Part 26 (1/2)
In this way theall they could to help hied on the Govern out a relief force, and in a letter of July 24, to Gordon's brother, he writes that if he was allowed to start io all the way to Khartouot Gordon, but the rest of the Cabinet turned a deaf ear; they had other things to think about
The next move came from the French consul, ested to Gordon that now that it was Septeht, the cataracts would be covered to a depth of thirty or forty feet; therefore it would be quite easy for a sola, and from there to send on letters and despatches to Cairo Gordon approved of the plan, and Stewart offered to command the little force of forty or fifty soldiers--all that could be spared to go with it On board were some Greeks, monsieur Herbin himself, Stewart, and Power the 'Times' correspondent, the only two friends Gordon had How heiave them most careful directions as to the precautions they were to take But on their return journey Gordon's orders were neglected, the steamer was taken by thethem
Thus Gordon was left alone in Khartoum, without a creature to share his responsibility or to help hied to see to everything himself, and make sure that his orders were carried out
From his journal and letters, which we have up to Dece on inside the town: the measures of defence; the decoration which he invented to reward the soldiers for their courage or fidelity, an eight-pointed star with a grenade in the centre, and consisting of three classes, gold, silver, and pewter; the presence of Slatin (later the sirdar) in the mahdi's ca grew fiercer; thefroht bank of the latter river However, though he took the town, he did not keep it long, for he was shelled out of it; but day by day his forces crept closer, and Gordon, who had sent his stea troops which he thought were on their way, had no an to transport his army from one bank of the Nile to the other, in preparation for the last assault
During the sue that sir Gerald Graha him at bay, but this was all the consolation he had
'Up to this date,' he writes on October 29, 'nine people have come up as reinforcements since Hicks's defeat, and not a penny of money' Still, for seven months not a man had deserted; but with the advance of theafter dark to his camp He sent an envoy across the river to offer Gordon honourable ter full well from the papers which his spies had stolen froarrison were in But Gordon, putting little faith in the word of the mahdi, rejected the proposal and returned for answer, 'We can hold out twelve years'
By this time 'Relief Expedition No 2, to save our national honour,' as Gordon persisted in calling it, was on its way, andhearts atched its daily progress The obstacles which had been foretold reater than they expected The Nile had fallen, and its cataracts, like staircases of rocks, were of course impassable, and the transport of the boats was a terrible difficulty Then, owing to treachery, all the useful cah could be collected to carry one thousand men across the desert Sir Herbert Stewart started first, and reached the wells of Jakdul on January 3, and being obliged to halt there, as the ca up other troops, he occupied the ti a fort On the 12th they all pushed on to Abou Klea, where they arrived on the 17th, to find the ht, in one of which sir Herbert Steas mortally wounded In each the mahdi was defeated, but he proceeded to attack Mete now commanded by sir Charles Wilson, as unexpectedly reinforced during the battle by some troops on board Gordon's four stea to Khartoum Three days later (January 24) Wilson started in two steamers for Khartoum, ninety-five miles away, and the river was so low that it was necessary to be very cautious On theof the 25th one of the boats ran on a rock, and could not be floated off till nine o'clock that night As soon as he possibly could Wilson got up steaht miles from Khartoum a native hailed him from the bank 'Khartoum has fallen!'
