[CHAPTER XII.]
DEPARTURE OF THE TWO EXPEDITIONS.—IN THE SHOOLI COUNTRY.—ATTACKED IN AN AMBUSCADE.
The horses were sent with Frank, as they would be of no use in the steamboat journey, and it was arranged that they should be at Murchison Falls in exactly a month from the date of departure from Afuddo, if everything went well. Captain Mohammed said a month would suffice for the journey, if they had no detentions on the road. To cover contingencies, an allowance of eight days was added to the above period, so that it was agreed to meet on the thirty-eighth day, unless prevented by some unforeseen circumstance.
Fred had wondered how the Doctor and himself would return to Afuddo from their day's journey with Frank. The horses were to leave them, and he saw no alternative but a pedestrian journey, to which he was not at all inclined. Satisfied that Doctor Bronson had considered the case, and made proper provision for it, he asked no questions, though he could not help revolving the subject in mind.
The morning of their departure for the return to Afuddo solved the mystery.
A large ox, with wide horns, that suggested impalement to any one who insulted their wearer, was led up for the Doctor, and a similar beast for the youth. The animals were saddled and bridled, the bridle passing through the cartilage of the nose, which is the weak point of the bovine race, and an excellent holding-ground for a driving-rein. As Fred looked at it he remembered how he had seen savage bulls held in check by a ring through the nose, and concluded that the Africans knew what they were about when they harnessed their saddle-oxen in this way.
"I remember now," he exclaimed, "reading about Anderson and Livingstone riding on oxen in their African journeys. Anderson says he rode one ox more than two thousand miles. He became much attached to his horned steed, and declared that he preferred the ox to the horse."