Beneath the Banner: Being Narratives of Noble Lives and Brave Deeds

Part 1

BENEATH THE BANNER

BEING NARRATIVES OF NOBLE LIVES AND BRAVE DEEDS

F.J. CROSS

ILLUSTRATED

"I have done my best for the honour of our country."--GORDON

SECOND EDITION

1895

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

GOOD MORNING! GOOD NIGHT!

TRUE STORIES PURE AND BRIGHT.

In this work will be found a Series of upwards of sixty Chats with Children, suitable for morning and evening reading. The book abounds with anecdotes, and contains numerous illustrations.

Ready about May, 1895.

CONTENTS.

Only a Nurse Girl,--ALICE AYRES

A Slave Trade Warrior,--SIR SAMUEL BAKER

Two Working Men Heroes,--CASE AND CHEW

The Commander of the Thin Red Line,--SIR COLIN CAMPBELL

A Sailor Bold and True,--LORD COCHRANE

A Rough Diamond that was Polished,--JOHN CASSELL

"A Brave, Fearless Sort of Lass,"--GRACE DARLING

A Friend of Lepers,--FATHER DAMIEN

A Great Arctic Explorer,--SIR JOHN FRANKLIN

A Saviour of Six,--FIREMAN FORD

A Blind Helper of the Blind,--ELIZABETH GILBERT

A Great Traveller in the Air,--JAMES GLAISHER

The Soldier with the Magic Wand,--GENERAL GORDON

"Valiant and True,"--SIR RICHARD GRENVILLE

One who Left All,--BISHOP HANNINGTON

Part 2

A Man who Conquered Disappointments,--SIR HENRY HAVELOCK

A Friend of Prisoners,--JOHN HOWARD

A Hero of the Victoria Cross,--KAVANAGH

The Man who Braved the Flood,--CAPTAIN LENDY

A Temperance Leader,--JOSEPH LIVESEY

A Great Missionary Explorer,--DAVID LIVINGSTONE

From Farm Lad to Merchant Prince,--GEORGE MOORE

A Man who Asked and Received,--GEORGE MÜLLER

A Labourer in the Vineyard,--ROBERT MOFFAT

"The Lady with the Lamp,"--FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE

For England, Home, and Duty,--THE DEATH OF NELSON

A Woman who Succeeded by Failure,--HARRIET NEWELL

A Martyr of the South Seas,--BISHOP PATTESON

"K.G. and Coster,"--LORD SHAFTESBURY

A Statesman who had no Enemies,--W.H. SMITH

Greater than an Archbishop,--THE REV.C. SIMEON

A Soldier Missionary,--HEDLEY VICARS

A Lass that Loved the Sailors,--AGNES WESTON

A Great Commander on a Famous Battlefield THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON

A Prince of Preachers,--JOHN WESLEY

Some Children of the Kingdom

The Victor, the Story of an Unknown Man

A Boy Hero,--JOHN CLINTON

Postscript

BENEATH THE BANNER.

STORIES OF MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE BEEN STEADY WHEN "UNDER FIRE".

ONLY A NURSE GIRL!

THE STORY OF ALICE AYRES.

Part 3

On the night of Thursday, 25th April, 1886, the cry rang through Union Street, Borough, that the shop of Chandler, the oilman, was in flames.

So rapid was the progress of the fire that, by the time the escapes reached the house, tongues of flame were shooting out from the windows, and it was impossible to place the ladders in position. The gunpowder had exploded with great violence, and casks of oil were burning with an indescribable fury.

As the people rushed together to the exciting scene they were horrified to find at one of the upper windows a girl, clad only in her night-dress, bearing in her arms a child, and crying for help.

It was Alice Ayres, who, finding there was no way of escape by the staircase, was seeking for some means of preserving the lives of the children in her charge. The frantic crowd gathered below shouted for her to save herself; but that was not her first aim. Darting back into the blinding smoke, she fetched a feather-bed and forced it through the window. This the crowd held whilst she carefully threw down to them one of the children, which alighted safe on the bed.

Again the people in the street called on her to save her own life; but her only answer was to go back into the fierce flames and stifling smoke, and bring out another child, which was safely transferred to the crowd below.

