CHAP. III.] 
THE LAST HOPE GONE. 
87 
until the following year, he to take the ivory ; by which 
time I could receive thirty black soldiers from Khar¬ 
toum, with whom I should commence my journey to 
the lake. I begged him to procure me thirty good 
blacks at Khartoum, and to bring them with him to 
Gondokoro next season, where I arranged to meet him. 
This he agreed to, and I returned to my tent delighted 
at a chance of escaping complete failure, although I 
thus encountered a delay of twelve months before I 
could commence my legitimate voyage. That accom¬ 
plished, I was comparatively happy; the disgrace of 
returning to Khartoum beaten, would have been 
insupportable. 
That night I slept well, and we sat under our shady 
tree by the tent-door at sunrise on the following 
morning, drinking our coffee with contentment. Pre¬ 
sently, from a distance, I saw Koorshid, the Circassian, 
approaching with his partner. Coffee and pipes were 
ready instanter, both the boy Saat and Kicharn looked 
upon him as a friend and ally, as it was arranged that 
ten of his hunters were to accompany us. Before he 
sipped his coffee he took me by the hand, and with 
great confusion of manner he confessed that he was 
ashamed to come and visit me. “The moment you 
left me yesterday,” said he, “ I called my vakeel and 
headman, and ordered them to select the ten best men 
of my party to accompany you; but instead of obeying 
me as usual, they declared that nothing would induce 
them to serve under you; that you were a spy who 
would report their proceedings to the Government, 
and that they should all be ruined; that you were 
not only a spy on the slave-trade, but that you were 
a madman, who would lead them into distant and 
unknown countries, where both you and your wife and 
they would all be murdered by the natives; thus they 
would mutiny immediately, should you be forced upon 
them.” My last hope was gone. Of course I thanked 
Koorshid for his good-will, and explained that I should 
not think of intruding myself upon his party, but that 
