are Mahometans
and their countrymen, but you are a white man and a Christian. You
would not fight for the Mahdi?'

"'No,' I said, 'I would not fight for him, nor would I gain my life, at
the price of being his slave. I wish you to settle the matter, without
any reference to me. I will take my chance. I may not be here, in the
morning. One man might escape, where many could not. All I ask is that
I may not be watched. If in the morning I am not here, you can all say
that I disappeared, and you do not know how. I do not, myself, know
what I am going to do yet.'

"They went away, and in a quarter of an hour returned, and said that
the men would surrender. If they had water and ammunition, they would
go on fighting till the end; but as they had neither, they would
surrender.

"I felt that this was best. The Soudanese love battle, and would as
readily fight on one side as on the other. They have done their duty
well to the Khedive, and will doubtless fight as bravely for the Mahdi.

"The men lay in a square, as they had fought, with sentries placed to
warn them, should the Dervishes make a night attack. British troops
would have been well-nigh maddened with thirst, after being twenty-four
hours without water, and fighting all day in the blazing sun, but they
felt it little. They were thirsty, but in their desert marches they are
accustomed to thirst, and to hold on for a long time without water.

"I was better off, for I had drunk sparingly, the day before, from my
water bottle; and had still a draught left in it. I waited until I
thought that the men were all asleep; then I stripped, and stained
myself from head to foot. I had carried stain with me, in case I might
have to go out as a native, to obtain information. In my valise I had a
native dress, and a native cloth, in which I could have passed as a
peasant, but not as one of the Baggara. However, I put it on, passed
through the sleeping men, and went up to a sentry.

"'You know me,' I said. 'I am your Bimbashi. I am going to try and get
through their lines; but if it is known how I have escaped, I shall be
pursued and slain. Will you swear to me that, if you are questioned,
you will say you know nothing of my flight?'

"'I swear by the beard of the Prophet,' the man said. 'May Allah
protect you, my lord!'

"Then I went on. The night was fairly dark and, as the Dervishes were
nearly half a mile away, I had no fear of being seen by them. There
were many of thei