She had been in violent convulsions successively; it was all
but over. I laid her down on her litter within a hat, covered her with a
Scotch plaid, and fell upon my mat insensible, worn out with sorrow and
fatigue. My men put a new handle to the pickaxe that evening, and sought
for a dry spot to dig her grave!
The sun had risen when I woke. I had slept, and horrified as the idea
flashed upon me that she must be dead and that I had not been with her,
I started up. She lay upon her bed, pale as marble, and with that calm
serenity that the features assume when the cares of life no longer act
upon the mind and the body rests in death. The dreadful thought bowed me
down; but as I gazed upon her in fear her chest gently heaved, not with
the convulsive throbs of fever, but naturally. She was asleep; and when
at a sudden noise she opened her eyes, they were calm and clear. She was
saved! When not a ray of hope remained, God alone knows what helped us.
The gratitude of that moment I will not attempt to describe.
Fortunately there were many fowls in this village. We found several
nests of fresh eggs in the straw which littered the hut; these were most
acceptable after our hard fare, and produced a good supply of soup.
Having rested for two days we again moved forward, Mrs. Baker being
carried on a litter.
The next day we reached the village of Parkani. For several days past
our guides had told us that we were very near to the lake, and we were
now assured that we should reach it on the morrow. I had noticed a lofty
range of mountains at an immense distance west, and I had imagined that
the lake lay on the other side of this chain; but I was now informed
that those mountains formed the western frontier of the M'wootan N'zige,
and that the lake was actually within a day's march of Parkani. I could
not believe it possible that we were so near the object of our search.
The guide Rabonga now appeared, and declared that if we started early on
the following morning we should be able to wash in the lake by noon!
That night I hardly slept. For years I had striven to reach the "sources
of the Nile." In my nightly dreams during that arduous voyage I had
always failed, but after so much hard work and perseverance the cup was
at my very lips, and I was to DRINK at the mysterious fountain before
another sun should set - at that great reservoir of nature that ever
since creation had baffled all discovery.
I had hoped, and prayed, and striven through all kinds of difficulties,
in sickness, starvation, and fatigue, to reach that hidden source; and
when it had appeared impossible we had both determined to die upon the
road rather than return defeated.
