d that, if possible, some motherly European woman
might also be sent, as many of the refugees whom he had to send
had never been out of the Soudan before, and might feel strange
on reaching Egypt. A German, Giegler Pasha, who had been in
Khartoum with your brother before, and who had a German wife, was
accordingly placed at my disposal, and I stationed them at
Korosko, where almost all the refugees arrived. I may mention
that I saw and spoke to every one of the refugees who came down,
and to many of the women and children. Their references to your
brother were invariably couched in language of affection and
gratitude, and the adjective most frequently applied to him was
'just.' In sending away the people from Khartoum, he sent away
the Governor and some of the other leading Egyptian officials
first. I think he suspected they would intrigue; he always had
more confidence in the people than in the ruling Turks or
Egyptians. The oldest soldiers, the very infirm, the wounded
(from Hicks's battles) were sent next, and a ghastly crew they
were. But the precautions he took for their comfort were very
complete, and although immediately before reaching me they had to
cross a very bad part of the desert between Abou Hamed and
Korosko, they reached me in wonderful spirits. It was touching to
see the perfect confidence they had that the promises of Gordon
Pasha would be fulfilled. After the fall of Khartoum, and your
brother's death, a good many of the Egyptian officers who had
been with your brother managed to escape, and to come down the
river disguised in many cases as beggars. I had an opportunity of
talking to most of them, and there was no collusion, for they
arrived at different times and by different roads. I remember
having a talk with one, and when we alluded to your brother's
death he burst out crying like a child, and said that though he
had lost his wives and children when Khartoum was taken, he felt
it as nothing to the loss of 'that just man.'"

The letters written at the end of July at Khartoum reached Cairo at
the end of September, and their substance was at once telegraphed to
England. They showed that, while his success had made him think that
after all there might be some satisfactory issue of the siege, he
foresaw that the real ordeal was yet to come. "In fou