ABSTRACT
Oct. 26th. Stanley had all the men fallen in early this morning-the men who were considered to be too sick to go on, 28 in number, were picked out & the remaining men-145 in number-were formed into two companies one for Stanley & one for Stairs-! expect when I catch up Stanley I shall have to look after his company, a by no means pleasant job-Stanley picking out all the best men left in Stairs' Nelson's & my companies & leaving Stairs the worst men. Khainis only brought 30 men instead of the 8o he had promised to send back with me so Stanley gave me 40 men out of Stairs & his companies. He expected me to be back in I I days & gave me I Io heads of Indian com to last me that time, but half of these were so small & unripe that the number Inight be put down at half. He then gave me Nelson's food for 6 days-a good sized plateful of coarse hard flour & one small chicken.1 When this was brought in he remarked that it was an ample allowance for that time. I said nothing but I think my face must have expressed the disgust I felt at the scandalous smallness & meanness of the allowance for a few minutes after the food was taken away to my hut he sent another small chicken for me to take on-it was very fortunate for me & for Nelson as well that I had sold my clothes for food, we should have been on short commons indeed had we depended entirely on Stanley. The fact of having 40 of our men will I'm afraid make me much longer in getting back here as they are worn out & will give me much more trouble than the Manyema who will be managed entirely by their own chiefs. The Manyema men got off by I o. 30 & were soon followed by my own men-I got off by about one o'clock & reached the river & got across to camp by 4.30. Before starting Stanley sent for me & told me what to do in case Nelson had died before I reached him-he seemed to be very much affected at the possibility of such a thing but I cannot believe it was real. Arrived at camp I served out 100 rounds of ammunition to the men & pitched the fly of the tent after putting the bag containing Nelsons & my food in a safe place. I do not expect to catch Stanley under 30 days.
