In all his trials he felt the presence of God. As he watched his men
hauling the boats up the rapids he "_prayed them up_ as he used to do
the troops when they wavered in the breaches in China".
Once his men failed in their attack on an offending tribe; and,
believing they had been misled by the Sheik, wanted to punish him;
but Gordon saw the other side of the man's character--"He was a brave
patriotic man," he said; "and I shall let him go".
Here was his hope. "With terrific exertion," he writes, "in two
or three years' time I may with God's administration make a good
province--with a good army and a fair revenue and peace, and an
increased trade,--also have suppressed slave raids." He felt it was a
weary work before him, for he adds: "Then I will come home and go to
bed, and never get up till noon every day, and never walk more than a
mile". No wonder he was worn and tired, for he moved about the Soudan
like a whirlwind. He travelled on camelback thousands of miles. In
four months' time he had put down a dangerous rebellion that would
have taken the Egyptians as many years--if, indeed, they could ever
have done it at all.
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