The Livingstone Expedition-^ Home. 511 
excited. The whole gulf between Africa and England 
was suddenly bridged over. Here was the vessel 
which was to take me home, and in less than two 
months I should tread the soil of fatherland once 
more ! But before I had time to contemplate this, I 
learned that the Abydos" had brought out a party 
of three young men, who had been commissioned to 
organize and conduct an expedition for the search 
and relief of Dr. Livingstone; and ere long I dis- 
covered to my surprise and almost dismay that I was 
to be invited to join the party. An official com- 
munication informed me that, at the request of the 
Royal Geographical Society, leave of absence had 
been granted me by our own Society, in order that I 
might join the expedition, provided I thought well to 
do so. Now after my long life in Africa, considering 
the state of my health, and the many objects I had in 
returning to England, nothing but a matter of the 
utmost importance could have induced me to enter- 
tain a proposition of returning at that time into the 
interior of Africa. A search for Dr. Livingstone, how- 
ever, was a matter of such great significance, that, 
from the first, I inclined towards the expedition. In 
such an undertaking it appeared to me that, if we 
succeeded, we should be serving, not only Dr. Living- 
stone himself, but the cause of Africa, and, indeed, of 
humanity at large. As to. the work itself, it was what 
I had begun to feel quite at home in ; and as for its 
dangers, my previous life in Africa had made me 
utterly indifferent to them ; indeed, I did not regard 
them as being at all serious. But I hesitated to give 
in my immediate adhesion, because I knew nothing 
of the men who were to be my companions. Two or 
