The letter was sent down by one of the Khaleefa’s spies, and was delivered to the Commandant at Assouan. The word “Railway” appearing as part of the address, it was sent to Mankarious Effendi, the stationmaster, who, after taking a copy of it for reference, returned it to the commandant, with the address of my manager. Mankarious Effendi, having heard of my recent arrival in Cairo, has come to me with the original copy of the letter taken in June, 1887. The following is a literal translation of it:—
“In the name of the most merciful God, and prayers be unto our Lord Mohammad and his submissive adherents.
“From the servant of his lord Abdallah el Muslimani the Prussian whose former name was Charles Neufeld, to my manager Möller the Prussian in the Railway Assouan.
“I inform you that after departing from you I have come to the Soudan with the men of Saleh Fadlallah Salem el Kabbashi, who were carrying with them the arms and ammunition and other articles sent to Saleh by the Government.
“On our march from Wadi Halfa, notwithstanding our |78| precautions and care for the things in our charge, we arrived at the so-called Selima Wells, where we took sufficient water, and proceeded on our journey. Suddenly we were met by six of the adherents in the desert; they attacked us, and we fought against them. Our number was fifty-five men. At the same time, a number of men from Abdel Rahman Nejoumi came up; they reinforced the six men and fought us, and in the space of half an hour we were subdued by them. Some were killed, and the rest were captured with all the baggage we had. Myself, my servant Elias and my maidservant Hasseena were among the captives. All of us were taken to Abdel Rahman Nejoumi at Ordeh, and by him sent to the Khalifat el Mahdi, peace be unto him, at Omdurman. On our arrival at Omdurman, we were taken to his presence, where we were found guilty and sentenced to immediate death; but the Khalifat el Mahdi, peace be unto him, had mercy upon us, and proposed unto us to take the true religion, and we accepted El Islam, and pronounced the two creeds in his presence: ‘I testify (bear witness) that there is none but God, and Mohammad is his prophet’; and then, ‘I believe in God and his Prophet Mohammad, upon whom God has prayed and greeted; and in the Mahdi, praise, peace be upon him and upon his Khaleefa.’ I further requested the Mahdi to grant me the ‘bai'a’ (oath of allegiance) which he was pleased to grant me, and thereupon shook hands with me. He then named me Abdallah, after embracing the true religion. Therefore I was pardoned by the Khalifat-el-Mahdi from the execution which I have deserved. He pardoned me because he is gracious, and for the sake of the religion of Mohammad which I now adhere to. So I thought it well to inform you all about these events, and I inform you further that Dufa'allah Hogal, although he deceived me, I cannot sufficiently thank him, because his deceiving me has resulted in the great mercy and good which has come to me. Saleh Fadlallah Salem is deserting and hiding in the desert, for fear of his life. All that I have informed you is pure truth. I am still living, thanks be to God for this and my health. 17th Shaaban, 1304 (May 10, 1887).”
It is only now, November 25, 1898, that Mankarious has placed me in possession of the real details. My manager, who when he returned to Egypt a few |79| weeks ago, on hearing of my release, denied ever having received any communication from me, on August 6, 1887, addressed a letter to my father, written on my own business paper, saying that he had received the above letter, had had it translated, and communicated to the Egyptian Gazette, which paper published the letter in its issue of August.
Slatin I saw but once again during my long captivity, and then it was only in the distance on one occasion when he called at the prison to give some orders to the head-gaoler. The Khaleefa I saw twice again, on occasions to be referred to later.
After signing the letter, I was taken back to the rukooba, where, about sunset, a man carrying a long chain came to me and said he had orders to remove my fetters. Passing the chain through one of the anklets and round one of the posts, he took a short pole, and used this as a lever to force the anklets open. Whilst still engaged in removing the chains, the chief Kadi came in, and ordered the anklets to be hammered back again, and the ends cold welded.
I remained in the rukooba for the night, and the following morning was placed upon a donkey and taken to the prison. I was told that, to save my life, Slatin had suggested this course being taken, using as an argument that I could there be converted to the Mohammedan religion, and devote all my time to my instructors.