ing off with a rueful face.

In the evening I had an interview with Mr Mackenzie, who was
suffering a good deal from his wounds, which Good, who was a
skilful though unqualified doctor, was treating him for. He
told me that this occurrence had taught him a lesson, and that,
if he recovered safely, he meant to hand over the Mission to
a younger man, who was already on his road to join him in his
work, and return to England.

'You see, Quatermain,' he said, 'I made up my mind to it, this
very morning, when we were creeping down those benighted savages.
"If we live through this and rescue Flossie alive," I said to
myself, "I will go home to England; I have had enough of savages."
Well, I did not think that we should live through it at the
time; but thanks be to God and you four, we have lived through
it, and I mean to stick to my resolution, lest a worse thing
befall us. Another such time would kill my poor wife. And besides,
Quatermain, between you and me, I am well off; it is thirty thousand
pounds I am worth today, and every farthing of it made by honest
trade and savings in the bank at Zanzibar, for living here costs
me next to nothing. So though it will be hard to leave this
place, which I have made to blossom like a rose in the wilderness,
and harder still to leave the people I have taught, I shall go.'

'I congratulate you on your decision,' answered I, 'for two reasons.
The first is, that you owe a duty to your wife and daughter,
and more especially to the latter, who should receive some education
and mix with girls of her own race, otherwise she will grow up
wild, shunning her kind. The other is, that as sure as I am
standing here, sooner or later the Masai will try to avenge the
slaughter inflicted on them today. Two or three men are sure
to have escaped the confusion who will carry the story back to
their people, and the result will be that a great expedition
will one day be sent against you. It might be delayed for a
year, but sooner or later it will come. Therefore, if only for
that reason, I should go. When once they have learnt that you
are no longer here they may perhaps leave the place alone.'
{Endnote 8}

'You are quite right,' answered the clergyman. 'I will turn
my back upon this place in a month. But it will be a wrench,
it will be a wrench.'

CHAPTER IX
INTO THE UNKNOWN

A week had passed, and we all sat at supper one night in the
Mission dining-room, feeling very much