A THRILLING STORY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9711, 5 January 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

A THRILLING STORY.

HOW FATHER ROSSIGNOLI ESCAPED FROM DERVISHES. Father Rossignoli and his guide, Abdullah, reached Cairo the other Sunday, and was promptly interviewed. The holy father appears to be in delicate health, and is evidently suffering from the great hardships undergone during his lengthened imprisonment. Father Rossignoli'a escape was effected by an Arab of the Ababdes tribe, who made. a contract with Major Wingate to go to Omdurman and release one European prisoner. He also took a letter from Father Soggaro to Father Rossignoli, with the words in Latin : " Your deliverance is at hand. Trust in God, and come." The guide left Cairo on March 31st, and arrived at Berber on June 30th. Here he was taken for an Egyptian spy and arrested, bub disarmed suspicion by contracting a marriage and remaining at Berber for two months. He then proceeded to Omdurman, where he found Father Rossignoli

ACTING A3 A SERVANT IN A OOFFBK-SHOP, and after some days managed to communicate with him secretly. The astute guide first found a boatman, to whom he stated that a certain Egyptian soldier of General Hicks' army was heavily in debt and wanted to escape to Berber. This attempt, however, had to be abandoned, because the other passengers in the boat) recognising Father Rossignoli, refused to proceed any further, fearing lest they should be thought to have aided in his escape. Abdullah then bought a camel and two donkeys, and Father Rossignoli, feigning illness, told his own servant that ho was going to Khartoum for change of air. He then secreted himself in a ruined building, near the Nile, a few miles from the town., Here he was joined by Abdullah with his slave and animals, and they proceeded with speed towards Berber. After two days' hard travelling they were seized ab Metammeh during the night by fifteen Dervish soldiers of the Berber garrison, who were out on a foray. To these Abdullah declared that he belonged to the Emir of Berber's party, while Father Rossignoli concealed himself behind the camel, and, strange to relate, the soldiers released the whole party. At Berber, where they crossed the Nile, a most serious danger arose. Abdullah, after he had concealed Father Rossignoli in a deserted hub, was

DENOUNCED TO THE EMIR for travelling with a Christian. He was forthwith imprisoned and the town searched for Father Rossignoli, who hid in sheep pens and other places. Eventually Abdullah, by bribing the Emir, succeeded in obtaining his release. But by this time the news of Father Rossignoli's escape had arrived from Omdurman with orders to the Kmir to send scouts in all directions. Luckily, however, a rumour spread that the fugitives had gone towards Kassala, and this diverted attention from the neighbourhood of Berber. Thus, after five days' delay, on the night of November 9th they secretly quitted the town, where they had spent eleven perilous days. Travelling night and day they reached Assouan on November 20th. During part of the time Father Rossignoli could neither walk nor ride from exhaustion, and he must have succumbed but for the incessant care and support of Abdullah. Father Rossignoli speaks in the highest terms of the devoted attention of his guide. THE SIEGE OK KL OBEID. Father Rossignoli graphically recited the horrors of the siege of El Obeid, of which he was the only surviving European in the garrison. At thai) time he was lying helpless from scurvy, and being carried out when the Mahdists gained the town, expected every moment to be sentenced to death. His life, however, wa3 spared, and after two years he was sent to Omdurman, where ho had remained ever since until the time of his deliverance arrived. "We know nothing of commerce," he added, referring to the Catholic missionaries, " and therefore the only work I was able to do for a living was to sell goods in a little shop for my Arab master. Twice he attempted to induce me to go bo public prayers, but I refused, and was beaten and chained as a punishment. Otherwise 1 was not badly treated. An attack of typhoid fever which I contracted during my slavery in Omdurman has left me very deaf."