Rauf Pasha was alarmed at the enthusiasm of the people, and he sent to the governor of Fashoda stringent orders to crush the Mahdi and his followers. The orders were welcome, for the governor loved fighting, and his people were fond of plunder. He therefore gave orders for his soldiers to be in readiness for the march early on the following morning. The trumpet sounded, and nine hundred soldiers, about half of them unarmed, however, set out for the Arab village of Senari. When the village was reached the governor himself raised the banner of Egypt, and shouted: “Down with the Arabs! Death to the infidels!” Senari was fired on. The people were panic-stricken. Men rushed for their houses, and called on Allah to protect them. Women and children were shot down without mercy. The blood-red flag of Egypt, with its golden crescent, was not more crimson than the streets of the Arab village. The soldiers pillaged every house. Men saw their children hewn into pieces with the heavy swords of the soldiers; they saw their wives mutilated in the most horrible manner, but were powerless to resist. They were unarmed. From Senari the victorious Fashodians marched to Bari, and again commenced a carnival of slaughter and plunder. The Arabs of Bari showed considerable spirit, for they armed themselves with knives, long sticks and various other weapons, and rushed upon the bayonets and muskets of the invaders, fighting against terrible odds and at great disadvantage. Again the same scenes of horrible brutality were witnessed. The butchery was at its height when a cloud of dust and sand was seen in the distance, and in a few minutes a gallant band of well-armed Arabs rode into the center of the village, and charged the Fashodians with an impetuosity entirely foreign to the Arab nature. “Come on, boys!” shouted Sherif el Habib, in good Arabian. “I don’t know what the quarrel is about, but the villagers are the weakest.” “That’s so!” shouted Max; “and in my country we always go to help the under dog of the fight.” Our friends, Mohammed and Sherif, with their lieutenants, Max and Ibrahim, arrived at the very nick of time. The governor of Fashoda believed that the Mahdi had come. The villagers declared that Allah had answered their prayers, and that very thought caused them to fight with desperate courage, even though they were practically unarmed. “The Mahdi!” shouted the people. “Great is the prophet!” “_Allah il Allah!_” The air was filled with the shouts of the Arabs, and it was not until a lull took place that Sherif el Habib was able to explain that the Mahdi had not come, that in fact they were seeking for him. Max fought desperately, and when the scimiter was knocked from his hand he almost cried with vexation. But he created a consternation which led to a panic. It was unexpected and to the Fashodians inexplainable.