HAMMAR STOPPED FROM EXTREME MEASURES 233 
to get possession of any small canoe with which our boys could 
steal over to the island in the night and bring back some of the 
large canoes tethered there. Naturally there was a risk attached 
to the execution of this plan, but the daily worry, seeming to 
end in nothing definite, caused us to look upon this move with 
considerable favour. But our efforts were vain, for the Mom- 
bokooshus took care that all the canoes were safely over at 
the island before they retired to rest at night. There was a 
mysterious inexplicable something pervading the spirit of our 
palavers with the king, which like a hidden thread eluded our 
intelligence, but yet was sufficiently pronounced at times to 
give us hope that an alternative of some kind or other would 
present itself soon. It was not alone the daily promise of Indala 
that ‘ to-morrow ’ we should be ferried over the river, nor 
solely the desire on my part to first try every means of effecting 
our purpose peacefully, but an instinctive inference that Indala 
was not doing his worst against us, that some inexplicable 
motive held him back from simply helping himself to all we 
had without any .further trouble. That his desires influenced 
him to do this there could be little doubt, for he raved about 
the neighbourhood of our camp, backed by his swarthy mes¬ 
senger and other chiefs, in a manner that led us to keep 
our guns loaded and packed in a corner of the skerm ready 
for use. 
Hammar’s patience was fast wearing out, and on the 3rd 
of September, while Indala was sitting drinking beer, as usual, 
under the shade of a tree some thirty yards off, and coolly 
sending off one after another of our articles that we proffered 
as payment to be ferried over, occasionally losing his temper 
because we did not shell out fast enough, I noticed a fixed look 
come over Hammar’s determined face, as he quietly went to the 
skerm and returned with his revolver. Hardly crediting that 
he was going to adopt extreme measures without pre-arrange¬ 
ment with me, but noticing the cold look on his face that had 
never been there before, I quietly stepped alongside of him, as 
he walked up to within three yards of Indala and raised the 
