midnight
Truthfully , it should be said that no one of us surpassed his fellows in displaying the qualities Sir Arthur has just enumerated . Such an experience is enough for a lifetime , but if I am ever again called upon to face such perils as we encountered while under Africa , may God grant that I have for comrades such true-hearted , loyal friends as these . '' Carrington , Forbes , and Canaris each spoke briefly in turn ; and Bildad , under the undue excitement of some wine he had managed to secure , attempted to perform a Galla war-dance on the table , and was promptly relegated to the guard-house to sober up . At midnight a steamer left Zaila for Aden with the glad news , and twenty-four hours later the streets of London were blocked with crowds of people reading the amazing telegram that the newspapers had posted on their bulletin boards . Colonel Conyers Gordon , of course , was not governor of Zaila at all , and though it must have been a sore disappointment to the brave old soldier , he readily and gladly installed Sir Arthur in the residency and assumed his former command of the troops . Sir Arthur , however , had very different views . `` Do you mean to say , Gordon , '' he demanded , `` that the government actually gave me up for lost , and had no intention of sending an expedition after me at all ? ''