DEATH OF ABEDI WADI HERI 



345 



of peace, so we sent Qualla with an advance guard of 120 men 

 to drive off the natives, who dispersed at the first discharge. 



The next night passed over quietly, and on the morning of 

 October 3 we prepared to start again, still anxious for an oppor- 

 tunity to make peace, but the valley was deserted and so were the 

 various heights we passed after leaving the camp. We had, 

 of course, a great deal of trouble with all the animals we now 

 had with us, the cattle dispersing in every direction directly we 

 were outside the hedge. And we kept looking anxiously 

 behind us, for we knew too well how many enemies we had in 

 our rear, and had no hope of escaping further hostilities. 



We passed several villages, all deserted, and now we began 

 to see groups of their inhabitants on the hills anxiously 

 watching us. When they saw that we pressed on, taking no 

 notice of them, they seemed reassured, and many of them came 

 down and stood beside their huts, some of them with green 

 branches in their hands. They let us pass unmolested, and, 

 though thousands of warriors were now gathering, either 

 following us or accompanying us in paths alongside of our 

 own, they caused us little anxiety as they did not approach 

 very near. 



On this march we lost a man, Abedi wadi Heri by name, 

 in a very melancholy way. Like myself, he had long been 

 suffering so much that he could hardly keep up with the 

 caravan, and more than once he had crept into the bush, as he 

 expressed it, to die in peace. Hitherto we had always missed 

 him in time for Qualla to go to the rescue and bring him after 

 us, but this time he could not be found, and, as we were hunt- 

 ing for him we saw a number of warriors gathered together 

 some 400 paces off, one of whom was mockingly holding up a 

 blood-stained shirt towards us. A shot from us avenged his 

 death. 



We came presently to a shallow but very rapid brook called 



