Far Away Though It Was, Every Step
Would Bring Us Nearer.
Nevertheless there were ties even in this wild
spot, where all was savage and unfeeling - ties that were painful to
sever, and that caused a sincere regret to both of us when we saw our
little flock of unfortunate slave children crying at the idea of
separation.
In this moral desert, where all humanized feelings were
withered and parched like the sands of the Soudan, the guilelessness of
the children had been welcomed like springs of water, as the only
refreshing feature in a land of sin and darkness.
"Where are you going?" cried poor little Abbai in the broken Arabic that
we had taught him. "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.
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