Altogether in this expedition they travelled seven hundred and sixty miles in a straight line, averaging about fifteen miles a day, and they reached the ship on the 1st of November, where all were found in good health and spirits. They were visited on board by an Ajawa chief named Kapeni, who asserted that he and his people would gladly receive the associates of Bishop Mackenzie as their teachers. It showed that he and his people had not been offended at the check which the bishop had given to their slaving, their consciences telling them that the course he had pursued was right.
About the middle of December news reached them of the arrival of the successor of Bishop Mackenzie, but that gentleman, after spending a few months on the top of a mountain as high as Ben Nevis, at the mouth of the Shire, where there were few or no people to be taught, returned home, while six of the boys who had been reared by Bishop Mackenzie had been deserted and exposed to the risk of falling back into heathenism. The poor boys, however, managed to reach the ship, expressing their sorrow that they no longer had one to look after them, remarking that Bishop Mackenzie had a loving heart, and had been more than a father to them.
On the 19th of January, 1864, the Shire suddenly rising, the “Pioneer” was once more got underway; but, her rudder being injured, she was delayed, and did not reach Morambala till the 2nd of February. Here they received on board
about thirty orphan boys and girls, and a few helpless widows who had been attached to Bishop Mackenzie’s mission, and who could not be abandoned without bringing odium on the English name. The difference between shipping slaves and receiving these on board struck them greatly. The moment permission to embark was given, they all rushed into the boat, nearly swamping her in their eagerness to be safe on the “Pioneer’s” deck.
At the mouth of the Zambesi they found HM ships “Orestes” and “Ariel,” when the former took the “Pioneer” in tow, and the latter the “Lady Nyassa,” bound for Mozambique.
After encountering a heavy storm, when the little vessels behaved admirably, while the “Pioneer” was sent to the Cape, the “Lady Nyassa,” under charge of Dr Livingstone, proceeded by way of Zanzibar to Bombay, which they safely reached, though at times they thought their epitaph would be: “Left Zanzibar on the 30th of April, 1864, and never more heard of.”