The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1898-09-14

terly exhausted, 1 was just dropping of
10 sleep at early dawn when l wa!
| startled by the deafening discharge o.
| thousands Of guns. This lasted for few
minutes, then only occasional rife snotl
were heard, and now all was quiet again
1t was scarcely light and l could barely
distinguish objects Could X possibly be
the great attack on Khartoum? wild
discharge OF firearms and cannon and il
| a few minutes complete stiffness
| The sun was now rising red over the
| horizon What would this day bring forth
| Excited and agitated ! awaited the result
with intense Impotence. Soon shouts Of
! rejoicing and victory were heard in the
| distance. ard my guards ran of 20 find
| the news. In few minutes they were
back again. excitedly relating how Khar-
| toum had been taken by storm and was
now in the hands OF the Mahdsts. Was
! il possible the news was false? l crawled
| out Of my tent and scanned the camp
| A great crowd had collected before the
quarters of the Mahdi and the Khalifa,
| which were no. far off. Then there was
a movement In the direction OF my tent,
and I could see plainly they were coming
| toward me.
I'm t1ont marched three black soldiers;
one. named Shatta, formerly belonging TO
Ahmed Bey Dafalia's slave bodyguard,
carried in his hands a bloody cloth in
which something was wrapped up. and
behind him followed a crowd of people
weeping. The slaves ha d now approached
| my tent and stood before me with insult
! ing gestures. Shatta undid the cloth All
showed me the head of General Gordon.
The blood rushed TO my head and my
heart seemed to stop beating, but with a
| tremendous effort of self-control I gazed
silently at this CHASTITY spectacle. His
blue eyes were half opened; the mouth
was perfectly natural; the hair Of his head
and his short whiskers were almost white.
"Ts not this the head of your uncle, the
unbeliever,' said Shatta, holding the head
| before me.
What of itT said I, quietly. "A brave
soldier who fell at his post. Happy is
he to have fallen. His sufferings are
over
"'Ha, ha' said Shatta. so you Sill
praise the unbeliever, bu, you will soon
see the result And leaving me, h. went
off to the Mahdi bearing his terrible to-
ken Of victory. Behind him followed the
crowd, still weeping.
Il re-entered my tent. was now utter
" teartbroken. KhartoUm fallen and
Goroon deadl AMI this was the end of
the brave soldier wac had fallen ar his
post; the end of a man whose courage and
utter disregard of fear were remarkable
and whose personal characteristics had
given him a celebrity in the world which
was quite exceptional
"Of what use was the English army
now? How fatal had been the delay at
Metemmeh! The English advance guard
had reached Gubat on the Nile on the
goth of January, 1885, at 1 Ga. m. On the
21st Gordons four steamers had arrived.
Then why did they not send some Eng
lishmen on board, no matter how few, and
dispatch them instantly TO Khartoum? II
they could only have been seen in the
town tie garrison would have taken fresh
hope, and would have fought tooth and
nail against the enemy, while the fnhao-
itants, who had lost all confidence in Cor
dons promises, would have Joined most
heartily in resisting the Dervish attack,
knowing that the relief expedition was
now certain to reach them
Gordon, of course. had done his utmost
English army was coming; ne had made
a paper currency, had distributed decora-
tons and honors almost daily in order to
keep up the hearts of the garrison, and, as
the position had become more desperate,
he had madealmost superhuman efforts TO
induce the troops to hold out. But despair
had taken possession of them. What was
the use of all these decorations now2 What
good were all their ranks and honors?
And as for the paper money. perhaps there
were one or two still hopeful people who
would buy a pound note for couple of
piastres on the chance that by some stroke
of luck the government might yet be vic
torious; but gradually even Tese slender
hopes disappeared. Gordon's promises were
no longer credited.
"If but one steamer with a few English
officers had reached the Nile, the troops
and inhabitants would have doubted no
longer, and they would have been con-
WINGED that Gordons words were true.
English officers would at once haveno-
ticed that part of the lines which had been
damaged by the overflow Of the White Nile
and could have ordered its repair. But
what could Gordon do single handed and
without the assistance of any European
officers? 1t was impossible for him TO
look to everything. nor had he the means
of seeing that his orders were carried out
to his satisfaction. How was 1t possible
for a commander who could not give his
troops food to expect these starving men to
carry out with precision and energy the
instructions he issued?"
treated with greatcruelty and indignity.
He had embraced the Mohammedan reli-
gion and taken the oath of allegiance 10
the mahdi. but the khalifa spat upon him
daily to remind him of his infidel origin.
He was compelled to run behind the khal-
ifa horse when entering the city of Oar
fur, which he formerly governed.
Khartoum really no longer exists. That
once prosperous city was wiped out by the
mahdists. On a neighboring site they
built Omdurman. This is the city which
the British have just entered. They hold
also the ruins of Khartoum.
Shortly after the fall of Khartoum the
mahdi died. He named as his successor
the Khalifs Abduuahi. one OF his four prin-
cipal generals.
When the khalifa had been in power less
than a year. in 1856. he ordered the inhab-
itants Of Khartoum to leave the city with
in three days
on the fourth day the work OF destruc-
ton began. The houses were pulled down,
the carved woodwork and everything OF
value carried across the river. Soon the
town was only 1T as home for the desert
wolves.