On Arrival, We Deposited Our Heavy Burden; And To Our
Satisfaction, We Found All Our People Had Arrived.
The tents were
pitched, and the night-fires were already blazing, as daylight had
nearly ceased.
In the course of an hour, we were comfortably seated at our table, with
venison steaks, and chops smoking before us--thanks to the dogs, who
were now soundly sleeping at our feet. During the progress of dinner I
planned the work for the day following. We were now eight miles from
Nielgalla (Blue Rock), the village at which Banda resided, and I ordered
a man to start off at daybreak to tell him that I was in his country,
and to bring old Medima and several other good men (that I knew) to the
tent without delay. I proposed that we should, in the meantime, start at
daylight on the tracks of the two elephants that we had seen upon the
hills, taking Wallace and a few of the best coolies as gun-bearers.
Wallace is a Cochin man, who prides himself upon a mixture of Portuguese
blood. He speaks six different languages fluently, and is without
exception the best interpreter and the most plucky gun-bearer that I
have ever seen. He has accompanied me through so many scenes with
unvarying firmness that I never have the slightest anxiety about my
spare guns if he is there, as he keeps the little troop of gun-bearers
in their places in a most methodical manner.
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