re soon put to death. Hassan Bey seized
the owner of the house, the blind man, Fakreitman, and held him before
him as a shield, and so got clear of the house with only a slight wound.
We outside might have dispatched him, but we had no orders, and did not
interfere. And so he got clear, and letting the blind man go, escaped."

Such was the prisoner's account, and there was no reason to doubt the
general tenor of it, though of course the details were not to be
implicitly relied upon.

The man was asked why, since he seemed to bear no particular grudge
against the English, he took such pains to establish himself in a good
position for a sure shot at the convoy. It was not a wise question.
The Arab laughed, and asked if the English had any particular enmity to
the Soudanese.

"No," was the reply. "On the contrary, we wish to be friends with
them."

"And yet," said the prisoner, "you have killed twenty thousand of us in
the last few moons. When we fight we mean to kill; and when we hunt we
mean to kill. Are you not the same?"

There was no denying this; war is of necessity a game for two to play
at, or else it would be sheer murder.

He was questioned about Gordon's death, but, though he was willing
enough to talk on the subject, his information was at third or fourth
hand, and did not profess to be personal, like the other account.

"Ah! That was a man, Gordon Pasha!" he said. "If He had declared
himself a prophet, or the great sheikh of the Soudan, the Mahdi would
have lost all his followers but a few slave hunters, and all would have
gathered under Gordon's standard. He was just, and when he said a thing
every one knew that it was true. The Turks were never just; they took
bribes, and they sought by word and deed to deceive. But Gordon Pasha
was the wisest and the most just ruler that ever came into the country,
and he feared nothing except to offend Allah. The highest and the
lowest were the same to him, and it was a pity to kill him. There will
never be such another."

"Why, then, was he murdered?"

"The Mahdi knew that he was a rival, and must overthrow him if he could,
or else lose his power himself. And he was betrayed by those who had
sinned against him, and been forgiven, but did not believe in the
forgiveness. And besides that, the Mahdi offered them money from the
first, and when you got so near Khartoum he increased this to a large
sum. But all this would not have availed if men had k