Part 24 (2/2)

Every moment of the ten days that Gordon stayed at Khartou all he could as to the condition of the people and the state of the government It did not take hiovernment had no authority whatever over the people, and that the money matters of the Soudan were hopelessly mixed with those of Cairo But at present he could only note rong, and wait to set it right His work just now lay at Gondokoro, and thither he o

On the 22nd he started up the river, and at each mile, as they drew nearer and nearer to the equator, he found the cli but 'heat andthough the cli deeply interested in the reat hippopota about in their clumotionless on the mud where the river had fallen; thethe trees that covered the banks in places; the storks that sounded as if they were laughing, and 'see up to Gondokoro with the hope of doing anything' In a forest higher up they found a tribe, the dinkas, dressed in necklaces Their idea of greeting a white 'chief' was to lick his hands, and they would have kissed his feet also had not Gordon juay beads he had brought with hi them over their heads

The people of Gondokoro were filled with astonishment when Gordon's steamer anchored under the river banks It was a wretched place, worse even than Khartoum, and inhabited by wretched people, whoeful and timid But Gordon did not care howto help the people; and first he began by trying to iven up planting their little plots of ground--as the use when their harvest was always taken from them?

Their only possession of value was their children, and these they often begged Gordon to buy, to save theood to be true when the white ave them maize, which they baked in cakes, and fed them while they sowed their patches once more 'He would see that no one hurt them,' he said, and little by little, under his protection, the poor people plucked up heart again and forgot their troubles, as nobody but negroes can

Up and down the river he went, establishi+ng some of the forts which he knew to be necessary if the slave-trade was to be put down One day Abou Saoud brought hiyptian governor of Fashoda, on the White Nile, half-way to Khartouroes whom they had captured, and with two thousand cohich they had also kidnapped, as was their custo able to return theroes he set free If possible they were sent hoht them hiratitude shown by the blacks was boundless, and one, a chief of the dinkas, proved useful to hiladly served him as hewers of wood and drawers of water

So the weeks went on, and in the intervals of capturing more convoys of slaves Gordon still found ti wo her food, and, what she loved better still, tobacco The heat greorse and worse, and no doubt thein the Nile erous amusement, as the river swarmed with crocodiles But he had heard that crocodiles never attacked anything that was ood All his white men, however, fell ill, and as there was no one to nurse them but himself, he would not replace them

[Illustration: Gordon found ti woman]

Meanwhile the natives had learned to trust hifroovernor had forced theht froed forty Soudanese, on whouard

It was not to be expected that Gordon could carry through all these yptian officials, ue with the slave-dealers Soon he discovered that ainst him, and of them all, Abou Saoud was the worst He even incited the black troops under hihtened the men into obedience, and sent their leader down the Nile to Gondokoro

Yet, in spite of fever, discontent, laziness, and open rebellion, in ten arrisoned eight stations with the seven hundred htened to stir a hundred yards outside the town, and had sent to Cairo enough money to pay the expenses of the expedition for this year and the next, while that of Baker had cost the Egyptian government 1,170,000

It seereat lake Victoria Nyanza, further south, at the head of the Nile, to Mooods be exchanged far ht down the whole length of the Nile, which is often rendered impassable by shallows and cataracts Therefore, towards the end of 1874 he set up posts fro that directly the Nile fell the steaht be able to reach hiers

The Arabs were lazy, the Egyptians useless and often treacherous, many of the tribes hostile; and to add to it all, it was alet past the rapids The boats were very strong, but liable to be upset at any instant by the plunging of the hippopota at the ropes which were to drag the craft along, and Gordon took his turn with the rest nobody in the camp worked so hard as the coun, while theelse to be done he mended watches and musical boxes, which he took with him as presents to the natives, and he kept hi fourteen miles daily, in spite of the heat and un while the ht to do,' he said one day, 'forthe nape of my neck from the mosquitoes,' the eneht their way along the river, till at length they reached the lake of Albert Nyanza Gordon established forts as he went, though in the depths of his heart he knew full well that thewould relapse into its former state of oppression and lawlessness But what happened afterwards was not _his_ business He had done the work set him to the utmost of his power, and that was all for which he was responsible

Thus two years passed away, and having n his post to the khedive before returning to England

As ht have been expected, he was not allowed to throw off his burden so easily The khedive had no intention of loosening his hold of ait out, but, try as he would, he could not wring fro back No sooner had Gordon arrived in England than telegra hiust he felt that he could not leave it half done

In six weeks the khedive had triumphed, and Gordon was in Cairo

At his very firstwith the khedive, when the affairs of the Soudan were discussed, Gordon stated clearly that he would not go back unless he was given undivided authority and power over the Soudan as well as over the other provinces The khedive granted everything he asked The governor-general of the Soudan, Ismail Pasha, was recalled, and Gordon took his place as ruler over the equatorial provinces, Darfour, the whole of the Soudan, and the Red Sea coast He owed obedience to no one save the khedive, who again was responsible to the sultan of Turkey The salary offered him by the khedive was 12,000 a year, but 6,000 was all that Gordon would accept, and later he cut it down to 3,000

With 'terrific exertion' he thought it possible that in three years he ood army in his provinces, with increased trade, a fair revenue, and, above all, slavery suppressed It seeantic work to undertake, especially e consider that it had to be carried out in a district one thousand six hundredless would be of any use, and Gordon was not the man to spare himself if he could make his work permanent So after a few days in Cairo he started for the south, going first, by the khedive's orders, to try and bring about a peace with the kingdom of Abyssinia