The Seventh Priest by Dennis Winstead

Author:Dennis Winstead [Winstead, D.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Fiction
Publisher: AudioInk Publishing
Published: 2011-09-12T20:36:31+00:00

Chapter 23

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2007

KHARTOUM—Just like Sunday in Christian countries, Friday is a special day in the Islamic world. Most embassies’ workweeks run from Sunday to Thursday, leaving Friday open for back-to-back prayers or anything else aimed at honoring Allah. Friday is also a big shopping day and most stores are open from sunup to just before the evening prayer begins. Rodder gets to Dupris’ apartment at eight sharp, with coffee and some sweet pastries he picked up at a Moroccan bakery near his apartment. They quickly exchange good morning greetings, fix coffee, and take their seats on the floor of her study.

Dupris pulls out the contents of the next box, while Rodder opens the bag of pastries. She starts the early morning discussion with a simple question. “Why do you think my great-grandfather focused so much on the bodies during the trial? The injuries, I mean. Why do so many of his notes focus solely on the victims’ wounds?”

“Do you mean the damage to the bodies that the military back in London claimed was caused by the newly invented guns? Machine guns?”

“I guess so. It has always been suggested that my great-grandfather and the other five men would not accept a plea deal because everyone knew the British public was opposed to the use of this new mass-killing technology. Thus, being the main one responsible for bringing the new guns with them to Sudan, Kitchener should have been the one held accountable,” she suggested. “He practically begged the military to let him take those guns. It was pretty much a given that no jury in Great Britain, even under the military court, would find those under him guilty, especially if the jury ruled him innocent.”

Rodder gives his own assessment. “Well, we do know that this was the first time the British Army used machine guns. So with them used on an army full of religious fervor, in a war that many here were opposed to, and resulting in tearing the enemy to pieces, with skin ripped from their bodies, it could not have been good for the military establishment. And then to make matters worse, there were no casualties on the other side. They had to have known how this was going to play out. Bottom-line, the public was determined that machine guns would never be used again, or at least for a long, long time.”

“And?” Dupris prods him to make his point.

“Well, I also think it’s very strange in another way. We know Carter’s men took 20 machine guns with them and had all of them when they arrived at Omdurman. Kitchener’s men documented this even before the attack on Omdurman. But the men steadfastly denied that any of the machine guns were used against the enemy. The six on trial in London also stuck with this story, adding more to their testimony to complicate the trial even further. It was always admitted that some of the guns may have been used, but not as an assault on the other side.

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