Stanley's Adventures in the Wilds of Africa: A Graphic Account of the Several Expeditions of Henry M. Stanley into the Heart of the Dark ContinentHeadley, Joel Tyler
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Stanley's Adventures in the Wilds of Africa: A Graphic Account of the Several Expeditions of Henry M. Stanley into the Heart of the Dark Continent
Headley, Joel Tyler
Africa, Central -- Description and travel; Stanley, Henry M. (Henry Morton), 1841-1904
Stanley pronounced a high eulogium on his young friend, saying that he
was a true African explorer--he seemed to like the dangers and even the
sufferings of the expedition, so well did they harmonize with his
adventurous spirit. Quick and resolute, he was always docile and in the
heat and excitement of battle would obey Stanley's slightest wish with
alacrity. He seemed fitted for an explorer; no danger daunted him, no
obstacle discouraged him, while his frame, though slight, was tough and
sinewy, and he was capable of undergoing any amount of labor and could
endure the heaviest strain. He had so endeared himself to Stanley that
the latter said, in a letter to young Pocoke's parents, that his death
took away all the joy and exultation he should otherwise have felt in
accomplishing the great task the two had undertaken together.
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE COMPLETED WORK.
The next morning Stanley arose with a sad and heavy heart; the cruel,
relentless river seemed more remorseless than ever, and its waves flowed
on with an angrier voice that seemed full of hate and defiance.
Eighty men were still behind, at Mowwa, and the next day word reached
Stanley that they had mutinied, declaring they would follow the river no
longer, for death was in it. He, borne down with his great loss, paid no
attention to the report, and stayed and mourned for his friend for three
days before he set out for Mowwa. He found the men sullen, sad and
reckless. It would be strange, however, if he could not regain his old
influence, which, after much effort, he did. But he did not get all down
to Zinga till after four days. Meantime Frank's body had been found
floating, face upward, some distance below the falls. All the canoes did
not reach Zinga till the 19th, more than a fortnight after Frank's
death.
On June 20th Stanley began to make preparations to continue on down the
river. There had been terribly hard work in passing and getting round
the falls where Frank lost his life, but the worst of it was, when they
had succeeded, they seemed to have just begun their labors, for it had
all to be repeated again. The men had lost all spirit and did not seem
to care what became of them; and so, when on the 20th Stanley ordered
the men to their work to lay brushwood along the tracks marked out for
hauling the canoes from the Pocoke basin around Zinga point into the
basin beyond, the men seemed disinclined to move. Stanley, in surprise,
asked what was the matter. "We are tired of this," growled a burly
fellow, "and that's what's the matter."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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