"A message from one who went in haste Came flashing across the sea, It told not of weakness, but trust in God, When it asked us--pray for me. And since from Churches, and English homes, In the day or the twilight dim, A chorus of prayers went up to God-- Bless and take care of him: A lonely man to those strange far lands, He has gone with a word of peace; And a million hearts are questioning With a pain that cannot cease: Is Gordon safe? Is there news of him? What will the tidings be? There is little to do but trust and wait; Yet utterly safe is he. Was he not safe when the Chinese shots, Were flying about his head, When trouble thickened with every day, And he was sore bestead; Was he not safe in his dreary rides, Over the desert sands; Safe with the Abyssinian King; Safe with the robber bands; We know not the dangers around him now, But this we surely know-- He has with him in his hour of need, His Protector of long ago; He is not alone, but a Friend is by Who answers to every need; God is his refuge and strength at hand, Gordon is safe indeed: Safe in living, in dying safe, where is the need of pain; We may pray--God give the hero long life, But death would be infinite gain. CHAPTER VIII. "There is a better thing on earth than wealth, a better thing than life itself, and that is to have done something before you die, for which good men may honour you, and God your Father smile upon your work." --GEO. MACDONALD. The last Arab messenger that came from Khartoum before it fell, said, "Gordon goes every morning at sunrise to the top of his Palace wall, and with his large field glass, sweeps the horizon as far as possible, and notes as clearly as may be the position of the Madhi's forces, which now surrounded the City. As night falls, he visits the men at their various stations, to give them advice, or encouragement, as the case might be deemed necessary. In the daytime he studies his maps and reads his Bible, and a work on "Holy living," by Thomas a Kempis, and preserves such a faith in God as inspired all around him with a courage akin to his own. "He held the city, he so long Faithful mid falterers, mid much weakness strong, Upon those ramparts now he fought, he planned, That Citadel was by one true man well manned." A letter from Kitchener reached Gordon, which raised his hopes and considerably brightened his prospects for the time being. It ran thus:--