We Rode Along The Bottom Of A Watercourse And Reached
The Salaam River, Thus Avoiding The Fire; But, Some Hours Before
We Neared The Camp, Night Had Set In.
We had beaten the fire, as
we had got to windward, and slowly and tediously we toiled along
the crumbling soil, stumbling among the crevices, that were
nearly invisible in the moonlight.
Thus we crept onwards; I had found riding impracticable,
therefore the horses were led, with much difficulty, as they
constantly slipped up to their knees in the numerous fissures. It
was difficult to recognise our position in the moonlight, and we
were doubtful whether we had not missed our route to the camp. My
watch told me that it was past nine o'clock, and we had been
sixteen hours in hard work without the slightest rest. We halted
to confer about the direction of the camp, when suddenly I heard
the report of a gun to our right; we immediately turned, and
hastened towards the welcome sound; presently I heard a distant
shout. As we approached, this was repeated, and as I hurried
forward, I recognised my own name shouted in an agonised voice.
I ran on alone at my best speed, after giving a loud shrill
whistle upon my fingers. This was quickly replied to, and I
repeated the well-known signal, until in about ten minutes I met
my wife, who had been wandering about the country half distracted
for hours, searching for me in every direction, as my horse
Aggahr had returned to the camp with the bridle broken, and the
empty saddle scratched by the boughs of trees; she had naturally
concluded that some accident had happened. She had immediately
armed herself with the little Fletcher that had been left in the
camp, being too small for elephants; with this, and several of
the Arabs armed with swords and lances, she had been hunting
throughout this wild country during the night in a state of
terrible anxiety. It was fortunate that she had fired the shot to
direct our attention, otherwise we might have passed each other
without being seen. "All's well that ends well:" we were about
three miles from camp, but the distance appeared short to
everybody, as we now knew the true direction, and we at length
perceived the glare of a large fire that our people had lighted
as a beacon.
The horse, Aggahr, must have found his way without difficulty, as
he had arrived a little before sunset. This curious instinct,
that enables a horse to find the direction to its last
halting-place in a wild and pathless country, was thoroughly
appreciated by the Arabs, who had comforted me with the
assurance, that no Abyssinian horse would lose his way to the
spot where he had last passed the night, if separated from his
rider.
CHAPTER XIX.
SEND A PARTY TO RECONNOITRE.
I HAD thoroughly explored the beautiful country of the Salaam and
Angrab; it was the 11th of April, and I intended to push on to
Gallabat, the frontier market-town of Abyssinia.
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