“After this,” continued Dr. Alexander, “Roth despaired somewhat, but said he intended to go to Cairo to get the English consul-general to help him. He did so and convinced the consul-general that his story was true. The two demanded of Riaz Pasha, then foreign minister, that the sale of slaves be stopped. Since Roth had the English Government behind him, the Egyptian government had to respect him. Giving him a company of two hundred soldiers, they told him to go back to Asyut and capture the caravan. It was probably their intention to notify the slave dealers in time, so they could get away. But Roth defeated this move. He stopped his special train outside the town, divided his company into two bands, surrounded the caravan and took the traders and the sixty-seven slaves they had with them. He brought the poor creatures here to the mission school saying he wanted me to hold them as the Egyptians would not dare to take them from under the American flag. “Shortly after this there came a message from the governor of the province ordering that the slaves be given up. The messengers were backed by soldiers, but nevertheless I refused, declaring it was impossible on account of the absence of Dr. Hogg, the superintendent of the mission. The next day, when Dr. Hogg arrived, the governor sent for him and abused him for not giving up the slaves. Thereupon Dr. Hogg charged him with wanting to evade the law, and told him that if Asyut had any respect for the law or had a governor who was anything of a man, the caravan would have been arrested sooner and the owners punished. He demanded that this be done, and as a result the slave dealers and slaves were taken to Cairo to be tried there. The government of Egypt, not daring to whitewash the transaction, was forced to dismiss the governor and punish the slave dealers. Roth was afterward appointed an agent of the Egyptian government to keep down the slave trade. He came to the Sudan and carried on his work there in connection with Gordon and Slatin Pasha. Slatin speaks of him in his book entitled Fire and Sword in the Sudan. He died while fighting the trade there.” CHAPTER XXIII OMDURMAN, STRONGHOLD OF THE MAHDI