e for the mistake
to be remedied, but he was most anxious that we should attach more
importance to our hold on the Cape, as the natural route to India in
the event of war, and not be deceived by the fictitious advantages of
the Suez Canal, which only offers the saving of a few days at enormous
risk.

He took the opportunity of stopping at Suez to pay a visit to the grave
of his friend and lieutenant, Gessi, who had lost his life and died at
Suez from the hardships through which he passed on the Nile, partly
owing to the blocking of that river by the "sudd," which had re-formed
after Gordon left the Soudan, all precautionary measures having been
neglected, and partly owing to the cruel neglect of the authorities,
who might have taken more prompt measures for his relief. As his master
was to do a few years later, Gessi practically sacrificed his life in
the crusade against slavery. He had been an interpreter in the Crimean
war, and in the Soudan he exhibited such great military skill that he
was given a high independent command, with the result that he was, it
will be remembered, the means of capturing and breaking up Suleiman's
band of slave-dealers.

Colonel Gordon arrived at the Mauritius at the end of May 1881, and he
left in March 1882, so he was only for about ten months on the island.
He went out to command the Royal Engineers, but as the officer
commanding the island was promoted and sent home, he succeeded by
seniority to the chief command. During this period there is not much to
mention beyond the fact that here, as elsewhere, he used every
opportunity to do acts of kindness to others. Two men of the Royal
Artillery had, when the worse for liquor, gone out in a boat, without
oars. For eight days they were drifting about in the currents that
surround the Mauritius. At last they reached the Island of Bourbon, and
in attempting to land, one of them got drowned. The other was sent back
to his battery, and the owner of the lost boat at once demanded
compensation. Thinking that the poor fellow had already suffered enough
for his misdeeds, Colonel Gordon paid for the boat, and took the
receipt to the man's commanding officer, stipulating that he should not
tell the man who had got him out of trouble. He always took the
greatest interest in the men, and also in the agent of the Army
Scripture Readers' Society, who worked among them. He told the officer
who collected funds for that Society to put him down for a subscri