i 



456 



THROUGH JUNGLE AND DESERT chap. 



He added that upon reaching the river the men 

 had threatened to bind him ; but he had managed by 

 his eloquence to persuade them to allow him to take 

 the news to me. He said the men had all crossed 

 the river, and were encamped on the farther bank. 

 He made no attempt to explain matters, but in an- 

 swer to further questions shook his head, and said, 

 " Master, I know nothing." 



I was firmly convinced that he was at the bottom of 

 it, and I knew that I might easily seize and bind him ; 

 but in such case it seemed less likely that I should 

 again see the men. They had already, according to 

 Hamidi's statement, crossed the river, and the scent of 

 the coast was in their nostrils. I decided that it was 

 through Hamidi alone that I must work, if I hoped 

 to see the men again ; so I told him to go and bring 

 the men back to camp, if possible ; still, if he was 

 unable to do that — why, never mind. My apparent 

 indifference seemed to upset him ; and he asked me 

 what he should do in case he was unable to bring 

 them back. I said, " If you go with them, it will 

 prove you are part and parcel of the desertion, and 

 the results will be upon your head. If you return 

 to me, bringing at least some of the men, I shall 

 know that you had nothing to do with the desertion ; 

 otherwise, I shall hold you responsible at the coast." 



Upon being further questioned, he admitted that 

 nothinor I had ever done had au^ht to do with the 



O O 



desertion of the men. Upon being more closely 

 pressed, he muttered something about the Somali ; 

 but when I urged him to speak plainly, he shrugged 

 his shoulders and said nothing. He finally said that 



