him seated on his sheepskin in the
midst of a circle of emirs, and when he had beckoned to us to sit down,
he then began to address to us a heap of questions, all leading up to
the one important point--that we should accept his faith. His arguments
were valueless, and had no effect upon us, so we were sent back to our
huts.

That evening, at about sunset, some thirty men, mounted on horses, broke
into our humble abode, and said that they had orders to remove the
sisters, assuring us with mock modesty that no harm should happen to
them. We, however, well knew what would happen, and absolutely refused
to be separated, saying that if they wished they could kill us, and cut
off our heads; but that it would be a cruel shame for the Mahdi to
ill-treat these poor women after all his solemn promises and assurances.
But of what avail could our protests be against brutal violence! They
forced their way in, seized the sisters, and took them before the
Khalifa Abdullah. He and Khalifa Sherif used every means of cruel
barbarity to shake the faith of these poor sisters, and the latter,
seizing a pair of scissors, which one of the sisters was carrying, cut
the partition between her nostrils. The Khalifa's wives also howled and
insulted them in every base way, and then they were distributed amongst
the emirs, and sent to Rahad.

We spent that night in our own huts, but early the following morning the
Dervishes came and took us to the Khalifa, who made us over to various
emirs. My master was to be Abdullah Wad en Nur; but as at that time he
happened to be at Jebel Dair, I was made over to his brother Makin, who
was then occupying Mohammed Said Pasha's house. Father Bonomi, together
with the little property we had left, was put into the beit el mal; but
my diary, which I had now written for the third time, also Herlth's
diary, General Hicks's Bible and prayer book, and a sandwich case and
small bundle, belonging to O'Donovan, were all lost. We were now
exposed to ill-treatment and insult from all sides. The Mahdi's three
sons, ranging from seven to ten years of age, used to come and insult me
daily; but I cannot mention the details, which will for ever remain
engraven on my memory.

At length, on the 7th of April, 1884, the Mahdi set out, and we with
him. The huge camp, swarming with thousands and thousands of people,
became empty in a few days, and each one, as he left his hut, set fire
to it, so that nothing was to be seen but cloud