There was also the ever-present danger of meeting some
of Numabo's black warriors and as the village lay directly in their
line of march, there was the necessity for making a wide detour
before they reached it in order to pass around it without being
discovered.
"I am not so much afraid of the native blacks," said the girl, "as
I am of Usanga and his people. He and his men were all attached
to a German native regiment. They brought me along with them when
they deserted, either with the intention of holding me ransom or
selling me into the harem of one of the black sultans of the north.
Usanga is much more to be feared than Numabo for he has had the
advantage of European military training and is armed with more or
less modern weapons and ammunition."
"It is lucky for me," remarked the Englishman, "that it was the
ignorant Numabo who discovered and captured me rather than the
worldly wise Usanga. He would have felt less fear of the giant
flying machine and would have known only too well how to wreck it."
"Let us pray that the black sergeant has not discovered it," said
the girl.
They made their way to a point which they guessed was about a mile
above the village, then they turned into the trackless tangle of
undergrowth to the east. So dense was the verdure at many points
that it was with the utmost difficulty they wormed their way through,
sometimes on hands and knees and again by clambering over numerous
fallen tree trunks.
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