The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-11-07

four, which included six non-commis-
stoned officers and two civilians, all
others being officers.
"The Boer wal had, of course,
drawn down the number of those ad-
m~inistering the great savage British
Egyptian empire of the Soudan, but
my informant could make out only
seventy as the roster before the
leakage to South Africa. These men
command troops either Egyptian or
Sudanese. They have splendidly
nodded this black material-yet only
two months before my arrival in
Khartoum there had been a serious
conspiracy among the Egyptian Off
GERS, and many OF the Sudanese SOL
diers had been of the Mahdi's men,
mad with religious zeal against the
infidel. Courageous, cool, loyal are
these British officers, chosen for hard
work in the far n of the earth.
But months of solitude (for in a sense
it is solitude to be surrounded only
by insecure, though friendly blacks),
will gradually deteriorate the strong
est fibre. One more white man at
each such post might make a great
difference-not only in the life of
the individual officer, but in the mon
ey-and-blood cost to the controlling
power.
ut does not follow that the pres
ence of duplicate officers in the three
Somali towns would surely have pre-
vented this particular movement of
the Mad Mullah. But, as assistant
taking over for a time the daily duties
OF God-on-Earth, performed by the
officer in charge at Berbera or leila
the senior would have time to think,
would get out of the rut into the busy
routine into which the town holds
him, would be better prepared in
many ways to, deal with those compli-
Gated undercurrents which now sep
arate, now unite, the nomadic tribes
of the interior. He would at least
have a better knowledge of the land
over which he may have to fight.
"The Mad Mullah is so deeply re-
ligious that half the soldiers in his
camp are engaged in prayer when
they are not drilling or attending to
their camp duties. The natives are
absolutely fearless of death and be-
lieve that defeat under the Mad Null
lab is impossible and hold to the
view that heaven is the reward of
all those who die by the bullets of
the hated foe.
Great Britain is in no humor for
another war. The Boer campaign
cost $500, 900 900 and is not over yet.
or course, India has an enormous
army of native troops Differed by
Englishmen, but to send them away
would be to invite another uprising
and the old mutiny is not forgotten.
Enough English blood has been
spilled already, the English think,
but the Mad Mullah mutters and
Great Britain shudders.
PERSONALLY the Mad Mullah is an
extraordinary man. He, while despis-
ing the civilization of the effete west,
has secretly made a study of every in
vention the news of which came to
his own city. 1t is rumored that
among the prisoners taken years ago
by this queer chieftain is an English
otlcer, who was, as most English
officers are, a graduate of Sandhurst.
corresponds to our West Point.
story is that this man has taught
not only his own language to the
Mad Mullah, but has shown him the
mysteries of telegraphy, the telephone
and other things, including the science
of military strategy and that of arms
in general.
THE Mullah is personally so strong
that he is said to be able to break
iron bar in two as easily as the
average man snaps a walking stick.
He has a host of soothstyers and
priests about him, whom he consults
all possible occasions"
Homeseekers' Excursion