CHAPTER XV

When they entered the room they saw the Mahdi lying on a soft couch, surrounded by his wives, two of whom were fanning him with large ostrich feathers. No one else was with him except Calif Abdullah and Calif Sherif; for the third calif, Ali-uled-Helu, was at this time forwarding soldiers to the north, to Barbary, and to Abu Hammed, places already captured by the Dervishes. When the prophet saw the newcomers he pushed aside the women and sat up on the couch. Idris, Gebhr, and the two Bedouins fell on their faces an…