Part 1 (2/2)

At Sobat, situated on the Nile above Khartou shi+ps to see that no slaves were conveyed down the river

One day a vessel ca in theBut Sir Sa his suspicions aroused, sent to inspect it

The captain declared stoutly he had no slaves aboard He stated that his cargo consisted simply of corn and ivory The inspector was not convinced, and deter a ra scream from below, and a moment later a woolly head and black body were disclosed Further search was made, and a hundred and fifty slaves were discovered packed as close as herrings in a barrel Some were in irons, one was sewn up in a sail cloth, and all had been cruelly treated

Soon the irons were knocked off and the poor slaves set free, to their great wonder and delight

Sir Samuel arrived at Gondokoro on the 15th of April, 1871 Already two years of his ti the slave trade, he had been coular commerce He set to work at once to show the people the benefits of agricultural pursuits He got his followers to plant seeds, and soon they were happy enough watching for the green shoots to appear

But before long they began to suffer froainst the; so that Baker, in the midst of plenty, seemed likely to perish of starvation However, he soon adopted energetictaken official possession of the land in the name of the Khedive he seized a sufficient number of animals for his requirements

The headabout his ears like a swarhtened by their threats they showed theh in the future to supply him with cattle in return for payment

His own soldiers were nearly as troublesome as the natives They were lazy and mutinous; the sentries went to sleep, the scouts were unreliable, they were full of complaints; whilst round about him were the natives, ready to steal, et an opportunity

His life was daily in danger; and, so as not to be taken unawares, he organised a band of forty followers for his personal service On these men he could always rely They were proud of the confidence placed in thee perversity they were nicknast the very feere honest

What with sickness and fighting and losses encountered on the way up the river, Baker's force was now reduced to about five hundred men, in place of the twelve hundred whom he had once reviewed at Gondokoro

Still, he did not despair of acco, with God's help, the mission on which he had been sent

In January, 1872, with his wife and only two hundred and twelve officers and men, he started south on a journey of three or four hundred ion where the slave trade was carried on with the greatest activity

He had arranged with one of the chiefs to supply hioods of the expedition; but when the ti So his soldiers had to be their own carriers for a time At a later date he was enabled to hire five hundred oods, and presented each with a cow as a reward for his services All took the cows readily enough, but sixty-seven of the carriers did not appear at the ti to look after theht it better to lose the services of the sixty-seven men rather than to allow this; for he felt sure if they once returned to search for their cole one of theain

After a on the Victoria Nile The king was apparently friendly at first But on several occasions the war druh no violence was actually offered yet Sir Sauard

He therefore set his s of wood, and planted theround, prepared fireproof rooms for the ammunition, and were in the course of a few days ready in case of eency

These preparations had been 's Divan and Huts]

A few days later a very strange thing happened The king sent Sir Saave to his troops A little while afterwards one of his officers rushed in to say the men had been poisoned

It was really so Theabout in terrible pain, and apparently dying At once Sir Saave them mustard and water and other emetics, and they were soon better But he knew that trouble was at hand

Nextat the entrance to the fort with one of his ler to sound the alaret a rifle when the h the heart

The fort was surrounded by thousands of natives, who kept up a continuous fire, and the bushes near at hand were full of sharp-shooters But the fort was strong, and its defenders fought bravely; the woods were gradually cleared of sharp-shooters, and the natives, ere long, broke and fled

Then Sir Samuel sent a detach's divan and to the surrounding huts to teach the people a lesson for their treachery

But the place was full of foes A poisoned spear was thrown at Sir Saer of destruction, so he detero, whom he hoped would be ot there First of all it was found that they would probably be a ithout provisions; but, happily, Lady Baker had put by soht becah which they had to pass was full of concealed foes Frorass and bushes spears were constantly hurled at them, and not a few of the men were mortally wounded Sir Samuel saw several lances pass close to his wife's head, and he narrowly escaped being hit on various occasions