It was from a trusty agent in the North.
“Giegler Pasha has placed the army of Khartoum under the command of Yussuf Pasha Hassan,” it read, “and is marching with five thousand men against you. Hicks Pasha, an Englishman, with three thousand men, is marching from the northeast. You are to be cut in two by these armies.”
“No! by the prophet—no!” exclaimed the Mahdi. “We will attack both and exterminate them.”
The bugles called the army together and the march was ordered.
With a speed accelerated by the most fanatical enthusiasm, the followers of the Mahdi started to meet Yussuf Pasha Hassan.
The soldiers of Khartoum were well disciplined veterans, but they lacked enthusiasm.
The Mahdi—still without weapon—rode at the head of his people and gave the words of command.
Like a cyclone tearing everything before it on a Western prairie, the army of the Mahdi swept on the veterans commanded by Yussuf.
The Egyptians made a stubborn resistance at first, but the Mahdists were more like fiends.
They seized the soldiers by their hair and deliberately cut their throats.