FIRE AND SWORD IN THE SUDAN. [Illustration: Lemerciergravure Printed in Paris Rudolph C. Slatin] FIRE AND SWORD IN THE SUDAN _A PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF FIGHTING AND SERVING THE DERVISHES._ 1879-1895. BY RUDOLF C. SLATIN PASHA, C.B. COLONEL IN THE EGYPTIAN ARMY (INTELLIGENCE DEPT.); FORMERLY GOVERNOR AND COMMANDANT OF THE TROOPS IN DARFUR. _TRANSLATED BY_ MAJOR F. R. WINGATE, C.B., D.S.O., R.A. _Director of Military Intelligence, Egyptian Army_; AUTHOR OF "MAHDISM AND THE EGYPTIAN SUDAN," "TEN YEARS' CAPTIVITY IN THE MAHDI'S CAMP," ETC. ILLUSTRATED BY R. TALBOT KELLY, R.B.A. EDWARD ARNOLD. LONDON: NEW YORK: 37, BEDFORD STREET. 70, FIFTH AVENUE. 1896. _Copyright, 1896_, BY EDWARD ARNOLD. University Press: JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. TO Her Most Gracious Majesty THE QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND AND EMPRESS OF INDIA WHO HAS EVER SHOWN DEEP SOLICITUDE FOR AND GRACIOUS SYMPATHY WITH THE EUROPEAN PRISONERS IN THE SUDAN _THIS RECORD OF HIS LIFE IN CAPTIVITY_ IS BY PERMISSION HUMBLY DEDICATED BY HER MAJESTY'S MOST DEVOTED AND GRATEFUL RUDOLF C. SLATIN PREFACE. Prompted by the earnest entreaties of my friends rather than by any wish of my own to relate my experiences, I have written these chapters. The few months which have elapsed since my escape have been so much occupied in resuming my official duties, compiling reports, and satisfying the kindly interest displayed by a large number of people in my strange fate, that any attempt at quiet and steady literary work has been almost impossible. During my captivity I was unable to make any notes or keep any diaries; in writing, therefore, the following pages, I have been dependent entirely on my memory, whilst the whirl of the busy European world and the constant interruptions to which I have alluded, have given me little time to collect my scattered thoughts. When, therefore, after having been debarred for so many years from intercourse with outside affairs, and entirely out of practice in writing down my ideas, I find myself urged to lose no time in publishing an account of my adventures, I must beg my readers to excuse the many defects they may notice. My experiences have no pretence to being of any literary or scientific value, and the personal episodes I have described can lay claim to little importance; I have merely attempted to give to those interested in Sudan affairs a true and faithful account of my life whilst fighting and serving the Mahdists. RUDOLF SLATIN. LONDON, _October, 1895_. INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY FATHER DON JOSEPH OHRWALDER, LATE PRIEST OF THE AUSTRIAN MISSION STATION AT DELEN, IN KORDOFAN, AND FOR TEN YEARS A CAPTIVE IN THE MAHDI'S CAMP.