The guides promised to this dilatory and obtuse Soudanese colonel were despatched, according to promise, with a letter from the Pasha; and though we loitered, and halted, and made short journeys of between one and three hours’ march for a month longer, this was the last communication we had with Selim Bey. What became of him we never discovered, and it is useless to try to conjecture. He was one of those men with whom it was impossible to reason, and upon whose understanding sense has no effect. He was not wicked nor designing, but so stupid that he could only comprehend an order when followed by a menace and weighted with force; but to a man of his rank and native courage, no such order could be given. He was therefore abandoned as a man whom it was impossible to persuade, and still less compel. CHAPTER XXVII. EMIN PASHA.--A STUDY. The Relief of David Livingstone compared with the Relief of Emin Pasha--Outline of the journey of the Expedition to the first meeting with Emin--Some few points relating to Emin on which we had been misinformed--Our high conception of Emin Pasha--Loyalty of the troops, and Emin’s extreme indecision--Surprise at finding Emin a prisoner on our third return to the Nyanza--What might have been averted by the exercise of a little frankness and less reticence on Emin’s part--Emin’s virtue and noble desires--The Pasha from our point of view--Emin’s rank and position in Khartoum, and gradual rise to Governor of Equatoria--Gordon’s trouble in the Soudan--Emin’s consideration and patience--After 1883 Emin left to his own resources--Emin’s small explorations--Correctness of what the Emperor Hadrian wrote of the Egyptians--The story of Emin’s struggles with the Mahdi’s forces from 1883 to 1885--Dr. Junker takes Emin’s despatches to Zanzibar in 1886--Kabba Rega a declared enemy of Emin--The true position of Emin Pasha prior to his relief by us, showing that good government was impossible--Two documents (one from Osman Digna, and the other from Omar Saleh) received from Sir Francis Grenfell, the Sirdar. Now that we have actually turned our backs to the Equatoria, and are “homeward bound” with Emin Pasha, Captain Casati, and a few hundreds of fugitives in company, let us look back upon the late events, and try to discover the causes of them, and in what light we may truthfully regard the late governor.