WE RETURN iii 



the thorns, as we had found chmbing on each others 

 shoulders unavaihng, and with my glasses closely 

 scanned the horizon. At last, thirty degrees from the 

 direction we were following, I caught a glimpse of 

 white. The evening breeze had bellied out my sheet. 

 We reached the boat in the darkness by the aid of 

 my compass, to which alone I now trusted, and were 

 positively dragged in by the man left behind. A tot 

 of whisky dosed with quinine was taken all round in 

 spite of any protest. 



We started back next morning, and, having a favour- 

 ing breeze, were able to get the sail to help our poling. 

 We reached the steamer on the evening of the third 

 day after leaving it. 



The next day, having completed wooding, we began 

 our return journey. The night, however, had been 

 marked by a most awful storm. Every movable 

 thing on deck was carried away ; most of them, how- 

 ever, we retrieved floating around in the morning. 

 The steamer broke from her moorings, and was driven 

 to within a yard or so of the wood. This storm, in 

 spite of the awe-inspiring thunder and lightning, blew 

 us good, for the river rose three feet at Nyanabec, and 

 by the iron survey standard at the mouth of the Akobo 

 we found that it had risen the same amount there. 

 Our return journey was therefore greatly facilitated. 



We made the circuit of the lake which we had left 

 on entering the plain, but found no other outlet. At 

 J. Atin we stopped to wood. The natives were quite 

 friendly, although once or twice there was a small 

 fracas, as, for instance, when an Agibba attacked a 



