two British forces. These Ansar were of the finest, their religious ardour and their devotion to the jihad against the infidel at its fiercest. The Mahdi knew that no infidel army could prevail against them.
The Mahdi smiled at Osman Atalan. “Tell me what we know of the enemy,” he ordered.
“O Mighty and Victorious Lord, beloved of God and the other Prophet, know you that each day Abdullah Sayid, Emir of the Baggara, sends a pigeon from his camp at Abu Klea on the bend of the Nile. Some of the birds do not reach my lofts, for there are birds of prey and other hazards along their flight path, but most come to my hand.”
The Mahdi nodded. “Speak to me, Osman Atalan. Tell us what news of the enemy movements these birds bring us.”
“Sayid reports that the infidel steamers, seven in number, have passed through the last cataract below Korti, and now that the worst of their voyage is behind them, they come on apace. They are travelling almost five times faster than they did below the cataract. They carry many men and great guns.”
“God shall deliver them to my hand, and they shall be destroyed,” said the Mahdi.
“God is great!” Osman Atalan agreed. “The second infidel column has reached the Wells at Gakdul. There they have stopped. We do not know why this is. I believe that there is not sufficient good fodder to feed the camels for the heavy work they must do. They wait at Gakdul for more supplies to be brought up from Wadi Haifa.”
“How many infidel troops are at Gakdul?”
“Divine One, Sayid has counted more than one thousand Franks, and about the same number of camel drivers, guides and servants.”
“Are these Franks mad?” the Mahdi demanded. “How can they dream to prevail against my one hundred thousand Ansar?”
“It may be that they are waiting at Gakdul for reinforcements to join them,” Osman suggested delicately.
“These infidels shall be destroyed also. No mortal man can prevail against the will of God. All these things God has told me.”
“Allah is all seeing and all knowing.”
“Know you that on many nights Allah has come to me as an eagle of flame. He has told me many grave secrets that are too powerful for the common man to hear,” he said, in his soft mellifluous voice, and they bowed before him.
“Blessed is the Mahdi, for he alone hears and understands the word of Allah,” chanted Khalifa Abdullahi.
“Allah has told me that before the infidel and the Frank and the Turk can be driven for ever from the Sudan and the earthly kingdom of Allah and Islam, my enemy Gordon Pasha must be destroyed. Allah has told me that Gordon Pasha is the black angel, Satan, in the guise of a man.”
“May he be ever accursed, and never look upon the face of God,” they cried.
“Allah, the All Wise, has told me that the noble warrior of Islam who cuts the head of Gordon Pasha from his trunk, like some bitter and evil fruit, and brings it to me, and lays it at my feet, shall ever be blessed and that there shall be prepared for him a place in Paradise at God’s right hand. He will also be given power and riches in this world of the flesh.”
“God is merciful! God is great!” they chanted.
“Allah has spoken to me, and he has told me the name of my servant who shall bring the head of the infidel to me,” quoth the Mahdi solemnly, and they prostrated themselves before him.
“Let the man be me!”
“If it be me, I shall want no other honour in this life or hereafter.” The Mahdi held up his hands and they fell silent. “Osman Atalan of the Beja, draw closer to me,” he said. On his hands and knees Osman crawled to his feet. “Allah has told me that you are that man.”
Tears of joy streamed down the emir’s cheeks. He bowed his head over the Mahdi’s feet and washed the dust from them with his tears.
Then he unwrapped his turban and, with the locks of his long dark hair, he dried the feet of the Chosen Prophet of God.
The Nile is falling,” said Osman Atalan, ‘and God and the Mahdi have prepared a task for us.” His aggagiers drew closer to the campfire and watched his face by the light of the flames. “They have chosen us above all the warriors of Allah. We are blessed beyond all other men, for we have been given the wondrous chance to die for the glory of Allah and his Mahdi.”
“Let us seize Allah’s bounteous gift. Command us, Great Lord,” his aggagiers pleaded.
He studied their fierce expressions with pride. These were not men, but man-eating lions. “Our sacred task is to bring to the Divine Mahdi the head of Gordon Pasha, for omnipotent and mighty Allah has decreed that when we achieve this the infidel will be driven from this land for ever, and that Islam will prevail throughout all the world.”
Al-Noor asked: “Shall we wait for the time of Low Nile, so that we may find a firm foothold on the city shore and a passage through the walls?”
“Every day we delay, the forces of Satan march down upon us from the north. Already their steamers laden with men and guns sweep up the river. Yes, the river is still high, but God has made clear a road for us.” Osman clapped his hands. An old man limped into the firelight and knelt before him. “Have no fear, Beloved of God. No harm shall come to you. Tell these men what you know.”
“I was born and I have lived all my life in the City of the Elephant’s Trunk, Khartoum. But since the Victorious Mahdi has invested the city and laid siege, the curse of Allah has been laid upon the city. Those infidels and Turks who have thought to resist his wisdom and his truth have been made to suffer as no men before them. Their empty bellies cling to their backbones, their children are eaten up by the cholera, the vultures gorge on their rotting corpses, the fathers club the birds and eat them half cooked while their crops bulge with the flesh of their own children.” The aggagiers moved restlessly as they listened to this recital.
What an abomination to eat the flesh of the bird that had devoured your children. “Those who are not too weak of starvation flee the doomed city, and the de fences are every day denuded and weakened. I am one of those who has flown. But, like you, I wish to see the infidel banished for ever from the Sudan, and the son of all evil, Gordon Pasha, destroyed. Only then may I return in the peace of the Mahdi to my home.”
“Let Allah accomplish this,” they murmured. The man was old and frail but they admired his spirit.
“The Turks who fight for Gordon Pasha are so reduced in number by disease, starvation and desertion that the infidel can no longer guard the city walls. In their place Gordon Pasha has placed men of straw, mere scarecrows, to frighten off the timid among you.”
“What is this talk of straw men?” Hassan Ben Nader demanded. “Is it true?”
“It is true,” Osman confirmed. “I have sailed close to the harbour mouth in this brave old man’s dhow. There is a place in the de fences where a creek runs into the river through a stone gateway. This is the main outflow from the city sewers. Gordon Pasha has manned the gateway and the walls on either side with dummy soldiers to replace those who have died or run away. Only their heads show above the parapets. At intervals a few old women move them so that from this bank they seemed to live. There is none to resist our onslaught. With one rush we can be through the gap. Then the city and all those within will be ours.”
“There will be great stores of gold and jewels,” al-Noor mused.
“There are women in the city, hundreds of women. As his wives, concubines and slaves, the Turkjias chosen the most beautiful women of the Sudan and all the surrounding lands. For each of us there will be a dozen women at least.” Hassan Ben Nader’s eyes gleamed in the firelight. “The women of the Franks have hair like yellow silk and their skin is like rich cream.”
“Speak not of gold and slaves. We fight for the glory of Allah and the Mahdi.” Osman reprimanded them for their greed. “After that we fight for our own honour and a place in Paradise.”
“When will we attack these straw men?” Al-Noor laughed with excitement. “I have sat too long with my harem, and I am growing fat. It is time to fight again.”
“Three nights from now it will be the dark of the moon, and in the night we will cross the river. At first we will land two hundred men on the beach there is no space for more. When we have forced the breach a thousand more will follow us, and after them a thousand more. By dawn I will stand on the parapets of Mukran Fort with the head of
Gordon Pasha in my hands, and the prophecy will be fulfilled.” Osman stood up and made a sign of blessing
