THE MAEAUDEES EETUEN. 
235 
On the morning of the third day, whilst traversing more open 
ground, they encountered a large force of negroes drawn up in line 
at a distance of several hundred yards before them. A' few, appa- 
rently leaders, stood on elevated ant-hills, seeming to direct the 
negroes, who were in hundreds. A long and well-directed rifle- 
shot brought down one of these negroes from the summit of an 
ant-hill, when with a shout the hordes of negroes fled, leaving the 
body of their chief remaining on the ground. This negro was no 
other than the murderer of Sheikho and his followers. To the loss 
of their ill-termed hero the panic of the negroes was attributed. 
Our party, no further disturbed, continued to the Haugau, our 
former point of disastrous embarkation. The waters of the lagoon 
had increased greatly since our occupation of its banks, and the 
spot on which our tent had stood was inundated. Crowds of negroes 
assembled to witness the cattle cross the lagoon. Some few of them 
assisted the men, and ferried in canoes those who could not swim ; 
but the majority of the negroes, with whom they were in league, 
occupied themselves by rescuing from the flood dozens and scores 
of cattle that ever and again the force of the current detached from 
the main herd. These were landed so far down stream as to be out 
of the power of their original captors, and the exulting negroes thus 
became masters of one-half of the ill-gotten booty. No further 
adventure worthy of note befell them during the rest of their 
journey, and after an absence of twenty-eight days, the marauders 
returned to the station. 
Long-horned, of good stature, and well conditioned, the pre- 
vailing colour of the cattle was cream, a few brown, still fewer 
black, and two were tiger-striped, grey and brown. 
November 1^^ to 8^A. — It is appointed that our departure from 
