He now redoubled his antics, making the dust whirl in clouds about him, and crying on the spirits to aid him. He put a few pounds of substance into the fire--all that was left of his lead-scrapings--but this time the spirits left him in the lurch. Bathed in perspiration, he anxiously raked about the coals; but there was no lead to be seen. He begged and prayed for more time, which was granted. But at length one of his slaves let out the secret; he said that the mukuddum used to purchase in the market the lead bullets which had been dug out of Khartum, he filed them into thin shavings, mixed them with some concoction, and threw them into the furnace; the melted lead was then drawn off and allowed to cool. On the last occasion he had failed, and now his fraud was fully exposed; the Khalifa ordered his hand and foot to be cut off, "not," he said, "so much for the fraud, as for the continual denials." The operation was carried out, but the mukuddum died eight days afterwards of tetanus. The failures of this man and of the Indian to manufacture powder and lead did not deter others from continuing their experiments, and amongst the latter was a Greek named Yusef Pertekachi, who continued working on with the most dogged determination. He had tried every plan to gain a livelihood; but whatever he put his hand to, it seemed to fail, and he was soon deeply involved in debt. In his desperate position he determined to study the manufacture of gunpowder. For a whole year he continued his experiments, and in his case the truth of the proverb, "Necessity is the mother of invention," was fully exemplified; he succeeded in making fairly good powder. The experiences of the Indian and the mukuddum pointed to extreme caution; he did not, therefore, tell Adlan, who he thought would not believe him, but after his death he applied to Yakub. Yakub is a man whom even the leaders of Mahdiism find a difficulty in approaching, and poor Pertekachi tried for months before he obtained a hearing; but at length he was attended to, and the various trials and experiments of the new powder, both in guns and Remington rifles, proved most satisfactory. Pertekachi at once rose in favour in the eyes of Abdullah and Yakub, and was soon comparatively well off. The Khalifa ordered a bottle of the powder to be placed in the Antik Khana, on which was written: "Powder invented by the Osta (Master) Pertekachi." At first Pertekachi set to work to improve the damaged powder, of which there were quantities of old barrels taken out of the Government magazines, but, having been left in damp places, it had become crusted. For several months he continued his work, to the complete satisfaction of Abdullah, but the poor man was soon to come to a terrible end.