year unsuccoured and alone
He stemmed the fury of fanatic strife,
Till all lands claimed the hero as their own,
And wondering would he there lay down his life."

It is a mystery, and one that will never be solved, how he supported his
vast family in Khartoum; for food had to be distributed to each
individual member for months. It is also a sad but remarkable fact, that
through the last ten months he had to depend upon the most unreliable and
worthless of troops. And for four of those weary months, he had been
without the cheering presence of his companion in arms, Colonel Stewart.
Yet he held out bravely, courageously, and in hope of English help. At
this juncture a poetess wrote--

"A message from one who went in haste
Came flashing across the sea,
It told not of weakness, but trust in God,
When it asked us--pray for me.
And since from Churches, and English homes,
In the day or the twilight dim,
A chorus of prayers went up to God--
Bless and take care of him:
A lonely man to those strange far lands,
He has gone with a word of peace;
And a million hearts are questioning
With a pain that cannot cease:
Is Gordon safe? Is there news of him?
What will the tidings be?
There is little to do but trust and wait;
Yet utterly safe is he.
Was he not safe when the Chinese shots,
Were flying about his head,
When trouble thickened with every day,
And he was sore bestead;
Was he not safe in his dreary rides,
Over the desert sands;
Safe with the Abyssinian King;
Safe with the robber bands;
We know not the dangers around him now,
But this we surely know--
He has with him in his hour of need,
His Protector of long ago;
He is not alone, but a Friend is by
Who answers to every need;
God is his refuge and strength at hand,
Gordon is safe indeed:
Safe in living, in dying safe, where is the need of pain;
We may pray--God give the hero long life,
But death would be infinite gain.

CHAPTER VIII.

"There is a better thing on earth than wealth, a better thing than
life itself, and that is to have done something before you die, for
which good men may honour you, and God your Father smile upon your
work."

--GEO. MACDONALD.

The last Arab messenger that came from Khartoum before it fell, said,
"Gordon goes every morning at sunrise to the top of his Palace wall, and
with his large field