190 Seven Years in the Soudan.

many herrings. Many were in cliains. But what surprised me most, was to find in the cabin an officer of the regular army of Lado.

I made the slaves, ninety-two in number, men and women, come up on deck. Having been in the hold for several days without fresh air, there was such a stench below, that it was impossible to breathe. On making inquiries as to where the slaves came from, I ascertained that the cargo belonged to Colonel Ibrahim Fauzi Bey, Goveruor-General of Central Africa, Makraka, Manbettu, Kohl, and the Gazelle river.

The delegate of the station of observation on the Sobat, as well as the Governor of Fashoda, must have been implicated in the affair, for it seemed from my inquiries that the dahabia had touched at both those places without being arrested.

I put some guards on board the slaver, passing the night on the same spot, and immediately wrote to report the capture at Khartoum.

At break of day, I was just up when Yussuf Bey announced himself. He was in great agitation, and on entering the saloon he almost threw himself at my feet, and implored pardon for the Reis Abdulkerim, his brother-in-law.

1 felt so indignant at this cool request that I could not help ordering him to leave me, adding reproachfull v : " And this is the loyalt}" with which you serve your sovereign and Gordon, whom you honour with the title of Bey, and whom you betray in this manner." I sorrowfully asked myself what kind of help I could expect from the men placed under my command, if the highest official after myself could betray the Governor in this way. Meanwhile a steamer had come in sight. One of our sailors climbed the mast and reported that it Avas the Ii<mailia, which had got afloat without help by the rising of the water, and had thus escaped falling into the hands of the