There are few who have not heard or read of the great traveler, Sir
Samuel Baker, who found his way into the heart of Africa, and whose
brave wife accompanied him in all his perilous journeys. The natives,
when they found how kind he was, and how interested in trying to help
them, called him the Great White Man.
One day, after traveling a long distance, Sir Samuel and Lady Baker
were sitting, in the cool of the evening, in front of their tent,
enjoying a cup of tea in their English fashion, when a little black
boy suddenly ran into the courtyard, and throwing himself at Lady
Baker's feet raised his hands toward her, and gazed imploringly into
her face.
The English lady thought that the little lad was hungry, and hastened
to offer him food; but he refused to eat, and began, with sobs and
tears, to tell his tale. He was not hungry, but he wanted to stay with
the white lady and be her slave.
In broken accents he related how cruelly he had been treated by the
master, who stole him from his parents when he was quite a little boy;
how he made him earn money for him, and beat him because he was too
small to undertake the tasks which were set him. He told how he and
some other boys had crept out of the slave-hut at night and found
their way to English Mission House, because they had heard of the
white people, who were kind to the blacks.
Then little Saat, for that was his name, made Lady Baker understand
how much he loved the white people, and how he wished to be her little
slave. She told him kindly that she needed no slave-boy, and that he
must go back to his rightful master. But little Saat said, "No, he had
no master;" and explained that the Missionaries had taught him a great
deal, and then sent him, with some other lads, to Egypt, to help in
the Mission work.
Unfortunately, his companions had soon forgotten the good things they
had been taught, and behaved so badly that the Missionaries in Egypt
refused to keep them, and turned them out, to find their way back as
best they might to their own people; but Saat had no people of his
own, and he never rested until he succeeded in finding the Great White
Man of whom he had heard so much.
Lady Baker's kind heart was touched. She determined to keep the little
black boy and train him to be her own attendant. He accompanied the
travelers upon their wonderful journey to the Source of the Nile, and
his attachment to his mistress was very touching.