36 SERVICE AND SPORT IN THE SUDAN 



rumour I have already drawn attention to. Little 

 more is to be said about this patrol. We came back 

 by the field of Shekan, on which fell the ill-fated 

 Hicks Pasha. 



A fortnight after my return to Kurbag we were 

 again on the move. 



The whole of Kordofan was seething with excite- 

 ment. Sheikhs were moving about in an unwonted 

 fashion. News of an alarming nature came pouring in 

 from all directions. Within a month a Mahdi of im- 

 portance had been hanged, a leading lieutenant of his 

 sentenced to imprisonment " during pleasure." News 

 arrived from Captain Carter (Lancashire Fusiliers), 

 inspector of Western Kordofan, that the Sultan of 

 Darfur had invaded the province, and that he. Carter, 

 with twenty ( !) men of the Camel Corps, had started off 

 to check his advance. 



Orders are given to mobilise the Camel Corps and, 

 without waiting for the Company from Bara, which 

 will bring our number to over three hundred, we start 

 by the El Dudia route to Nahud. Ours is a gallant 

 cavalcade through the main road of El Obeid. The 

 Governor, Major O'Connell (Shropshire L.I.), now 

 that Mahon Pasha has gone, preceded by his flag- 

 bearers and surrounded by police, leads the way. Two 

 hundred of the Camel Corps, Arab and Sudanese, ride 

 behind him. 



At midday next day we are halted near a pool, 

 talking of our projected conquest of Darfur, when an 

 Arab on a foam-covered horse arrives to say that the 

 Mahdi's hordes have surrounded El Obeid. Fortu- 



