 Instead of heading with all haste to the Orientale Province border—where soldiers loyal to Gizenga were waiting to receive him—Lumumba delayed by touring villages and making conversation with the locals.On 1 December Mobutu's troops caught up with his party as it crossed the Sankuru river in Lodi.Lumumba and his advisers had made it to the far side, but his wife and child were left to be captured on the bank.