For Fortune and Glory: A Story of the Soudan War

In Short

This novel follows three inseparable friends from a British public school into the crucible of the Soudan War of the 1880s. While their personal fortunes are tied to a missing will that has impoverished one of them, their primary journey is a transition from the carefree world of cricket and ham-and-shrimp teas to the brutal, thirst-ridden reality of desert combat. Part mystery, part military history, the story has endured as a window into the specific blend of youthful bravado and patriotic stoicism that defined the late-Victorian perspective on colonial conflict.

The Story

The narrative opens at Harton, an elite boarding school, where the friends Forsyth, Strachan, and Kavanagh enjoy the waning days of their youth. The idyllic setting is abruptly disrupted by financial ruin: the father of Kavanagh, a partner in an Eastern bank, loses everything when a crucial will is stolen by a dishonest Egyptian employee named Daireh. The loss forces Kavanagh to confront poverty and the loss of his status, marking the end of his comfortable adolescence.

As the friends reach adulthood, their paths converge in the Soudan during the height of the British intervention. The plot bifurcates: while the young men serve in the military, Forsyth engages in a desperate, globe-spanning search for the missing documents. His quest leads him through Cairo and into the heart of the desert, where he encounters the stark, fatalistic outlook of the local inhabitants and survives a harrowing journey alone across the burning sands—only saved by the mirage of a city that vanishes before his eyes. He eventually tracks Daireh to the Mahdi’s territory, where the thief is brought to a rough, frontier-style justice by a local sheikh acting as a makeshift judge.

Meanwhile, the military portion of the story details the grinding, thirst-stricken existence of the British troops. The campaign is marked by confusion, the "British haze" that obscures the enemy, and the relentless, terrifying charges of the Soudanese forces. In the heat of the fighting, the characters experience the sudden, shocking loss of friends; Tom Strachan, once the pillar of their boarding-school group, is found dead in a nullah after a brutal skirmish. The soldiers’ attempts to maintain home comforts, such as boiling a Christmas pudding in a haversack, serve as a poignant contrast to the horrors of the battlefield.

The tragedy of the campaign is underscored by the shadow of General Gordon. The soldiers, marching through the night, are haunted by the thought of Gordon’s abandonment at Khartoum, realizing that their own struggles and the loss of their comrades were ultimately made futile by political delay. The book concludes with the survivors back in England. Though they have been scarred by war—Kavanagh remains an invalid, nursing his health with port and jelly—they are reunited in a domestic circle, cared for by Fatima, a woman who rescued Forsyth during his desert ordeal. They sit down to dinner, finding peace in the normalcy of home, while the ghosts of the desert and their fallen comrades remain a quiet, inescapable presence.

How It Unfolds

The transition from school to duty The story begins with the comforts of boarding school, where the boys prioritize sports and elaborate meals. This innocence is shattered by the legal theft of a fortune, forcing the characters to face the necessity of earning their own way.

The desert quest begins Forsyth travels to Egypt to track down the stolen will, navigating a labyrinth of local informants and barbers. His search leads him into the hostile, trackless desert, where he learns that the environment is as lethal as any enemy soldier.

War and the square formation The focus shifts to the military campaign, where the troops battle both the Soudanese forces and the agonizing lack of water. The narrative emphasizes the technical, defensive nature of the "square" formation, which becomes the soldiers' only barrier against annihilation.

The reality of loss Amidst the tactical maneuvers, the characters experience the sudden, unglamorous deaths of their peers. The search for the fallen in the aftermath of a battle serves as a somber meditation on the cost of the imperial mission.

The final return The survivors eventually find their way back to an English garden, physically transformed and carrying the weight of their experiences. They settle into a quiet life, shadowed by their memories and the sacrifice of those who did not make it home.

The People

Forsyth serves as the primary adventurer, driven by a loyalty to his friends that leads him from the schoolroom to the desert. His ordeal in the wasteland, where he is saved by his resilience and the aid of others, leaves him tempered and matured. Kavanagh, the "dandy" of the school days, undergoes the most profound shift; after losing his family’s wealth, he finds his pride in the face of poverty and later faces the fragility of life as an invalid soldier. Strachan represents the strength and optimism of their youth, acting as a natural leader until his death on the battlefield. Daireh acts as the catalyst for the entire plot, a villainous figure whose theft of the wills drives the story’s financial stakes. Finally, Fatima emerges as a vital, grounding figure; she is the healer who bridges the gap between the chaotic, violent world of the Soudan and the final, fragile peace of the survivors in England.

In Its Own Voice

"If it is the will of Allah that you should get a crocodile, you will get a crocodile."

Hassib, the local captain, explains the fatalistic philosophy that defines the desert perspective to the young English traveler.

"There is no use in it, for Gordons do not crop up every century."

The narrative reflects on the tragic failure of the mission to save General Gordon and the impossibility of replacing such figures.

"He was killed, not conquered."

The author captures the stark, unyielding nature of the opposition the British soldiers face during their close-quarters fighting in the Soudan.

What It's Really About

The central theme is the conflict between the idealism of British youth and the crushing, indifferent reality of the colonial periphery. The story questions the purpose of imperial sacrifice, particularly through the lens of the Gordon tragedy, where individual heroism is rendered meaningless by political failure. It asks how one reconciles the "proper" life of an English gentleman—with its rules, etiquette, and predictable comforts—with the "savage" or alien nature of a war zone. Ultimately, the book is a study in how experience—the "Fortune and Glory" promised by the title—actually manifests as a loss of innocence, leaving the survivors to build their future on the fragmented pieces of their past.

Why Read It Today

Readers with an interest in Victorian-era colonial history or the "boys' own" style of adventure fiction will find this a fascinating, if sometimes challenging, read. The book provides a genuine, unvarnished look at the attitudes of the time, including the period’s casual prejudices and its intense, almost reverent focus on military duty and "stiff-upper-lip" stoicism.

It is a striking experience to read a story that moves so quickly from the detailed, almost culinary descriptions of boarding-school life—where the quality of a potted shrimp is a matter of great concern—to the stark, dehydrated horrors of the desert. The book does not shy away from the visceral nature of the fighting, nor does it present the war as a clean victory; instead, it leaves the reader with a lingering sense of the futility that often accompanies such grand imperial narratives. The prose is precise and direct, though contemporary readers may find the pacing uneven as it switches between the legal subplot and the military campaign. Ultimately, the book stays with you not for its triumphs, but for its honest, somber portrait of young men who go searching for fortune and find only the harsh, indifferent lessons of the desert.