Note 124 — Chapter XLIV · THE FALL OF KHARTOUM.

Though the above is the generally accepted version of Gordon's death, Mr. Charles Neufeld, in his lately published work "A Prisoner of the Khalifa," gives the following narrative of the occurrence:—"Each day at dawn, when he retired to rest, he bolted his door from the inside, and placed his faithful body servant—Khaleel Agha Orphali—on guard outside it. On the fatal night Gordon had, as usual, kept his vigil on the roof of the Palace, sending and receiving telegraphic messages from the lines every few minutes, and as dawn crept into the skies, thinking that the long-threatened attack was not yet to be delivered, he lay down, wearied out. The little firing heard a few minutes later attracted no more attention than the usual firing which had been going on continuously night and day for months, but when the Palace guards were heard firing it was known that something serious was happening. By the time Gordon had slipped into his old serge, or dark tweed, suit, and taken his sword and revolver, the advanced Dervishes were already surrounding the Palace. Overcoming the guards, a rush was made up the stairs, and Gordon was met leaving his room. A small spear was thrown, which wounded him, but very slightly, on the left shoulder. Almost before the Dervishes knew what was happening, three of them lay dead, and one wounded, at Gordon's feet; the remainder fled. Quickly reloading his revolver, Gordon made for the head of the stairs, and again drove the reassembling Dervishes off. Darting back to reload, he received a stab in his left shoulder-blade from a Dervish concealed behind the corridor door, and, on reaching the steps the third time, he received a pistol-shot and spear-wound in his right breast, and then, great soldier as he was, he rose almost above himself. With his life's blood pouring from his breast—not his back, remember—he fought his way step by step, kicking from his path the wounded and dead Dervishes; ... and as he was passing through the doorway leading into the courtyard another concealed Dervish almost severed his leg with a single blow. Then Gordon fell."