounding many others. The same day aparty of rebels stole down to a village oppositeKhartoumand opened aheavy rifle fire againstthepalace, but withnoparticular effect. Similar proceedings to the foregoing seem to have gone ondaily. The steamers and the Krupp-gun shelled the rebelpositions, andthe Mahdi's menontheirsidekept up a continuous rifle fire against the palace, occasionally killingoneof the occupants. Referringtotherebelforces arrayed againsthim,Gordon wrote on March 29,"They do not appear to number more than 1,500, and of these perhapsthere are not 150 determinedmen, whokeepthe tagrag andbobtail together. YetIdare not go out for fear of the town. Had you sent Zebehr,how different wouldhave been the state of affairs!"

"Isalute you. Letus have theroad open between us. Give up your prisoners. Imake youSultanof West Darfour. Iremit half the taxesof the Soudan. Iallow the slave trade tobe carried on. Why should you fight ? If you wish to fight, Iam ready. Wait ten months. Iwill then either declare war against you or leave the Soudan toyou with fixed boundaries."

A belt, tarboosh,kaftan, &c, were sent by Gordon to the Mahdi with this letter. On the same day that the treacherouspashas wereexecutedan answer wasbrought to Khartoum,respecting whichGordon wrote:— "March 22.— The man who took my letter to the Mahdicameback to-day. He says Mahdi received the letter; he assembled his councillors, and discussed the matter for ten days, then wrote au answer and toreit up. He then talked over matter for ten days more, and wrote another letter, which he tore up; after another three days hewrote an answer,and sent itby twoof hismen, whoare nowwaiting outside town. The Mahdi's messengers havecome in with the letter, whichproposes thatIshould become Mussulman. He says he looks after the Europeanprisoners;he assertshis claim to be Mahdi,so he is notlikely tostop short atKhartoum, but will push his pretensions beyond that. Ianswered thatIhad received his letters, styled him Sheikh Mohamed Ahmed— thus cancelling his Sultanship— and said there was end of negotiations. Mahdi sent me a dervish's dress, which Isent back. He returned the dress Isent him. The demeanour of Mahdi's emisaries was exceedingly cheeky. When they pertinaciously keptputting the bundle containingthe dervish's dress beforemeIdid not know what it contained, and getting crossIthrew it across the room;it was only after they left that my clerk, who gave it back to them, toldmeit was a filthy -patched dervish's coat. They refused to disarm as they entered my presence, and kept their hands upon their swords. Icould not help thinking that certainly no Mussulman would have let them go again,and so, at anyrate, my being Christian was relied onby them for safety."

For a moment agloam of hopepenetrated Khartoum. A report reached there to the effect that theEnglish had arrived at El Darner, and while confirmationof this news was being anxiously awaited, intelligence came of the rebels having captured theletter-post, but whether this was a post coming in,or one fromKhartoum on its way to Berber, whenceGordon's despatches were telegraphed *Narrative of an Egyptian soldier to the Daily News military correspondentat Korti.