he said, 'and Gordon has been shot'
Wilson would not believe it To have failed when success ithin his grasp seemed too terrible to think of It must be one of the mahdi's devices to stop the advance of our troops, so he went on till he could command a proper view of the town The masses of black-robed dervishes that filled the streets and crowded along the river bank told their own tale, and, bowing his head, Wilson gave the signal to go back down the river
[Illustration: A shot ended his life]
From Slatin pasha, then a captive in the mahdi's camp, we kno it happened Omdurman had fallen on the 13th, but Khartoum would probably not have been assaulted so soon had not the mahdi suffered such severe defeats at Abou Klea and at Abou Kru, three days later; then he hurried back to Khartouain summoned Gordon to surrender His offer was refused, and addressing his ht they were to be conveyed across the river in boats, but that if victory was to be theirs, absolute silence was necessary
About half-past three in thethey were all ready, and attacked at the saates The east held out for soave way, and the rebels entered with a rush,every man they met In an open space near the palace they caroup of people to take refuge at the Austrian consul's house A shot ended his life, and saved him from the tortures that men like the mahdi inflict on their captives Death, as we know, had no terrors for hi of Abyssinia nearly six years before, 'and so far fro me to death, you would confer a favour on me, for you would deliver me from all the troubles and misfortunes which the future may have in store' Now death _had_ delivered him, yet none the less does his fate lie like a blot on the men who sent him to his doom, and turned a deaf ear to his prayers for help until it was too late England was stricken with horror and grief at the news, and showed her sorrow in the hich Gordon would have chosen, not by erecting statues or buildings to hisschools to help the little orphan boys whom he always loved
But whatever bitterness may have been in the hearts of his friends towards those who had sacrificed him, Gordon we can be sure would have felt none
'One wants soiveness oneself,' he said, when he pardoned Abou Saoud, who had tried to betray him 'And it is not a dear article'
THE CRIME OF THEODOSIUS
Everyone who stops to visit the town of Treves, or Trier, to give it its German name, ive us some idea of the splendour of the city at the time that Ambrose the Prefect lived there and ruled his province About the city were hills now covered with vines, and through an opening between theates defended Treves from the German tribes on the east of the Rhine, but only one, the Porta Nigra, or Black Gate, is left standing Its cathedral, the oldest in Europe north of the Alps, was founded in 375 AD by Valentinian I, who often occupied the palace which was sacked and ruined a century later by Huns and Franks A great bridge spanned the Moselle, and outside the walls, where the vineyards now climb the hills, was an amphitheatre which held 30,000 people, and when these caaalleries to make them clean and comfortable
It was somewhere about the year 333 AD that a boy was born at Treves in the house of the governor, and called Aest of three children, his brother Satyrus being only a little older than himself, while Marcellina, their sister, as nearly four, looked down upon the others as mere babies Ambrose the elder was a very important person indeed, for the emperor Constantine had made him ruler, or prefect, of the whole of Europe west of the Rhine, that is, of Spain, Gaul or France, and Britain The prefect was a good and just man, and the nations were happy under his sway; but he died after a few years, and his wife, unfortunately, thought it wiser to leave Treves and take her children to Ro and would beco and difficult journey for a lady and two boys (Marcellina had already gone to a convent in Roh to travel in tolerable coh, and the toweringriversto anyone fresh from the fertile slopes of the Rhineland But the boys were not frightened, only deeply interested, and they quite forgot to be sorry at leaving their old home in the excitement of what lay before them
No doubt they had many adventures, or what they would have considered as such, before they reached the corn-covered plains of Lombardy, and stopped to rest in the city of Milan, whose name was hereafter to be bound up for all ti about their travels, and when they arrived in Roenerations in their father's family That family was famous in the annals of the city, and had become Christian in the tians lived happily together, and divided the public offices between them
The children soon settled down in their new surroundings, and felt as if they had lived all their lives in Rome Marcellina they seldoed after her, she was forced to content herself with her two boys and to take pride in their success
The prefect of Roreat fancy to Satyrus, in spite of the fact that the boy was brought up a Christian, while he hian Symmachus shared with the Christian Probus the chief authority in Ro , with his brother, classes in Greek and Latin literature and in law, Ah this caused their s, she ell pleased, for both h character, and would be able to help her boys in many ways that were impossible to a woman The two youths were very popular, pleasant, and well- co theht otherwise have been their ruin
They had friends without number, but they liked no one's company so much as each other's, and it was a sad ave Satyrus a post under his own son, and the two young men set sail for Asia Minor
For so the duties of a prefect under Probus He early showed great talent forcri it carried out Probusman's sense of justice and his desire for mercy would act on each other, but what he saw satisfied him Ambrose knew at once as the important point in every s that had nothing to do with the real question This was his safeguard as a judge, and this was the principle he held to all through his life, which caused him to be such a different reat bishops who came after him