One morning I had returned to the tent after having, as usual, inspected
the transport animals, when I observed Mrs. Baker looking
extraordinarily pale, and immediately upon my arrival she gave orders
for the presence of the vakeel (headman).
There was something in her
manner so different from her usual calm, that I was utterly bewildered
when I heard her question the vakeel, whether the men were willing to
march. "Perfectly ready," was the reply. "Then order them to strike the
tent and load the animals; we start this moment."
The man appeared confused, but not more so than I. Something was
evidently on foot, but what I could not conjecture. The vakeel wavered,
and to my astonishment I heard the accusation made against him that
during the night the whole of the escort had mutinously conspired to
desert me, with my arms and ammunition that were in their hands, and to
fire simultaneously at me should I attempt to disarm them. At first this
charge was indignantly denied, until the boy Saat manfully stepped
forward and declared that the conspiracy was entered into by the whole
of the escort, and that both he and Richarn, knowing that mutiny was
intended, had listened purposely to the conversation during the night;
at daybreak the boy reported the fact to his mistress. Mutiny, robbery,
and murder were thus deliberately determined.
I immediately ordered an angarep (travelling bedstead) to be placed
outside the tent under a large tree.
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