in three short months French experienced the miseries of retreat, of
failure, and of work under an invertebrate War Office.

To this day no one has ever justified the hidden processes of logic by
which the Government responsible came to the conclusion that the
Soudan must be evacuated. It is true that the Mahdi, Mohammed Ahmed,
had won considerable successes against our forces since his appearance
in 1881. But no army of any dimensions had ever been opposed to his
"Divine powers." Why Gordon should have been entrusted with the
evacuation is not so doubtful. W.T. Stead and other journalistic
pundits conceived him to be the man for the task, however much Egypt's
ruler, Lord Cromer, might differ from their verdict. So to Khartoum
Gordon was sent with an all too small band of followers. Presumably
the authorities imagined that the man who had worked miracles in China
with neither men nor money would settle the Soudan on equally
economical terms. But the Mahdi's black braves were other mettle than
the yellow men, as Gordon himself well knew from his past experience
in the Soudan.

[Page Heading: THE SLEEPER WAKES]

Reaching Khartoum on February 18, 1884, he quickly discovered how
perilous the defeat of Baker Pasha at El-Teb had made his position. He
at once warned his superiors, but nothing was done. In April he found
Khartoum besieged, but even that did not startle the Home authorities
from their lethargy. At length, however, the Government realised that
to allow their General to perish at the hands of the Dervishes might
be to forfeit their prestige in Egypt. Lord Wolseley was accordingly
instructed to relieve Khartoum at all costs.