THE MAHDI'S RIGHT-HAND MAN.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1166, 17 April 1884, Page 3

THE MAHDI'S RIGHT-HAND MAN.

The Paris Figaro gives some interesting details respecting a Frenchman named Soulie', who is believed to be the Mahdi's right-hand man, and to have taken a leading share in the defeat of the Egyptian force under Hicks Pasha. Soulie' is described as having haunted the cafes and beer-shops of the Quarter Latin some seven years ago. He was then a young fellow of about 24 years, very dark and wiry, loud in talk, and exuberant in gesticulation. He was born at Algiers, where his family still reside. When the war broke out his family, dreading lest his adventurous spirit shou'd lead him into danger, summoned him to the Algerian capital, where he does not appear to have pursued any settled occupation. Devoured with impatience, restless from inaction, he endeavoured to find a vent for the fury of his temperament by the most perilous exercise of the acrobat and the circus rider. On his return to Paris about seven years ago he attended tha lecture at tha School of Mining Engineering, and c',udied law ; but quiet life did not suit 1 'm, and he returned to Algiers, whence he wrote letters to friends in Paris breathing a violent hatred to England and the English, whom he conceived to have used Germany as an instrument to "crush France." One fine morning he disappeared, and his friends were at a loss to know what had become of him, when they suddenly heard that he had joined Arabi, to gratify his passion by fighting the English. After the collapse of Arabi be migrated to Kairouan, and subsequently joined the False Prophet, in whose operations he is believed to have taken a leading part. The story, as told by the Figaro, is probably pure romance, but there is this foundation for it, that there are many adventurers with the False Prophet, and that among them them is a Frenchman named Soulie' seems beyond a doubt.