,
Mohammed Ahmed by name, had made himself famous by proclaiming himself
mahdi, the expected prophet of the whole Mahometan world. Thousands
flocked to the standard that he raised, and his armed escort stood with
drawn swords in his presence. The Egyptian governor-general summoned him
to Khartoum to answer for his proceedings, but the mahdi answered that
he was master of the country and obeyed no one. The troops despatched
against him he always defeated, and when a new governor-general and a
fresh army gave him battle they were utterly destroyed. Obeid in Darfour
surrendered after a five months' siege, and, flushed with success, he
carried all before him.

In June 1883 colonel Hicks was given by the Egyptian government the
military command at Khartoum, with ten thousand men and thirty guns;
but he had no knowledge of the country where he had to fight, and fell
an easy prey to the mahdi's army, which was ten times as numerous as his
own. The tribes of the eastern Soudan joined the victor's banner, and
here, while Gordon was on his way to Khartoum, Baker pasha was defeated
by Osman Digna, a slave-dealer of Suakim.

* * * * *

On January 17, 1884, Gordon, who was in Brussels, received a telegram
from lord Wolseley, bidding him come over to London by the evening
train. He started at once, and reached London early in the morning, and
at twelve o'clock was taken by Wolseley to the Cabinet Council.

'He went in,' writes Gordon, 'and talked to the ministers, and came back
and said, "Her majesty's government want you to undertake this. The
government are determined to evacuate the Soudan, for they will not
undertake to guarantee its safety. Will you go and do it?" I said,
"Yes!" He said, "Go in." I went in and saw them. They said, "Did
Wolseley tell you our orders?" I said, "Yes." I said, "You will not
guarantee the future government of the Soudan, and you wish me to go up
to evacuate now?" They said, "Yes," and it was over, and I left at
8 P.M. for Calais.'

He was seen off from the station by lord Wolseley and by lord
Hartington, afterwards the duke of Devonshire, who always stood loyally
by him, and repeatedly urged that help must be sent instantly, while his
colleagues in the Cabinet waited to see how things would drift, till the
time for help was past.

On January 26, the day which a year hence was to witness his death,
Gordon, with colonel Stewart, was in Cairo, where he spent two busy