LETTER FROM STANLEY TO JEPHSON. 327 my letters, with urgent instructions that a canoe should set off, and the bearers be rewarded. . . . “ Be wise, be quick, and waste no hour of time, and bring Buiza and your own Soudanese with you. . . . “ If the Pasha can come, send a courier on your arrival at our old camp on the Lake below here to announce the fact, and I will send a strong detach ment to escort him up to the plateau, even to carry him, if he needs it. I feel too exhausted after my 1300 miles of travel since I parted from you last May to go down to the Lake again. The Pasha must have some pity for me. “ Don’t be alarmed or uneasy on our account; nothing hostile can approach us within twelve miles without my knowing it. I am in the thickest of a friendly population, and if I sound the war- note, within four hours I can have 2000 warriors to assist to repel any force disposed to violence. And if it is to be a war of wits, why then I am ready for the cunningest Arab alive. “ I have read your letters half a dozen times, and my opinion of you varies with each reading. Sometimes I fancy you are half Mahdist or Arabist, and then Eminist. I shall be wiser when I see you.