Part 23 (1/2)

'That is for you,hiht, 'could a ot to Pekin?' Then he remembered that an e presents to the French court

Louis received theraciously, and showed them the splendours of Versailles and all the curious and artistic ornaifts of French manufacture as valuable as their own to take to their e thereatest of French on's claws, and is covered with cushi+ons of yellow silk, the iht by Gordon himself, and presented by hie sum fixed for the expenses of the as paid General Staveley was left with three thousand men in command at Tientsin, and Gordon remained with him Tientsin is a dreary place in a salt plain, and the clihout North China But Gordon minded cold far less than heat andtill night, building huts for the soldiers and stables for the horses, and ina fund which he had collected to help sohbourhood who had been ruined by the war Though very careless of his own ar who asked for it, he was most particular about other people's, and the attention which he paid to ss enabled him to spend the fund in the manner that would best aid the poor creatures who had lost everything Now and then he gave himself a day's holiday, and explored the country, as he was fond of doing; and once he rode out to the Great Wall, twenty-two feet high and sixteen wide, which runs along the north-west of China, over mountains and across plains, for fifteen hundred o by an e hosts of the Tartars

At certain distances strong forts were placed, and these were garrisoned by Chinese soldiers As he passed through the es the inhabitants would come out of their houses and stare A white h they had never really believed it Well, he was a strange creature truly, with his hair cropped close and pink in his cheeks, and they did not s, or caravans, of ca their way to Russia Everywhere in the neighbourhood of the s were frozen so hard that no one could eat them; but Gordon could do with as little food as any thened and interested, and it was as well he had the short rest to brace him, for now there lay before hireat discontent with government had been felt by the peasants and lower classes in so while before the ith England broke out a peasant e rebellion, as it is called--could have been easily put down in the beginning, but ministers in China are slow to reat object of the rebels was to gain possession of Shanghai, the centre of European trade, built in theat hand to carry into the interior of China the goods of foreign merchants of all countries that come to its harbour across the Pacific Pirate vessels, too, haunted its shores, ready to pounce upon the rich traders, and when their prizes were captured, they went swiftly away, and hid thes that stretched themselves a hundred hai was a very ilish; yet for twelve years the rebellion had been allowed to go on unchecked, burning, pillaging, and , till in 1853 the rebels had reached a point only a hundred miles distant from Pekin itself Then soldiers were hastily collected, and the Taepings forced back; quarrels broke out a their leaders, and ether had it not been for the appearance four years later of young Chung wang, who assueneral As long as he led the Taepings in battle victory was on their side; if he was needed elsewhere, they were invariably defeated

Inspired by his successes, Chung wang attacked and took several rich and ihai district, and held Nankin, the ancient capital of China Shanghai trees became visible from her towers and paGodas, and even the Chinese felt that, if they were to be saved at all, measuresin the town, Chinese as well as Europeans and Americans, put themselves under the command of an Aht with theave battle to the rebels on seventy different occasions without once being beaten Well had his troops earned the title afterwards given them at Pekin, of the Ever-Victorious Ars when, in May 1862, Gordon was sent to Shanghai in coineers ith some French troops, were to assist the Chinese arhai of the dreaded Taepings The nature of the country, alineer was needed if the expedition was to be successful, and Gordon was busy all day in surveying the canals or moats outside the walls of some city they were about to attack, to see at what point he could throw a bridge of boats across, or where he could best place his reserves At the end of six months the enemy was forced back to a distance of forty miles; but the French admiral Protet had been killed in action, and Ward had fallen while leading an assault

By this time the emperor and his s were to be put down the Chinese ar wang, and a request was sent to the English governht be temporarily offered to ranted, and periven to a certain number of officers to serve under him The emperor was overjoyed--much more so than Gordon, as promptly created a mandarin He foresaw et his 'rabble' of four thousand men into order, and at the outset he had evine, Ward's successor in command of the Ever-Victorious Army, but a very different man from Ward hi, Burgevine was ultireat deal of ies to building a little fleet of so down the rivers and canals, and hinder the foreign traders fro the rebels with arms and ammunition

The strict discipline enforced by Gordon made him very unpopular with his little army, and they could not understand why he e a crime, to be punished by death But e think hoholly iuess what is going on in the , not that heobedience As it was, two thousand of his , the Chinese general, was jealous of him, and incited the troops to oppose and annoy hi was behindhand in paying his arood faith and honour were pledged to punctual payhtened the emperor and his ministers so much that the money due was quickly sent, and by the help of General Staveley ed

At the capture of Quinsan Gordon took prisoners about two thousand Taepings, who them, he said, into ht hundred of theuard, and under his eye they proved faithful and trustworthy With the help of his new force he detere the ancient town of Soo-chow, situated on the Grand Canal and close to the Tai-ho, or great lake

All around it ays leading to the sea, but the Grand Canal itself, stretching away to the Yang-tse-kiang, was held by the Taeping general Chung wang

Now the possession of Soo-choas of great importance to both parties, and Gordon at once proceeded to cut off its supplies that ca three of his steaet into the city except through the Grand Canal On the land side fighting was going on perpetually, and by the help of a body of good Chinese troops Gordon gained a decisive victory in the open field We can scarcely, however, realise all the difficulties he had to contend with in his ar not only hated him, and always tried to upset his plans, but was quite reckless, and if left to hi Chang's brother, who had been given the command of twenty thousand troops, was utterly without either instinct or experience, and continually hampered Gordon's movements by some act of folly Worst of all, he could not feel sure of the fidelity of his own officers, and during the siege he found that one of the

As soon as the ht of one whose soul had never held a thought that was not honourable and true the traitor must have seen himself as he really was We do not knohat Gordon said to him--most likely very little, but he offered hi himself, and that was that he should lead the next forlorn hope

In spite of his treachery the culprit was able to feel the baseness of his conduct He eagerly accepted Gordon's proposal, though he ell aware that almost certain death was in store And his repentance was real, and not merely the effect of a moment's shame, for when, some time after, a forlorn hope was necessary to carry the stockades before Soo-chow, Gordon, whose otten all about his proh he did not reht to lead He was the first man killed, but the stockades were carried, and after twoGordon's service in China was the difference between East and West more clearly shown than in the events that happened after the capture of Soo-chow Gordon respected his eneranted favourable ter in particular, the captain of the city, had shown special skill and courage, and before the town fell Gordon had obtained a pro commander's fate should be placed in his hands At a council held inside Soo-chow, Moh wang desired to hold out, but the other wangs (or nobles) all voted for surrender, and at length they began to quarrel Moh wang would not give way, and then Kong wang caught up his dagger and struck the first blow The rest fell upon Moh wang, and dragged hi off his head, which they sent to Ching the general as a gift

As plunder had been strictly forbidden by Gordon, he was very anxious to give his soldiers two months' pay to make up; but one reat difficulty, while the troops, angry and disappointed, threatened to revolt and to overnor of the province This was, however, stopped by Gordon, who then went into the city to the house of Nar wang, another Taeping leader, whoain over On the previous day he had heard fro of Deceovernor and surrender Soo-chow, as the emperor had consented to spare their lives and those of the prisoners; so Gordon started early in order to catch Nar wang before he left, reaching Nar wang's house just as he and the other wangs wereto theood-bye, and they rode away

The fate that they

It seeovernor to keep faith with men who had just delivered themselves and their city into his hands, and als were all taken over to the other side of the river and there beheaded, their heads being cut off and flung aside But soht, it was kept a secret till the following day