inople, after which there will
be nothing left for you but hell and damnation." The mistiness of the
geography was hidden by the vigour of the theology, and all the sceptics
of Nubia hastened to accept the new prophet.

But his time of tyranny soon drew to a close. A woman of Khartum, who
had been outraged by him or his followers, determined to wreak her
vengeance. On June 14, 1885, she succeeded in giving him slow poison,
which led him to his death amidst long-drawn agonies eight days later.
This ought to have been the death of Mahdism as well, but superstitions
die hard in that land of fanatics. The Mahdi's factotum, an able
intriguer named Abdullah Taashi, had previously gained from his master a
written declaration that he was to be Khalifa after him; he now produced
this document, and fortified its influence by describing in great detail
a vision in which the ghost of the Mahdi handed him a sacred hair of
inestimable worth, and an oblong-shaped light which had come direct from
the hands of the true Prophet, who had received it from the hands of the
angel Gabriel, to whom it had been entrusted by the Almighty.

This silly story was eagerly believed by the many, the questioning few
also finding it well to still their doubts in presence of death or
torture. Piety and politics quickly worked hand in hand to found the
impostor's authority. A mosque began to rise over the tomb of the Mahdi
in his chosen capital, Omdurman; and his successor gained the support
and the offerings of the thousands of pilgrims who came to visit that
wonder-working shrine. Such was the basis of the new rule, which spread
over the valley of the Upper and Middle Nile, and carried terror nearly
to the borders of Egypt[407].

[Footnote 407: Wingate, _Mahdism_, pp. 228-233.]

There law and order slowly took root under the shadow of the British
administration, but Egypt ceased to control the lands south of Wady
Halfa. Mr. Gladstone announced that decision in the House of Commons on
May 11, 1885; and those who discover traces of the perfidy of Albion
even in the vacillations of her policy, maintain that that declaration
was made with a view to an eventual annexation of the Sudan by England.
Their contention would be still more forcible if they would prove that
the Gladstone Ministry deliberately sacrificed Gordon at Khartum in
order to increase the Mahdi's power and leave Egypt open to his blows,
thereby gaining one more excuse for delaying the long