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enthusiastic reception. Various learned societies at home and abroad
bestowed their highest honours upon Baker, and Queen Victoria conferred
a knighthood upon him.

Mrs. Baker's bravery in accompanying her husband through so many
dangers was naturally praised by all classes, and it was felt by many
people that some honour should be conferred upon her. In Messrs.
Murray and White's _Sir Samuel Baker: a Memoir_ (Macmillan), it is
stated that Mr. W. E. Gladstone proposed that a subscription should be
started for presenting a suitable testimonial to her. This was,
however, prior to her becoming Lady Baker, and perhaps it was
considered that having received an honour the testimonial was
unnecessary. At any rate Mr. Gladstone's suggestion was not carried
out.

In the spring of 1869, Sir Samuel and Lady Baker returned to Africa.
The Khedive had appointed Sir Samuel Governor-General of the Equatorial
Nile Basin, to suppress the slave-trade, to develop the natural
resources of the country, and open the great lakes to navigation. This
was a formidable task, and made more difficult by the jealousy of the
Egyptian authorities, who neglected to give him the support which they
should have done.

For two years Sir Samuel Baker was busy fighting slave-traders and
native tribes, and throughout this exciting period he was accompanied
by his wife, who was subjected to the same dangers as he or any man in
his force. At one time she was in great danger of being laid low at
any moment by bullet or spear. This was during the retreat from
Masendi, a position which Sir Samuel Baker was compelled to abandon on
June 14, 1872. For eighty miles the little band, composed of about 100
men, marched in double file through tangled forest and gigantic grass,
fighting the whole distance. Bullets whizzed past Lady Baker, and many
a spear went within an inch of her, but unalarmed she marched on
_carrying ammunition_. The enemy hoped to annihilate the party before
it got clear of the long grass, but the determined men who were
fighting for their lives discovered the ambuscades and drove out the
enemy. Night and day the hidden foe harassed the party, and Lady Baker
knew that any moment might be her last. Nevertheless, she trudged on
with her burden of ammunition, and on some occasions marched sixteen
miles at a stretch. It was a weary march through that
grass-jungle--which harboured hundreds of the enemy--and it seemed that
it would never