expostulated with him that he, a believer in the
Koran, should drink the strong waters so expressly forbidden by that
holy book. But the man readily replied, "This is as medicine, and the
Prophet does not forbid us to save life." Gordon said nothing, but
left the tent, and some hours later he sent the man two bottles of
brandy from his own small store. Even the Soudanese, who were afraid
of him in his terrible mood, knew the many soft corners he kept in his
heart, and easily learnt the way to them. For misfortune and suffering
of every kind his sympathy was quickly won, and with his sympathy went
his support, to the utmost limit of his power.

After the campaign in Darfour, Gordon returned to Khartoum, where he
was preparing for fresh exertions, as well as for a settlement of the
Abyssinian difficulty, when a sudden and unexpected summons reached
him to come down to Cairo and help the Khedive to arrange his
financial affairs. The Khedive's telegram stated that the Egyptian
creditors were trying to interfere with his sovereign prerogative, and
that His Highness knew no one but Gordon who could assist him out of
this position. The precise date on which this telegram reached Gordon
was 25th January 1878, when he was passing Shendy--the place on the
Nile opposite Metammeh, where the British Expedition encamped in
January 1885--but as he had to return to Khartoum to arrange for the
conduct of the administration during his absence, he did not arrive at
Dongola on his way to the capital until the 20th of the following
month. He reached Cairo on 7th March, was at once carried off to dine
with the Khedive, who had waited more than an hour over the appointed
time for him because his train was late, and, when it was over, was
conveyed to one of the finest palaces, which had been specially
prepared in his honour. The meaning of this extraordinary reception
was that the Khedive Ismail thought he had found a deliverer from his
own troubles in the man who had done such wonders in the Soudan. That
ruler had reached a stage in his affairs when extrication was
impossible, if the creditors of Egypt were to receive their dues. He
was very astute, and he probably saw that the only chance of saving
himself was for some high authority to declare that the interests of
himself and his people must be pronounced paramount to those of the
foreign investors. There was only one man in the world likely to come
to that conclusion, with a spotless rep