"These men," he said, pointing to the prisoners, "have called the Wagandans into the country [a pure invention]. Your women and children have been carried off, your houses burned, your property stolen, and your harvest destroyed. The king will visit justice for their crimes and relies upon my arms for revenge." A dismal howl full of menace broke out. "Gobia, gobia" ["traitors, traitors"].
Casati and Biri were unbound and removed to the place of justice and were surrounded by a new force of warriors. Casati entered the circle and met his servants. He seemed to them like one risen from the dead. The sight of their beloved master filled them all with new hopes. The place where they found themselves was ominous. The great wooden drums were covered with the blood of victims. They must make an attempt at flight.
"There is no place except this thicket of thorns which is not beset by warriors," said one of his men, an active, nimble fellow who had been making observations.
"Good! We will throw ourselves on all fours and make a rush through it."
No sooner said than done. They got through the thicket and kept on their way, but soon encountered a reserve of the negroes. It was impossible to defend themselves, so they left the road and escaped by the aid of the tall grass. Their flight that day was beset by dangers. Whenever they ventured out of the woods to buy sweet potatoes or beans with glass beads, the negroes would drive them off with threats. King Kabrega's direful orders followed them everywhere. Fortunately, however, they found a friend in this wilderness. A young Dinka woman, who had escaped the brutality of an Egyptian official by Emin Pasha's interference, brought them by night a great dish of beans and the comforting assurance that Emin would be on the lake, January eleventh, with two steamers. This aroused fresh hope that, in spite of their wounded feet and aching limbs, of hunger and thirst, they would reach the shores of the lake. Their armed pursuers were near them. They climbed hills through thorns and bushes, falling and getting up again, in anxious silence. Their pursuers had surrounded them and the bushes crackled about them. They reached the top of a hill and heard excited discussions going on around them, loud, threatening voices, and excited rushing about, and soon a sudden, hasty, headlong flight.