There was no cessation of the fighting, which was kept up day and night, any attempt at camping merely having the effect of concentrating the enemy and of rendering their fire more deadly. The march was a succession of charges in rude skirmishing order by an advance guard engaged in clearing the road for the main body, while a rear guard in like manner covered the retreat. In fact, the progress of the party soon became almost a hopeless task. To increase still further his troubles, and render his position more deplorable, the porters whom Stanley had engaged from Nyangwe, one hundred and forty in number, deserted in a body, being so panic-stricken by the terrors of the forest and fatal effects of the fighting that they firmly believed the entire party were doomed to destruction. No sooner did the hostile savages become aware of this defection, and that the ranks of Stanley’s party had been so materially thinned, than they made a grand charge upon them, expecting to completely crush them. But Stanley organized a desperate resistance, and after a severe and bloody struggle succeeded in driving them off for a short time, sufficient to allow him to adopt measures for an escape from their critical situation. [Illustration: STANLEY FIGHTING HIS WAY ALONG THE LUALALA, OR CONGO RIVER.] There was but one way of escape, and that was to take to the river. With the _Lady Alice_ as a last reliance, and good canoes for the party, Stanley thought they would have a much better chance to elude their savage foes, and to make some advance toward their destination. Although Stanley found that he had now a decided advantage, still the day’s progress was but a repetition of the previous day’s struggle. The fighting continued to be as desperate as ever while pushing down the river, and before many days he encountered a fresh and most formidable obstacle in finding the river interrupted by a series of great cataracts not far apart, and just north and south of the equator. In order to pass these the expedition was compelled to cut a road through thirteen miles of dense forest, and to drag the canoes and the _Lady Alice_ overland. This enormous labor entailed the most exhausting efforts, and the men had frequently to lay down the axe and drag ropes and seize their rifles to defend themselves against the furious onslaught of their savage enemy, who still relentlessly pursued them. At last, however, the passage of the cataract was accomplished, and the party again embarked on the river, enjoying a long breathing pause and comparative security from attack.