GARUA AND THE NORTH KAMERUN 25 



of his expedition ; and we did not want to re-enter 

 British territory, for it was facing away from Fort 

 Lamy, which had become our immediate objective. 

 On the other hand, were we to venture into French 

 Ubangi without further information, we might find 

 the country so unsettled that retreat would be 

 necessary. Guidance was, however, at hand. A 

 storekeeper rushed up to Mr Talbot to tell him that 

 a stranger had come, and, in the French tongue, had 

 asked for tobacco. He felt sure it was the officer in 

 charge of the telegraph line, and had come straight 

 to summon Mr Talbot. The two returned together 

 to the store and surveyed Captain Lancrenon with 

 increasing satisfaction, though, as their minds were 

 full of bigger things, they gave him no answer to 

 his repeated demand for tobacco. Then they came 

 to Mrs Talbot and me, and told of his advent with 

 triumph. Our hopes for days past had been centred 

 round him, for he could tell us all about the route, and 

 we begged them to go and invite him to see us. He, 

 poor man, had thought that their strange behaviour 

 was prompted by the wish to find an interpreter, and 

 was thoroughly mystified by the time he was led 

 into our presence. Captain Lancrenon, as we learned 

 later, is a man of courage, energy, and resource. He 

 had made record marches, and on this occasion was, 

 as usual, only attended by two boys, who bore all 

 his stores. It was lucky for us that he was such a 

 man, for it never occurred to him to judge others 

 by a different standard. He said that there was a 

 good deal of water on the road, but that he had got 

 through it, and so could we ; and he never once 

 threw our sex in our teeth, for which reticence he 



