234 WITH KITCHENEK IN THE SOUDAN At half-past four the Sirdar with his staff entered the town accompanied by Maxwell’s Egyptian brigade. Only a few shots were fired; the Dervish courage was broken. It was to the followers of the Prophet, and not to the infidels, that the plains of Kerreri had proved fatal. It was their bodies and not those of the white soldiers that were strewn there so thickly. The promise of the Khalifa had been falsified, the tomb of the Mahdi was crumbling into ruins, the bravest of their troops had fallen—what more was there to be done ? As Slatin Pasha rode in at the head of the troops he was instantly recognized by the people, among whom for years he had been a prisoner; and on his assurances that mercy would be shown to all if there was no resistance, numbers of the Dervishes came out from their houses and huts and laid down their arms. The women flocked out into the streets, uttering their long and quavering cries of welcome. To them the entry of the British was a relief from a living death, as almost all were captives taken in war or in the Dervish raids upon quiet villages. They could scarce even yet believe that they were free—that their tyrants were slain or fugitives. Intense was the surprise and relief of the population when they were told that there would be no looting—no harm done to any by the conquerors; that all would be free, if they chose, to depart to their homes, and to take their few belongings with them.

The scene in the town was awful,—the stench overpowering ! The Dervishes were absolutely ignorant of all sanitary methods,—pools of the foulest slush abounded, and thousands of dead animals in all stages of decomposition lay about the streets. Among them were numerous dead bodies, principally of girls and women who had been killed by their brutal husbands or masters to prevent them from falling into the hands of the British. There were also many dead Dervishes, and others desperately wounded. Strangely enough, the latter did not seem to regard their victorious enemy with the hate that had been exhibited by many of the wounded in the