He Had Shown An Extraordinary Amount Of Moral Courage In
Totally Reforming From His Original Habit Of Drinking.
I left my old
servant with a heart too full to say good-bye; a warm squeeze of his
rough, but honest black hand, and the whistle of the train sounded, - we
were off!
I had left Richarn, and none remained of my people. The past appeared
like a dream-the rushing sound of the train renewed ideas of
civilization. Had I really come from the Nile Sources? It was no dream.
A witness sat before me; a face still young, but bronzed like an Arab by
years of exposure to a burning sun; haggard and worn with toil and
sickness, and shaded with cares, happily now past; the devoted companion
of my pilgrimage, to whom I owed success and life - my wife.
I had received letters from England, that had been waiting at the
British Consulate; - the first I opened informed me, that the Royal
Geographical Society had awarded me the Victoria Gold Medal, at a time
when they were unaware whether I was alive or dead, and when the success
of my expedition was unknown. This appreciation of my exertions was the
warmest welcome that I could have received on my first entrance into
civilization after so many years of savagedom: it rendered the
completion of the Nile Sources doubly grateful, as I had fulfilled the
expectations that the Geographical Society had so generously expressed
by the presentation of their medal Before my task was done.
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