places of the Congo, nowhere in the known world, nowhere

Booneville, that he had grown anxious to withdraw, lest we should be

suddenly pounced upon by an overwhelming force from some one of the

columns in retreat. Under such circumstances my prisoners would

prove a decided embarrassment, so I abandoned further attempts to get

them together--not even paroling them, which I thought might have

been done with but little risk.

In the meantime the captured cars had been fired, and as their

complete destruction was assured by explosions from those containing