# A Prisoner of the Khaleefa

A PRISONER OF THE KHALEEFA
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A PRISONER OF · ·
· · THE KHALEEFA
Twelve Years Captivity at Omdurman
BY
CHARLES NEUFELD
WITH NUMEROUS PORTRAITS AND PLANS
LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL, LD.
1899
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PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES.
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Dedication
TO
PUBLIC OPINION
CHARLES NEUFELD
CONTENTS :
| INTRODUCTION ||
| pages ||
| The calumnies of critics — My female slave — Real object of my journey — Preliminary arrangements — General Stephenson's letter | 1-7 |
| CHAPTER I ||
| I START FOR KORDOFAN ||
| Engagement of guides — A neglected warning — Hasseena accompanies the party — Dervishes reported on the road Non-arrival of Hogal — Dervishes sighted at Selima Wells | 8-14 |
| CHAPTER II ||
| BETRAYED BY GUIDES ||
| Different routes over the — desert A quarrel amongst the guides — Scouts sent out — Hassan convicted of error — Zigzagging in the desert — A council of war — Surprised by the dervishes — The fight — Taken prisoners | 15-28 |
| CHAPTER III ||
| IN THE HANDS OF THE DERVISHES ||
| Conference of the Emirs Farag and Hamza — Halt for the night — Baggage looted by dervishes — The Emirs confiscate all treasure for the Beit-el-Mal — Cross-questioned on my letters — Called a Government spy — Tortured by dervish guards — Rescued by Hamza and reserved for Wad en Nejoumi | 29-40 ​ |
| CHAPTER IV ||
| ARRIVAL IN DONGOLA ||
| Display of dervish horsemanship — Flogging among the Ansar — Hasseena is searched — Insults of the rabble — I am brought before Nejoumi — I declare myself a merchant — Evidence of a Christian girl-convert against me — Execution of fourteen Arabs of the party — I am re-examined and sent to the Khaleefa | 41-52 |
| CHAPTER V ||
| THE REAL HISTORY OF THE CAPTURE ||
| Extracts from newspaper and official accounts — The antecedents of the guide Gabou — Dissensions in the Kabbabish tribe — Gabou schemes for his own section — Hassan's part in the matter — Gabou reveals the plot to Nejoumi and enlists Hogal on his side — The Emirs prepare to intercept me — Capture of the caravan — Hogal's deceit and its excuse | 53-63 |
| CHAPTER VI ||
| DONGOLA TO OMDURMAN ||
| Preparations for the journey — Nejoumi's friendly disposition to the Government — His loss of faith in the Mahdist movement — Why the guide Amin was executed — Horrible death of an old Arab woman — In the market-place of Omdurman — First meeting with Slatin I am chained and tortured — I defy the Khaleefa — A mock execution — The Khaleefa is merciful — Slatin intervenes — Letter to Mankarious Effendi — Imprisoned by Slatin's advice | 64-79 |
| CHAPTER VII ||
| THROWN INTO PRISON ||
| Methods of shackling — My first night in prison — Hasseena sent to the head-gaoler's hareem — Mahmoud Wad Said — Ajjab Abou Jinn — The three sons of Awad el Kerim — Sheikh Hamad El Nil — Ahmed Abdel Maajid and his bride — Lessons in Mahdieh — I visit Khartoum in chains — Again before the Khaleefa — My chains removed | 80-92 ​ |
| CHAPTER VIII ||
| PRISON LIFE ||
| Prayers — Night in the Abou Hagar — Possibilities of escape — News from Egypt — Idris-es-Saier — His methods of extortion — A prison homily — Effectual blackmail | 93-104 |
| CHAPTER IX ||
| MY FIRST CHANCE OF ESCAPE ||
| Ahmed Nur ed Din — His relations with Gabou — We plan an escape — Death of Nur ed Din — My sickness and recovery — Treatment of typhus — I decline to be converted — Meal-time in the Saier — Father Ohrwalder's charity — A famine — The struggle for food — Ministrations of Hasseena — Mutual help amongst the prisoners | 105-119 |
| CHAPTER X ||
| PRISON JUSTICE ||
| Escapes from the Saier — The advantages of matrimony — Tactics of the gaolers — I become doctor to the hareems — — Discipline amongst women prisoners — My first flogging — The gaoler dismissed — Method of flogging — I am flogged again — My mental agony | 120-133 |
| CHAPTER XI ||
| A SERIOUS DILEMMA ||
| Newspaper calumnies — Hasseena's condition — A disputed paternity — Mohammedan laws of marriage and divorce — I decide to claim the child — Idris disputes the claim — A jury of matrons decides in my favour — Birth of "Makkieh" — The Khaleefa's congratulations — Joseppi, the German baker | 134-144 |
| CHAPTER XII ||
| IBRAHIM WAD ADLAN ||
| Friendship with Wad Adlan — His directorship of the Beit-el-Mal — The Khaleefa grows jealous — Adlan thrown into prison — The advantages of trading — Adlan reinstated — I design the Mahdi's tomb — Letters to Mankarious Effendi — The guide Moussa Daoud el Kanaga — Reports from Egypt — Escape of Joseppi — Treachery of spies — Disgrace and death of Adlan | 145-159 ​ |
| CHAPTER XIII ||
| THE TRUE HISTORY OF MY ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE ||
