at him sitting there mute, and slunk off; some, I have heard, jibed at him by asking if he was "sitting on his farwah." The farwah, or prayer-skin, is what the leaders formerly stood upon when the day was lost, and awaited their death. Finding himself deserted by all, he called for his secretary, Abou-el-Gassim, and asked what could be done. Gassim, whether in a sarcastic vein or not, recommended that he should continue praying where he was, and, maybe, his prayers would still bring victory; but there being none to join in the prayers, he asked Gassim to collect his household, and bring them to him. Gassim went off, and did not return.
At this time the Taaishi, Baggara, Berti Habbanieh, Rhizaghat, Digheem and other tribes, whom he formerly depended upon for support, were streaming off to the number of probably fifteen thousand, from the south of the town. Calling two men, he asked them to go outside the town, and see how far the Government troops were distant. The messengers, on reaching the Tombs of the Martyrs, about twelve hundred yards from where Abdullahi was sitting, suddenly came across the Sirdar and his staff standing at the angle of the great wall; they watched the staff move off towards the Beit-el-Mal, and returned and reported this to Abdullahi. Slipping through the door "communicating with his house, he changed his clothes, collected the remainder of his household, and quietly slipped off while the Sirdar was making the complete circuit of Omdurman with the exception of those twelve hundred yards. It is a thousand pities, as things
