t to perform the task of withdrawing all the garrisons. He accepted
the mission and set out immediately for Cairo.

Thus Gordon began his last journey up the Nile. At Korosko, just at the
northern end of the great S-shaped bend of the Nile, he mounted his
dromedary and followed the narrow winding path which has been worn out
during thousands of years through the dry hollows of the Nubian desert,
over scorched and weathered volcanic knolls and through dunes of
suffocating sand.

On February 18, 1884, Gordon, for the second time Governor-General of
the Sudan, made his entry into Khartum, where he took up his quarters in
his old palace. Cruelty and injustice had again sprung up during the
years he had been absent. He opened the gates of the overcrowded gaols,
and the prisoners were released and their fetters removed. All accounts
of unpaid taxes were burned in front of the palace. All implements of
punishment and torture were broken to pieces and thrown into the Nile.

Then began the evacuation of the town. As many as 3000 women and
children were sent to Abu Hamed and through the desert to Korosko. They
got through without danger and were saved. Where women and children
could travel, it would have been easy to lead troops from Egypt. Instead
of this, however, England despatched an expedition to Suakin to secure
an outlet on the Red Sea, whereupon the rebellious tribes of the Sudan
were roused to fury, believing that the white men intended to come and
take their country. Consequently they rallied all the more resolutely
round the Mahdi, and their hatred extended to the dreaded Gordon and the
few Europeans with him in Khartum.

As long as the telegraph line was still available to Cairo, Gordon kept
the authorities informed of the state of affairs and pointed out what
should be done to ensure success. He asked especially that the road from
Berber to Suakin should be held, for from this line also the Sudan could
be controlled, but his advice was not attended to and Berber was
eventually surrounded by the Mahdi's troops and captured. Several chiefs
north and north-east of Khartum, who had previously been friendly
disposed, now joined the Mahdi. News of fresh desertions came constantly
to Khartum, and even in the town itself Gordon was surrounded by
traitors. On March 10 the telegraph line was cut and then followed six
months of silence, during which the world learned little or nothing of
the brave soldier in the heart of Afr