with a herd of
elephants the next day. We had eaten our evening meal, and were about
to lie down to sleep, when we were startled by hearing a shower of
bullets come whistling above our heads. We rose to fly, but knew not
which way to go, for from either side strange cries assailed our ears,
and before we could recover from our surprise a large party of men, with
gleaming swords in their hands, rushed in upon us. Snatching up our
spears we attempted to defend ourselves, but were quickly overpowered,
two of my friends being killed and others badly wounded. We were at
once bound with cords and thrown on the ground, while our captors were
employed in preparing another way to secure us. They were fierce men in
dark dresses, some wearing turbans on their heads, others red caps. I
watched their proceedings, thinking that, perhaps, they were going to
kill and eat us. They cut down some young trees, leaving a fork at one
end, and fixing a thick branch at the other, so as to form another fork.
When several logs had thus been prepared, they made us with kicks get
up, and picking out the strongest men among us, placed one at one end of
a leg, and one at the other, securing them by the forks round our necks.
As our arms were lashed behind our backs we could offer no resistance,
but, pricked by the spears or sword points of our captors, were
compelled to march forward in the direction they ordered us. Twenty or
more of us were thus secured; the remainder were fastened together by a
long rope, one behind the other at an interval of a few feet, with their
arms lashed behind them, led by an Arab. With the heavy log round our
necks we had no chance of escaping, nor indeed had the others, who would
have been shot had they made the attempt. Two or three of the worst
wounded sank down from loss of blood. The Arabs made them get up and
proceed, but finding at last that the poor wretches could not keep up
with the rest, took them out of the line, and putting pistols to their
heads, shot them dead. We were joined as we proceeded towards the coast
by other captives, taken much as we had been, and treated in the same
cruel manner. Some, who had come from still further up the country than
we had, and who had thus a longer march, told us that one-third of their
number had died or been killed on the way, so that even those who were
suffering severely from sickness endeavoured to struggle on as long as
they had strength to move for fear o