Ancedote of General Gordon

Feilding Star, Volume VI, Issue 117, 19 March 1885, Page 3

Ancedote of General Gordon

'.i.SirjK.: W.,;,pjimiurag f who if bow in Auckland, and who accompanied Gordon ap the Nile<as far as tbe second cataract, has .Wen interviewed by a New Zealand Herald reporter, . He statca thai; on-the Voyage up the Nile, General Gordoa wit gloomy and silent, ai if he had a present, iment of his fate. He nerer came to the tilblf,. or spoke to the company; Oeea« ■ionallj! bei would aidress a few words, 16 whispers, . to. QoloneL Stewart.. , The mental strain occasioned by the respbn* •ibUities of his mission appeared to affect at* min^ audjgaTe one an impression of fjisiaticism. ..He kept the aeclasion of his «abin, a^d oeeasioaally would peer out of t|ie doof if ith s< s««picious and excited Viol{. Qctcajrioaally he would come out •komt U o'clock *at nifht, sh silently •Mokinf a cigar, ih*n ««t up with * Mmpl* "Goodhifht,*' and return to his ctibii again: Some of the company rentured to ack Colonel Stewart why General Gordon acted in that way. Stcwnrt ■imply shnißged his shoulders and *:ud — 44 It is Gordon's, way. he is peculiar, l>ut [ like him." Sir K. W. Cummins says Stewart Wai a quiet cjeridemnnly fellow, who from his amiability was lored by all. He was wholly deroted to Gordon, and the affection was matual, as Stewart was the only man «t' whom he made a confilfent.- /.Both tofficers were ' estrernelr reticent as I future or their plans. General .-Gordon,' howerer. seemed, to ikipk his personal influence would carry «*erythipt|;, «nd conquer every difficulty. It was strange to see him elad in p*or tpltfiMlHthe humHloit-lookiaj of the «»mpany— ftni the officers coming and goinc, bowing before him. clad in most f or^eoii* uniforms.