"I dare say you suppose you are following the dictates of conscience,
and I don't question your sincerity. I'm beginning to see that this
empire of ours is destined to be destroyed in the end by its
humanitarians, its philanthropists, its foolish people who are bewitched
by good intentions."
The sarcasm was cutting Gordon to the bone, but he did not reply, and
presently the old man's voice softened.
"I presume you know that if you refuse to obey your General's order you
will be dealing a blow at your father--dishonouring him, accusing him.
Your refusal will go far. There will be no hushing it up. England as
well as Egypt will hear of it."
A deep flush overspread the Proconsul's face.
"For forty years I've been doing the work of civilisation in this
country. I think progress has received a certain impetus. And now when
I am old, and my strength is not what it once was, my son--my only
son--is pulling the lever that is to bring my house down over my head."
The old man's voice trembled and almost broke.
"You've not thought of that, I suppose?"
Gordon's emotions almost mastered him. "Yes, sir," he said, "I have
thought of it, and it's a great grief to me to oppose you. But it would
be a still greater grief to help you--to help you to undo all the great
work you have ever done in Egypt. Father, believe me, I know what I am
saying. There will be bloodshed, and as sure as that happens there will
be an outcry all over the Mohammedan world. The prestige of England
will suffer--in India--in Europe--America--everywhere. And you, father,
you alone will be blamed."
At that the General rose in great wrath, but the Consul-General
interposed.
"One moment, please! I am anxious to make allowances for fanaticism,
and at a moment of tension I could wish to avoid any act that might
create a conflagration. Therefore," he said, turning to Gordon, "if you
are so sure that there will be bloodshed I am willing to hold my hand on
one condition--that the man Ishmael, the mouthpiece of the sedition we
wish to suppress, should leave Egypt without delay."
Gordon did not reply immediately, and his father continued, "Why not?
It is surely better that one man should go than that the whole nation
should suffer. Send him out, drive him out, walk him over the frontier,
and for the present I am satisfied."
"Father," said Gordon, "what you ask me to do is impossible. The
Egyptians believe Ishmael to be one of the prophets who are sent into
the world to keep the souls of men alive. He is like the Mahdi to them,
and--who knows?--they may come to think of him as the Redeemer, the
Christ, who is to pacify the world. Rightly or wrongly, they think of
him already as a living protest against that part of Western
civilisation which is the result of force and fraud. Therefore to drive
him out of the country would be the same thing to them as to drive out
religion. In their view, it would be a sin against humanity--a sin
against God."
But the General could bear no more. Rising from the desk, he said
contemptuously--
"All that's very fine, very exalted, I dare say, but we are plain
soldiers, you and I, and we cannot follow the flights of great minds
like these Mohammedan Sheikhs. So without further argument I ask you if
you are willing to carry out the order I have given you."
"It would be a crime, sir."
"Crime or no crime, it would be no concern of yours. Do you refuse to
obey my order?"
"Recall your order, sir, and I shall have no reason to refuse to obey
it."
"Do you refuse to obey my order?"
"It would be against my conscience, General."
"Your conscience is not in question. Your only duty is to carry out the
will of your superior."
"When I accepted my commission in the army did I lose my rights as a
human being, sir?"
"Don't talk to me about losing your rights. In the face of duty an
officer loses father and mother, wife and child. According to the
King's regulations, you are a soldier first, remember."
"No, sir; according to the King's regulations I am first of all a man."