Nevada County picayune. (Prescott, Nev. County, Ark.) 1885-1???, 1891-02-19
sTANLEY's CLOSEST CALL.
The Tightest Place the Great Ex-
pIorer Was Ever In.


The great and only Stanley, who
has been spending a few days at
/ Chicago. besides entertaining the
public from the lecture platform, re-
lated several thrilling stories to re-
porters. and the following, which
might he called Stanleys closest
call. will be found more than inter
esting:
The tightcst place | ever was in,
answered Mr. Stanley after mo-
ment Of meditation, was on the Is
land of (mbiri, in Victoria Nyanza.
Victoria, next to Superior, Is the
largest inland lake Of the world. We
had been acknowledging the shores
of the lake for days, and for days we
had not had bite to eat. Ny men
there were ten of us-werc nearly
famished. There was nothing to be
found on the mainland in Uganda,
Finally we came up to this island
mbiri. From where we stood we
could see the banana trees, and their
sight fllod the hearts of my men,
with desires to get something to eat.
Master, master they begged,
please let us go to the island.
| could see hundreds of the ma
tives crowding the beach of the Is
land watching our movements.
Turning to my men, SAID: Boys,
/ know not this tribe, and do not
want to risk myself III their midst.
oh, master, spoke up one named
Sofni; know these people; they
are under the king of Uganda; they
are friends.
:. Are you sure, Sofn:' l asked.
% Yes, master; | know them.
:, Very we'll, / said, row ahead
we will meet them. They rowed
until we reached little baylet of the
island. But as we drew nearer the
sayages on the beach appeared to be
in a fcrment of excitement Thou
sands Of them were thronging the
shore. Some had their bows stretch
ed taut, others were holding their
spears high above their heads, quiv-
ering in their hands and flashing in
the sunlight Still others were pick
ing up large stones from the beach
and placing them in their sings,
which they were whirling over thelr
heads ready to throw at any moment
Through it all they kept up the
most deafening dins and howls imag
Unable. These hostile demonstra.
tions, far from satisfying me Of their
peaceable disposition, rendered me
more and more suspicious. l turn
ed again to Soini and asked; 'Sotini,
are YOU sure these people are friends !:
EYES, master, he answered, j
know them. But this did not salts
fy me and | ordered the men to stop
rowing. They kept on, however,
but less rapidly, until the first thing
| knew we had reached the shallow
water and half hundred or more OF
the black natives had surrounded
our boat, which they were rapidly
showing towards the shore. A mo-
moment more and they had landed il
and it was crunchiug hard upon the
pebblv beach. The boat was frai
affair. made of thin red cedar and
which | had used during the entire
trip through the interior marshes.
feared every moment to hear the bot
tom cracking. But this temporary
danger was nothing compared tc
what was awaiting W. No sooner
had the boat landed than we were
dragged up the beach some fifty OF
seyenty-fye yard, away from the
waters edge. These black demons
were now Surrounding US on all sides,
flashing their bows and arrows and
striking their quivering spears to
within an inch or two of our faces.
felt that we were lost men; | knew
that unless fortune favored us in
some way we could never extricate
ourselves from this position. Had
there been thirty or forty of then
there might have been some show fol-
fight, but with 5000 or 1000 Of
them howhng around us and com
pletely surrounded fighting was out
OF the question. could have killed
half dozen, possibly dozen, but
the ultimate result would have been
the same-we would all have
| persisted.
| NThpn KiranUo. another OF my