I halted the troops about half a mile from Gondokoro, to allow them to change their clothes, when I observed with the telescope some of the Englishmen approaching. Several of my welcome countrymen at length arrived.
"Where is Mr. Higginbotham?" I asked, as I was eager to see my chief engineer and friend.
There was a slight pause before the reply—"HE DIED ON THE LAST DAY OF
FEBRUARY!"
I was quite overpowered with the dreadful news! Poor Higginbotham! who had been my right hand throughout the early portion of the expedition! He was a man who so thoroughly represented the character that we love to think is truly English, combining all energy, courage, and perseverance. He was gone!
We marched into Gondokoro. Fourteen months had made a change for the worse. I had left the station with a neat ditch and earthwork; the environs had been clean. It was now a mass of filth. Bones and remnants of old clothes, that would have been a fortune to a rag-and-bone shop, lay scattered in all directions. The ditch was filled up with sand, and the fallen bank washed in by the heavy rains, as it had never been cleansed during my absence.
The guns fired a salute; Raouf Bey and the troops appeared in good health; and I was shown into poor Higginbotham's house on the cliff above the river.
A beautiful new steamer of 108 tons, built of steel, with twin screws, was floating on the stream. This was the work of my Englishmen, who had taken a pride in turning out the best results that Messrs. Samuda Brothers and Messrs. Penn & Co. could produce.
I went on board to inspect the new vessel directly after breakfast. She had been admirably constructed, and being devoid of paddles, she would be able to glide through the narrow channels of the Bahr Giraffe like a fish.
Although the station was dirty and neglected, I must do Raouf Bey justice in acknowledging that he had paid much attention to the gardens on the islands, which were producing so abundantly that the troops received rations of vegetables daily.
Raouf Bey had also shown determination, and had accepted great responsibility in shooting a soldier for desertion during my absence.