tep
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. That night we were full of
speculations. Would a boat be waiting for us with supplies and letters?
The morning anxiously looked forward to at length arrived. We started.
The English flag had been mounted on a fine straight bamboo with a new
lance-head specially arranged for the arrival at Gondokoro. My men felt
proud, as they would march in as conquerors. According to White Nile
ideas, such a journey could not have been accomplished with so small
a party. Long before Ibrahim's men were ready to start, our oxen were
saddled and we were off, longing to hasten into Gondokoro and to find a
comfortable vessel with a few luxuries and the post from England. Never
had the oxen travelled so fast as on that morning; the flag led the way,
and the men, in excellent spirits, followed at double-quick pace.

"I see the masts of the vessels!" exclaimed the boy Saat. "El hambd el
Illah!" (Thank God! ) shouted the men. "Hurrah!" said I; "Three cheers
for Old England and the Sources of the Nile! Hurrah!" and my men joined
me in the wild, and to their ears savage, English yell. "Now for a