ing with excitement, and my ears had various
narrow escapes--Alcides, who, when he wished, had very persuasive
manners, induced not only the prisoner, but the two policemen--all
three--to escape and join the expedition. I must say that I did not at
all look forward to the prospect of my three new companions; but we were
in terrible want of hands. I had visions that my expedition would be
entirely wrecked. There was a limit to human endurance and we could not
perform miracles. We still had thousands of kilometres to travel over
most difficult and dangerous country. Besides, I reflected, after all, I
might only be performing an act of kindness by relieving the town of the
expense and trouble of keeping its only prisoner, not to speak of the
police force.

All was satisfactorily arranged, when the prisoner inquired where we were
going. You should have seen his face when I told him.

"No, no, no!" he quickly replied. "No, no, no, no!" and he waved my
scissors in the air. "I will not come! I will remain in prison all my
life rather than be eaten up by cannibals! No, no, no, no ... no, no, no,
no...!" he went on muttering at intervals as he gave the last clipping
touches to my hair. He hastened through his job, received his pay in
silence, and asked the policemen to take him back quickly to the prison.
When the chains, which had temporarily been removed, were put again
around his wrists, he departed shaking his head and muttering again--"No,
no, no, no...!"

The wise policemen, too, said that naturally, as their prisoner would not
escape, they were obliged to remain and keep guard over him ... it was
not through lack of courage that they would not come; it was because of
their duty!

Of course, Alcides was sadly disappointed, but I was delighted, when it
all fell through.

I owe the success of my expeditions to the fact that, no matter what
happens, I never will stop anywhere. It is quite fatal, on expeditions
of that kind, to stop for any length of time. If you do, the fatigue, the
worry, and illness make it generally impossible to start again--all
things which you do not feel quite so much as long as you can keep
moving. Many a disaster in exploring expeditions could easily have been
avoided, had the people known this secret of successful travelling. Push
on at all costs--until, of course, you are actually dead.

With my reduced party of two men (Alcides and Filippe) I had to arrange
matters differently, and decided