Click2Flicks - The Four Feathers, Chapter 1

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top><table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff cellpadding=5> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b><i>THE FOUR FEATHERS:</i></p> <p>THE STORY BEHIND THE MOVIE</b></font></p>  <table width="590"> <tr> <td align="CENTER" valign="top" bgcolor="000000" colspan=2><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="3" color="FFFFFF"><b>STORY CHAPTER LINKS</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td align=center valign=top width=50%>  <table width="293" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" border="0"> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="269"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><a href="#preface"><b>1. STORY PREFACE</b></a></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="269"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="four_feathers_ch2.htm">2. TROUBLE IN SUDAN</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="269"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="four_feathers_ch3.htm">3. THE MAHDI TAKES CHARGE</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="279"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="four_feathers_ch4.htm">4. GORDON IS BEHEADED</a></b></font> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> <td align=center valign=top width=50%>  <table width=303 cellpadding=5 cellspacing=5 border=0> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="279"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="four_feathers_ch5.htm">5. DEATH OF THE MAHDI</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="279"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="four_feathers_ch6.htm">6. REVENGE: ROUND ONE</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="279"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="four_feathers_ch7.htm">7. REVENGE AND DESECRATION</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="279"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="four_feathers_ch8.htm">8. A COWARD'S FEATHERS</a></b></font> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  <p><b><font size="3"><u><a name="preface">PREFACE</a></u></font></b></p> <div align=center><b><i><font face="Times New Roman" color="000000" size="3">Our victory was disgraced<br> by the inhuman<br> slaughter<br> of the wounded...<br><br></i> Winston Spencer <a href="http://www.winstonchurchill.org/young.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Churchill</b></a><br> January 26, 1899<br> Letter to his mother</b><br><br> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">It was 1898 - a time when "the sun never set" on the British Empire. Presided over by <a href="http://www.nhmccd.edu/contracts/lrc/kc/Victoria.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Queen Victoria</b></a>, who was approaching the end of her long reign, the <a href="http://www.oldhousebooks.co.uk/Assets/Empire%20Map1.jpg" target="_blank"><b>far-flung</b></a> empire (noted in red in the link) covered 11 million square miles and included about 400 million people.</p> <p>Trouble between Egypt (then a British Protectorate) and the Sudan was about to erupt into an unbelievably brutal battle. Fighting under the hot desert sun, Anglo-Egyptian forces, led by Lord Horatio Herbert <a href="http://www.pinetreeweb.com/kitchener-master.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Kitchener</b></a>, would face angry Sudanese eager to rid their country of colonial rule. It would be the last time the British army fought a battle on horseback.</p> <p>The scene was <a href="http://www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/Omdurman.Jpeg" target="_blank"><b>Omdurman</b></a>, across the <a href="http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/cia01/sudan_sm01.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Nile River</b></a> from <a href="http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/africa_1890.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Khartoum</b></a>. (Look for the intersection of 30 degrees longitude and approximately 25 degrees latitude in this 1890 map.) It was not the first time the Sudanese had engaged Anglo-Egyptian forces in a horrifying battle. Winston Churchill, a 24-year-old war correspondent, <a href="http://www.winstonchurchill.org/sprwin.jpg" target="_blank"><b>rode</b></a> with the 21st Lancers. Despite death all around him, the future Prime Minister of Great Britain survived - forever <a href="http:/www.churchill-society-london.org.uk/18961899.html" target="_blank"><b>changed</b></a> because of the brutality he had witnessed.</p> </div> <p align="right"><font size="2"><a href="four_feathers_ch2.htm">GO TO CHAPTER 2</a></font></p> <p align="center"><font face="arial, helvetica" size="3"><a href="http://www.awesomestories.com/content/about_author.htm" target="_blank"><b>Author: Carole D. Bos, J.D.</b></center></a></p><br> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table>  </body>