Every one lay down supperless to sleep. Although tired, I could not rest until I had arranged some plan for the morrow. It was evident that we could not travel over so rough a country with the animals thus overloaded; I therefore determined to leave in the jungle such articles as could be dispensed with, and to rearrange all the loads.
At 4 A.M. I awoke, and lighting a lamp I tried in vain to wake any of the men, who lay stretched upon the ground like so many corpses, sound asleep.
I threw away about 100 lbs. of salt, divided the heavy ammunition more equally among the animals, rejected a quantity of odds and ends that, although most useful, could be forsaken, and by the time the men awoke, a little before sunrise, I had completed the work. We now reloaded the animals, who showed the improvement by stepping out briskly. We marched well for three hours at a pace that bade fair to keep us well ahead of the Turks, and at length we reached the dry bed of a stream, where the Latooka guides assured us we should obtain water by digging. This proved correct; but the holes were dug deep in several places, and hours passed before we could secure a sufficient supply for all the men and animals. Ascending from this place about a mile we came to the valley of Tollogo. We passed the night in a village of the friendly natives, and were off again bright and early. On reaching the extremity of the valley we had to thread our way through the difficult pass. Had the natives been really hostile they could have exterminated us in five minutes, as it was only necessary to hurl rocks from above to insure our immediate destruction. It was in this spot that a trader’s party of one hundred and twenty-six men, well armed, had been massacred to a man the year previous.