Fire and sword in the Sudan : a personal narrative of fighting and serving the Dervishes, 1879-1895 . ff; then there was a movement in thedirection of my tent; and I could see plainly they werecoming towards me. In front, marched three Black sol-diers ; one named Shatta, formerly belonging to AhmedBey Dafallas slave body-guard, carried in his hands abloody cloth in which something was wrapped up, andbehind him followed a crowd of people weeping. Theslaves had now approached my tent, and stood beforeme with insulting gestures; Shatta undid the cloth andshowed me the head of General Gordon! The
Fire and sword in the Sudan : a personal narrative of fighting and serving the Dervishes, 1879-1895 . ff; then there was a movement in thedirection of my tent; and I could see plainly they werecoming towards me. In front, marched three Black sol-diers ; one named Shatta, formerly belonging to AhmedBey Dafallas slave body-guard, carried in his hands abloody cloth in which something was wrapped up, andbehind him followed a crowd of people weeping. Theslaves had now approached my tent, and stood beforeme with insulting gestures; Shatta undid the cloth andshowed me the head of General Gordon! The blood rushed to my head, and my heart seemed tostop beating; but, with a tremendous effort of self-control,I gazed silently at this ghastly spectacle. His blue eyeswere half-opened ; the mouth was perfectly natural; the hairof his head, and his short whiskers, were almost quite white. ** Is not this the head of your uncle the unbeliever?said Shatta, holding the head up before me. What of it? said I, quietly. *A brave soldier whofell at his post; happy is he to have fallen; his sufferingsare o u o O C Soc THE SIEGE AND FALL OF KHARTUM. 341 ** Ha, ha! said Shatta, so you still praise the unbe-liever; but you will soon see the result; and, leaving me,he went off to the Mahdi, bearing his terrible token ofvictory; behind him followed the crowd, still weeping. I re-entered my tent. I was now utterly broken-hearted : Khartum fallen, and Gordon dead ! And this wasthe end of the brave soldier who had fallen at his post, — theend of a man whose courage and utter disregard of fear wereremarkable, and whose personal characteristics had givenhim a celebrity in the world which was quite exceptional. Of what use was the English army now? How fatalhad been the delay at Metemmeh ! The English advancedguard had reached Gubat on the Nile, on the 20th ofJanuary, at 10 A. M.; on the 21st, Gordons four steamershad arrived. Then why did they not send some English-men on board, no matter how
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1896
