Page:In Desert and Wilderness (Sienkiewicz, tr. Drezmal).djvu/216

208 Nell and himself from a locality in which they were threatened by new captivity with the dervishes; what measures to adopt during the long journey through the wilderness in order not to die of hunger and thirst, and finally, whither to go? He knew already from Hatim that the Abyssinian boundary in a direct line from Fashoda was not more than five days' journey, and he calculated that this would be about one hundred English miles. Now from their departure from Fashoda almost two weeks had elapsed; so it was clear that they had not gone by the shortest route, but in seeking Smain must have turned considerably towards the south. He recollected that on the sixth day they crossed a river which was not the Nile, and that afterwards, before the country began to rise, they rode around great swamps. At school in Port Said, the geography of Africa was taught very thoroughly and in Stas' memory remained the name of Ballor, designating an expansion of the little-known river Sobat, a tributary of the Nile. He was not indeed certain whether they had passed that expansion, but assumed that they had. It occurred to him that Smain, desiring to capture slaves, could not seek for them directly west of Fashoda, as that country was already entirely depopulated by dervishes and small-pox; but that he would have to go to localities which heretofore were not visited by an expedition. Stas deduced from this that they were following Smain's trail, and the thought frightened him in the first moments.

He therefore reflected whether it would not be better to abandon the ravine which turned more and more plainly towards the south and go directly eastward. But after a moment's consideration he relinquished the plan. On the contrary, to follow the tracks of Smain's band at two or three days' distance appeared to him