be at an end if this mutiny was not
quelled, and that our lives depended on vigorously upholding authority,
I seized a double-barrelled pistol and darted out with such a savage
aspect as to put them to precipitate flight. They gave no further
trouble." Every night now they had to build a stockade, and by day to
march in a compact body, knowing the forest to be full of enemies
dogging their path, for now they had nothing to give as presents, the
men having even divested themselves of all their copper ornaments to
appease the Chiboque harpies. "Nothing, however, disturbed us, and for
my part I was too ill to care much whether we were attacked or not."
They struggled on, the Chiboque natives, now joined by bodies of
traders, opposing at every ford, Livingstone no longer wondering why
expeditions from the interior failed to reach the coast. "Some of my men
proposed to return home, and the prospect of being obliged to turn back
from the threshold of the Portuguese settlements distressed me
exceedingly. After using all my powers of persuasion, I declared that if
they now returned, I should go on alone, and returning into my little
tent, I lifted up my heart to Him who hears the sighing of the soul.
Presently the head man came in. 'Do not be disheartened,' he said, 'we
will never leave you. Wherever you lead, we will follow. Our remarks
were only made on account of the injustice of these people.' Others
followed, and with the most artless simplicity of manner told me to be
comforted. 'They were all my children; they knew no one but Sekeletu and
me, and would die for me: they had spoken in bitterness of spirit,
feeling they could do nothing.'"

On April 1st they gained the ridge which overlooks the valley of the
Quango and the Portuguese settlements on the farther bank. "The descent
is so steep that I was obliged to dismount, though so weak that I had to
be supported. Below us, at a depth of one thousand feet, lay the
magnificent valley of the Quango. The view of the Vale of Clyde, from
the spot where Mary witnessed the Battle of Langside, resembles in
miniature the glorious sight which was here presented to our view."

On the 4th they were close to the Quango, here one hundred fifty yards
broad, when they were stopped for the last time by a village chief and
surrounded by his men. The usual altercation ensued; Livingstone
refusing to give up his blanket--the last article he possessed except
his watch and instruments and Sekel