because his powder was almost exhausted, and his men were
reduced to pick up bullets from the field of combat. Tidings of his
position reached Suleiman, who made a final attack on the 28th of
January 1879, but owing to the fortunate arrival of a small supply of
powder, Gessi was able to fight and win another battle.

It was not until the 11th March, however, that Gessi received a
sufficient supply of ammunition to enable him to assume the offensive.
Suleiman's camp or fort was a strongly barricaded enclosure,
surrounded by a double row of trunks of trees. The centre of the
enclosure was occupied by an inner fort, which was Suleiman's own
residence. On Gessi attacking it, his first shell set fire to one of
the huts, and as the wood was dry, the whole encampment was soon in a
blaze. Driven to desperation, the brigands sallied forth, only to be
driven back by the steady fire of Gessi's troops, who by this time
were full of confidence in their leader. Then the former broke into
flight, escaping wherever they could. Suleiman was among those who
escaped, although eleven of his chiefs were slain, and the unfortunate
exhaustion of Gessi's powder again provided him with the respite to
rally his followers and make another bid for power.

This further period of enforced inaction terminated at the end of
April, when the arrival of a full supply of powder and cartridges
enabled Gessi to take the field for the last time. On the 1st May the
Egyptian commander started to attack the slave robber in his last
stronghold, Dem Suleiman. Three days later he fought the first of
these final battles outside that fort, and succeeded in cutting off
the retreat of the vanquished Arabs into that place of shelter. He
then broke into the fort itself, where there were only a few men, and
he almost succeeded in capturing Suleiman, who fled through one gate
as Gessi entered by another. Thanks to the fleetness of his horse,
Suleiman succeeded in making good his escape. Before his hurried
flight Suleiman murdered four prisoners sooner than allow of their
recapture, and throughout the long pursuit that now began all slaves
or black troops who could not keep up were killed. These were not the
only crimes perpetrated by these brigands. Superstition, or the mere
pleasure of cruelty, had induced them when their fortunes were getting
low to consecrate a new banner by bathing it in the blood of a
murdered child. For these iniquities the hour of expiation had n