The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-10-16

the Egyptians feet off, Some of them
were so belabored that they could not
walk for weeks, their feet being cut and
swollen, but it stamped out all coward
ice in the army
Kitchener is a martinez in the OBJ
servance of rules and is severe in pun
ishing. He comes down rather heavily
on drunkenness, and for this reason
has made himself to a certain extent
unpopular with some of his soldiers.
Rogers, his body servant, is a tee
totaler, which is an exceedingly rare
thing to find in the ranks of Tommy
Atkins 'Kitchener's cure for drunk
enness' is by-word among his men,
Once taken it is never forgotten. The
culprit is logged out in full marching
equipment, which is a matter of sixty
pounds, and is then compelled to carry
in each hand a bag Of shot weighing
fifty pounds. A sergeant and a guard
are put over the victim to see that he
does not stop walking or drop the shot.
A man is sometimes kept at this "Shot
drill for six hours.
Another severity which called down
unpleasant comments on Kitchener was
his order xiii the wounded Dervishes."
England heard of this with horror, but
the British soldiers were loud in their
praises Kitchener had seen how these
Dervishes, after being wounded, would
lie quiet on the battlefield, concealing in
their clothes a pistol or scimitar-shaped
knife When the ambulance corpssand
surgeons came out on the field TO give
aid to the wounded enemy these fell
lows would wriggle out through the
heaps of slain and give a last thrust or
put a bullet in q nurse or doctor At
other times they would hamstring
horse, and in this way disabled nearly
the whole "Black Watch" Kitchener's
order is carried out to this day. 1t was
the soldiers only protection.
"There were 5000 men in that first ex-
petition" continued Mr.. Morrell, "and
they moved along like clockwork. The
Canadians were expert at shooting the
rapids, and could have made splendid
time But our orders from London
were to proceed at eight and ten miles
a day. Kitchener was for pushing for
ward in spite of orders. God he would
exclaim, poor Gordon will be murdered
Just because of lot of fogheads at
home Every day or two a runner
would reach camp after making his
way through the Mahdi's army in dis
guise and tell US that Gordon's provis-
ions were almost gone and that he
could hold out but a few days. Kitch-
ener had figured out almost to the hour
when we would reach Khartoum at the
rate We were travelling, and decided
that we would get there too late. But
he was only a junior officer. and his
counsels to push forward did not pre-
vail
THE men were all with him, though
they could never quite understand him.
At one time he would tear along on his
Said, cursing the slow motion of the
army, and at other times he would ride
along hardly paying any attention to
his horse, and intently reading the
Koran or some volume of the ancient
Persian and Arabian poets He knows
the Koran so well that he can quote it
to the Sheiks with more f1uency than
the Arabs themselves.
Finally we were getting near Khar-
toum and hopes of saving Gordon be-
gan to rise They were suddenly dashed
to earth, though, by the arrival Of a
Greek named Lycurgus, who was car
ried into camp almost dead. He brought
a message from Gordon and Frank
Power. correspondent Of the London
Times. to Come quick for Gods sake
IT was then too late, though, for the
Greek had just got clear of the Mahdi's
lines when the Dervishes broke into
Khartoum and began the massacre. We
reached there two days later. only to
find the city deluged In blood. Had
Kitchener had his way we could have
saved Gordon"