But as I trudged on, my own desperate condition distracted me from these sentimental regrets, and I began to seriously consider what course I was to take. Even if I escaped the pursuit of the fetish-men--and I certainly did not mean to be taken alive if I could help it--I was in a position of extraordinary peril; for while I was totally ignorant of the country and without any means of subsistence whatever, my naked and destitute state must render me an object of suspicion to any person I might meet, especially as I was evidently not a native of that part of the continent. I was yet turning over these facts in my mind when they received a very apposite and unpleasant illustration; for the path on which I was travelling suddenly joined a broad and well-worn track, and I had hardly entered this when I saw a party of six men coming towards me. I would have turned aside into the bush and hidden until they had passed, but they had already seen me, and to fly was to invite pursuit, so I held boldly on my way, and this I did with more confidence since the dress of the strangers showed them to be Mahommedans and probably Hausas. As I approached, they all stopped and stared at me, and I heard one of them say: “This must be the Christian. Doubtless he has left the blind man to take care of himself.” These words filled me with grave anxiety, but I pretended to have heard nothing, and made as if I would pass, giving the usual Hausa salutation. “Whither goest thou, friend?” asked one of the men. This was a poser. For all I knew I might be steering straight for Jerusalem, but I answered as confidently as I could: “I go to look for my friends who are journeying to Kantámpo.” “Then thou art going the wrong way,” said the man, with a grin, and his companions burst into loud, insolent guffaws. “Who and what art thou?” enquired the first man. “I am called Yusufu Dan-Egadesh,” said I, “and I am a Fulani merchant----” “Where is thy friend, the blind Moshi?” interrupted another man, and as I hesitated, he continued: “Tell us no more lies. We know thee. Thou art the white man whom the wizards are seeking. We passed them but a little while since, and they told us how thou and another slave had run away. Now listen and take thy choice. Wilt thou come with us as our servant, or shall we take thee back to the wizards?” I was between the devil and the deep sea, but the devil being infinitely the worse, I decided without hesitation. “I will go with thee and thy friends,” I said. “Very well,” rejoined the man who appeared to be the leader. “Give me thy knife, and let me secure thee with this rope.” “Why cannot I walk free?” I asked, eyeing the grass rope, which the man produced, with great disfavour. “I have said I will come with thee.” “It is well that thou shouldst seem to be our captive,” he replied. “Thou canst walk free when we are out of this country.”