It was not until
January 28th that Sir Charles Wilson, arriving under a heavy fire
within sight of Khartoum, saw that the Egyptian flag was not
flying from the roof of the palace. The signs of ruin and
destruction on every hand showed clearly enough that the town had
fallen. The relief expedition was two days late.
The details of what passed within Khartoum during the last weeks
of the siege are unknown to us. In the diary of Bordeini Bey, a
Levantine merchant, we catch a few glimpses of the final stages
of the catastrophe--of the starving populace, the exhausted
garrison, the fluctuations of despair and hope, the dauntless
energy of the Governor-General. Still he worked on,
indefatigably, apportioning provisions, collecting ammunition,
consulting with the townspeople, encouraging the soldiers. His
hair had suddenly turned quite white. Late one evening, Bordeini
Bey went to visit him in the palace, which was being bombarded by
the Mahdi's cannon. The high building, brilliantly lighted up,
afforded an excellent mark. As the shot came whistling around the
windows, the merchant suggested that it would be advisable to
stop them up with boxes full of sand. Upon this, Gordon Pasha
became enraged. 'He called up the guard, and gave them orders to
shoot me if I moved; he then brought a very large lantern which
would hold twenty-four candles.
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