ding Karamallah--the capturer of Lupton Bey--and his
brother Kerkesawi, with a force to Bahr el Ghazal, and it was thought
that these two most deliberate attempts to get the Aulad-belad out of
Omdurman had been the real cause of the outbreak.

Tuesday passed without disturbance, but every one was prepared for
Wednesday. On that day the Khalifa ordered that everyone should stand to
his flag, and that all the Ansar should attend at the mosque. But the
whole affair turned out to be a ridiculous farce. Khalifa Sherif with a
few Danagla had barricaded himself in the Mahdi's zariba; he had
altogether about fifty Remington rifles. How could he attempt resistance
with a feeble force of this description? He had acted most imprudently;
still, in secret, the Aulad-belad would all have liked to support him,
but not one of them had the courage to come forward, though there were a
very large number of them in Omdurman. The Mahdi's widows, however,
showed far more determination. They dressed themselves in jibbehs, armed
themselves with swords, and, forming a compact little body, they swore
rather to die than submit.

In accordance with the Khalifa's orders, the palace, the mosque, and the
road between the Mahdi's dome and the mosque, were all occupied by the
Ansar on Wednesday, whilst the black troops completely surrounded the
mosque. Yakub was made responsible for distributing ammunition. Possibly
Sherif may have thought that the Aulad-belad would have joined him, but
not one of them dared to leave the ranks. Numerous horsemen wearing
coats of mail and helmets were entertaining the crowds by their furious
galloping, and in Abdullah's entire force there was general rejoicing.
At about 10 A.M. Sherif opened fire, and seventeen Baggaras fell; the
blacks returned the fire, and killed seven of Sherif's men. Abdullah
would not allow the Ansar to fire, and it was with the greatest
difficulty that he succeeded in holding back the wild Baggaras.

The few shots that had been fired startled the whole of Omdurman;
everyone went to his house and armed himself as best he could. Meanwhile
the Baggara horsemen had left the actual scene of action, and were now
scattered about the town looting, robbing, breaking into houses,
wounding people, and seizing women, slaves, ornaments, &c. When Abdullah
heard of this, he lost no time in sending Yakub's horsemen to keep
order; but many of the robbers made off with their booty. In the evening
it was rumoured