s high honors in China
easily. He was constantly beset by difficulties. His own men on more
than one occasion tried to start a mutiny, and it was only by a display
of his highest and sternest qualities of leadership, that he restored
order. The Chinese officials, also, had to be handled with diplomacy.
They were accustomed to bargaining, and could not believe at first that
Gordon was not working for selfish ends. It was only when they
realized the true character of the man, that their esteem and affection
were fully enlisted.

The Emperor wished to bestow on him a large sum of money, but this was
refused. The Chinese were nonplussed. Prince Kung reported to a
British official as follows:

"We do not know what to do. He will not receive money from us, and we
have already given him every honor which it is in the power of the
Emperor to bestow. But as these can be of little value in his eyes, I
have brought you this letter, and ask you to give it to the Queen of
England, that she may bestow on him some reward which would be more
valuable in his eyes."

The love of this strange race of people for a foreign officer was not
idly bestowed. They were the first to recognize his highest qualities,
and though he later won high rank under the Union Jack, it is as
Chinese Gordon that his name will most frequently appear in history.

A fellow campaigner in China writes: "What is perhaps most striking in
Gordon's career in China, is the entire devotion with which the native
soldiers served him, and the implicit faith they had in the result of
operations in which he was personally present. In their eyes General
Gordon was literally a magician to whom all things were possible. They
believed him to bear a charmed life; and a short stick or rattan cane
which he invariably carried about, and with which he always pointed in
directing the fire of artillery or other operations, was firmly looked
on as a wand or talisman. These notions, especially the men's idea
that their general had a charmed existence, were substantially aided by
Gordon's constant habit, when the troops were under fire, of appearing
suddenly, usually unattended, and calmly standing in the very hottest
part of the fire."

As to Gordon's personal appearance, a pen picture by a comrade-in-arms,
Colonel Butler, deserves place:

"In figure Gordon, at forty years of age, stood somewhat under middle
height, slight but strong, active, and muscular. A profusion o