Note 132 — Chapter XLVII · WOLSELEY AND THE PROSECUTION OF THE CAMPAIGN.

The troops at Korti about this time received a visit from some emissaries of the Mahdi, who interviewed General Dormer and pointed out the wonderful things which their leader could do. He could, they said, even interfere with the forces of nature, and drying up rivers and causing floods were only some of the trifling miracles which he was capable of bringing about. The General, who wore a glass eye, promptly took it out, spun it into the air, and replaced it. "Can the Mahdi do that?" he asked, at the same time winking with the restored eye. The astonished Dervishes made no reply, but quietly "salaamed" and retired, as if unwilling to continue longer in the society of one so evidently in league with evil spirits.