and then he ended up : “ All dead. Veree seek contry. No
good white man—all die. All gone Bandawe.” With this
information he pointed across the lake.
The story was sorrowful enough, but still the manner in
which it was told was irresistibly droll.
Not for a moment since I put my foot upon the shore
had I been idle. I had walked through the station and
ransacked every house. Through the kind help of the man
with the red umbrella I had burglariously effected an
entrance into the well-secured house, which had evidently
been used for keeping stores, and on entering had discovered
various articles such as anchors, kedges, and chains. Had I
been superstitious the emblem of security might have been
encouraging. Dust lay thick upon the empty shelves, and
substantial cobwebs festooned the dingy ceilings. Boxes
piled in the comer told only of the good things they had
at some time contained.
Two rewards of my diligent and painstaking search were
a small tin of biscuits and about eight yards of strong pink
calico.
I had almost forgotten that in the room adjoining that
which I occupied, and underneath a rudely-made bier,
beside which no doubt many a sorrowful burial-service had
been said, I found the small piece of candle which was now
flickering its last light as I meditated upon the rough
experiences of the day.
When the dim light was totally extinguished my discomfort
reached a climax. I felt as though I was sitting in
a sepulchre. A yellow flag of sickness or the black flag of
death would have represented the situation, which was one
of sickness, desertion, desolation, and death.
The Angoni, when they saw that no whites were to be
found, said :
“ The old men at Pantumbo spoke tru th : it was the
white man who lied.”
Surrounded as they were. by their natural enemies it
would have been absurd to expect them to stop in this
country. They would be sure to desert me. Where was
the cloth I had promised them on arrival ?
My only hope now was to make for the Shire river. Difficulties
as usual were numerous. How was I to get there ?
How was I to pay off the Angoni? How was I to pay
boys to take me there ? How was I to buy food even
now ?
These were serious questions for me to decide. Above
all I thought of my kind friend da Costa, who in all likelihood
would have to bear the brunt of the awkward misadventure
; for assuredly Chikuse would be told the wildest
lies by his disappointed people, whose troubles would magnify
during their journey across the great mountains and
the wide plains.
I t was impossible not to think that my friend would be
deeply mortified by the inevitable imposition, for he would
be compelled to pay a monstrous indemnity by that sly
scoundrel Chikuse. Remembering da Costa’s position I
determined to pay the Angoni as much as I possibly could,
even if I was deprived of the last rag. I had promised to
pay them on arrival, so I made up my mind to do so that
very night and take the chances of their bolting.
This resolution was soon put into action. Having made a
small fire in the centre of the floor, I wrote a few lines upon
a sheet of my journal paper telling da Costa of the predicament
in which I had been landed; of my having found the
nest, while the birds had flown; but I hoped to be able
somehow to work my way to the Shire river ; and with that
view would try to keep the three Maravi with me. Coins