BETWEEN ANGOLA AND TEE ZAMBESI. 
461 
running up to me with the intelligence that one of our 
own carriers was the innocent cause of the commotion. 
I turned back and found the negro Jamba, on whom 
devolved the duty of carrying my trunk, in a great 
state of excitement owing to the natives having stolen 
his gun—a feat which they performed the more readily 
as, apprehensive of dropping his load, which he knew 
contained the chronometers and other delicate instru¬ 
ments, he made but a feeble resistance. Besides the 
firearm, they had carried off to the village a she-goat 
and a sheep, a present from Capoco. I gave them to 
understand that they must restore what had been stolen, 
but I got nothing but murmurs of a threatening sound 
in reply. I made a rapid survey of my position, and 
did not feel particularly comforted by the reflection 
that my party consisted of ten men, opposed to upwards 
of 200. 
Urged, however, by a sudden impulse, and putting 
aside the dictates of prudence and common sense, 1 
determined to test the mettle of those ten men, who 
were destined to be my comrades in even greater 
dangers. Moving, therefore, towards the entrance of 
the village, I cocked my revolver, and ordered them 
to enter and regain possession of our property. My 
Benguella negro, Manuel, a young man of whom I had 
never previously made any account, became, as it were, 
another being, and cocking his gun led the way at a 
trot into the village. He was at once followed by 
Augusto, Verissimo and Catraiogrande, and a moment 
after by the rest of my troop, leaving me alone to stand 
the brunt and become perhaps the victim of the fury of 
the populace. The audacity, however, of our proceeding 
in all probability saved it from failure, and when 
Verissimo marched out from the place in triumph with 
the goat, and Augusto with the sheep, covered by their 
companions with their guns ready for use, the natives 
retired to a more convenient distance, and offered no 
opposition to our movements. We, however, lost the 
gun—easier of concealment than the animals, it was 
hidden securely away ; nor did a second search, which 
