248 
THE KILIMA NJARO EXPEDITION 
informer, and there had the great joy to catch Mabruki 
and Athmani lying on the turf, half dozing, with four 
slaves—three women and a boy—fastened round the 
trunk of a tree, in whose grateful shade the renegades 
reposed. As I told my men in a loud voice to cut the 
ropes which bound the slaves (the poor creatures had 
their heads inserted in a kind of wooden pillory, which 
was tied to the tree-trunk), Mabruki and Athmani 
started up in amazed anger, and the former seized his 
gun as if meaning to shoot me, but I suppose a glance 
at my well-armed followers made him refrain, so he 
broke out into angry abuse instead. “ Look here, 
Mabruki,” I said, “if you talk like that I will have, you 
tied to this tree and soundly thrashed. You are 
subjects of the Sayyid of Zanzibar, and as such for¬ 
bidden to trade in slaves. I have a perfect right to 
free these people, and, what is more, if I carried out 
my duty I should put you in irons, and hand you over 
to justice when I reach Zanzibar ; but as I am going 
back to Kilima-njaro that is not convenient, so I let 
you go free for once, knowing that sooner or later 
punishment will overtake you.” He changed his tone, 
and fawned on me, and assured me that the slaves 
were not his, but Mandara’s, and in taking them I 
should make Mandara my bitter enemy; but I paid no 
attention, and carried off the slaves to my town. 
When we had reached this place I questioned them, 
and found they were people of Maranu captured by 
Mandara in war, and sold cheap to Mabruki, who 
was taking them to the coast to sell on his own 
account, together with a large number of other slaves 
which he was to dispose of for Mandara. These latter 
had left Taveita, under the charge of one of Mandara’s 
Swahilis, by early dawn, and Mabruki, who was the 
