he time that Gessi Pasha put an end to the slave-trade in the Bahr
el Ghazal by conquering Suleiman, the son of Zubeir Pasha, and
dispersing his forces--as Gessi had often related to me--numbers of
these runaway slave-dealers (as they afterwards assured me) owed their
ruin to him. These men were all warriors, accustomed to every
description of hardship, well trained in the use of firearms, and from
their constant slave-fights well accustomed to war; they flocked in
numbers to the Dervish, and he gave them elaborate promises of
quantities of booty and a complete resumption of the slave-trade.
Mohammed Ahmed had the power of inspiring these men with an
extraordinary amount of fanatical ardour, so much so, indeed, as we
shall presently see, that they would not hesitate to rush into certain
death at one word from him. He would compare these men with the
Government troops, and prove how far inferior were these latter; and, on
the other hand, the Government troops made the fatal mistake of
underrating their enemies, and conducting their operations with a
complete disregard for the wary foes with whom they had to deal. What
more obvious example of this blind self-confidence can there be than in
the miserable defeat of Rashid Bey, Mudir of Fashoda, who, without any
instructions, advanced against the Dervishes, and was cut to pieces on
the 9th of December, 1881?

Rashid Bey--so an eye-witness told me--was drawn into the middle of a
forest, and there he and his men were massacred, before they could even
alight from their camels, so completely taken by surprise were they.
Thus the Dervishes gained an important and decisive victory, with,
comparatively speaking, no loss at all. The German Berghof, inspector
for the suppression of slavery at Fashoda, also fell in this fight. What
wonder is it that such successes as these strengthened the belief of the
people that the Mahdi could turn Egyptian bullets into water! This
victory gave enormous impetus to the cause; not only was a quantity of
arms, ammunition, and stores captured, but Mohammed Ahmed's moral
influence was greatly increased. He was now believed in as the true
Mahdi; men flocked to his standard from all parts, and were ready and
willing to lay down their lives in his cause.

Mohammed Ahmed Wad el Bedri, one of the Mahdi's favourite and early
adherents, told me that it was the latter's intention to proceed to Dar
Fertit, and there organise an extensive revolt against the Gov