Why they did this I cannot tell. Perhaps they thought that
he was bewitched, or only wounded and required the attentions of a
medicine-man. Perhaps it was not lawful for them to proceed except
under the guidance of some reserve Kalubi who had "passed the god" and
who was on shore. Perhaps it was necessary, according to their rites,
that the body of their chief should be landed with certain ceremonies.
I do not know. It is impossible to be sure as to the mysterious
motives that actuate many of these remote African tribes.
At any rate the result was that it gave us a great start and a chance
of life, who must otherwise have died upon the spot. Outside the bay
the breeze blew merrily, taking us across the lake at a spanking pace,
until about midday when it began to fall. Fortunately, however, it did
not altogether drop till three o'clock by which time the coast of
Mazitu-land was comparatively near; we could even distinguish a speck
against the skyline which we knew was the Union Jack that Stephen had
set upon the crest of a little hill.
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