I had turned over various plans, none of them very satisfactory, and was wondering whether the travellers whose huts we had passed in the morning were far ahead, and if it would be possible for me to put on a spurt and overtake them, when the question was solved for me by the appearance of the men themselves. We came upon them quite suddenly, for they had made a fire some little distance off the road and were sitting by it roasting plantains--the only food obtainable just now--so that we did not see them until we came opposite their halting place. There were eight of them, all grown men, and dressed in the fashion common to the Hausas and other more civilised nations of the Southern Sudan. Our party halted opposite the encampment, and Annan stepped forward a few paces and greeted the strangers in his barbarous Hausa. “Sanu, Sanu!” “Sanu kadai,” replied a little sharp-faced elderly man, apparently the leader of the caravan. “Whither do you travel?” inquired Annan. “We are journeying from Salt-pond to Kantámpo, and thence to our country, Kano, by way of Sálaga,” said the old man. “This country is very unsafe to travel in at this time,” remarked Annan. “That is true,” agreed the other. “But it is more safe for a large company than a small one,” pursued Annan. “That is also true,” said the Hausa. “Therefore,” continued Annan, “since we go the same way as you, it will be safer if we travel in company.” “Not so,” replied the old man. “We are strangers from afar, merchants and men of peace. We have no quarrel with this people nor they with us, and so we journey in safety. But you are men of this country who have here your friends and your enemies. It is better for us to go our ways apart.” “You fear to walk with us because of the white man who is with us,” said Annan. “We do not want to travel with Nasaráwa[_Christians._],” rejoined the old man. “But he is a stranger to us,” Annan urged. “We will send him away to walk by himself.” “It is not good to desert a companion in the wilderness,” said the Hausa coldly. “I have answered thee. We shall walk by ourselves.” “The road is open to all!” bawled Annan insolently, “and we may walk where you may, either before you or behind, as near or as far as we will.” “That is true,” said the old man drily, “but the mouse who will walk with an elephant must needs look to his toes.”