GORDON AND THE MAHDI. 151 itfairly among yourfollowers— to every one his portion. You would keep it among yourselves. Ihave done a great deed. Ihave delivered to your lord andmaster thecity, which you could never have taken withoutmy help. You would have been beaten back from the trenchesby theEnglish, who, even now,awaittheir time to punish you; and Ihave secrets regarding these, which,ifIdie, willdie withme. Itellyou again there is no treasure,but you willrue the dayif you"killme.' "One among the dervishes then stepped forward and struck him,bound as he was, in themouth, telling him to cease his fool's prophecies; while another, incensed, rushed at him and struck him on the back of his neck with his two-edgedsword, so that with oneblowhishead fell fromhis shoulders.

to bear. Still, he had seldom complained;his thoughts were not of himselfbut of those who had beenentrusted to him. He had made the sacrifice of his ownlife, all that he desired was to save"his people." No man ever showed more touching resignation thanhe did, no man ever felta greater love for his fellow creatures. But it is said that he was not loved in return. No less an authoritythan the prime minister has declared that he merelyexercised a power of fascinationovera few of the natives and soldiers who were in personal contact with him, and that he mistook this for a generalattachment.* This statement is capableof beingrefuted. Ithasbeen shown in the preceding pages thatwhenGordonreached Khartoumhis popularity was unbounded,that thepeople trusted entirely in him, and for months assisted him in the mighty work of defence. Still there were no doubtmany of the Mahdi's partisans within the city, and as time wore on, and Khartoum became more closely invested,traitors tried to undermine the confidence of the people. Gordon had achieved wonders without the least succour from outside, butit was impossiblefor him to raise the siege, unless he were helped by England. He promised the people deliverance, and he relied upon fulfilling his promise,never imagining that he wouldbe so long abandoned that deliverancewouldprove an impossibility. He saidagainand again" you willbesaved, theEnglish are coming." But England made no sign. The people watched andwaited, longing for the succour which did not arrive, and, at last, as the traitors in the city steadilycontinuedtheir efforts, the public confidence was shaken. Was this surprising? The proverb tells us that hope deferred maketh the heart sick, and the people of Khartoummust evidently have been indespair on finding that all of Gordon's promises remained unfulfilled. In thebeliefthat he couldnot save them, it is scarcely to be wondered at that theythought of saving themselves by submitting to the Mahdi. But whose fault was that? Not Gordon'sassuredly. If theBritish Government had taken speedy action, the conspiracy to handthe cityover to the False Prophetwouldnot have had timeto mature;the confidence of thepeople would not have been shaken; and Gordon would not have beenbutcheredby the fanaticalfollowersof theMahdi.

" So perished the arch-traitor— may his soul be afflicted! But as for Gordon Pasha, the magnanimous, mayhis soul 'be enjoying fuller knowledge!' " Nearlyall theEgyptian men were slain in spite of their casting themselves down and praying for mercy. Faragh Pasha'shead was then carried off to Mohamed Ahmed. We heard this when the Kordofansoldiers, who guarded us at theDormas Gate,talkedamongthemselves.

We werethere for some days:we saw nothing, but onlyheard what these soldiers told us. They" said two steamers withEnglish had come up and goneback."

The mournful news of the fall of Khartoum reached England earlyinFebruary. The victoriesgained by the British troops had filled every heart with hope,and on learningthat the flying column hadreached theNile,and hadbeenjoinedtherebyGeneral Gordon'ssteamers, everybodyhad anticipatedthe speedyintelligence that Khartoum was relieved at last. But the news that came provedvery different. Not onlyhad the citybeen capturedby treachery,but itsgallantdefender was slain. It hadnot fallentohislot to returnhome with the laurelsof victory upon hisbrow. He had died defendingthe cityhe hadgone tosuccour, and thefanaticalfoehad not even respected his lifeless remains. His corpse,pitted with spear thrusts,hadno doubtbeen throwninto theNile,to becomethe prey of the crocodiles,so that not even the palm of martyrdom could be laiduponhisgrave. And yet those lastmonthsofhis lifewere onelongmartyrdom, as terrible as ever canonized saint was called upon * Mr. Gladstone in his speech onthe Vote of Credit, April27, 1855,