430 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
for four; the berths on each side being occupied by 
Fredericks and Harkess, while M. G-iraud and myself 
made our beds as comfortable as possible on the benches 
beside the small table. Right in front of the cabin 
door was the engine and boiler, the fore part of the 
launch being used for cargo, such as ivory, of which 
there was a fair quantity. Lying like logs upon the 
deck were G-iraud’s six Wangwana, or Zanzibar men, 
and three black sailors. 
There was an unwonted attractiveness inside the 
cabin, for supper was ready, and the warm light of the 
oil-lamp swinging from the ceiling gave the little snug¬ 
gery an air of comfort, and even luxuriousness. Tin 
cups, brimming with hot tea, steamed up, perfuming the 
atmosphere with a welcome aroma that told of plenty, 
while the pile of bread and the pot of Moir’s jam gave 
the rude table quite a homelike appearance ; to my long 
unaccustomed eyes the turn-out seemed a veritable 
feast. Bodily ailments, however, precluded me from 
sharing; in the good things ; so I looked on and listened 
to the story of the mountain which reared its form 
above the bay where we had found shelter from the 
violence of the storm. 
Like most African tales in which Englishmen are 
concerned, it was not without its load of disaster and 
its dead man. On the cone-shaped mountain, covered 
with loose broken slabs of rock and wild scrub bushes, 
an Englishman while hunting baboons wounded one, 
and coming to close quarters struck out at it with the 
butt of his gun, experiencing the inevitable result, of 
course : the gun went off, and he fell dead upon the 
spot. 
One story led to another, and so on, in the usual 
way; but while listening, I suddenly remembered that 
on leaving the Diamond Fields in South Africa, a young 
man ran up to the stage, and said to me— 
“ Should you ever meet any one named B- in 
your travels, remember me in speaking to him. He is 
a great friend.” 
I asked Harkess if he had heard of such a man. 
