130 THOMAS J. COMBER. 
home Mr. Ross in consequence of a partial sunstroke, 
and this when he was giving great promise of much 
usefulness, and could ill be spared. 
In the following month, however, Mr. Comber was 
greatly cheered by the arrival at Manyanga of his 
brother Sidney. He had been kept on the thorns of 
fidgety expectation for a week or so, and had many 
a rush to the beach for nothing, until at last he 
descried a white umbrella in the distance on the south 
bank ; very quickly did he cross the mighty Congo in 
the Plymouth^ and, after five years’ absence from each 
other, they met. He was delighted to see him once 
again, and to find that he was well and scarcely 
fatigued with his march. “ What a lot we had to talk 
about ! This was on the 27th of March. Three days 
afterwards Stanley came down, and that caused 
plenty of work, as there were interviews, writing, etc. 
Then we went for a trip to Ngombe — eight hours 
away — to see Sid’s future sphere, and choose site for 
building. It is astonishing to me how little Sid has 
changed in five years. The same manner, expression 
of face ; naturally being older, and having spent four 
years at the hospital, he bears himself better, and has 
more ideas, and a stronger individuality, but in many 
ways he is unchanged, and I am very glad. I most 
earnestly trust he will make a useful missionary, with 
his heart bound up with his work ; if he become 
absorbed in the life and work he has chosen, he will 
be contented in and through all.” 
Ngombe, the station referred to above, was about 
this time substituted for Manyanga, as it was deemed 
more suitable, both for convenience of situation and 
health considerations. 
In the same letter in which he described his delight 
at receiving his brother Sidney, he also referred to 
the recent losses the Mission had sustained, not only 
through death, but as well by the return to England 
of Mr. Whitley and Mr. and Mrs. Crudgington in 
consequence of sickness. ‘‘ Do people,” he exclaims, 
