death of Gordon in Khartum
to the capture of the city by Kitchener, it tells the story of the many
gallant fights, the wearying failures, the many expeditions into the
hot, boundless desert, the long, slow progress toward the final winning
of the Sudan.

The book made a distinct sensation. It was a work that one would expect
from a lieutenant-general, when, after years of service in Egypt, he
laid down his sword to pen the story of his life's work. From a Second
Lieutenant, who had been on the Nile hardly long enough to gain the
desert tan, it was a revelation. As a contribution to military history
it was so valuable that for the author it made many admirers, but on
account of his criticisms of his superior officers it gained him even
more enemies.

This is a specimen of the kind of thing that caused the retired army
officer to sit up and choke with apoplexy:

"General Kitchener, who never spares himself, cares little for others.
He treated all men like machines, from the private soldiers, whose
salutes he disdained, to the superior officers, whom he rigidly
controlled. The comrade who had served with him and under him for many
years, in peace and peril, was flung aside as soon as he ceased to be of
use. The wounded Egyptian and even the wounded British soldier did not
excite his interest."

When in the service clubs they read that, the veterans asked each other
their favorite question of what is the army coming to, and to their
own satisfaction answered it by pointing out that when a lieutenant of
twenty-four can reprimand the commanding general the army is going to
the dogs.

To the newspapers, hundreds of them, over their own signatures, on
the service club stationery, wrote violent, furious letters, and the
newspapers themselves, besides the ordinary reviews, gave to the book
editorial praise and editorial condemnation.

Equally disgusted were the younger officers of the service. They
nicknamed his book "A Subaltern's Advice to Generals," and called
Churchill himself a "Medal Snatcher." A medal snatcher is an officer
who, whenever there is a rumor of war, leaves his men to the care of
any one, and through influence in high places and for the sake of the
campaign medal has himself attached to the expeditionary force. But
Churchill never was a medal hunter. The routine of barrack life irked
him, and in foreign parts he served his country far better than by
remaining at home and inspecting awkward squads and a