Thus the Soudan emerged at last, and finally, it may be hoped, from her ordeal of blood and fire. Her history will be no longer a record of tyranny, rebellion, war, and famine, but of steady progress under a just and civilized government. The work of Baker and Gordon is bearing fruit at last. Great as were the joy and relief with which the downfall of the dervish tyranny was hailed throughout the Soudan, it was largely due to faith in the word and just dealing of Englishmen—a faith that was first established by them and those who worked with them—that the whole country settled down so quickly. Among all the pioneers of good government in the Soudan one name stands out conspicuously. Most of the ease and success with which the present government works is due to the realization of the reforms recommended in Colonel D. H. Stewart’s Report on the Soudan. The rulers of the Soudan are the first to acknowledge their obligation to that masterly document, an epitome of keen observation and practical wisdom. Fortunate is the country that is served by such men as he. A few months after he had completed his report he returned with Gordon to Khartoum. He, at least, had no delusions as to their prospects of success. And yet he went as cheerfully and lightly as though “Tendens Venafranos in agros Aut Lacedæmonium Tarentum.” To die treacherously murdered on the Nile bank was a sorry fate for such a man. The road to the Soudan is strewn with the bones of many victims. But of them all it may be said, and especially of him: Their work lives after them, and their memory is nobly avenged. CHAPTER XVI THE NEW KHARTOUM No one whose lot it has been to travel through the night on the plains of a tropical country can forget the amazing effect produced when the sun, with one great leap, as it seems, springs clear above the horizon. All in a moment the world’s face is altered. Its features are the same, yet utterly changed. The traveller, however hardened, can scarcely fail to wonder at the transformation. A journey to the Soudan to-day produces a very similar impression on one whose mind is full of the memories of the dark past. The din of battle has hardly ceased to echo, but the transformation is complete.