"My uncle's Kendar wife told me that one of the guardians of the shrine of the White Kendah is such a snake as was never seen elsewhere in the world." "Then say to him, sir," said Savage, when I had translated almost automatically, "that shrine ain't a church where _I_ shall go to say my prayers." Alas! poor Savage little knew the future and its gifts.
Then we came to the question of bearers.

The end of it was that after some hesitation Bausi II, because of his great affection for us, promised to provide us with these upon our solemnly undertaking to dismiss them at the borders of the desert, "so that they might escape our doom," as he remarked cheerfully.
Four days later we started, accompanied by about one hundred and twenty picked men under the command of old Babemba himself, who, he explained, wished to be the last to see us alive in the world.

This was depressing, but other circumstances connected with our start were calculated to weigh even more upon my spirit.

Thus the night before we left Hans arrived and asked me to "write a paper" for him.

I inquired what he wanted me to put in the paper.