The
receding Nile had left one portion of the town's circumference
undefended; as the river withdrew, the rampart had crumbled; a
broad expanse of mud was left between the wall and the water, and
the soldiers, overcome by hunger and the lassitude of
hopelessness, had trusted to the morass to protect them, and
neglected to repair the breach. Early on the morning of the 26th,
the Arabs crossed the river at this point. The mud, partially
dried up, presented no obstacle; nor did the ruined
fortification, feebly manned by some half-dying troops.
Resistance was futile, and it was scarcely offered: the Mahdi's
army swarmed into Khartoum. Gordon had long debated with himself
what his action should be at the supreme moment. 'I shall never
(D.V.),' he had told Sir Evelyn Baring, 'be taken alive.' He had
had gunpowder put into the cellars of the palace, so that the
whole building might, at a moment's notice, be blown into the
air. But then misgivings had come upon him; was it not his duty
'to maintain the faith, and, if necessary, to suffer for it'?--to
remain a tortured and humiliated witness of his Lord in the
Mahdi's chains? The blowing up of the palace would have, he
thought, 'more or less the taint of suicide', would be, in a way,
taking things out of God's hands'. He remained undecided; and
meanwhile, to be ready for every contingency, he kept one of his
little armoured vessels close at hand on the river, with steam
up, day and night, to transport him, if so he should decide,
southward, through the enemy, to the recesses of Equatoria.
Pages:
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415