s announced that he might have to
suffer death, on the third day this sentence was confirmed, and a
messenger was sent to Adlan to ask him if he had any choice between
being hanged or having his hand and foot cut off. Adlan chose the
former.

To the beating of war-drums and the sound of the onbeia, he was led,
with his hands bound, to the market-place. Here numbers of Baggara
horsemen formed a square round the scaffold, and Adlan, escorted by a
guard, entered the square with firm footsteps. When he reached the foot
of the gallows, the judge called on him to repeat the Shahada or Moslem
creed, which he did with a clear voice, then jumped on to the angarib,
adjusted the noose himself, which Bringi pulled taut, and he swung into
space, whilst at the same instant the Baggaras drew their swords and
flourished them in the air, to signify that a like fate would surely
befall all the Khalifa's enemies. But grief was read on every face, and
never before had there been such heartfelt lamentations in Omdurman.

Ibrahim Wad Adlan was a most intelligent Sudanese, with black face and
aquiline nose. He was about thirty-five years of age.

After his body had been suspended for half-an-hour, Yakub, accompanied
by several others, took it down, and laid it out on the angarib; the
bystanders say that Yakub could not conceal his look of half repentance,
half terror, as he gazed on the corpse of his victim. It was wrapped in
a cotton shroud, and taken to the cemetery outside the city, where it
was buried, Yakub leading the procession. That night robbers pulled out
the body and stole the clothes in which it was laid, leaving the corpse
on the sand to be food for hyenas.

The Khalifa's reason for sending Yakub to attend Adlan's funeral could
not well be misunderstood, for every one knew that Yakub had been the
prime instigator in securing his condemnation; and yet Abdullah was
short-sighted enough to imagine that in thus sending his brother he
might to some extent dissipate the bad impression which Adlan's
execution had created.

The mourning for Adlan was both general and sincere; during his whole
administration he had done no harm to anyone; he had done his utmost to
smooth over difficulties and lighten oppression, and I can confidently
affirm that he is the only man of whom this can be said, for, as a rule,
Sudanese who rise to positions of power and authority invariably become
most cruel and arbitrary.

Now what good could this exec