The end, however, was deferred, not averted.
After the destruction of General Hicks's army Slatin was compelled to
surrender to the Dervishes. The religion he had assumed to secure victory
he observed to escape death. The Arab leaders, who admired his courage,
treated him at first with respect and kindness, and he was conducted to
the Mahdi in his encampment before Khartoum. There during the siege he
remained, closely watched but not imprisoned. Thence he wrote letters
to Gordon explaining his surrender, excusing his apostacy, and begging
that he might be allowed--not even assisted--to escape to Khartoum.
The letters are extant, and scarcely anyone who reads them, reflecting
on the twelve years of danger and degradation that lay before this man,
will refuse their compassion.
Gordon was inflexible. Before the arrival of the letters his allusions
to Slatin are contemptuous: 'One cannot help being amused at the Mahdi
carrying all the Europeans about with him--nuns, priests, Greeks,
Austrian officers--what a medley, a regular Etat-Major!' [JOURNALS AT
KHARTOUM.] He is suspicious of the circumstances of his surrender.
'The Greek. . . says Slatin had 4,000 ardebs of dura, 1,500 cows, and
plenty of ammunition: he has been given eight horses by the Mahdi.'
He will not vouch for such a man; but he adds, with characteristic
justice, 'all this information must be taken with reserve.
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