t not been for the advice of one of his
adherents, Ahmed Sharfi, it is probable that the Dervish would have
accepted the invitation. Rauf Pasha, on learning of his refusal to obey
the summons, despatched two companies of troops to Abba Island at the
end of July 1881, with instructions to bring the Dervish forcibly to
Khartum. The two captains of the companies had a difference of opinion,
and, landing the troops in a most careless manner, they were drawn on by
the adherents of the Dervish into a marshy swamp, where they were fallen
upon and a number of them killed with simple sticks. Ahmed Sharfi
himself told me this. Only a very few succeeded in escaping and
returning to the steamer, in which they made their way back to Khartum.

This episode caused great excitement. I was at El Obeid when it
happened, and Giegler Pasha, who was also there at the time, told me
about it. Giegler despatched Mohammed Said Pasha to the White Nile with
orders to prevent the Dervish from escaping south; but Said Pasha soon
afterwards returned, having done nothing; probably he did not dare to
attack the rebels. In the meantime the Dervish quitted Abba, and
succeeded in reaching Tagalla in safety; thence he proceeded to Jebel
Gedir, and located himself at the foot of that mountain. The natives of
this district are called Kawakla, and dwell on the top of the mountain;
they are possessors of a very celebrated and holy stone, on which there
is a tradition the prophet Mohammed sat and prayed. Here the Dervish
Mohammed Ahmed now took up his abode, and waited to see what action the
Government intended to take.

At Delen the news of this Dervish was very meagre, though there was much
talk of his wonderful miracles, the most important of which was said to
be his power to change the bullets of the Government troops into water.
His repute as a worker of miracles grew rapidly, and was the cause of
largely increasing the number of his adherents. The malcontents, runaway
slaves, criminals evading justice, and religious fanatics, hurried to
Gedir; but perhaps the bulk of his adherents were men who lived by theft
and robbery, and who were the main supporters of the movement. To all,
the Dervish gave promises of enormous shares of loot and everlasting
happiness in the world to come. But it was to the slave-dealers that
Mohammed appeared in the light of a saviour, and it was to them that he
owed his subsequent success.

[Illustration: ZUBEIR PASHA.]

From t