I Was Watching The First Red Streak That
Heralded The Rising Sun, When I Was Startled By The Words, "Thank God,"
Faintly Uttered Behind Me.
Suddenly she had awoke from her torpor, and
with a heart overflowing I went to her bedside.
Her eyes were full of
madness! She spoke, but the brain was gone!
I will not inflict a description of the terrible trial of seven days of
brain fever, with its attendant horrors. The rain poured in torrents,
and day after day we were forced to travel for want of provisions, not
being able to remain in one position. Every now and then we shot a few
guinea-fowl, but rarely; there was no game, although the country was
most favorable. In the forests we procured wild honey, but the deserted
villages contained no supplies, as we were on the frontier of Uganda,
and M'tese's people had plundered the district. For seven nights I had
not slept, and although as weak as a reed, I had marched by the side of
her litter. Nature could resist no longer. We reached a village one
evening. 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.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 288 of 337
Words from 76965 to 77218
of 90207
