On 14th December 1884, Gordon wrote to his sister: "This may be the last letter you will receive from me, for we are on our last legs, owing to the delay of the expedition. However, God rules all, and, as He will rule to His glory and our welfare, His will be done.…
"I am quite happy, thank God, and, like Lawrence, I have 'tried to do my duty.'"
On the same day he wrote in his journal:
"I have done my best for the honour of our country. Good-bye.—C. G. Gordon."
The last message of all was one that bore no date, and was smuggled out of Khartoum in a cartridge case by one who had been his servant:—
"What I have gone through I cannot describe. The Almighty God will help me."
In the camp of the Mahdi lay an Austrian prisoner, Slatin Pasha.
On the 15th of January 1885 he heard vigorous firing from Khartoum. Gordon and his garrison were preventing the Mahdists from keeping in their possession a fort which they had just taken.
In the days that followed, the firing went on, but Gordon's ammunition was nearly done, and he and his men were weak and spent with hunger.
On the night of the 25th Slatin heard "the deafening discharge of thousands of rifles and guns; this lasted for a few minutes, then only occasional shots were heard, and now all was quiet again."