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TRAVELS IN EASTERN AFRICA 



451 



of vengeance, and through my brain surged the idea 

 that with my Soudanese and SomaH and daylight I 

 should be able to kill a great number of the deserters, 

 and perhaps turn the purpose of the others. I then 

 remembered that these poor creatures were not acting 

 of their own volition, but under the orders of some 

 one not at hand. 



When I left the Tana for Daitcho to join George, 

 I had left Hamidi with ten men in charge of the canoe 

 at the river ; and it seemed probable that he was the 

 mainspring of the desertion. I thought it would 

 perhaps be possible to bring back these men. It ap- 

 peared to me highly improbable that they would 

 return to the coast, where they, as well as I, knew 

 that from time immemorial deserters from European 

 caravans had met with severe punishment upon their 

 arrival and capture. What, then, could have been the 

 cause of their desertion .f* 



Upon returning to camp, the Soudanese and Somali 

 expressed a willingness to chase and fight the deserters ; 

 but I knew that even among these men there was at 

 least one traitor. The camp at Daitcho had two gates, 

 and at each orate a Soudanese was stationed. It was 

 the duty of such sentinel to allow no more than one 

 porter to be absent from the zeriba, unless I sent a 

 number of them out for some special purpose. A 

 Soudanese named Birindgi was stationed at the gate 

 by which the men had deserted, and he had taken 

 pains not to give any warning until all the porters 

 had passed through the gate, one by one. Even then 

 he did not report to George or me, as he had been 

 ordered in case of any unusual happening, but went 



