All efforts were idle. Their heroic courage could not enable them to break through that wall of iron which blocked every possible avenue of escape. On the afternoon of November 7 (1883) the attack was universal, murderous, and desperate. It was no longer a battle, but a massacre. Hicks was killed and all his soldiers with him. Mohammed Achmet collected the heads of the slain and sent them home as trophies. The cause of the prophet apparently was under divine protection. The revolt grew in importance and even the gentlest of the races made common cause with the victor. The fortune of war also favored the rebels in the eastern Soudan. In Egypt the affairs of the Soudan provinces were regarded as desperate, and its inability to put down such a formidable rebellion was clearly apparent. The English government advised the removal of the government officials and soldiers from the Soudan, which included Emin and his people. It was a heroic undertaking, but one without hope of success. The removal of sixty thousand people through a country in open revolt, swarming with fanatical rebels, without sufficient means of transportation or arrangements for subsistence, was inevitably destined to end in a catastrophe. For this difficult undertaking General Gordon, who had before this rendered important service in the Soudan, was again called upon. He offered himself freely and willingly. His was a nature whose courage increased with each new danger and was never troubled with thoughts of the morrow. At Berber he declared the independence of the Soudan, gave up the administration of Kordofan to the Mahdi, and re-enacted the laws for the suppression of slavery. On the eighteenth of February, 1884, he arrived at Khartoum and began at once to strengthen its defences. The magic of his name held the rebellion in check. Mohammed Achmet did not dare to resist him by force of arms until he had completely woven the threads of his mysterious plans. Gordon began to hope and devoted his entire attention to the evacuation of the Soudan. But in the east, at Suakim, things were going badly. The government’s troops were routed at El Teb and Sinkat, and Tokar fell. The rebels had the advantage of superior numbers. Thousands fell, but other thousands of the fanatics took their places. Gordon did not find a favorable opportunity to evacuate the Soudan. The English government would have nothing more to do with the matter, but public sentiment forced the premier, Gladstone, to authorize an expedition for the rescue of Gordon. It took a much longer time than was anticipated to organize this force.