The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1896-07-09

| wv da at Shepheards ho'ei.
Cairo lay beneath and
around us-Cairo filthy. multi-colored,
and malodorous, but always pictur-
esque. Suddenly an Arab boy came
around the corner, and with n salaam
of the deepest, handed some mail TO
Grimshaw. Then he squatted down
ON the veranda boards, with his great
black eyes fixed on my companions
face. waiting for further orders.
"Your boy, Captain?" asked.
"Yes," replied Grimshaw. ''but good
deal more than that. shonld be buried
in the Soudan now if it were not for
Ibrahim yonder"
"Tell me about it. please" / asked,
rather eagerly; for this small Arab in
the clear, white tunic. and brilliant tur-
ban interested me nightly.
Grimshaw settled himself back in the
| bungalow chair and began:
you know, of course" he said, that
was in Khartoum with Gordon. l
did not regularly belong to the Gener-
ais forces, but / had volunteered as
one of his aides-de-camD. Well, we
were shut up in that death trap City OF
| khartoum, surrounded on every side
by the forces of the Mahdi-myriads of
fanatical SoudaneSe Arabs following
| that high priest of bloodshed. We En-
glish were but mere handful of men;
the auXiliar~- forces we're wretchedly
small. Our only hope was aid from
Egypt; and, as the whole world knows,
that never came. Poor Gordon was al
lowed to fall victim to the MahdfS
sword, and most of the garrison were
slain. With the exception of Slatin
Rey, who became Mussulman, think
l was the only European who got out
of the doomed city with his life. That
did so was due to Ibrahim."
Here the Arab boy-hearing his name
mentioned-looked up and smiled,
showing 2 row of teeth exceptionally
even and white.
"a few days after we entered Khar-
toum," continued Grimshaw, Il was
patroling th> town under Gen. Gordon's
order, when we came across great
rabble Of boys, hallooing and shouting
at deafenilg rate. / sent an Egyp-
tian soldier to discover the cause, and
he reported that the young fuzzy-wuz-
zies' Gt is so that Private Atkins of her
Majesty's troops denominates the Sou
danese) were having fun with one of
their number. 1 was then, as now, m
tenSely interested in native manners
and customs. Halting my men, en-
tered the boisterous Gordon of boys to
determine the reason Of their tumult.
'The little rascals were teasing one
of their number. Teasing indeed, in
this case, is too mid word. They
were beating and stoning the lad, who
lay bruised and half-blinded in the gut
ter. is turban was off, and his al
ready scant clothing had been torn to
shredS. / Sprang into the middle of the
mob and demanded the cause of such
brutal treatment. At first they affect
ed not to understand my Arabic, and
went on bea ting their victim, but when
l had soundly cuffed one or two and |
summoned my interpreter to my aid,
l succeeded in making them answer.
"'He is the reneSade's son. said |
ngleader-'Hassan, the renegade's !
son. Stone him, in the name of the |
prophet
'Then / understood. The poor boys |
father had taken service with Gordon, |
leaving his offspring TO suffer all the
cruelties which the Khartoum chill
dren, egged ON by their elders. were |
sure to inflict upon him. / lost no time |
in calling up a few men and sending |
that pack of youthful fanatics to the !
right about. They went away, vowing |
dire vengeance on the 'renegade's |
brat and l raised my protege from the |
dust. He had tainted from pain and |
loss of blood, but one of our surgeons
soon brought him to. When he opened |
his eyes and saw me he smiled like a |
little coffee-colored angel and wanted |
there and then to give me his best |
salaam. OF course | made him lie down |
again, but he blurted out his gratitude |
for preservation SO vigorously that he |
came near fainting again.
Next day his father Hassan. one of |
Gordon'S servants, came to see him.
The two had long talk, and finally
Hassan announced that for his sons |
sake he had decided to leave the Gen
eral and go back to his cobbler's stall |
in the bazaar. Ibrahim-for the lad |
whom l had helped to rescue was the |
same one now sitting before you
soon recovered, thanks to his native, |
tough constitution. He left my hut.
absolutely refusing to touch any of
the money which 1 offered him.
Protector of the poor he said in |
his quaint, grandiloQuent Eastern way,
you have saved your servants life. |
Did not the mouse once repay the lion |
that had been his benefactor? Lo! |
I am the mouse, effendi; and you are
the lion. Perhaps some day / may re-
pay you. Salaam. friendr Then he
backed out of my hut, and saw him
not for many days.
IL
"One evening, while hurrying through |
the bazaar on my way to Gen. Gordon's
quarters, Il boy sprang out of n cob
bler's stall and handed me Il tiny bun
dle-slipping away into the darkness
before l had time to do more than rec
ognize him as Ibrahim, son of HaSSan
l carried the bundle to the General,
and together we undid its fastenings |
Have you ever deciphered an Oriental
object letter? | mean letter which |
is not written upon paper, but of which
the sense is conveyed by objects-fow
ers and the like. The bundle handed
me by Ibrahim was just such q commu-
nication. 1t contained n queer collec-
ton of articles. They were: A piece
of broken knife blade, scrap of green
cloth, two flowers (marigolds, l think /
with only the heads remaining, a brick
from the walls, and, lastly, an iron af.
fair, which at once recognized as the
point of one of those sticks with which
camels are urged onward.
"Gen. Gordon lost no time in unrav-
cling the mystery of this missive. The
green CLOTH he said, means the Mahdi.
because his sacred flag is green. The
knife blade stands for a sword. and the