“I do not see the necessity,” I persisted, but my remonstrances were cut short by another of the men who had stolen behind me and now suddenly and skilfully dropped a noose over my shoulders, binding my arms closely to my sides; whereupon the others proceeded to bind my wrists and fit a halter round my neck with most suspicious neatness and rapidity. This business concluded, we all moved off at a brisk pace, one of the ruffians leading me by the rope as if I had been a camel. I listened attentively to their conversation as we walked, but could make out nothing from it as to who or what these men were. Nor did I care a great deal. The one vital question that excluded all others was whether or not they were going to hand me back to the fetish priests, and on this point I was full of dreadful apprehension. We walked on quickly for a couple of hours in a northerly direction, and I noticed that the country was rapidly changing in character. The dense, shady forest opened out at increasingly frequent intervals into grassy expanses, and the great trees of the silk-cotton tribe began to give place to much smaller trees resembling the apple and pear in character. About noon, as we were passing through a belt of forest, I thought I could distinguish a sound like the murmur of many voices, and there came through the trees the scent of green wood burning. A few minutes later we came out into a large grassy opening, where a very singular and busy scene presented itself. A large camp had just been struck, and the caravan was preparing to get on the move. A dozen or so of beehive-shaped huts were placed in a group with a number of fires round them, and from these various cooking pots of brass and iron were being collected and made up into loads for the carriers. A party of Hausas, very formidably armed, stood lounging about the huts, and one of them was engaged in fitting a saddle with high fore and aft peaks on to a small, rough-looking horse, while several others were bustling about, allotting the various loads to the carriers. It was these latter that at once absorbed my attention. They must have been a hundred and fifty in number, of whom more than two-thirds were women and children, and their appearance was most miserable and neglected; for not only were they half-starved and dirty, but there was hardly a rag of clothing among the whole company. Each of them wore a hinged iron collar, and, through a ring in this, was passed a rope by which they were all connected together in a long line, and each had upon the right wrist a kind of handcuff, which was fastened to the collar, so that the hand was raised above the shoulder. Some of them who carried burdens, had both wrists shackled to the loads, while others were allowed to steady the burden with the free hand.