356 RETREAT FROM ASHANGO-LAND. Chap. XVIII. 



adjust the arrow and take aim, and in tlie forest paths 

 we were often ont of sight round turnings in the road 

 before they could deliver their shot. Moreover, their 

 bravest men durst not come up to close quarters with 

 us, although they often came near enough to make ns 

 hear their shouts of defiance ; they cried out that it 

 was of no use our attempting .to escape from them, 

 that we did not know the road through the bush, and 

 should never get out of it alive. They seemed to be 

 most bitter against Igala, whom they called Malanga, 

 cursing him and his mother in the most revolting 

 style. " You have tasted blood," they shouted out, 

 " and your own blood must be shed." They dodged 

 about, took short cuts through lire jungle, and we 

 were in constant fear lest some spear or arrow should 

 come from behind the trees on our flanks, and finish 

 us^for g(fod. Besides it would be impossible long to 

 keep up the pace at which we ran. After behaving 

 so steadily at starting, a sudden and unaccountable 

 panic seized my men when we were some distance on 

 the road, and for about ten minutes no shouts of 

 mine could make them stop. To lighten themselves 

 they threw load after load into the bush, and it filled 

 me with sorrow to see my precious photographs, in- 

 struments, stuffed animals, note-books, route-maps, 

 bottles of choice specimens in spirits, and other 

 valuables, such as mementos of friends, scattered 

 about the path, the toil of months irrecoverably lost. 

 After we had run some four or five miles, finding 

 that our enemies still pursued us, I felt that it was 

 time to make a stand and give them a specimen of 

 our power, for if we allowed them to go on in this 



