HUNTING THE FUGITIVES 



53 



I now sent some of my men on, as if they, too, were fugi- 

 tives, to hunt for their lost comrades, securing their fidelity by 

 promising two dollars reward for every runaway brought back. 

 They very soon returned with the news that they had already 

 handed two defaulters over to Wali. Of course the reason 

 of my return thus became known, and I was able to go to 

 Pangani myself and secure the further co-operation of Wali. 



The best course seemed to be to blockade the coast, so as 

 to make it very difficult for our deserters to reach Zanzibar. 

 With this end in view, Wali had to write and send off 

 despatches to the chiefs of the most important places on the 

 coast, an arduous task ; but he seemed willing enough to serve 

 us in every way, the more, perhaps, as he knew we were our- 

 selves bound for Zanzibar. This greatly lessened the work I 

 had to do, and I was able to begin to think of pressing forward. 

 I left Maktubu, with eight men, on the look-out at Pangani, 

 whilst I started myself with the remaining two the next night 

 for Zanzibar. As there was no better vessel to be had at once, 

 and we were eager to be gone, we had to make the passage in 

 an open boat ; but it turned out a very bad sailer, and we 

 were thirty long hours upon the sea before we reached our 

 destination. 



My sudden appearance of course took all our friends and 

 acquaintances by surprise ; and I could not have arrived at a 

 more unfortunate moment, as two events had just taken place 

 which were fully engaging the attention of everybody in 

 Zanzibar. A German trader, Dr. Jiihlke by name, had been 

 murdered by some Somal at Kismaju, at the mouth of the Juba 

 river, and the German authorities demanded of the Sultan the 

 execution of the murderers. Now Sultan Seyid Burgash had a 

 superstitious horror of inflicting the penalty of death ; he had 

 never yet signed a death-warrant, and it went to his heart to 

 have to do it now. But he was obliged to yield, and General 



