“The cohorts of the infidels are coming,” shouted the Mahdi. “But not one will go back. The grave shall receive each one who fights beneath the crescent without the star.”
Through a mountain pass five thousand men, headed by the Governor of Fashoda and the Chief of Shiluk, were seen approaching.
On a jet-black Arab horse Hubert Ponsonby rode, looking kinglike and majestic.
The whiteness of his skin contrasted strangely with the tawny color of the soldiers.
He was clad in white, and he looked almost ghostly as he bestrode the back of the raven-colored horse.
He did everything for effect.
“Allah il Allah!” shouted the Mahdists, and the same cry was repeated by the Fashodans.
“For Mahomet and the Mahdi!” cried the Mahdists, and the Fashodans replied with stentorian voices:
“For Mahomet and the khedive.”
The Fashodans commenced the battle.