At these words his eyes became veiled, and after a while he continued:
“But I have become accustomed to the thought, so let us now talk about you, not about me. I will give you one piece of advice: There is only one road for you to take, which is to the east toward the ocean. But before attempting this journey you should rest well and gather strength; otherwise your little companion will die in a few weeks. Postpone the journey until the rainy season is over and perhaps even longer. The first months of summer, when it has ceased raining, and the water still covers the swamps, are the most healthful. This place, where we now are, is an elevated plateau lying nearly seven hundred feet above the level of the sea. In high regions of one thousand three hundred feet there is no fever, and if by chance it be carried there from places of lower altitude, it assumes a much milder form. Take the little English girl and go into the mountains with her.”
Talking evidently tired him very much, and so he paused once more, and for a time fought off large blue flies—the same kind that Stasch had seen in Fashoda.
Then he resumed:
“Pay strict attention to what I am going to tell you. One day’s journey toward the south you will see an isolated mountain, not more than eight hundred feet high. It looks like an overturned saucepan; its sides are very steep. The only way to reach it is by a mountain pass so narrow that in some places two horses can barely walk abreast. On its flat summit, about a kilometer broad, there used to be a small negro village, but the Mahdists have killed some of the inhabitants and have taken others away with them. It may be that this was done by the very Smain I conquered, but whose slaves I could not capture because he had already sent them under heavy guard toward the Nile. Up there on the top is a spring of excellent water, several fields of manioc and a quantity of banana-trees. You will also find there many human bones, but you need not fear that these corpses will produce a plague, for after the Dervishes left the ants drove us away from the plain. Other than these, not a human soul! Remain one or two months in that village. At that height there is no fever. The nights are cool. There your little one will regain her health and you your strength.”
“And then what shall I do, and where shall I go?”
“Leave the rest to the guidance of God. By all means try to go toward the places in Abyssinia which are furthest away from the Dervishes, but go toward the east. I have heard that the Arabians, hunting for ivory, which they get from the Samburu and Wa-hima tribes, advance as far as a certain lake.”
Now Stasch began to tell Linde how he had obtained Kali (Gebhr’s servant) after Gebhr’s death, and also that the young negro had said that he was the son of the chief of the Wa-himas.
But Linde was much more indifferent to this news than Stasch had expected.
“All the better,” he said, “for he can be of use to you. Among the blacks there are kind souls, although on the whole one can not depend on their gratitude, because they are but children still, and forget to-day what happened yesterday.”