crystal-clear sheet of water which extends more than 50 yards into the
hill. The roof over its mirror is more than 160 feet high. The only
light comes in through the small entrance. Owing to the reflections of
the sky and water, everything in the grotto is blue, and stalactites
hang like icicles from the roof and walls. If you dip an oar or your
hand into the water it shines white as silver, owing to the reflection
from the sandy bottom. It is possible to enter only in calm weather, or
the boat would be stoved in against the rocky archway.

On a promontory to larboard appear the white houses and olive gardens of
beautiful Sorrento, and then we steer out into the turquoise blue waters
of the Tyrrhenian Sea. To the south the rocky island of Stromboli rises
from the waves with its ever-burning volcano, like a beacon. In the
Straits of Messina we skirt the shores of Sicily and Calabria, which
have so frequently suffered from terrible earthquakes. At last we are
out in the wide, open Mediterranean. Italy sinks below the horizon
behind us, and we steam eastward to Alexandria, the port of the land of
the Pharaohs.

II

AFRICA

GENERAL GORDON

Seldom has the whole civilised world been so convulsed, so overwhelmed
with sorrow, at the death of one man as it was when in January, 1885,
the news flashed along the telegraph wires that Khartum had fallen, and
that Gordon was dead.

Gordon was of Scottish extraction, but was born in one of the suburbs of
London in the year 1833, and as a young lieutenant of engineers heard
the thunders of war below the walls of Sebastopol. As a major of thirty
years of age he commanded the Imperial army in China, and suppressed the
furious insurrection which raged in the provinces around the Blue River.
"The Ever-Victorious Army" would have come to grief without a strong and
practical leader, but in Gordon's hands it soon deserved its name. He
made his plans quickly and clearly, brought his troops with wonderful
rapidity to the most vulnerable points in the enemy's position, and
dealt his blows with crushing force. In a year and a half he had cleared
China of insurgents and restored peace.

After several years of service at home and other wanderings in Eastern
lands, Gordon accepted in 1874 an invitation to enter into the service
of the Khedive of Egypt. The Khedive Ismail was a strong man with
far-reaching projects. He wished to extend his dominion as far as the
great lakes where th