he first ship to Tientsin,
where his services were badly needed. As his request to the English War
Office for six months' leave was refused, he replied that his object in
going to China was to prevent a war which was likely to break out
between that country and Russia, and therefore, if the permission asked
was not granted, he should be forced to throw up his commission in the
queen's service.

On receipt of this message the government allowed him to go, and for
three months he worked hard, and not only contrived, as he hoped, to
prevent the war with Russia, but to check the revolt of Li Hung Chang,
who desired to place the crown on his own head.

Having accomplished what he intended, he found himself in London in
October, and in 1881 went out to the island of Mauritius, in the Indian
Ocean, to command the engineers.

At last he rested from the heavy responsibilities of the last few years,
though he worked as he always must do, and, now a major-general, in
April 1882 set sail for the Cape, where the governor of the colony, sir
Hercules Robinson, wanted his advice on the settlement and
administration of Basutoland. But when Gordon arrived he found his views
on the subject so totally different from those of the men in power that
he resigned and left, and from London he carried out the great longing
of his life--a visit to the Holy Land. Few people knew and loved their
Bibles like Gordon, and every stone in Palestine was full of interest
to him. Here he was alone and quiet, respecting the faith of others, and
therefore causing them to respect his; talking and praying with those of
different religions, teaching them and learning from them; preparing
himself, as the Master whom he served had also done, for the fiery trial
through which he was to pass.

* * * * *

All this time the king of the Belgians had been offering him the command
of an expedition his majesty was anxious to send to the Congo, and
continued to press the matter in spite of the refusal of Mr. Gladstone,
then prime minister, to lend him Gordon to lead it. On January 1, 1884,
Gordon went over to Brussels to talk over affairs with the king, and
while he was there the English government suddenly decided to send him
at once to the Soudan, where matters were in a very threatening state.

Since Gordon had left the country, four years before, Arabi pasha had
revolted, and been crushed at Tel-el-Kebir, and a dervish in the Soudan