league, advanced with his force to his aid, and took up the supreme
direction of the attack on Soochow. As usual, Gordon began by making a
careful examination of the extensive rebel positions at and round
Soochow, and the result of it was that he decided to capture the
stockades and village of Patachiaou, one mile distant from the south
wall of that city. His plan met with easy success, for the Taepings
were not expecting an attack in that quarter, and offered little
resistance.

Easily as they had been driven out of it, the Taepings made a very
determined effort to retake it a few days later, and it was only by
desperate exertions that Gordon succeeded in holding what he had won.
This was the first occasion on which Burgevine and the _Kajow_
steamer, commanded by Captain Jones, "a daring and capable officer,"
to use Gordon's words, came into action. The rebels were extremely
confident for this reason, and also because they had some heavy
artillery. Gordon had to keep to his stockades, and to send the
_Hyson_ out of action from fear of its being damaged by the enemy's
shell, but the Taepings were afraid to come to close quarters, and
eventually retreated before a well-timed _sortie_. In this engagement
Gordon had the co-operation of a French-trained Chinese regiment,
under the command of a gallant officer, Captain Bonnefoy. After this
there was a lull, but Gordon felt too weak to attempt anything serious
against Soochow, and he deprecated all operations until he could
strike an effective blow. In this respect he differed materially from
his Chinese colleague, General Ching, who was most restless and
enterprising, but his ill-directed energy produced no result, and even
assisted the enemy's plans.

At this juncture the Taeping hero Chung Wang arrived from Nanking with
reinforcements, and imparted a new vigour to the defence. But whether
on account of jealousy, or of disappointment at the poor services he
had rendered, it also resulted in the dismissal of Burgevine, an
incident of which some brief account may be given before following the
main course of the campaign. More than one ground of dispute led up to
this conclusion. In the first place, Burgevine was disappointed at
finding several of the rebel Wangs as clever and ambitious as he was,
and they were disappointed at the amount of service and help he could
give them. This feeling culminated in angry scenes, when, on being
sent into Shanghai in disguise to purchase