GORDON AND THE MAHDI. 86 May 7 he drove them out of theirprincipal position with acouple ofwell-directed shots fromaKrupp20-pounder; but three weeks laterhe was,unfortunately, wounded by the rebelfire while working a mitrailleuse at the palace battery, and wasdisabled for a time.

We have a picturesque description of the daily life at Khartoum at this period of the siege,in the narrative of theEgyptian soldier to whomwehavepreviouslyreferred. "You wouldlike to knowthe story of our livesfrom day to day,"he said, to theDailyNewsmilitarycorrespondent at Korti, "but everyday was like yesterday and yesterday and to-day like to-morrow;therefore perhapsImay not tell you correctly in order as things occurred. Who could? There were days and nights of watching; we were like dogs guarding sheepfolds from the wolf or hyæna; but we were not down-hearted. Gordon kept saying to us, 'Patience, the English are coming— are coming. God watches over you.' He was a good man. 'My faithinGodneverfails/ he said;'neither letyours.' Inthe morningthe band would play to him early as he used to sit in the kiosque you willremember across the roadat the wall,over theNile. He tookhis coffee there; he thenwalked up and down on the top of his house.

After this he commenced the business of the dayin the rooms of the first storey of the Palace. Many officials now visitedhim; amongothers the bigEuropeanDoctor, Macolopo Bey, the Austrian andFrench Consuls, Georgio Demetrio(the Doctor), the Mudir of the Mudirieh,Ali Jeleb, and the Vakeel Mahomet Abdullah. The former stayed to the last;the other was killedwith Gordon. Then came the chief butchers and bakers. Often a womanvisitedhimcalledZeuoba. She wasvery wealthy; she used to payinto theMudireah some sixty or seventy thousand dollars at a time; lent to Government on Gordon's security or note of hand. She owned many shops, mills, and nuggars. She was an Egyptian, wife of fladj Mahomet, wood-turner. Suleiman Esyah, too,a chief merchant in Khartoum, used to lendmoney. He occupied twohouses in the uppermarket. After this, at midday, Gordon Pasha took his lunch. Business was renewed in the afternoon. At evening time he would ridealong the entrenchments from Blue to White Nile. The enemy were always firing in a desultory way. By accidentpeople used to behit day after day. "Soldierslinedthe trenches alldayandnight. There werefour guns there, two pointingtowards Bahr Ahead, one facing from the iron gate near the cemetery, one facing the villageof Burdi. Of the crowdsof blacks you speak ofliving in the poor quarters of Khartoum Gordon made soldiers. All men were compelled to carry arms, regular soldiers got rations of dhoora, the others got Governmentbiscuits. "Asit was at the time of the Tou el Kebeah(great flood); as itwill be at El Achrah (last day);as it has oftenbeen whenin cities of the earth enemies have been knocking at the gate without, they bought and sold; they married and were given in marriage; yes, there were the usual nuptial rejoicings— thebrides soon, alas, to be soldintoslavery! Mashallah ! It was theirkismet. There were the samegatherings round firesyou remember witnessing when theIhrunnahgah (dancing"girls) danced in the middle their ghan-ah-ghat to the tune of the terbukat. Thefestivities andfeastings tookplacenightly. The Soudanese are a light-hearted people even when a cloud hangs over them. You would have thought nothing was going amiss. It is true they believed the English werecoming. "We had still tobaccoand shoes, for there were shoemakersin the city. We strolled when off duty through This able officer, who rendered such good service during the Soudan war, was born in 1850, andobtained his first commission in the Royal Engineers in 1871.

Prior to his Egyptian experiences he had takenpart in the topographical survey of Western Palestine, and he wasadmirably fittedfor the taskof exploringtheKorosko desert, which was that originally assigned to him. Appointedearly in the monthof Mayhehad succeeded, three wTeekslater, in securing the services of over 2000 Arabs, and establishingachain of outposts extending to the RedSea,inview of stemmingthetide of therebellion.

However,if the revolt was prevented from spreading to the northernlimitsof the Soudan, the Mahdi's partisans had achievedseveral successesin the south. Already7 on May16, it was reported at Assouan that SlatenBey, who commandedthe stronghold ofEl Fasharin Darfour for the Khedive, had beenobligedto surrender earlyin the monthof April, andonMay 27 alettercame to hand fromthe luckless commander, in whichhesaid:— " After contendingagainst the rebels for two years, and after exhaustingmysuppliesofprovisionsand ammunition,Iwas reducedat last-to the expedientof castingcopper bullets, which had no effect upon the enemy. Having waited in vain for the assistance whichIhad repeatedly applied for, Iat length surrendered in order to avoid further bloodshed." The fall of El Fashar had, moreover, been followed by that of Mesalamia on the Blue Nile, where SalehBey,the commander, surrenderedfifty shiploads of food, seventy boxes of cartridges, 2020 rifles and a steamer, the Mehemet Ali. At the same time as this badnews came to hand aBerber refugeereported the capture of Mr. Cuzzi, at Sheriz, on the road to Korosko. The Sheikh Hassan,nephew of theKhalifa of Berber, who had accompanied the English agentinhis flight, was allowed to proceedonhis way,butMr. Cuzzi himself was sent to Kordofan, where, to save his life, he had to turn Mussulmanandprofess a beliefin the divine missionof theMahdi.

Meanwhile a vigorous defence was kept up at Khartoum. Mr. Power wrote to The Times newspaper on April 28 :— " Yesterdayand to-daythe rebels came down to a villageopposite and firedheavilyonthe Palace. We returned the fire with artillery and musketry, and on both the occasions the Arabs soon retreated. There was noloss on our side. The townis quiet. Over half the populationbefore the siegebeganwent overto the rebels, thus weedingout all bad characters. GeneralGordonis issuingrationsto the poor. Food is very dear. We have com and biscuits for about four months. GeneralGordon has issuedpapermoney,as our treasure is stillat Berber. The merchants accept it as money,and all the arrears to the soldiers can be thus paid off. GeneralGordonhas sent emissaries to offer to all the slaves of the rebels their freedomif they abandontheir mastersand come in. A messenger fromSyudMahometOsman, ofKassala, who is anEmir ofMecca andchief among the Mussulmans in the Soudan, has come inbringing a letter. The Syud says hehas beatentherebels around Kassala,andhe tells GeneralGordon to be of good heart and he and allhis men will come to his relief. Insuch respect is this man held that the rebels did not dare to stop the bearer of the letter."

In reference to the defences of the town Mr. Power added, that besides such obstacles as crows-feet, broken glass,wire entanglements and chevaux defrise,there were then three rows of torpedoes or percussionmines around thelines. These causedgreatloss oflifeamongtheArabs at each attack;and,moreover, Colonel Stewarteffectually kept them at bay with his splendidgunnery. On