Johannesburg-born Sam Canon was the only other deacon who had not taken the morning bus for Cape Town. Jones relayed the archbishop's instructions to the twenty-four-year-old deacon. Canon said he would be honored to accompany Deacon Jones to Maun.
The men went to the quarters the deacons used whenever they came in from the field. After removing their dirty soutanes and showering away the dust of the journey, the men put on fresh cassocks. In the absence of Father Bradbury, they would be responsible for ministering to any tourists who might need them. Deacon Jones made tea in the small kitchen area and then took it onto the veranda. The two men sat in wicker chairs and looked out at the flat, sprawling fWodplain. The
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afternoon was as dry, warm, and windless as usual for this time of year. The sky was cloudless, and the amber sun was low.
'Do you have any idea at all what's behind this?' Canon asked.
Eliot Jones had never been an especially political man. He had been raised in an upper-middle-class household in the Kensington section of London. Political history interested Jones only when it impacted on his two loves. Those were art and religion.
'I'm not sure,' Jones said. 'Have you ever read anything about the Mahdi of the Sudan?'
'Are you talking about the one who fought the British in the 1880s?' Canon asked.
'That's right,' Jones said. 'The British were under the command of General Gordon.'
'I saw the movie Khartoum with Charlton Heston,' Canon said, somewhat embarrassed.
Jones smiled. 'In the video library at the archdiocese?'
Canon nodded.
'I saw it, too.' Jones smiled. 'I first became interested in the conflict between the two men when I was thirteen. Gordon was a very religious Christian who fought in the Crimean War, put down the Taiping Rebellion, and then went searching for Noah's Ark. That was something I always wished I could do. Read the Bible and other texts, look for clues, then search through the mountains. I found a copy of General Gordon's published journals and was fascinated by the quest. He finally had to give it up to undertake the defense of the loyal British subjects of Khartoum.
The Mahdi was Muhammad Ahmad, a forty-year-old Muslim religious leader. For years, Ahmad would preach to whomever would listen. Typically, they were the hungry, the homeless, people without hope. In 1881, Ahmad became convinced that he was God's vice-regent on earth. He was equally convinced that the ills of his people were due to the presence of infidels. He declared a jihad, a holy war, and from that point forth, he would go anywhere, slay or torture anyone who
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disagreed with his worldview. Only General Charles Gordon and a few hundred Sudanese soldiers were on hand in Khartoum to oppose him. The Mahdi slaughtered them and thousands of citizens who were loyal to him.'
'The first radical Islamic fundamentalist,' Canon said.
'Not really,' Jones replied. 'But he was the first one who made all the newspapers in England.'
'So are you saying that you see parallels between that conflict and this one?' Canon asked.
'I do,' Jones replied. 'I don't believe Father Bradbury's kidnapping or the deacon missionaries being asked to leave has to do with national origin. It's clearly a religious issue.'
'A Mahdi in the making,' Canon said.
'That's what I believe,' Jones told him.
'How do you know the government is not behind this for some reason?' Canon asked.
'The Church brings food, education, and health care to the villages,' Jones said. 'That encourages peace. The government of Botswana gains nothing by casting us out.'
'Then how do you explain what Director Ndebele told me when I arrived?' Canon said. 'He said that Father Bradbury was taken away by soldiers.'
'Soldiers can be hired,' Jones pointed out.
'But what kind of loyalty do they give you?' Canon asked. 'What kind of courage?'
'Enough, if it gets the job done,' Jones replied. 'Especially if you hire enough of them. I also spoke with Director Ndebele. He said that forty or fifty men came to take Father Bradbury. That tells me the kidnappers were looking to make some kind of statement.'
Canon shook his head slowly. 'I really don't know about these things. My parents were always talking about politics, but I didn't get involved. It seemed to me that all the answers we needed were in the Bible. That was my guide. The word of God.'
Jones smiled. 'That's exactly how General Gordon felt. In the end, he could have used a few more bullets.'
'What happened to the Mahdi?' Canon asketl.
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'His own success killed him,' Jones replied.
'How do you mean?' Canon asked.
