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am worn to a shadow with the food question; it is one continual de-
mand. Five men deserted to-day. The Arabs shape the stones they
fire like to the shells of their guns; they will soon spoil the rifling
of their guns if they continue this. " The close of the Journal, 14th
December, is: "Now, mark this; if the expeditionary force, and I
ask for no more than two hundred men, does not come in ten days,
the town may fall, and I have done my best for the honour of our
country. Good-bye. C.G. Gordon."

In addition to the last entry in his Journal, letters of the same
date were sent with it to Metammeh. To his sister, he said, "I
am quite happy, thank God, and, like Lawrence, I have tried to do
my duty." To a military friend (Watson) he wrote: "All is up.
I expect a catastrophe in ten days time. It would not have been
so if our people had kept me better informed as to their intentions.
My adieux to all." Facts are useless to those who do not see that
it is almost a certainty that "it would not have been so" if the
Ministers who vaunted that they had empowered Gordon to "draft
his own instructions," had kept faith and allowed him to have
Zebehr.

Starving, like the other ghost-like haunters of Khartoum;
"worn to a shadow" (as his Journal tells us) many weeks before
the fall of the town–there being left, on the 14th December (for
many thousands of persons) only 546 ardebs of dhoora, and
83,525 okes of biscuits, the deserted General, nerved by
courage and endurance which seemed more than mortal, and
were, indeed, prompted from high, sent words of comfort to
his sister, and unimpassioned words to an old comrade.

But, among all the inhabitants, heroism could not be looked for;
and it was almost certain that the hope of favour from the Mahdi
for successful treachery, and of the release from the fangs of hunger,
would tempt some to betray the General, and those who were
too deeply involved in the defence of the city to have any hope of
mercy at its fall. Therefore "the catastrophe" was expected.
Meanwhile, with his steamers, the General secured scraps of food
on the river banks, and an occasional capture of a cow revived
hope, though it could not remove famine.

When his last Journal (to 14th December) was taken to
Metammeh, he sent by an Arab messenger a brief message (to
be carried on to the Commander of the Relief Expedition)
which, if seized by the enemy might mislead him, but which
the trusty bearer was to explain to Wolseley, in words sadly
in unison with the last records in the Journal of the same date
(14th December). The written message was –"Khartoum all right. 14 December 1884." The verbal was longer; but Arabs
have trustworthy memories. "... Fighting goes on day and