Page:A Prisoner of the Khaleefa.djvu/307

the same Onoor whose return I had looked for so anxiously during the time of the transfer of the arsenal from Khartoum, when each day bristled with opportunities for successful flight! Fearing that he might play me false, and hand the notes I had given him to the Khaleefa as an earnest of his loyalty to him, I sent off Umm es Shole, and told her to say that I had a few notes to add to the letters which I had given him. Onoor at once suspected my reasons for sending for them, and replied that he was not pleased with my want of confidence in him, that he had a permit to proceed to Suakin for trade, but, having fallen under suspicion, he had so far been prevented from leaving, though he hoped to be able to leave any day. Upon this I again trusted him, and added the following to my notes, sending them out to him as soon as it was written :—

“News from here (the Saier); Slatin knows Omdurman prison. From the Beit-el-Mal to Morrada along the river are six semicircular forts with flanks ; each fort has three guns, but the flanks are loopholed for musketry only. The parapets are of Nile mud, and appear to be three metres thick. Most of the forts are situated close under the high wall. There is a similar fort at the north end of Tuti Island, two more at Halfeyeh, and the same number at Hugra, north of Omdurman. Two batteries near Mukran sweep the White Nile and the arm which skirts Tuti Island, and I have just heard that some one has offered to lay torpedoes in the Nile to blow up the steamers. Slatin knows more about the army than I do; Wad Bessir has come in from Ghizera with about two thousand men. Osman Digna, with a force I have not learned the strength of, is at Halfeyeh. Onoor will tell you all about these troops. Ahmed Fedeel is at Sabalooka (Shabluka), and his strength is better known to you than me. The whole population left here is in the greatest dread of this savage rabble and their rulers, and pray God to deliver them out of their