mind that a place called Waisso, which was held by the enemy in some
force, was the point at which to aim. Unfortunately, he was unable to
get about himself, yet he could not take the entire force, which had
been increased by one more battalion, on board. Consequently he had to
divide it, leaving a detachment to go by land. The officers put in
charge seem to have fallen into every mistake it was possible for
soldiers to make. The attacking regiments did not co-operate, their
flanks were left unprotected, and a long gap was permitted to occur
between two regiments. To make a long story short, the assault failed,
the assailants narrowly escaping annihilation. Unquestionably this
signal failure was due to the fact that the commander, being wounded,
could not see to details himself, and was obliged to leave his
principal arm, the infantry, to the direction of others.

Fortunately the Imperialists with 6000 men came to Gordon's assistance.
The Imperial force had been doing remarkably well in their recent
conflict with the enemy, but unfortunately had lost their commander,
General Ching. This man, who at first had been so jealous of Gordon,
had afterwards learnt to know and respect him, and Gordon had acquired
quite an affection for him in spite of his faults. Gordon was deeply
grieved to hear of his death, indeed it is said that he burst into
tears. It is touching to read an account of the death of this heathen
general, who, it will be remembered, had been a leading man among the
rebels before they degenerated. Mr. Hake's account is founded on the
statement of Governor Li, who says that even when he knew his wound was
fatal, he concentrated his mind on the affairs of the country. He
pointed out that though the rebels had been beaten, their strength was
not to be despised, and begged his colleague to order his officers to
be careful in battle. He remarked that brave men were not easily to be
found, and he bitterly regretted his own fate, by which he was
prevented from doing his duty to his country. When gradually sinking,
he ordered his servant to bring the yellow jacket presented to him by
the Emperor, and to assist him on with it. He then bowed his head
towards the Imperial Palace, and thus he yielded up his brave patriotic
spirit.

After the junction of the Imperialists with Gordon's force there was
little difficulty in the capture of Waisso, and with the fall of that
place on April 6th it became evident that the campaig