The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-02-16
GORDoN's CHARACTERISTICS.
His ImperiOus Will and Personal Courage
Some of the Risks He Took.


Col. Prout, in Louisville Courier Journal.s
Gordon was of hasty temper, imperious will
and impetuous action. If ever man need I'D
the saving grace of religion it was Gordon, and
he knew it. He was, however, tender hearted,
and one of the most generous men in the world.
In his quarters at Galatz a glazed window opened
on the passage by which his working room
was approached, and when in particularly
bad temper he placed hammer in that win
dow warning to his people. On his
hammer days" he was to be avoided. On
one of his journeys up the Nile, while in a part
of the river thick with crocodiles, monkey
with which he was playing, on the deck of the
steamer, fell overheard In a twink!ing Gordon
was in the water to save the monkey
His impetuosty must have got him into a
thousand scrapes. from which only his mental
and physical address and his three oclockin
themorning" courage rescued him. While
hauling one of his nuggars (the common sailing
craft of the Nile) up the rapids in the
fourth degree Of latitude, rope
broke and drifted away, and the boat
was put in great peril Gordon called for vol
unteers to 60 out after the rope, but no one STIR
red He jumped into a skiff, pulled out, picked
up the rope, upset his skif, swan with the rope
to rock and there remained all night, till some
means of rescue could be found. When in Oar.
four, marching to meet Suleiman, the of
Sebehr who stirred up a formidable revolt he
wrote "Sehehr's son is his way to meet
me with $500 armed slaves, to see if I am weak.
If so, he will attack and try to make me prisoner
to exchange for his father. If he finds / am
strong he will temporize and try treachery. 1t
is suggested to me to use treachery toward
him. do not like the Asiatic tricks, and SO. D.
", shall attack his advance guard of 700 men
two days from here, and open the ball. God
help me, for have little confidence in my troops
1t is the crisis" Fortunately, he came through
&<14i S,-14
treated to Shaka and nursed his rebellion. To
this "den," as he called it, Gordon eventually
followed Suleiman. and astonished the 5000
robbers by. riding, about into their
ordering him to disband his followers
Strange to say Suleman neither killed Gordon
nor made him prisoner. but obeyed him. How
much of calculation there was in these appar-
emily reckless featS one tell, but it is GER
tain that Gordon inspired all-princes of Europe
savages of Africa, and rebels of China-with un-
bounded admiration for his courage and with un-
bounded faith in his powers. He was as acute
as Machiavelli and well knew the effect of his
actions upon all minds Many of his greatest
risks were undertaken deliberately. At one
of the stations of the equatorial provinces,
Moogi, the negroes on the eastern bank of
the Nile were hostile and implacable. 1t was
they who surrounded and killed young Linant de
Bellefonds and his fifty or sixty men, under the
eyes of The Moogl garrlS on, who had no means
of crossing the river, and were powerless to help
their comrades 1t was not a great while after
this affair that Gordon was seen alone in small
boat padding slowly along the hostile bank.
The negroes on the slope watched him
uneasily while he quietly landed, tied his
skff, and proceeded to display a store of
beads, with which he had tried to entice
them to come near and talk with him. Find
ing that his Offices were in vain, he took his
rifle from the boat, shot Eippopotanus which
appeared just in time to give the performance a
graceful finish, re embarked and pulled back to
the stockade, while the negroes came down and di-
vided the beads and hippopotamus. One of
Gordons deliberate risks, undertaken for effect,
gave me no small discomfort when / succeeded
to the command of the equatorial provinces. At
most of the stations he had built huts for his
own occupancy as he passed up and down the
river. These huts were often built outside
the stockades, and in some instances
at considerable distance from them.
Doubtless his first notion in this was to show
his confidence in the natives. / could not afford
to lose any element of influence that Gordon
had found useful. Time and again it happened
that Gordon would be missed from his hut in
the morning A party would at once start out
on the route of march proposed for the day. and
sooner or later would overtake him, striding
along alone and unarmed with his tin box of
tobacco under his arm, and his cigarette pipe
in his fingers. This was partly to avoid
the inevitable turning out of the garrison
and firing of salutes and other fuss when the
Governor came and went, but quite as much for