left of black Soudanese, who
fought as gallantly for him as any troops could, and whose loyalty and
devotion to him surpassed all praise. Treachery, it was assumed, had
something to do with the easy overthrow of this force, and two Pashas
were shot for misconduct on return to Khartoum.

Having no confidence in the bulk of his force, it is not surprising
that Gordon resorted to every artifice within engineering science to
compensate for the shortcomings of his army. He surrounded
Khartoum--which on one side was adequately defended by the Nile and
his steamers--on the remaining three sides with a triple line of land
mines connected by wires. Often during the siege the Mahdists
attempted to break through this ring, but only to meet with repulse,
accompanied by heavy loss; and to the very last day of the siege they
never succeeded in getting behind the third of these lines. Their
efficacy roused Gordon's professional enthusiasm, and in one passage
he exclaims that these will be the general form of defence in the
future. During the first months of the siege, which began rather in
the form of a loose investment, the Nile was too low to allow of his
using the nine steamers he possessed, but he employed the time in
making two new ones, and in strengthening them all with bulwarks of
iron plates and soft wood, which were certainly bullet-proof. Each of
these steamers he valued as the equivalent of 2000 men. When it is
seen how he employed them the value will not be deemed excessive, and
certainly without them he could not have held Khartoum and baffled all
the assaults of the Mahdi for the greater part of a year.

After this experience Gordon would risk no more combats on land, and
on 25th March he dismissed 250 of the Bashi-Bazouks who had behaved so
badly. Absolutely trustworthy statistics are not available as to the
exact number of troops in Khartoum or as to the proportion the Black
Soudanese bore to the Egyptians, but it approximates to the truth to
say that there were about 1000 of the former to 3000 of the latter,
and with other levies during the siege he doubled this total. For
these and a civilian population of nearly 40,000 Gordon computed that
he had provisions for five months from March, and that for at least
two months he would be as safe as in Cairo. By carefully husbanding
the corn and biscuit he was able to make the supply last much longer,
and even to the very end he succeeded in partially replenishing the
depl