Page:A Prisoner of the Khaleefa.djvu/342

Rh taken out to fight had made their way back to town, and were rummaging for European clothes in which to array themselves to receive the troops when they arrived.

I should here take up the tales of those who were fighting in the dervish lines in order to present a complete narrative. At sunrise on September 2, Sheikh ed Din determined on attacking with his army of riflemen and cavalry, leaving Yacoub, with whom was his father, the Khaleefa, as a reserve. The shells which fell amongst his men did not knock them over or mow them down in lanes, they "blew a hundred men and horses high into the air"; then, when the rifle fire struck them, it "rolled them about like little stones." The carnage was so frightful that Sheikh ed Din himself led the way to the shelter in a khor to the west of Surgham hill.

And now, to understand clearly what followed next, and in a measure to explain the post of honour being given to Sheikh ed Din, I must refer to an incident occurring at the last moment before the army left Omdurman. Khaleefa Shereef, since his insurrection against Abdullahi, had not been allowed to exhibit the white flag made specially for the family of the Mahdi. It was believed that Abdullahi intended to nominate his son to succeed him, but this was against the expressed order of the Mahdi that Wad Helu and then Shereef should do so. While Sheikh ed Din was given the principal command, Shereef was not allowed any command at all, nor was the white flag of Mahdieh brought out of the Beit-el-Amana. Discontent was