He returned to England and settled down at Gravesend, living quite simply, and working in his spare moments amongst the poor.  To the boys he was a hero indeed.  That was but natural, seeing he not only taught them to read and write, and tried to get them situations, but treated them as his friends.

In his sitting-room was a map of the world, with pins stuck in it marking the probable positions of the ships in which his “kings” (as he called his boys) were to be found in various parts of the world.  Thus, as they moved from place to place, he followed them in his thoughts, and was able to point out their whereabouts to inquiring friends.

It is no wonder then that the urchins scrawled upon the walls of the town, “C.G. is a jolly good feller”.  “God bless the Kernel.”

He visited the hospitals and workhouses, and all the money he received he expended on the poor; for he believed that having given his heart to God he had no right to keep anything for himself.  He comforted the sick and dying, he taught in the Ragged and Sunday Schools.  He lived on the plainest food himself, thus “enduring hardness”.  He even gave up his garden, turning it into a kind of allotment for the needy.

He had one object in life—­to do good.  His views were utterly unworldly and opposed to those generally held, but they were in the main right.

In 1874 Gordon went to Egypt, and at the request of the Khedive undertook the position of Governor-General of the Soudan, in the hope of being able to put down the slave trade.

He was beset with difficulties, and “worn to a shadow” by incessant work and ceaseless anxiety; but he would not give up.

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.

This is the kind of way in which he won his victories.  On one occasion with a few troops he arrived at a place called Dara.  That great slave trader Suleiman, who had given Sir Samuel Baker so much trouble, was there at the head of 6000 men.  Gordon rode into the place nearly alone, and told the commander to come and talk with him.  Utterly taken aback the man did as he was requested, and afterwards promised obedience.