On Horseback Through Nigeria Or Life And Travel in the Central Sudan

ulder with his cane, and thereupon the convict and all his fellows would at once stop work, and a prolonged and heated altercation would ensue between the warder and his charges. To crown all, at four o'clock, after a little cheerful conversation with the convicts, the warders decided to stop work lest they should tire the prisoners, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that the skipper persuaded them to renew their united efforts until five ! We lay at Onitsha all night, and next morning the same hopeful band returned to complete their labours ; but in spite of, or perhaps on account of, their ardour, it was again five o'clock before the Empire at last got under way. Night fell clear and starry, and soon the moon rose in all its tropical brilliance. For a time the skipper pushed ahead, but soon after dinner the Empire plunged hopelessly into a sandbank, and all efforts to move her were, by one consent, postponed till dawn. A gentle breeze on the river kept the decks free from mosquitoes and other insect pests. We lay outstretched on our camp chairs, enjoying the calm radiance of the tropical even. The black waters lapped gently round us, the sandbanks gleamed white and clear in the moonlight, and far off on either hand was the dark fringe which marked the limits of the river-bed. Now and then the breezes brought us the muffled sound of tum- tumming and native merriment, while an occasional gleam of light on the river bank warned us that we were not...