288 ATTACK ON THE MISSIONARIES. CHAP. XI. 



diminished rations, was too much for their strength. 

 They were reduced to a diet of native beans and an 

 occasional fowl. Both became very ill of fever, Captain 

 Wilson so dangerously that his fellow-sufferer lost all 

 hopes of his recovery. His strong able-bodied cockswain 

 did good service in cheerfully carrying his much-loved 

 Commander, and they managed to return to the boat, and 

 brought the two bereaved and sorrow-stricken ladies back 

 to the " Pioneer." 



We learnt that the Bishop, wishing to find a shorter 

 route down to the Shire, had sent two men to explore the 

 country between Magomero and the junction of the Euo ; 

 and in December Messrs. Proctor and Scudamore, with a 

 number of Manganja carriers, left Magomero for the same 

 purpose. They were to go close to Mount Choro, and 

 then skirt the Elephant Marsh, with Mount Clarendon on 

 their left. Their guides seem to have led them away to 

 the east, instead of south ; to the upper waters of the Euo 

 in the Shirwa valley, instead of to its mouth. Entering 

 an Anguru slave-trading village, they soon began to 

 suspect that the people meant mischief, and just before 

 sunset a woman told some of their men that if they slept 

 there they would all be killed. On their preparing to 

 leave, the Anguru followed them and shot their arrows at 

 the retreating party. Two of the carriers were captured, 

 and all the goods were taken by these robbers. An 

 arrow-head struck deep into the stock of Proctor's gun ; 

 and the two missionaries, barely escaping with their 

 lives, swam a deep river at night, and returned to 

 Magomero famished and exhausted. 



The wives of the captive carriers came to the Bishop 

 day after day weeping and imploring him to rescue their 

 husbands from slavery. The men had been caught while 

 in his service, no one else could be entreated ; there was 

 no public law nor any power superior to his own, to 



