"Sheikh Mahomed Achmed has sent us a letter to inform us that Lupton Bey, Mudir of 'Bahr Gazelle' has surrendered to him, and that the small steamer in which was Stewart Pasha, has been captured by him, together with what was therein. But to me it is all one whether Lupton Bey has surrendered or has not surrendered. And whether he has captured twenty thousand steamers like the 'Abbas' or twenty thousand officers like Stuart Pasha or not; it is all one to me. I am here like iron, and hope to see the newly arrived English; and if Mahomed Achmed says that the English die, it is all the same to me. And you must take a copy of this and give it to the messenger from Slatin, and send him out early in the morning, that he may go to him. It is impossible for me to have any more words with Mahomed Achmed, only lead; and if Mahomed Achmed is willing to fight he had better, instead of going to Omdurman, go to the white hill by the moat." (Signed) C. G. GORDON. Gordon, though borne up by a sense of the Divine presence, yet he occasionally at least, felt as if he was leading a forlorn hope. We know not, nor can we ever know all the deeds of heroism he did for that down trodden people. "A life long year unsuccoured and alone He stemmed the fury of fanatic strife, Till all lands claimed the hero as their own, And wondering would he there lay down his life." It is a mystery, and one that will never be solved, how he supported his vast family in Khartoum; for food had to be distributed to each individual member for months. It is also a sad but remarkable fact, that through the last ten months he had to depend upon the most unreliable and worthless of troops. And for four of those weary months, he had been without the cheering presence of his companion in arms, Colonel Stewart. Yet he held out bravely, courageously, and in hope of English help. At this juncture a poetess wrote--