Page:Decisive Battles Since Waterloo.djvu/518

476 fallen, and as it was impossible to land in face of the artillery and small-arms in the hands of the Arabs, General Wilson reluctantly gave the order to return to Gubat. On the way down the river both the steamers were wrecked through the treachery of the pilots, but the men escaped. The relief expedition reached Khartoum two days too late. The city had fallen into the hands of the Mahdi, and General Gordon was dead. Many stories have been told concerning the capture of Khartoum, but the full details are not and probably never will be known. The stories are contradictory of each other, but they generally concur in the assertion that the surrender was due to treachery.

An Arab servant of General Gordon stated that Khartoum was delivered to the rebels by Faragh Pasha, the commander of Gordon's Soudanese troops, who early on January 27th treacherously opened the gate in the southern wall. By previous arrangement the Mahdi's fighting men were waiting outside, and immediately rushed into the city. General Gordon, hearing the noise, went out armed with a sword and an axe, and accompanied by Ibrahim Bey, the chief clerk, and 20 men. On his way to the palace he met a party of the Mahdi's men, who fired a volley that killed General Gordon. The Arabs then rushed on with their spears and killed the chief clerk and 9 of the men; the rest escaped. The greater number of the inhabitants fraternized with the Mahdi's men, and there was no fighting elsewhere in the city. No women or children were killed, and all who surrendered and gave up their valuables were allowed to leave without further molestation. The Mahdi's troops were too much engaged with the looting of the town to think of moving against Gubat. The Mahdi did not enter Khartoum until three days after its capture, and then only made a brief stay. Another story is that Gordon was not shot, but was killed with swords and spears, the soldiers having