I must not forget either to acknowledge the handsome treatment which I have received at the hands of my publishers, who have kept me in funds, and with extraordinary patience awaited the completion of my narrative; but the absolute necessity of collecting proofs for what I state, in face of the threats dangling over my head, accounts for the long delay.
CHAPTER XXV HOW GORDON DIED
When the news of the Sirdar’s splendid victory reached England, the British nation may be said to have breathed again, and when the great rush was made for the cheap edition of “Ten Years’ Captivity,” which was extensively advertised with my portrait to catch attention, the few known details of Gordon’s death became as fresh again in people’s minds as they had been years before. I was constantly asked to relate all I had heard concerning Gordon. When I had done so I was invariably met with quotations and readings from “Mahdism,” “Ten Years’ Captivity,” “Fire and Sword,” and other works; for what I had been told of Gordon’s death by eye-witnesses was an entirely different history to those published.
The first to relate the story of Gordon’s death was a man whose tongue Gordon had threatened to cut out as the only cure for his inveterate lying, and when he escaped and reached Cairo, in telling his tale he sustained his reputation. All accounts of Gordon’s death have apparently been based upon this first one received. Gordon, the world has been |301| made to believe, died as a coward, for what other construction may be placed on the assertion that he turned his back upon his assailants, and in his back received his mortal wound? It is an infamous lie; but, then, what was to be expected from a man whom Gordon knew so well, and who, maybe, had good reason to invent the tale he did? I quote, side by side, what may be called the three official accounts of Gordon’s death:—
MAHDISM.
“He (Gordon) made a gesture of scorn with his right hand, and turned his back, where he received another spear wound which caused him to fall forward and was most likely his mortal wound. . . . He made no resistance, and did not fire a shot from his revolver.”
“. . . One of them rushing up, stabbed him with his spear, and others then followed, and soon he was killed. . . . He (Nejoumi) ordered the body to be dragged downstairs into the garden, where his head was cut off.”
OHRWALDER.
“The first Arab plunged his huge spear into his body. He fell forward on his face, was dragged down the stairs, many stabbed him with their spears, and his head was cut off and sent to the Mahdi.”
SLATIN.