“That was not the only occasion on which Burns showed his intrepidity. One day he and I were returning from the Brass River, through the creeks, in a steam launch. The propeller had only two blades.... They worked loose and fell off. The situation was alarming, as we were near a small village inhabited by cannibals, whilst the creek was teeming with sharks and reptiles. Fortunately the creek was not deep, it being low tide. The bottom was composed of soft, stinking mud and decayed vegetable matter; so we had but faint hopes of finding either of the blades. I proposed testing my skill as a diver, but Burns wouldn’t hear of it. ‘No,’ said he, ‘you are married and I am single. If either of us risks his life I’m the man’; and, immediately stripping, he plunged in. To my delighted surprise he found one blade, and we managed to fix it in the boss and proceeded on our course, arriving at Akassa in safety, though several hours late. We had been a long time without food and were ravenously hungry. Both of us did our duty at the table, but I was not in it with Burns, who ate nearly the entire leg of a goat.”
The launch of my very good friend, Mr Price, of Burutu, took me from there the five miles to the sea, and once more I steamed away from the land of Nigeria, which, notwithstanding the privations and hardships undergone, and the bad name the climate is given, retains for me a continual attraction and fascination to revisit.
FOOTNOTES
[1] I have since learned that what was done was quite in accordance with the spirit of the instructions that are laid down from the boat train. They are, in effect:—“We do not seek to make a profit, but we do wish to have no complaints.”
[2] Since this was written I have met the writer of the letter on the journey down the Niger. The matter was discussed and he told me the letter was sent to a relative without intention of its subsequent appearance in print. Publicity having been given to the assertions, I think it right the above comment on them should be made, notwithstanding my cordial relations with the writer.
[3] On discovering the loss the previous evening at the rest-house I sent a note to Mr Garrard, by his doki boy, offering £1 reward to any individual or body of men who found the pen. Next morning Mr Garrard sent out a party of six, notifying that 10s. would be paid to he who recovered the article. Although the night rain had displaced portions of the road, one of the men brought back the pen, which was handed to me on the return journey, some months later.
[4] Fit is used in pidgin English expressions to mean either willing, desirous or able.