Once again they frantically entreated her to jump down herself; and once again she staggered back blinded and choking into the fiery furnace; and for the third time emerged, bearing the last of her charges, whose life also was saved.

Then, at length, she was free to think of herself. But, alas! her head was dizzy and confused, and she was no longer able to act as surely as she had hitherto done. She jumped--but, to the horror of that anxious admiring throng below, her body struck against the projecting shop-sign, and rebounded, falling with terrific force on to the hard pavement below.

Her spine was so badly injured that although everything possible was done for her at Guy's Hospital, whither she was removed, she died on the following Sunday.

Beautiful windows have been erected at Red Cross Hall, Southwark, to commemorate her heroism; but the best memorial is her own expression: "I tried to do my best"--for this will live in the hearts of all who read of her self-devotion. She had tried to do her best always. Her loving tenderness to the children committed to her care and her pure gentle life were remarked by those around her before there was any thought of her dying a heroic death. So, when the great trial came, she was prepared; and what seems to us Divine unselfishness appeared to her but simple duty.

A SLAVE TRADE WARRIOR.

SOME STORIES OF SIR SAMUEL BAKER.

Sir Samuel Baker, who died at the end of the year 1893, aged seventy-three, will always be remembered for the splendid work he did in the Soudan during the four years he ruled there, and for his explorations in Africa.

In earlier life he had done good service in Ceylon, had been in the Crimea during the Russian war, and had superintended the construction of the first Turkish railway.

Then, at the age of forty, he turned his attention to African travel. Accompanied by his wife, he left Cairo in 1861; and, after exploring the Blue Nile, arrived in 1862 at Khartoum, situated at the junction of the White and Blue Nile. Later on he turned southward. In spite of the opposition of slave owners, and without guide or interpreter, he reached the Albert Nyanza; and when, after many perils, he got safely back to Northern Egypt, his fame as an explorer was fully established. His was the first expedition which had been successful in penetrating into Central Africa from the north. On his return to England he was welcomed with enthusiasm, and received many honours.

In the year 1869, at the request of the Khedive of Egypt, Sir Samuel undertook a journey to the Soudan to put down the slave trade.

He was given supreme power for a period of four years. In December, with a small army of about 1500 men, he left Cairo for Gondokoro, about 3000 miles up the Nile, accompanied by his wife. It was a terrible journey. His men fell ill, the water in the river was low in many places, and the passage blocked up. At times he had to cut channels for his ships; the men lost heart; and, had the leader not been firm and steadfast, he would never have reached his destination.

On one occasion he found his thirty vessels stranded, the river having almost dried up. Nothing daunted, he cut his way through a marsh, making a progress of only twelve miles in about a fortnight. At the end of this time he found it was impossible to proceed further along that course, and had to return to the place he had left and begin again.

Still, in spite of all obstacles, he made steady progress.

At Sobat, situated on the Nile above Khartoum, he established a station, and had a watch kept on passing ships to see that no slaves were conveyed down the river.

One day a vessel came in sight, and keeping in the middle of the river would have passed by without stopping. But Sir Samuel, having his suspicions aroused, sent to inspect it.

The captain declared stoutly he had no slaves aboard. He stated that his cargo consisted simply of corn and ivory. The inspector was not convinced, and determined to test the truth of this statement. Taking a ramrod, he drove it into the corn. This produced an answering scream from below, and a moment later a woolly head and black body were disclosed. Further search was made, and a hundred and fifty slaves were discovered packed as close as herrings in a barrel. Some were in irons, one was sewn up in a sail cloth, and all had been cruelly treated.

Soon the irons were knocked off and the poor slaves set free, to their great wonder and delight.

Sir Samuel arrived at Gondokoro on the 15th of April, 1871. Already two years of his time had expired. In addition to checking the slave trade, he had been commissioned to introduce a system of regular commerce. He set to work at once to show the people the benefits of agricultural pursuits. He got his followers to plant seeds, and soon they were happy enough watching for the green shoots to appear.

But before long they began to suffer from want of food. The tribes round about had been set against them by the slave hunters, and would supply them with nothing; so that Baker, in the midst of plenty, seemed likely to perish of starvation. However, he soon adopted energetic measures to prevent that. Having taken official possession of the land in the name of the Khedive he seized a sufficient number of animals for his requirements.

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