g uniforms or the presence of the
Commander-in-chief, or embarrassed by their questions. Once or twice
an expression of surprise flitted over his face, but his eyes were
always fixed on Kitchener, who would now and again stoop and whisper
something in Lord Wolseley's ear. Once he raised his voice. The
prisoner heard its intonation and recognized him. With a fierce bound
the long, lithe Arab made a spring and was over the table, and had
seized Kitchener by the throat. There was a short, swift struggle,
Wolseley's eye glistened, and he half drew his sword. Kitchener,
athletic as he was, was being overpowered, and the Arab was throttling
him to death.

"There was a rush of the guard--and within ten minutes a cordon of
sentries surrounded the Mudir of Dongola's tent. Within three days he
was a prisoner in his palace at Dongola, guarded by half a battalion of
British soldiers. The conspiracy was broken.

"How widespread it was, only half a dozen white men knew at the
time. . . . To it the treachery of the Egyptian garrison at Khartoum
and the death of Gordon was due, and the preservation of the Desert
Column (the relief force), can be placed to its discovery."

The next few years in Kitchener's life, which we can but summarize,
show him wielding a masterful hand in the pacification of Egypt. After
Gordon's death, the command was reorganized, and Kitchener became a
Lieutenant Colonel of Cavalry. His duties took him to the extreme
outposts.

Halfway down the Red Sea, over against Mecca, is Suakim, the southern
outpost of Egypt. Suakim has the distinction of being one of the
hottest stations on earth, and one of the most desolate, comparable to
Central Arizona in the hot season. Here Kitchener served as Governor
from 1886 to 1888, with distinction. The following year found him
fighting on the frontier of the Soudan, the wild, vast back-country to
the south and west.

From 1889 to 1892 he served as Adjutant-General of the Egyptian Army,
nominally as an officer of the Sultan's viceroy, the Khedive; but in
reality the visible presence of England's protecting power. He
received several high decorations, which would show that he won the
esteem and confidence of his Egyptian patrons. Finally in 1893 the
Khedive made him Sirdar, or Commander-in-chief.

South of the Egyptian frontier, on the Upper Nile among the cataracts,
the three cities, Dongola, Berber, and Khartoum form a triangle of
trading centers. Kitch