t beautiful, or the most charming?' and they will turn
over the chapters in the Book of Long Ago and give the answers to
themselves, or to the boys and girls who are listening for their reply.
Well, if the question were put throughout England at this moment, 'What
man has kindled the greatest and most undying enthusiasm during your
life?' the answer would be given with one voice:

'Gordon.'

* * * * *

It seemed as if from the very first Nature had intended him for a
soldier. His father came of a clan that has a fighting record even in
Scotch history, and he was living on Woolwich Common, within hearing of
the Arsenal guns, when his fourth son, Charles George, was born on
January 28, 1833. Yet, strange to say, though fearless in many ways, and
accustomed to rough games with his numerous brothers and sisters,
Charles as a small boy hated the roar of cannon. Unlike queen Christina
of Sweden, who at four years old used to clap her hands when a gun was
discharged near her, and cry 'Again!' Charles shrank away and put his
fingers in his ears to shut out the noise. It was not lack of courage,
for he showed plenty of that about other things, but simply that the
sudden sound made him jump, and was unpleasant to him.

His life was from the first full of change, as the lives of soldiers'
children often are, for the Gordons were stationed in Dublin and near
Edinburgh before they went out to the island of Corfu when Charles was
seven. During the three years he spent there Charles grew big and strong
and full of daring; guns might fire all day long without his moving a
muscle, and he was always trying to imitate the deeds of boys bigger
than himself. When he saw them diving and swimming about in the
beautiful clear water, he would throw himself from a rock into their
midst, feeling quite sure that somebody would help him to float. And as
courage and confidence are the two chief qualities necessary to make a
good swimmer, by the time he left Corfu he was as much at home in the
sea as any of his friends.

* * * * *

After his tenth birthday his life at Corfu came to an end, and Charles
was brought home by his mother and sent to school at Taunton, where he
stayed for five years. He is sure to have been liked by his
schoolfellows, for he was a very lively, mischievous boy, constantly
inventing some fresh prank, but never shirking the punishment it
frequently brought. A