22 GORDON AND THE MAHDI.

ofstrongsharp features, whoby a look, a gesture, could control his savageor half savage surroundings. But he wasnot that by any means. " A short,slender man withafine,pale,almostbeardless face, whose thoughtful far-away, almost dreaming, but nevertheless energetic look gave his whole being a strikingexpressionof seriousness. He waslike a scholar,

who in his lonely study conceives and works up a new andgrandidea. "His voice wassoftandlow. Hespoke inshort,abrupt sentences; w*as cool and distant, and while speaking looked at me with steady, questioning eyes. It w*as as if he triedto readin myface whether he might trust me

or not. Ihadhoped that he would take some interest

in my travels, but Iwas disappointed. Gordon's is a remarkable nature ofsteady individuality. He helps all travellers as far as it is in his power,but of scientific interestshe hasnone. He is entirely takenup with the work to whichhe has devoted himself— namely, to free the slaves, and to this end he has worked without interruptionfor severalyears with strenuous efforts and at greatpersonal sacrifice."

WhileGordonwasthusengagedatKhartoum,Suleiman, son of Zebehr, and now Governor of Bahr Ghazal, had gathered round him a number of his father's old

adherents, with whom in July he broke out in open revolt. Heproclaimedhimselflord of theprovince,seized on a number of government stores, and surprised and

massacred an Egyptian garrison at Dem Idris. This rallied the Bedouin tribes around his standard, and he

was soonat the head of some 6000 men. Gordon found it impossible to leave Khartoum, but dispatched his staunchlieutenant Romulus Gessito deal withSuleiman. The struggle between these twain was an exciting one, and a dozen battles were foughtbefore therebellion was quelled. Gessi, after being delayed by the difficulty of collecting forces and the flooded state of the country, came up with Suleiman near Dem Idris at the end of December, andbegan a series of engagements in which

the mad fury of the rebels was only equalledby the daring and resource of their opponents in face of what appeared to be overwhelming odds. After repulsing attack upon attack, Gessi, inMarch,1879, w*as at length able to assume the offensive. Setting Suleiman's camp on fireby means of rockets he drove out the slavers, and sweepingthedistrictclearofthem,freedsometenthousand of their victims. Continuinghis pursuit of Suleimanhe chased him from Dem Suleiman, a place named inhis honour, andthen hung onhistraillikeabloodhound.

Meanwhile in February a summons to Cairo had reached Gordon, but he failed to attend to it,and at length obtainedpermission from the Khedive to break up the slavers' den at Shakka, and then to join Gessi. He hurriedalong, discoveringand freeinggangs of slaves

onhis way. Suleiman sent emissariesto him, whomhe tried andshot, and such was the terror he inspired,that the slave-dealers began to disperse in all directions, releasing their captives, who, wandering about the country in thousands, were snapped up by the Arabs likesheep. Shakka cleared,Gordon went on to Toashia, wherehe met Gessi, andliberally rewardedhim. Again the latter started off onhis pursuit, which ended by his capturingSuleiman with ten of his principal companions, andshootingthe wholebatch. In their possession were found papers implicating Zebehr so deeply in the revolt, thathis trialbecame anecessity. He,too,was sentenced to death, but despite this still continued to draw his pensionat Cairo as heretofore. Haroun, the pretender to the throne of Darfour, was killed,and his force dis-

lands, and by them brought down in threes and fours

to more populous places, to beresold to others, Gordon realisedthat he could stop the slave gangsby givingthe tribes leave to capture andkeepallthose thatpassed,but that in this case the slaves would only exchange the

frying-pan for the fire, and would much prefer to be carriedto theirdestinationandemployedintownsthanto be held in bondage by the Bedouins who had rescued

them from the slave traders. Even with those whomhe andhia lieutenantsrescued, difficulties continually arose. It wasimpossible to feed them or to send themback to

their own country, and ifthey wereletloose they would onlybe picked up again, anescaped slavebeing"like an escapedsheep,the property of theperson who findshim."

After a flying visit to Khartoum, Gordon setoff down theNile to Berber and Dongola, whence he was recalled to the capital of hisgovernmentbya reportedAbyssinian invasionof Senaar. Hestruck out straightforKhartoum, across theBayudadesert,but onreaching his destination

learned thatthe alarmwas a false one. He then rodeoff into the Bogos country to look up Walad-el-Michael,who

was again troubling the frontier, and succeeded in pacifyinghim. By this timehe had completed a yearof office,in the course of whichhe had effected wondersin

the way of reform, and had ridden over 3840 miles on camel-back,with the result,as he expressedit,of shaking

eitherhisheart or his lungs out of place. On his way back to Khartoum he was summonedbytelegraph to the Egyptian capitalto lendhis aidinarrangingthe finances

of the country, which had fallen into hopelessconfusion. Reaching Cairo on March 7, 1878, he was received with everyhonour,andplaced at dinner on the Khedive'sright hand. "The sun which rose with such splendour set in

the deepest obscurity" was his remark. He was too much in earnestand spoke out too openly,andwithin a month, startedoff in quasi-disgrace to inspect the south-

easternprovincesofhis government. After dismissing an old enemy, Baouf Pasha, from the governorship of Harrar,he made his way to Khartoum by Suakim and Berber, and for months remained engagedin settling questions of finance and the affairs of the province. The

finances could notbe made to balance,but a number of incompetentand unjust officials were dismissed, and the slave trade wasabsolutely put down. To slave dealers, pashas and other evil-doers Gordon was an incarnate

terror. " Your brother," he wrote to his sister from Khartoumseveny7ears ago,"is much feared, andIthiuk respected,but not overmuch liked. The people in the Soudan tremblebefore yourbrother."

A Swedish traveller who visited the capital of the Soudan at this periodhas sketched the following charac-

teristic portrait of Gordon in the midst of his official workat Khartoum:— "After passing through the courtyard, filled with soldiers,Icame first into alittle room, where two clerks

were at their desks. Through this Iwas led into a largesquareroom with windows on two sides and very littlefurniture, as is generally the case inEgyptian work- rooms. A divan ran round three of the walls. The room was almost filled by officials, merchants, priests, andofficers, who were waiting to talk to Gordon, while black servants, offering coffee and cigarettes,made their

way through this crowdof visitors. Inthe midstof the room, at a large square table, sat a man, dressed in black. His back was turned to the windowandhisright arm restedonthe table. "That was Gordon. What did he look like1 From whatIhadheard ofhimIimaginedhimto be the type of a true Briton; tall and large-limbed, bearded, and