ecting another
army, which was completely cut to pieces the following year in a battle
in which he himself also perished.

When all was quiet in Omdurman, the victors had a solemn duty to fulfil.
Thirteen and a half years had passed since the death of Gordon, and at
last the obsequies of the hero were to be celebrated in a fitting
manner. In the court in front of Gordon's palace the troops are drawn up
on three sides of a square, and on the fourth stands the victor,
surrounded by generals of divisions and brigades and by his staff.
Kitchener raises his hand, and in a moment the Union Jack rises to the
top of the flagstaff on the palace, while a thundering salute from the
gunboats greets the new colours and the Guards' band plays the National
Anthem. Another sign, and the flag of Egypt goes up beside the Union
Jack and the Khedive's hymn is played. Then the belated funeral service
is impressively conducted by four clergymen of different Christian
denominations, the Sudanese band plays a hymn which Gordon loved, and
lastly Kitchener is saluted with the greatest enthusiasm by the officers
and men under his command.

OSTRICHES

Now all is changed in the Sudan. A railway runs from the Nile delta up
to Khartum, and another connects Berber with the Red Sea. In Khartum
there are schools, hospitals, churches, and other public buildings, and
one can travel safely by steamboat up to the great lakes. Gordon's
scheme to connect the Victoria Nyanza with Mombasa on the coast has been
carried out, and a railway has been constructed through British East
Africa. White men have advanced from all sides deeper and deeper into
the Black Continent, and have made themselves masters of almost all
Africa. Wild animals have suffered by this intrusion into their formerly
peaceful domain, and their numbers have been diminished by the chase. In
some districts game has quite disappeared, the animals having sought
remoter regions where they can live undisturbed.

In the Sahara, in the Libyan desert, on the open grasslands along the
Upper Nile, on the veldt of South Africa, wherever the country is open
and free, lives the ostrich; but it does not occur in the worst desert
tracts, which it crosses only in case of necessity, for it likes to have
water always near at hand.

The appearance of the ostrich is no doubt familiar. It is powerfully
built; its long bare neck supports a small flattened head with large
bright eyes; the long legs rest on two