A LOST LEADER 



39 



first I thought it hardly credible that he had gone off into 

 the interior on an altogether different errand, without one word 

 of explanation to Mackinnon or myself. 



One of the many inconveniences of not knowing what con- 

 tracts our late chief had signed happened next day. Greatly 

 to our surprise a dhow was seen coming up the river ; the 

 Suahili in charge brought me a letter from Macquarie, stating 

 that he had found the boat on the beach at Lamu. By 

 an accident he had discovered that it had been bought and 

 paid for by the expedition, and so sent it on. He asked me to 

 count the oars, sails, etc., and then keep it till the others came 

 up to decide w^hat was to be done with this useless encumbrance. 

 I thanked the man, and told him, as well as I could, to tie our 

 boat to a tree. He refused, as it was his boat, and he was going 

 up stream. Pointing to the paper, " Chombo changu " (My 

 dhow), I said. " Hapana ! chombo changu " (No ! my dhow), 

 he indignantly repeated, as he sprang into the boat and pushed 

 off before I could follow. He merrily waved his hand and pro- 

 ceeded up stream. Two miles farther up the river the boat had 

 to come close in to our bank in order to pass a snag. Having 

 served out extra cartridges to twenty Somali, we marched 

 thither and waited, hiding in the rushes. The boat came up, 

 the crew suspecting nothing. A sudden rush and the dhow 

 was ours, the Suahili and his men were prisoners. We pulled 

 down the sail, and the current quickly carried us back to camp, 

 the Suahili owner raging and cursing like a madman. Neither 

 oaths nor entreaties had any effect on us, for the simple reason 

 that not one of us understood a word that the poor man was 

 saying. He gave it up at last, and sat in the bottom of the 

 boat, an amusing picture of rage and bewilderment, alternating 

 with despair. I was myself beginning, however, to feel very 

 unhappy about this business. The man's indignation seemed 

 so genuine that I was sure there was a hitch somewhere. Any- 

 how my orders were clear : I was to take possession of the 

 boat that would be brought up the Tana by the bearer of the 

 letter. This I had done, and I intended to stick to it till some 

 solution of the mystery was forthcoming. On our arrival at 

 Vuju we soon discovered the mistake, for there we had a man 

 who knew both Somali and Kisuahili. This dhow had passed 

 ours on the way, and as the men despaired of ever getting our 



