48 THE BONDS OF AFRICA 



That afternoon we passed through particu- 

 larly wild country. Enormous rock masses 

 frowned down on us. Here and there we had 

 dense thorn and bush belts to penetrate, and 

 we noticed baobab trees — immense vegetable 

 monsters which seem to favour unkindly soil — 

 growing in fair profusion. 



My diary records that on the night of June 18, 

 Tom and Sam bolted. These two boys we had 

 brought all the way from Gatooma, and L. and 

 I heaped many curses on their heads. Julius, 

 the little Angoni I had recruited in Salisbury, 

 remained faithful to us, and he, indeed, went 

 right up to Lake Bangweolo, and proved himself 

 a most admirable " boy." The situation, however, 

 was critical. Molo's back was so sore she scarcely 

 could be touched. The four recently engaged 

 M'Tokos were affected by the disappearance of 

 the two scoundrels, and wanted to return. We 

 were in a wild and uninhabited part of the 

 country, so the outlook was far from promising. 

 But at last our counsels and the logic of the 

 " Bo'sun " prevailed. We redistributed loads 

 all round, and the heavily-loaded little caravan 

 moved onwards. The four M'Toko boys, after a 

 good deal of discussion, agreed to come on with 

 us to Tete, and, as if to cheer them forward, we 

 ascended some great diorite hills, from the top 

 of which we could see, stretching away on the 

 horizon, all purple and indistinct in the distance, 

 the Molimbwe Mountains on the Portuguese 

 frontier. It was a magnificent view that our 

 eyes gazed on. In the foreground was the great 

 rugged hill of Masoka, and below us lay crag after 

 crag, jagged masses of granite, bush and mountain 

 rill. 



The " Bo'sun " told us that down there, some- 



