His wish for a fight was soon to be gratified, and before he left the Mahdi he saw blood flow like water, and men go down to the valley of death by the thousand.
CHAPTER XXIV.
COUNTING CHICKENS.
In all Africa there was not a more conceited man than the Governor of Fashoda.
Defeated and driven back by the Mahdists, and ordered by Rauf Pasha to remain on the defensive, he nevertheless conceived the idea that he could win renown and perhaps become governor-general of the Soudan with the greatest ease.
As his principal adviser he had a young Englishman, who had been compelled to leave his own country surreptitiously, or spend a few years in one of the English prisons.
He managed to slip away to Egypt, and being of an adventurous disposition, Hubert Ponsonby was sent on a special mission to Rauf Pasha, who transferred him to the Governor of Fashoda.
Hubert Ponsonby, whose father was a member of the English aristocracy, was educated at Oxford University, had been in the army, but resigned his commission just in time to escape being kicked out.
But he was brilliant in every way, a good fellow, but a great rascal.
Everybody liked him in spite of his faults.
The Khedive of Egypt thought he was too brilliant. He feared that his winning ways might lure some of the court to the gaming table, for Ponsonby was a great gambler.