"Quite."
"Not quite yet, I am afraid, Major, otherwise you 1887.
June 24.
Yambuya. would not have doubted me. There is still a serious reason.
"Assuming, for instance, that I had not brought Tippu-Tib here, that the Arabs at Stanley Falls were not wrathy with white men for Deane's affair, or that they would fear attacking you. They had but to affect friendship with you, sell you goats and food, and then tell your Zanzibaris that their settlement was but six or seven days away—where they had plenty of rice and fish and oil to tempt three-fourths of your men to desert in a few days, while you were innocently waiting for the Bolobo contingent; and no sooner would the other fellows have reached here than they would hear of the desertion of their comrades for the Falls, and follow suit either wholesale or by twos and threes, sixes and tens, until you would have been left stranded completely. Is it not the fear of this desertion that was one of the reasons I chose the Congo? Having Tippu-Tib as my friend and engaged to me, I have put a stop to the possibility of any wholesale desertion.
"Let these reasons sink into your mind, Major, my dear fellow. Yet withal, your column may be ruined if you are not very careful. Be tender and patient with your people, for they are as skittish as young colts. Still, it was with these people, or men like them, that I crossed Africa—followed the course of the Congo to the sea, and formed the Congo State."
"Well, now, say do you think Tippu-Tib will keep his contract, and bring his 600 people?" asked the Major.
"You ought to know that as well as I myself. What did he say to you before you left him?"
"He said he would be here in nine days, as he told you at Bangala. Inshallah!" replied the Major, mimicking the Arab.
"If Tippu-Tib is here in nine days, it will be the biggest wonder I have met."
"Why?" asked the Major, looking up half wonderingly.
"Because to provide 600 carriers is a large order. He will not be here in fifteen days or even twenty days. We 1887.
June 24.
Yambuya. must be reasonable with the man. He is not an European—taught to be rigidly faithful to his promise. Inshallah! was it he said? To-morrow—Inshallah means the day after—or five days hence, or ten days. But what does it matter to you if he does not come within twenty days? The Stanley will not be here until the 10th, or perhaps the middle of August; that will be about seven weeks—forty-two days—hence. He has abundance of time. What do you want to look after 600 men in your camp doing nothing, waiting for the steamer? Idle men are mischievous. No; wait for him patiently until the Stanley comes, and if he has not appeared by that time he will not come at all."