364 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



flags, the Union Jack and the Egyptian flag. Though faded 

 and torn they were a glad sight and I felt my loneHness 

 leave me. The " boys," too, hailed them with delight, for 

 they considered their skins were now safe, being once more 

 in English country. The decrepit old chief told me that 

 the flags had been given to him by an Englishman many years 

 ago ; he added that it had been his great desire to see another 

 Enghshman before he died, and he told me of the murder of 

 his son by an Arab, saying he knew that the white man was 

 strong to avenge. It seemed that his son, whom he had 

 sent to Khartoum to buy rugs and tin boxes, had been 

 robbed and killed on his return journey by a neighbouring 

 Arab chief. These details the old man poured out to me 

 with piteous plaint, in which it rather seemed to me that the 

 word " rug " cropped up more often than the name of his son. 



To get to his village we had to cross the river, which at 

 this point is sixty yards wide. The sight of steep-cut banks 

 ahead with no rocks visible cheered me considerably ; but 

 the water was terribly low, only up to my waist, and I 

 reaUsed that it was of the utmost importance to push on. 

 So we set to at once to put the boat together and with hard 

 work Jose had finished it by nightfall. 



The next morning, November 30, in spite of the old chief's 

 entreaties for us to stay, we left to resume our journey. 

 The open water continued for only a mile and then the 

 ominous roar of rapids told of hard work for us ahead. There 

 were now signs, however, that the river was improving, for 

 the stretches of good water were longer between the rapids, 

 and for the next two days our record of travelling was decidedly 

 hopeful. 



