142 EGYPT AND THE SOUDAN.

It will be noted that in the present portion of the narrative, namely, the story of Khartum, many quotations have been made from General Gordon's telegrams and despatches. This has been considered desirable, as the whole of the circumstances were subject of heated controversy at the time, and even now opinions are greatly divided as to the course pursued by the government, the relative attitude of Gordon and those with whom he was corresponding by repeated messages, and the strangely diverse and even apparently contradictory conclusions which resulted from the rapidly-changing aspects of affairs.

With regard to this serious and important incident of the treachery of the two pashas, it is very desirable that we should mark Gordon's own account of the affair. Regarded in connection with his unchanged desire that Zebehr Pasha should be sent to Khartum his communication was very remarkable, if not strangely significant. After referring to the matters of the crowbars, the steamers, and the grave suspicions that these men had incited and directed the rebellion of the neighbouring tribes, Gordon says: — " I wonder that they never killed me, for I was often quite alone with them on the side of the river near rebels. After the disaster of the 16th of March I sent for them over to the palace; they looked very hang-dog, but I then never believed in their treachery, and thought that they had only been cowards. I had coffee brought, which they refused, and I afterwards heard that they felt sure I was going to poison them. Their having such a thought implies a guilty conscience. The wonder is why they came back after the defeat. I suppose they thought they had not done enough to profit the rebels. Said Pasha, though related to Zebehr, is his sworn foe, for he robbed Zebehr of a lot of money.

He was Zebehr's wakeel when Zebehr went to Cairo in 1876, and he was one of those who swore fidelity to Zebehr at the tree at Shaka. He came over to me in 1877 when Zebehr's son revolted. He was much compromised by a letter he wrote. I arrested him, and brought him here and forgave him, tearing up the letter in his presence. He was suspected of treachery in Hicks's advance, but somehow I felt he owed me so much that I could trust him.