ected
towards the poverty-stricken and helpless people all around him. He
caused special enquiries to be made; then he began to distribute his
gifts of charity to all who he believed were really in need; and in three
days he had given away one thousand pounds of his first year's salary. He
had not been long in the Soudan before he realized the tremendous
responsibilities he had assumed; and with all his strength of character,
and his trust in his Almighty, ever-present Friend, it is not to be
wondered at that when alone in the trackless desert, with the results of
ages of wrong-doing before him, this man of heroic action and indomitable
spirit sometimes gave way to depression and murmuring; although this was
exceedingly rare. If we remember what he had already done and suffered
for down-trodden humanity. And that now he was doing heroic work for the
true hero's wages--the love of Christ, and the good of his fellow-men. He
was labouring not for himself, but as the hand of God in providence, in
the faith that his work was of God's own appointing. The wonder is that
in the face of perils so dangerous, work so difficult, and sufferings so
intense, that his spirit was not completely crushed and broken. We must
bear in mind, his work there was to secure peace to a country that
appeared to be bent on war; to suppress slavery amongst a people to whom
it was a second nature, and to whom the trade in human flesh was life,
and honour, and fortune. To make and discipline an army out of the
rawest recruits ever put in the field, to develop and grow a flourishing
trade, and to obtain a fair revenue, amid the wildest anarchy in the
world; the immensity of the undertaking, the infinity of detail involved
in a single step toward this end, the countless odds to be faced; the
many pests, the deadly climate, the nightly and daily alternations of
overpowering heat, and of bitter cold, to be endured and overcome; the
environment of bestial savagery, and ruthless fanaticism;--all these
contributed to make the achievement unique in human history. He was face
to face with evil in its worst form, and saw it in all its appalling
effects upon the nation and its people. He seemed to have everything
against him, and to be utterly alone. There stood in front of him the
grim ruined land. He faced it, however, as a saint and soldier should
do; he stood for right, truth, and for God.

{Gordon on his favourite camel: p81.jpg}

"He would d