246 THROUGH THE DARK CONTINENT rNoT- 187,,
L Zanzibar. |
To those on the beach it was a surprise to
see so many white-shirted, turbaned men making
for shore from an English man-of-war. Were
they slaves— or what? No; slaves they could
not be, for they were too well dressed. Yet
what could they be?
The boat-keel kissed the beach, and the impatient
fellows leaped out and upwards, and danced in
ecstasy on the sands of their island; they then
kneeled down, bowed their faces to the dear
soil, and cried out, with emotion, their thanks
to Allah! To the full they now taste the sweetness
of the return home. The glad tidings ring out
along the beach, “ It is Bwana Stanley’s expedition
that has returned.”
Then came bounding toward them their friends,
acquaintances, countrymen, demanding ever so
many questions, all burning to know all about
it. Where had they been ? How came they to
be on board the man-of-war? What had they
seen? Who was dead? Where is So-and-so?
You have gone beyond Nyangwe to the other
sea? Mashallah!
The boats come and opfo.
More of the returned braves land, jump and
frisk about, shake hands, embrace firmly and
closely; they literally leap into each other’s arms,
and there are many wet eyes there, for some
terrible tales are told of death, disaster, and
woe by the most voluble of the narrators, who
w0v. 2 7 . i 8 77-1 to y o f THE RETURNED. 247
[ Zanzibar. J
seem to think it incumbent on them to tell all
the news at once. The minor details, which are
a thousand and a thousand, shall be told tomorrow
and the next day, and the next, and for
days and years to come.
The ship was soon emptied of her strange
passengers. Captain Sullivan, of the London,
came on board, and congratulated me on my
safe arrival, and then I went on shore to my
friend Mr. Augustus Sparhawk’s house. We will
pass over whatever may have transpired among
the reunited friends, relatives, acquaintances, &c.,
but I will give substantially what Mabruki, a
stout, bright-eyed lad, the Nestor of the youths
during the expedition, related of his experiences
the next day.
“Well, Mabruki, tell me, did you see your
mother?” Mabruki, knowing I have a lively
curiosity to know all about the meeting, because
he had been sometimes inclined to despair of
seeing poor old “mamma” again, relaxes the
severe tightness of his face, and out of his eyes
there gushes such a flood of light as shows him
to be brimful of happiness, and he hastens to
answer, with a slight bob of the head
“Yes, master.”
“ Is she quite well? How does she look?
What did she say when she saw her son such
a great strong lad? Come, tell me all about it.
“ I will tell you—but ah! she is old now. She