This was destined to be the furthest point to which the river expedition was to penetrate. Relief had arrived too late, for here the British force learned that the end had come in Khartoum, and that all their labour had been in vain. The city had been treacherously taken by the Mahdi, and General Gordon had been killed on the 25th January, or nearly a month before. As the object of the expedition was said to be merely for the relief of Gordon with his Egyptian garrison, and the British Government had determined to abandon the Soudan entirely, there was nothing left for Lord Wolseley to do on the receipt of this sad intelligence but to retrace his steps. On the 13th February, Sir Redvers Buller, with the Desert Column, which had reached Gubat, evacuated that place; and, as the reason for the occupation of Berber by the River Column had practically ceased, orders were received commanding a halt. Ten days afterwards the flotilla commenced the return journey down the swift and {102} broken waters of the Nile. It was an unfortunate end of an undecided policy which delayed the relief of the noble Gordon until it was too late. Had the Government taken up the matter earnestly some months earlier than they did, Lord Wolseley's expedition would not only have saved Gordon a tragic death and relieved Khartoum, but would then have crushed the power of the Madhi for ever. Thus would have been accomplished in 1885 a piece of work which, simply by being then neglected, had again to be taken up thirteen years afterwards, but which was brought then to a successful issue by the entire overthrow on 2nd September 1898 of the Mahdi's successor by General Sir Herbert Kitchener at Omdurman. Wauchope all through this expedition had proved himself an invaluable pioneer in the rough and arduous work they had to encounter, and the many difficulties to be overcome. He was highly popular with all ranks from the Commander-in-Chief to the youngest drummer, for he looked upon every one as simply his fellow-workers, and was ever ready to help any in trouble. 'Gifted,' as one of his brother officers has said of him, 'with a singularly attractive and lovable disposition, he made friends of every one he met. With the simplest of tastes himself, and (after the deaths of his father and brother) with ample means at his disposal, he used to help more particularly those married with or without leave in the regiment, and these cases I only heard of by accident. He never spoke of them himself.' [Sidenote: A staunch Prespyterian]