The Opelousas courier., 1896-09-05

piece of broken knife blade; a scrap
of green cloth; two flowers (%marigolds
l think with only the heads remain
ing; o brick from the walls, and,
lastly, an iron affair, which l at once
recognized a the point Of one of those
sticks with which camels are urged
onward.
General Gordon lost no time in I'M
ravellng the mystery of this missive.
The green CLOTH he said, means the
mahdi, because his sacred flag Is green.
The knife blade stands for q sword,
and the decapitated flowers mean that
our hands are going to be cut off.
The brick, I take it, hints of treachry
inside the walls. The camel spike ad-
vises you to fly from Khartoum i'm
mediately. Where did you get this?'
"When I told him the source of my
information he was inclined to pooh
pooh 1brahim's letter. 1T is a boys
fear and fancy he said. 'We shall
be relieved in a few weeks
"But the generals men found an i'm
penetrable circle around the town--a
circle that grew narrower and narrow
er. Day after day we scanned the
desert horizon for some sign of the
expected relief, but without avail.
Day after day the impression grew
stronger upon each and all of us that
we we're doomed.
"During an early morning walk
1hro him oa0ncfo1 =, n q ~ I,lnr1 v oc h1
had done before. Ely effendi,' he
whispered. 'The city is; betrayed.
Ny father and other Muar,lmans have
decided to let the man,1 within the
gates. Disguise yourself and fly be-
fore it is too late. =
~ shook my head, for duty kept
me- in Kbartoum ; and Ibrahim retreat
ed with tears in those big, honest eyes
of his.
'sThe very next night his warning
was fulfilled. 1t would be idle, my
friend, to tell you oyer again all the
horrors of the capture, or rather be-.
trayal, of Khartoum. The mahdi's
soldiers were like tiends incarnate.
Spent with fatigue and slender fare
we could not stand before them. Cor
don. poor fellow, was slain, and a
remnant of us was driven, fighting for
life, from hut to hut across the city.
Finally, with empty revolvers
and broken swords, I found myself
in the stairway of a rude minaret,
waiting for the death which I felt to
inevitable. 1t is all very we'll to
meet death boldly on the field of bat
tie, with comrades and friends around
one, but to SIT down in q dark stair
way and count the minutes until its
coming might make the bravest man
in the world feel uncomfortable. All
around [ heard the hideous sounds of
and watched through a tiny
loop hole in the wall the red flames
shooting across the sky (for it was
midnight, ind a s~tarless midnight to
A k59ck feeling stole over me.
To remain cooped up thus seemed in
tolerable. I had just resolved to rush
into the thick of the Aoudanese and
sell my life as dearly as possible when
football On the stairs below arrested
me.
cit vas the sound of a naked foot,
and rs l peered, every sense on the
alert. into the half-light by the min
aret doorway, l vaguely distinguished
dark form and two shining eyes.
Was it one of the mahdi's in search of
human prey? I gripped my broken
sword tighter and prepared for action.
"'Efendi!' whispered a voice, lis it
you, protector of the poor?'
"The voice was that of Ibrahim, son
Of Hassan. My heart gave a leap for
gladness and I answered him that it
was indeed myself.
set is good hp exclaimed. my
lord, / have come to 8 " you. Hasten
down and don these garments which
have brought you. They belong to
The old blind rrievt who lodged with
my father. He died last night, but
nobody knows of it yet. You can pass
is the old priest and escape. Make
sahib, make nastel'
81 saw the chance and seized it.
you could have repeated the
proverbial Jack Robinson many
times I had pulled those baggy Ma
homedan clothes over NY soiled and
unlforra. A turban took
The place OF my khaki helmet and
around my face I draped the white
hood which the Soudanese Arabs wear.
Then, before I could protest, Ibrahim
seized a handful of mud and
literally daubed my face.
"'The sahib is too white, he ex-
The ~old blind priest was
black and dirty-so kick off
your boots, sahib, and let me daub
your feet Off went my boots; and
a minute OF two my legs from the
knee down were as brown land as dirty
IS they we'll might be.
"'You are all right now, effendi,"
aid Ibrahim, let US make for the
gate
"With all my heart I thanked the
but he would listen to no
You saved my life; I'll save
he said. Remember, effendi,
he mouse aud the lion. Let us hasten
the gate
"'But you are not coming be-
ran; when my protest was interrupt
ID by a troop of black mahdists surg
into the little by-street where we
TODD. Never shall I forget the sight
hey presented, in the false light of
he burning city, with their huge pile
# hair, their ferocious faces, and their
pears and scimetars a-drip with
blood. I had given myself over for
ost, when Ibrshim gripping my hand,
ed me onward, calling in sing-song
nnon. ERoam for tho llsnl .,ninnI