214 THE WORLD'S WONDERS. 



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 him 

 taken up in the arms of a woman and carried back to camp, to 

 prevent him from following our party, that had now started." 



ATTACKED BY BARI SAVAGES. 



THE first day's journey toward Gondokoro was uneventful, but 

 on the next the party was attacked by the implacable Bari people, 

 who hung in great crowds on the flank and kept discharging their 

 arrows. The Turks returned the fire with their guns, but only 

 one casualty resulted. This, however, was only the beginning, 

 for day by day the Baris kept up their annoyance, and at night 

 continually threatened an attack. Tn fact, they did make one 

 after dark, one night, which resulted in the death of one of their 

 number. They succeeded in shooting several barbed and poisoned 

 arrows into the camp, but fortunately none of them did any injury. 



As the cavalcade, at length, came in sight of Gondokoro, there 

 were loud huzzas and great rejoicings, especially expressed by 

 Baker and his wife, for the journey had been so long and painful 

 that home now seemed "just over the hill." The English flag 

 was raised on a tall bamboo pole, and the march into Gondokoro 

 was made like a victorious army returning from a bloody field. 

 The Turks came out and saluted them with a lively popping of 

 guns, which so frightened Mohamed's riding ox that it ran 

 away and threw him over its head, greatly demoralizing the 

 pompous Turk. 



NO BOATS OR LETTERS. 



BAKER'S first inquiries were for letters from home, and a boat 

 to descend the Nile with. Before leaving Khartoum on his out- 



O 



ward journey, he had left money with a merchant there to pay 

 for sending a boat to Gondokoro to await his return ; but he was 

 now astonished and chagrined to find that neither boat nor letters 

 were awaiting him. It was supposed that he and his wife were 

 long since dead, as no tidings had been received from them since 

 their departure from Obbo, three years before. Baker writes : 



