The members of our Mission station left their house
and pretty church, and hired rooms within the fortifications; the loyal
citizens and merchants followed their example, while the remainder of
the inhabitants continued to live in the town, and conspired with the
Mahdi. On the 7th of December, that is to say, the day on which the
Mahdi arrived at Kaba, the whole of these inhabitants quitted the town
and joined him in his camp. The wealthy merchants had for long been in
communication with the Mahdi, others joined him because they were worked
up to a pitch of wild fanaticism; some feared to disobey the summons,
for they could see how weak were the Government troops and how
successful the Mahdi had been. Amongst the deserters to the Mahdi's side
were Mohammed Khabir Pasha of Darfur, and a number of irregular troops
who had been despatched from Khartum as reinforcements for El Obeid.

Thus by various means the Mahdi's force now numbered upwards of 30,000
fighting men, and with such an army as that it seemed to him a very easy
matter to subdue Said Pasha and his meagre garrison. The Mahdi further
incited his people to fight by assuring them that the gates of paradise
were open to all those martyrs who should fall, and that each of them
should be attended by forty lovely houris when they entered its portals.
He also roused their feelings of cupidity by representing, in the most
exaggerated terms, the value of the treasure locked up within the
Mudirieh, and told them that victory was assured, for God and his
Prophet had decreed that they should annihilate their enemies with
simple sticks; this he said because he knew that only a few of his
followers had firearms. Having thus raised them to a pitch of the
wildest excitement, he advanced from Kaba.

In the meantime the Mudir, seeing that he could not rely on the
inhabitants, did all in his power to improve the fortifications, and
awaited the assault of the enemy. At daybreak the hordes appeared on the
rising ground near El Obeid; the defenders heard only the dull roar
caused by the mass of voices in the distance, but the clouds of dust
prevented them seeing anything; it was only when the fitful gusts of
wind blew away the dust that the thousands of horsemen could be seen
galloping wildly about and then disappearing again behind the dust. But
the noise like approaching thunder became every instant more audible,
and soon above the clouds of sand the myriads of flags and banners
b