Indignant at the soldier’s audacity, Emin stepped up to him, seized him by the neck, and ordered him to be disarmed and imprisoned. The soldiers to a man broke ranks and gathered together in threatening groups, pointing their guns at the governor, who had drawn his sabre to compel obedience. Quick action by the officers alone prevented an outbreak. The troops withdrew to keep guard at the arsenal, but refused their regular night service at the governor’s residence. On the nineteenth of August, Emin and Jephson entered the station at Dufile by the northern gate. The way into the village was forsaken. Not a single person met them and it was as silent everywhere as the grave. As they reached their house their entrance was prevented by a picket of soldiers on guard. The governor was taken prisoner, but Jephson in his capacity of guest was not included in their hostile designs. A new government was set up in Wadelai which was to secure justice for all! Dreadful news followed. In October, three steamers for Khartoum appeared before Redjaf. The armed Mahdists, who came in them, attacked and captured the station after a brief resistance. Three clerks and three officers, who heroically defended the entrance to the fort, were slain. A horrible massacre of men, women, and children ensued. No one was spared. Other assaults by the Mahdists followed and all were successful. The mutineers were panic-stricken, for they knew not how to withstand the advancing enemy. Casati availed himself of the situation by persuading the men who had usurped the government that it was necessary to remove the governor from the vicinity of the enemy’s operations. On the morning of the seventeenth of November Emin was sent under military escort and with the salute of cannon to the steamer which was to take him to Wadelai. There was a little creature on board who had suffered terrible anxiety for many long weeks. It was Ferida, Emin’s poor little child. She was so young that she could hardly comprehend her father’s situation. She only knew that something dreadful might happen. Captain Casati had so successfully used his influence that she was kept at his house during Emin’s imprisonment. Her father had often been away on journeys, but here it was very different. There was something terrible in the air. Almost every day she besought Casati to take her to her father and when her wish was not granted, she would ask a hundred times if any harm had happened to him. Now the terrible time seemed to her like a long, wretched dream. With sparkling eyes she clung to her “good little father” and was so delighted that she sang and danced about the deck.