I08 THOMAS J. COMBER. 
And, on the point of making this last effort vid 
Makuta, he wrote to all at home : “ We have been 
tremendously busy packing up, and are now on the 
eve of all clearing out of San Salvador, shutting up the 
houses and leaving them in charge of the king, and 
miaking a grand effort to reach Stanley Pool in two 
parties. Crudgington and Bentley, with fifteen Kroo 
boys and one Congo man, return to the coast and try 
the north bank in the wake of Stanley ; while Hart- 
land and I, with eight Kroo boys, eight Congo and six 
Moila men, are going to try again vid Makuta. After 
a three months’ palaver, the road is said to be free to 
us, and we are to pass unmolested. As long as these 
natives are with us, there is no danger. You don’t 
catch a Congo man running his head into a noose, 
any more than you do a weasel asleep. So, if we 
can’t get these men with us, we shall return, as it isn’t 
right to create disturbances all over the country by 
being shot. I am foolish enough to be again very 
hopeful. We have carefully sifted and weighed all 
reports, etc., and earnestly and constantly prayed for 
guidance, and feel that we have been directed in this 
matter. There seems to be no danger so far as we 
can see, and we can trust to our ‘ Help’s shield.’ The 
chief at Ntamo, or Kintamo, on Stanley Pool, has 
heard of our efforts to reach him — so reports say — 
and is keeping the ‘ big goat,’ which Stanley gave him, 
expressly for us ; so if we do get it, we shall try and 
send it home, to give it to the noble lady for whom 
it was first intended — Baroness Burdett Coutts — 
although I fear she’ll find it uncommon tough by 
this time. I should dearly like to still sit up (it is 
past midnight now) and write a long letter, if not 
several. Home letters will, of course, go with me on 
the road, and I shall write as soon as an opportunity 
occurs. 
I could never explain to you the weariness of the 
last three days’ palaver here, in arranging everything 
with king and people. The Tichborne case is the 
