182 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXVI. 
and perhaps expressly made to think, that they had 
brought some important message for me, expected a 
handsome present ; and I had some difficulty in per- 
suading them that they were only giving me trouble 
for the sake of other people. Nevertheless, as they 
were unprovided with food, I ordered Mohammed to 
cook a supper for them ; and after having disturbed 
my night's rest by their noisy conversation, they 
made off again long before daylight. For in this 
whole district, where so many different nationalities 
border close together, the greatest insecurity reigns, 
and the inhabitants of one town cannot safely trust 
themselves to those of a neighbouring place without 
fear of being sold as slaves, or at least of being 
despoiled of the little they have. 
My fine lancer, with whose manly bearing I had been 
very much pleased yesterday, appeared to have thought 
that, instead of exposing himself alone, by accom- 
panying me further through a disturbed and infested 
district, he would do better to retrace his steps in the 
company of these people; for the next morning he 
was gone, and no trace of him was to be found. 
Perhaps he was anxious to join the expedition 
against Khadeja, where the soldier might make his 
fortune, while with me he could only expect to gain a 
few hundred shells; but whatever was his reason 
for decamping, he left me in a state of great per- 
plexity, as I was in a hurry to go on as fast as pos- 
sible, and in a country where there are no highroads, 
but where even tracks so important as that from 
