I have now related, by means of my Diary, "How I found Livingstone,"
as recorded on the evening of that great day. I have been averse
to reduce it by process of excision and suppression, into a mere
cold narrative, because, by so doing, I would be unable to record
what feelings swayed each member of the Expedition as well as myself
during the days preceding the discovery of the lost traveller, and
more especially the day it was the good fortune of both Livingstone
and myself to clasp each other's hands in the strong friendship
which was born in that hour we thus strangely met. The aged
traveller, though cruelly belied, contrary to all previous expectation,
received me as a friend; and the cordial warmth with which he accepted
my greeting; the courtesy with which he tendered to me a shelter
in his own house; the simple candour of his conversation; graced
by unusual modesty of manner, and meekness of spirit, wrought in me
such a violent reaction in his favor, that when the parting
"good-night" was uttered, I felt a momentary vague fear lest the
fulness of joy which I experienced that evening would be diminished
by some envious fate, before the morrow's sun should rise above Ujiji.
CHAPTER XII. INTERCOURSE WITH LIVINGSTONE AT UJIJI -
LIVINGSTONE'S OWN STORY OF HIS JOURNEYS,
HIS TROUBLES, AND DISAPPOINTMENTS.
"If there is love between us, inconceivably delicious, and
profitable will our intercourse be; if not, your time is lost,
and you will only annoy me. I shall seem to you stupid, and the
reputation I have false. All my good is magnetic, and I educate
not by lessons, but by going about my business." - Emerson's
'Representative Men'.
I woke up early next morning with a sudden start. The room was
strange! It was a house, and not my tent! Ah, yes! I recollected
I had discovered Livingstone, and I was in his house. I listened,
that the knowledge dawning on me might be confirmed by the sound
of his voice. I heard nothing but the sullen roar of the surf.
I lay quietly in bed. Bed! Yes, it was a primitive four-poster,
with the leaves of the palm-tree spread upon it instead of down,
and horsehair and my bearskin spread over this serving me in place
of linen. I began to put myself under rigid mental cross-examination,
and to an analyzation of my position.
"What was I sent for?"
"To find Livingstone."
"Have you found him?"
"Yes, of course; am I not in his house? Whose compass is that
hanging on a peg there? Whose clothes, whose boots, are those?
Who reads those newspapers, those 'Saturday Reviews' and numbers
of 'Punch' lying on the floor?"
"Well, what are you going to do now?"
"I shall tell him this morning who sent me, and what brought me
here. I will then ask him to write a letter to Mr. Bennett, and
to give what news he can spare. I did not come here to rob him of
his news. Sufficient for me is it that I have found him. It is a
complete success so far. But it will be a greater one if he gives
me letters for Mr. Bennett, and an acknowledgment that he has seen
me."
"Do you think he will do so?"
"Why not? I have come here to do him a service. He has no goods.
I have. He has no men with him. I have. If I do a friendly part
by him, will he not do a friendly part by me? What says the poet? -
Nor hope to find
A friend, but who has found a friend in thee.
All like the purchase; few the price will pay
And this makes friends such wonders here below.
I have paid the purchase, by coming so far to do him a service.
But I think, from what I have seen of him last night, that he is
not such a niggard and misanthrope as I was led to believe. He
exhibited considerable emotion, despite the monosyllabic greeting,
when he shook my hand. If he were a man to feel annoyance at any
person coming after him, he would not have received me as he did,
nor would he ask me to live with him, but he would have surlily
refused to see me, and told me to mind my own business. Neither
does he mind my nationality;
for 'here,' said he, 'Americans and Englishmen are the same
people. We speak the same language and have the same ideas.'
Just so, Doctor; I agree with you. Here at least, Americans
and Englishmen shall be brothers, and, whatever I can do
for you, you may command me freely."
I dressed myself quietly, intending to take a stroll along the
Tanganika before the Doctor should rise; opened the door, which
creaked horribly on its hinges, and walked out to the veranda.
"Halloa, Doctor! - you up already? I hope you have slept well? "
"Good-morning, Mr. Stanley! I am glad to see you. I hope you
rested well. I sat up late reading my letters. You have brought
me good and bad news. But sit down. "He made a place for me by
his side. "Yes, many of my friends are dead. My eldest son has
met with a sad accident - that is, my boy Tom; my second son, Oswell,
is at college studying medicine, and is doing well I am told. Agnes,
my eldest daughter, has been enjoying herself in a yacht, with `Sir
Paraffine' Young and his family. Sir Roderick, also, is well, and
expresses a hope that he will soon see me. You have brought me
quite a budget."
The man was not an apparition, then, and yesterday's scenes were
not the result of a dream! and I gazed on him intently, for thus
I was assured he had not run away, which was the great fear that
constantly haunted me as I was journeying to Ujiji.
