l their
woes, and were delayed only by their inability to combine from sweeping
them off the face of the earth. Never was there such a house of cards
as the Egyptian dominion in the Soudan. The marvel is that it stood so
long, not that it fell so soon.

The names of two men of character and fame are forever connected with
the actual outburst. One was an English general, the other an Arab
priest; yet, in spite of the great gulf and vivid contrast between
their conditions, they resembled each other in many respects. Both were
earnest and enthusiastic men of keen sympathies and passionate emotions.
Both were powerfully swayed by religious fervour. Both exerted great
personal influence on all who came in contact with them. Both were
reformers. The Arab was an African reproduction of the Englishman; the
Englishman a superior and civilised development of the Arab. In the end
they fought to the death, but for an important part of their lives
their influence on the fortunes of the Soudan was exerted in the same
direction. Mohammed Ahmed, 'The Mahdi,' will be discussed in his own
place. Charles Gordon needs little introduction. Long before this tale
begins his reputation was European, and the fame of the 'Ever-victorious
Army' had spread far beyond the Great Wall of China.

The misgovernment of the Egyptians and the misery of the Soudanese
reached their greatest extreme in the seventh decade of the present
century. From such a situation there seemed to be no issue other than
by force of arms. The Arab tribes lacked no provocation. Yet they were
destitute of two moral forces essential to all rebellions. The first
was the knowledge that better things existed. The second was a spirit
of combination. General Gordon showed them the first. The Mahdi provided
the second.

It is impossible to study any part of Charles Gordon's career without
being drawn to all the rest. As his wild and varied fortunes lead him
from Sebastopol to Pekin, from Gravesend to South Africa, from Mauritius
to the Soudan, the reader follows fascinated. Every scene is strange,
terrible, or dramatic. Yet, remarkable as are the scenes, the actor is
the more extraordinary; a type without comparison in modern times
and with few likenesses in history. Rare and precious is the truly
disinterested man. Potentates of many lands and different degree--the
Emperor of China, the King of the Belgians, the Premier of Cape Colony,
the Khedive of Egypt--competed to secure his