CAPTURED BY AFRICAN SAVAGES 273 



the entrance of the kraal he glanced back and 

 saw the villagers swarming from their huts. 

 He fired a shot in their direction, in order to 

 hold them in check, and in a few seconds more 

 cleared the opening and started down the trail. 

 The war drums and shouts of the excited sav- 

 ages spurred him to top speed. 



For fully a mile he kept the course; then he 

 turned off into the brush and paused to get his 

 breath. The blacks had stopped shouting, but 

 the war drums were still beating, and Barrett 

 knew that the trails must be swarming with 

 pursuers. 



During the preceding days of travel he had 

 carefully observed the direction in which he 

 was being taken and had learned that the 

 general course was north and parallel to the 

 Nile, which lay to the west. He now had hope 

 of reaching the river within two or three days 

 and of intercepting the regular mail-boat that 

 plied once a week between Butiaba and Nimule. 

 Once out of the hostile country, he would soon 

 fall in with friendly "Shenzies," who would 

 surely give him assistance. 



He climbed a tree and got the points of 

 the compass from the southern cross; then he 



