I thought you,
at first, an emissary of the French Government, in the place of
Lieutenant Le Saint, who died a few miles above Gondokoro. I heard
you had boats, plenty of men, and stores, and I really believed
you were some French officer, until I saw the American flag; and,
to tell you the truth, I was rather glad it was so, because I could
not have talked to him in French; and if he did not know English,
we had been a pretty pair of white men in Ujiji! I did not like
to ask you yesterday, because I thought it was none of my business."
Well," said I, laughing, "for your sake I am glad that I am an
American, and not a Frenchman, and that we can understand each
other perfectly without an interpreter. I see that the Arabs are
wondering that you, an Englishman, and I, an American, understand
each other. We must take care not to tell them that the English
and Americans have fought, and that there are `Alabama' claims left
unsettled, and that we have such people as Fenians in America, who
hate you. But, seriously, Doctor - now don't be frightened when I
tell you that I have come after - YOU!"
"After me?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"Well. You have heard of the `New York Herald?'"
"Oh - who has not heard of that newspaper?"
"Without his father's knowledge or consent, Mr. James Gordon Bennett,
son of Mr. James Gordon Bennett, the proprietor of the `Herald,' has
commissioned me to find you - to get whatever news of your discoveries
you like to give - and to assist you, if I can, with means."
"Young Mr. Bennett told you to come after me, to find me out,
and help me! It is no wonder, then, you praised Mr. Bennett so
much last night."
"I know him - I am proud to say - to be just what I say he is.
He is an ardent, generous, and true man."
"Well, indeed! I am very much obliged to him; and it makes me
feel proud to think that you Americans think so much of me. You
have just come in the proper time; for I was beginning to think
that I should have to beg from the Arabs. Even they are in want
of cloth, and there are but few beads in Ujiji. That fellow Sherif
has robbed me of all. I wish I could embody my thanks to Mr. Bennett
in suitable words; but if I fail to do so, do not, I beg of you,
believe me the less grateful."
"And now, Doctor, having disposed of this little affair, Ferajji
shall bring breakfast; if you have no objection."
"You have given me an appetite," he said.
"Halimah is my cook, but she never can tell the difference between
tea and coffee."
Ferajji, the cook, was ready as usual with excellent tea, and a
dish of smoking cakes; "dampers," as the Doctor called them. I
never did care much for this kind of a cake fried in a pan, but
they were necessary to the Doctor, who had nearly lost all his
teeth from the hard fare of Lunda. He had been compelled to
subsist on green ears of Indian corn; there was no meat in that
district; and the effort to gnaw at the corn ears had loosened all
his teeth. I preferred the corn scones of Virginia, which, to my
mind, were the nearest approach to palatable bread obtainable in
Central Africa.
The Doctor said he had thought me a most luxurious and rich man,
when he saw my great bath-tub carried on the shoulders of one of
my men; but he thought me still more luxurious this morning, when
my knives and forks, and plates, and cups, saucers, silver spoons,
and silver teapot were brought forth shining and bright, spread on
a rich Persian carpet, and observed that I was well attended to by
my yellow and ebon Mercuries.
This was the beginning of our life at Ujiji. I knew him not as
a friend before my arrival. He was only an object to me - a great
item for a daily newspaper, as much as other subjects in which the
voracious news-loving public delight in. I had gone over
battlefields, witnessed revolutions, civil wars, rebellions,
emeutes and massacres; stood close to the condemned murderer to
record his last struggles and last sighs; but never had I been
called to record anything that moved me so much as this man's woes
and sufferings, his privations and disappointments, which now were
poured into my ear. Verily did I begin to perceive that "the
Gods above do with just eyes survey the affairs of men." I began
to recognize the hand of an overruling and kindly Providence.
The following are singular facts worthy for reflection. I was,
commissioned for the duty of discovering Livingstone sometime in
October, 1869. Mr. Bennett was ready with the money, and I was
ready for the journey. But, observe, reader, that I did not
proceed directly upon the search mission. I had many tasks to
fulfil before proceeding with it, and many thousand miles to
travel over. Supposing that I had gone direct to Zanzibar from
Paris, seven or eight months afterwards, perhaps, I should have
found myself at Ujiji, but Livingstone would not have been found
there then; he was on the Lualaba; and I should have had to
follow him on his devious tracks through the primeval forests of
Manyuema, and up along the crooked course of the Lualaba for
hundreds of miles. The time taken by me in travelling up the
Nile, back to Jerusalem, then to Constantinople, Southern Russia,
the Caucasus, and Persia, was employed by Livingstone in fruitful
discoveries west of the Tanganika. Again, consider that I arrived
at Unyanyembe in the latter part of June, and that owing to a war I
was delayed three months at Unyanyembe, leading a fretful, peevish
and impatient life.
