The besieged sallied out to the attack; they
were defeated; and the rout that followed was so disgraceful that
two of the commanding officers were, by Gordon's orders, executed
as traitors. From that moment the regular investment of Khartoum
began. The Arab generals decided to starve the town into
submission. When, after a few weeks of doubt, it became certain
that no British force was on its way from Suakin to smash up the
Mahdi, and when, at the end of May, Berber, the last connecting
link between Khartoum and the outside world, fell into the hands
of the enemy, Gordon set his teeth, and sat down to wait and to
hope, as best he might. With unceasing energy he devoted himself
to the strengthening of his defences and the organisation of his
resources--to the digging of earthworks, the manufacture of
ammunition, the collection and the distribution of food. Every
day there were sallies and skirmishes; every day his little
armoured steamboats paddled up and down the river, scattering
death and terror as they went. Whatever the emergency, he was
ready with devices and expedients. When the earthworks were still
uncompleted he procured hundreds of yards of cotton, which he
dyed the colour of earth, and spread out in long, sloping lines,
so as to deceive the Arabs, while the real works were being
prepared farther back.
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