CHAPTER XXIII.
The hour of deliverance--Triumphal entry into Gondokoro--Home-bound--The plague breaks out--Our welcome at Khartoum to civilization.
The hour of deliverance from our long sojourn in Central Africa was at hand.

It was the month of February, and the boats would be at Gondokoro.
The Turks had packed their ivory; the large tusks were fastened to poles to be carried by two men, and the camp was a perfect mass of this valuable material.

I counted 609 loads of upward of 50 lbs.

each; thirty-one loads were lying at an out-station; therefore the total results of the ivory campaign during the last twelve months were about 32,000 lbs., equal to about 9,630 pounds sterling when delivered in Egypt.

This was a perfect fortune for Koorshid.
We were ready to start.