INTRODUCTION. 
17 
and had every reason to apprehend the like fate ourselves. 
A horn was blown from time to time : this signal of distress, 
amid the silence of night and the horror of the desert, had 
something doleful which made us shudder. Could we but 
have heard some answer to it ! but no, not the faintest 
sound, not even the shriek of a night-bird enlivened the 
woods which we traversed in the utmost haste. Presently 
we perceived nothing but ambuscades on all sides ; every 
bush, every tree, assumed to our agitated minds the form of 
armed enemies ; every branch was mistaken for a levelled 
musket. At length we had recourse to a final expedient to 
convey to a distance an intimation of our approach. A gun 
was fired : echo by repeating the report several times, in- 
creased our consternation without imparting a hope that we 
were heard. I then compared our situation with that of the 
victims on the raft of La Meduse, cast upon the bank of 
Arquin, without hope of relief. Excessive fear gave us the 
courage of despair, and we made such a noise with our horns 
that the first division at length heard it and answered us. 
With what joy did we accelerate our pace to come up with 
it ! at last we joined it just as day began to dawn. We 
hastily deliberated on the course to be pursued. On all 
sides we were surrounded with dangers ; but, at any rate, 
the farther we proceeded from the village which we had left 
the preceding night, the nearer we should approach to the 
Senegal. This plan was unanimously adopted ; and to carry 
it into effect with the greater chance of success, we aban- 
doned baggage, animals, goods of all sorts ; such was the 
panic that had seized every mind. 
Day- light appeared, and enabled us to discover a village 
close to us ; but fortunately its inhabitants had not yet risen, 
and we were not perceived. We soon came to a stony road 
which indicated the vicinity of the river ; the hope of pro- 
curing water rendered our thirst more tormenting, and agita- 
ted our minds to such a degree that we kept advancing with- 
VOL. I. C 