| Letters of the German Consul and my manager to Mankarious — Kanaga's visit to Cairo — He receives a letter to Slatin — He is captured at Berber and turns back — The War Office letter to my wife — My answer to calumnies | 160-169 |
| CHAPTER XIV ||
| A PRISONER AT LARGE ||
| Belief in evil spirits — Shwybo as an alchemist — He is flogged for his pains — I am told to make saltpetre — Released from my fetters — The gunpowder factory at Halfeyeh — Death of Makkieh — I am transferred to Khartoum — Our gunpowder a deliberate failure — Visits of Father Ohrwalder — News of his escape. | 170-184 |
| CHAPTER XV ||
| DIVORCED AND MARRIED ||
| Hasseena's thievish propensities — I am compelled to divorce her — The Khaleefa finds me a wife — I forestall his good offices — Umm es Shole — Mohammedan divorce and re-marriage — A further dilemma — The second child dies — Hasseena proves irreclaimable | 185-194 |
| CHAPTER XVI ||
| HOPE AND DESPAIR ||
| Mankarious' first envoy returns — Arrival of second envoy — Rossignoli's guide Abdallah — Projected method of escape — Abdallah's treatment of Rossignoli — Slatin escapes — My chains redoubled — The Khaleefa's fury — Slatin's reputation amongst the Mahdists — His letter read to the Muslimanieh — Confiscation of his wives and property — My deliverer returns — I am again in the Saier | 195-208 ​ |
| CHAPTER XVII ||
| A NEW OCCUPATION ||
| Nahoum Abbajee engages me — Emptiness of the treasury — Unsatisfactory state of the currency — I am transferred to the arsenal — I design blocks for the Mint — We do great damage — The Khaleefa's buried treasure | 209-215 |
| CHAPTER XVIII ||
| MY SECOND IMPRISONMENT ||
| Idris a reformed character — He ensures my kind treatment — Fauzi's first night in prison — Kadi Ahmed's captivity — His death by starvation — Death of Wad Zarah — Letters from Europe — My replies — My reflections in prison | 216-225 |
| CHAPTER XIX ||
| RUMOURS OF RELIEF ||
| Khartoum again — Thoughts of Gordon — At work in the arsenal — Extracting precious metals — Chemical experiments — The troops advancing — I invent a powder-mill — Its manifold defects — I scheme to gain time — Wholesale destruction of metal — Repairing a steamer — My letter to Onoor — In a fever for news | 226-241 |
| CHAPTER XX ||
| PREPARING TO RECEIVE THE GUNBOATS ||
| In the Saier as a visitor — I send intelligence to the English — Anxiety amongst my circle — Embassy from Abyssinia — The Khaleefa's reply — Mahmoud disobeys orders — Defeat of Osman and Mahmoud at the Atbara — Manufacture of torpedoes — I decline to assist — My chains redoubled — The torpedoes explode — I become a centre for Government sympathizers — Frustrating the mines | 242-256 |
| CHAPTER XXI ||
| NEARING THE END ||
| Conflicting rumours — Appeals to prophecy — I suggest a night attack — I send more information to the army — Mad struggle with a gaoler — Negotiations with Idris — The Khaleefa sallies out — The gunboats open fire — I go mad — Arrival of fugitives — The riderless horse — The Khaleefa's despair | 257-268 ​ |
| CHAPTER XXII ||
| AT LAST ||
| Threats of the prisoners — The routed army in flight — Macdonald's brigade — Illuminating the Ratib — Soudanese sang-froid — Sheikh ed Din repulsed — Attack upon Macdonald — Destruction of Yacoub — Flight of the Khaleefa — His narrow escape from the Sirdar — The Sirdar enters the prison — We meet — The head-quarters' mess — Mr. Bennet Burleigh — My German tongue forsakes me | 269-280 |
| CHAPTER XXIII ||
| THE SIRDAR AND SAVAGE WARFARE ||
| The looting of Omdurman — Soudanese troops to the rescue — Genial horseplay — A war correspondent's article — The Sirdar errs in giving quarter — Lex talionis — The ferocity of wounded dervishes — No succour desirable — A challenge to correspondents | 281-288 |
| CHAPTER XXIV ||
| BACK TO CIVILIZATION ||
| High hopes — Disillusionment — Attitude of the War Office — I am forced to defend myself — Newspaper calumnies — The News Agency representative — A good Samaritan — Sir George Newnes | 289-299 |
| CHAPTER XXV ||
| HOW GORDON DIED ||
| Conflicting accounts — A hero's death — Hope deferred — Gordon's last night — Value of my testimony — Father Ohrwalder's evidence — "Ten Years' Captivity" criticized — Justification of Gordon — The trader as missionary — A tribute to Gordon | 300-324 |
APPENDICES :
| Appendix 1. ||
| Hassan Bey Hassanein | 325-331 |
| Appendix 2. ||
| Orphali | 332-337 |
| Appendix 3. ||
| Letter dictated by the Khaleefa to General Stephenson | 338-339 |
| Appendix 4. ||
| Ibrahim Pasha Fauzi Gordon's favourite officer | 340-345 |
| Appendix 5. ||
| Ahmed Youssef Kandeel | 346-348 |
| Appendix 6. ||
| The Soudan: its Past, Present, and Future | 349-359 |
This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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