the
Baggara, to compass our destruction; then, if the news were false, why
should we spend a night of anguish?

After some deliberation, Father Bonomi decided to ascertain the true
state of affairs, and taking with him two boys and a lantern, he set off
to see the Khojur himself. Full of anxious thoughts, we watched the
light as it moved on towards the gap in the hills; at length it reached
the base, and then began slowly ascending. An ominous silence pervaded
the whole place, which was unusual, for the Nubas love gossiping till a
late hour at night. Still we kept our eyes fixed on the light, which
eventually disappeared. How anxiously we awaited its reappearance!
Should the Khojur intend treachery, we knew we should not see Bonomi
again. How slowly the time passed! But at length the light reappeared,
and began to descend the hill. We breathed again; after all we should
not lose our Father Bonomi.

In a few minutes he was with us again, and with a cheery laugh told us
how the captain's information was all wrong, and how angry the Khojur
was that we should ever have doubted him. I thereupon hastened to the
soldiers' quarters, to reassure the poor captain. Mohammed Suleiman was
really a good man, but he was too old and unfitted for his position.
Although it was midnight, he and Roversi returned with me to the
Mission, and there he related how one of his female slaves, who had a
slight knowledge of the Nuba language, had gone to the Khojur to grind
some dhurra, and had overheard him talking secretly with some of the
Nubas; then some of them had got angry, and, standing up, beat the
ground with their spears. This, the woman concluded, must mean an oath
that we should be destroyed. As for the rest of the story, it was
entirely the woman's invention. Everything was now explained, and our
fear gave way to cheerful conversation, which we continued till dawn,
when the ringing of the "ave" bell awakened the echoes of the black
mountains of Delen.

At sunrise the Khojur arrived, accompanied by a number of followers and
many influential Nubas. Not content with his declaration of fidelity
made the previous night, the good man had come down to give us his
solemn oath that, far from fighting against us, he and his men were
ready to fight and die for us. In a grave speech, full of earnest
fervour, he assured us of his and of the Nubas' friendship. We, on the
other hand, felt certain of his loyalty, and we pledged the success of
our