"Take Me With You, Sitty!" (Lady), And He Followed Us
Down The Path, As We Regretfully Left Our Proteges, With His Fists
Tucked Into His Eyes, Weeping From His Heart, Although For His Own
Mother He Had Not Shed A Tear.
We could not take him with us; he
belonged to Ibrahim, and had I purchased the child to rescue him from
his hard lot and to rear him as a civilized being, I might have been
charged with slave-dealing.
With heavy hearts we saw hint taken up in
the arms of a woman and carried back to camp, to prevent him from
following our party, that had now started.
I will not detain the reader with the details of our journey home. After
much toil and some fighting with hostile natives, we bivouacked one
sunset three miles from Gondokoro. That night we were full of
speculations. Would a boat be waiting for us with supplies and letters?
The morning anxiously looked forward to at length arrived. We started.
The English flag had been mounted on a fine straight bamboo with a new
lance-head specially arranged for the arrival at Gondokoro. My men felt
proud, as they would march in as conquerors. According to White Nile
ideas, such a journey could not have been accomplished with so small a
party. Long before Ibrahim's men were ready to start, our oxen were
saddled and we were off, longing to hasten into Gondokoro and to find a
comfortable vessel with a few luxuries and the post from England. Never
had the oxen travelled so fast as on that morning; the flag led the way,
and the men, in excellent spirits, followed at double-quick pace.
"I see the masts of the vessels!" exclaimed the boy Saat. "El hambd el
Illah!" (Thank God! ) shouted the men. "Hurrah!" said I; "Three cheers
for Old England and the Sources of the Nile! Hurrah!" and my men joined
me in the wild, and to their ears savage, English yell. "Now for a
salute! Fire away all your powder, if you like, my lads, and let the
people know that we're alive!"
This was all that was required to complete the happiness of my people,
and, loading and firing as fast as possible, we approached near to
Gondokoro. Presently we saw the Turkish flag emerge from Gondokoro at
about a quarter of a mile distant, followed by a number of the traders'
people, who waited to receive us. On our arrival they immediately
approached and fired salutes with ball cartridge, as usual advancing
close to us and discharging their guns into the ground at our feet. One
of my servants, Mahomet, was riding an ox, and an old friend of his in
the crowd happening to recognize him immediately advanced and saluted
him by firing his gun into the earth directly beneath the belly of the
ox he was riding.
The effect produced made the crowd and ourselves explode with laughter.
The nervous ox, terrified at the sudden discharge between his legs, gave
a tremendous kick, and continued madly kicking and plunging, until
Mahomet was pitched over his head and lay sprawling on the ground.
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