A LITTLE CONTRETEMPS 



69 



was the more delighted as I had felt sure he had been arrested 

 again, and had given up all hope of seeing him. 



A little contretemps occurred early the next morning, three 

 men having run away ; but I wrote at once to Herr Brausche, 

 asking him to have them pursued. We now followed a path 

 which soon led us away from the river and got rapidly worse, 

 ending, finally, in an impenetrable thicket. Bedue, who had 

 gone on in front as the chief guide of the party, and had evi- 

 dently lost his way, calmly halted here, and said we could go 

 no farther. Then out stepped the porter, Muhinna Kidiwa (so 

 named on account of his well-built, sturdy figure), and with 

 the cry 6 Follow me ! ' placed himself at the head of the caravan, 

 and calmly forced his way through the thorns, which tore his 

 clothes to pieces, back to the river. An hour later we were 

 camped once more b} T the Pangani. Whilst there another porter 

 of gigantic stature, Bakuri Wadi SeifF by name, attracted my 

 attention by the way in which, without any instructions, he 

 got the loads into order after they were, as usual, flung down 

 here, there, and everywhere, in hopeless confusion. This 

 really was the business of the Askari and guides ; but I saw 

 Bakuri toiling on alone for an hour and a half, only indulging 

 now and then in a quiet curse at the laziness of the rest. He 

 did not pause till all was done. Such a sight is wonderfully 

 cheering to the traveller, who knows too well how untrust- 

 worthy most of his followers are ; and it is of men such as this 

 that he eventually forms the bodyguard he depends on in 

 emergencies. 



At eleven o'clock on the following night I was roused to 

 be told that three of the chained men had escaped ; the 

 fourth of the group had not been disturbed by the proceedings 

 of the other three, and knew nothing about the matter. Their 

 flight was, however, soon discovered, and I of course lost not 

 a moment in sending some men after them ; equally of course 



