A large ox, with wide horns, that suggested impalement to any one who insulted their wearer, was led up for the Doctor, and a similar beast for the youth. The animals were saddled and bridled, the bridle passing through the cartilage of the nose, which is the weak point of the bovine race, and an excellent holding-ground for a driving-rein. As Fred looked at it he remembered how he had seen savage bulls held in check by a ring through the nose, and concluded that the Africans knew what they were about when they harnessed their saddle-oxen in this way. "I remember now," he exclaimed, "reading about Anderson and Livingstone riding on oxen in their African journeys. Anderson says he rode one ox more than two thousand miles. He became much attached to his horned steed, and declared that he preferred the ox to the horse." [Illustration: WINWOOD READE'S OX AND HAMMOCK TRAIN.] "Yes," replied the Doctor; "oxen are not as fast as horses, but they will endure more, and keep fat where a horse would starve. Where there is plenty of food a horse is to be preferred, but in a country where the herbage is scant, and you must travel day after day and week after week, the ox is the superior animal. He is slow but sure in his movements, and will get over rough ground better than a horse. Winwood Reade says he is sulky and revengeful, but this is contrary to the testimony of other travellers. Mr. Reade had some saddle-oxen in his train, but his favorite mode of riding was by hammock, on the shoulders of porters. "I had arranged for porters with hammocks to carry us back to Afuddo in case the oxen failed to arrive. But they are here all right; and as everything is ready we will mount and be off." Early in the afternoon they were once more in their camp on the banks of the Nile, and discussing the plans for departure up the river. As Doctor Bronson had predicted, the two days of preparation were extended to four, and it was not till the fifth day that they were ready to start. All the baggage was carried on board in the evening, and the two explorers slept on deck, beneath the awnings. The cabins were too hot for comfort, and so full of mosquitoes that several smudges and a vigorous use of brooms and switches could not expel them. The deck was much more agreeable, and it was voted that, while the cabins might be useful as dressing-rooms, they were undesirable for lodging-places. The steamer was off about nine o'clock in the morning, and headed against the strong current of the Nile in the direction of the Albert N'yanza. Late in the afternoon a bend of the stream revealed the widening that betokened the entrance of the lake, and in a little while the _Khedive_ was afloat on the waters of the lowest of the lakes that form the head-waters of the mysterious river of Egypt. We will leave the _Khedive_ and her passengers and return to Frank, whom we left on his southward travels a day beyond Afuddo. His journal will tell the story of his experiences.