Excerpt from With Kitchener to Khartum Angered now himself, Mohammed Ahmed joined a new teacher and became a straiter ascetic than ever. The fame Of his sanctity Spread, and adherents flocked to him. He saw that the people of the Sudan, smart ing under extortion and Oppression, could but too easily be roused against the Egyptian Government: he risked all, and proclaimed himself El Mahdi cl Muntazer, the Expected Guide, the Mussulman Messiah. The governor-general at Khartum sent two companies to arrest him: the Mahdi's followers fell on them unawares and destroyed them. More troops were sent; the Mahdists destroyed them: next came a small army, and again the Mahdists destroyed it. The barbarous tribesmen flocked to the Mahdi's standard, and in September 1882 he laid siege to El Obeid, the chief city of Kordofan. His assault was beaten back with great slaughter, but after five months' Siege the town surrendered sack and massacre taught doubters what they had to expect. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.