na.

On 10th May Gordon wrote to his mother: "I shall leave China as poor as
I entered it, but with the knowledge that through my weak
instrumentality upwards of eighty to one hundred thousand lives have
been spared. I want no further satisfaction than this."

On 11th May Gordon took Chanchufu, the last great rebel stronghold, and
the rebellion was at an end. "The Heavenly King" killed his wives and
himself in his palace at Nankin, and the other rebel chiefs were
beheaded.

Before Gordon gave up his command, the Chinese Government again offered
him a large sum of money, but again he refused it. But he could not
well refuse the honour of being made a Ti-Tu, or Field-Marshal, in the
Chinese Army, nor the almost greater honour of being given the Yellow
Jacket. To us the giving of a yellow jacket sounds a foolish thing,
but to a Chinaman the Yellow Jacket, and peacock's feathers that go
with it, are an even greater honour than to an Englishman is that plain
little cross that is called "The Victoria Cross," and which is given
for valour. Gordon accepted the yellow jacket, as well as six
magnificent mandarin dresses, such as were worn by a Ti-Tu. "Some of
the buttons on the mandarin hats are worth L30 or L40," he wrote. A
heavy gold medal was struck in his honour and given to him by the
Empress Regent. It was one of the few belongings he had for which
Gordon really cared a great deal, and presently you will hear how he
gave even that up for the sake of other people.

The Chinese Government told the British Government that Gordon would
receive no rewards from the Chinese for the great things he had done
for their country, and asked that his own Queen Victoria would give him
some reward that he would accept. This was done, and Major Gordon was
made a Lieutenant-Colonel and a Companion of the Bath.

Not only in China was he a hero, but in England also. Gordon had saved
China from an army of conquering robbers, "first"--it was written in
the _Times_--"by the power of his arms, and afterwards, still more
rapidly, by the terror of his name."

Li Hung Chang was ready to do anything that the hero wished, and so,
before he said good-bye to his army, Gordon saw that his officers and
men were handsomely rewarded.

It was not wonderful that his army had learned to love him, for even
the rebels who feared his name loved him too. They knew that he was
always true and brave, honourable and merciful.

Of him one of the r