I was feverish and ill with worry and anxiety, and I was lying down upon
my mat when I suddenly heard guns firing in all directions, drums
beating, and the customary signs of either an arrival or departure of a
trading party. Presently a messenger arrived from Koorshid Aga, the
Circassian, to announce the departure of Mahommed's party without me,
and my vakeel appeared with a message from the same people, that if I
followed on their road (my proposed route) they would fire upon me and
my party, as they would allow no English spies in their country.
My last hope seemed gone. No expedition had ever been more carefully
planned; everything had been well arranged to insure success. My
transport animals were in good condition, their saddles and pads had
been made under my own inspection, my arms, ammunition, and supplies
were abundant, and I was ready to march at five minutes' notice to any
part of Africa; but the expedition, so costly and so carefully
organized, was completely ruined by the very people whom I had engaged
to protect it. They had not only deserted, but they had conspired to
murder. There was no law in these wild regions but brute force; human
life was of no value; murder was a pastime, as the murderer could escape
all punishment. Mr. Petherick's vakeel had just been shot dead by one of
his own men, and such events were too common to create much attention.
We were utterly helpless, the whole of the people against us, and openly
threatening. For myself personally I had no anxiety; but the fact of
Mrs. Baker's being with me was my greatest care. I dared not think of
her position in the event of my death among such savages as those around
her. These thoughts were shared by her; but she, knowing that I had
resolved to succeed, never once hinted an advice for retreat.
Richarn was as faithful as Saat, and I accordingly confided in him my
resolution to leave all my baggage in charge of a friendly chief of the
Baris at Gondokoro, and to take two fast dromedaries for him and Saat,
and two horses for Mrs. Baker and myself, and to make a push through the
hostile tribe for three days, to arrive among friendly people at "Moir,"
from which place I trusted to fortune. I arranged that the dromedaries
should carry a few beads, ammunition, and the astronomical instruments.
Richarn said the idea was very mad; that the natives would do nothing
for beads; that he had had great experience on the White Nile when with
a former master, and that the natives would do nothing without receiving
cows as payment; that it was of no use to be good to them, as they had
no respect for any virtue but "force;" that we should most likely be
murdered; but that if I ordered him to go, he was ready to obey.
I was delighted with Richarn's rough and frank fidelity. Ordering the
horses to be brought, I carefully pared their feet. Their hard flinty
hoofs, that had never felt a shoe, were in excellent order for a gallop,
if necessary. All being ready, I sent for the chief of Gondokoro.
Meanwhile a Bari boy arrived, sent by Koorshid Aga, to act as my
interpreter.
The Bari chief was, as usual, smeared all over with red ochre and fat,
and had the shell of a small land tortoise suspended to his elbow as an
ornament. I proposed to him my plan of riding quickly through the Bari
tribe to Moir. He replied, "Impossible! If I were to beat the great
nogaras (drums), and call my people together to explain who you are,
they would not hurt you; but there are many petty chiefs who do not obey
me, and their people would certainly attack you when crossing some
swollen torrent, and what could you do with only a man and a boy?"
His reply to my question concerning the value of beads corroborated
Richarn's statement: nothing could be purchased for anything but cattle.
The traders had commenced the system of stealing herds of cattle from
one tribe to barter with the next neighbor; thus the entire country was
in anarchy and confusion, and beads were of no value. My plan for a dash
through the country was impracticable.
I therefore called my vakeel, and threatened him with the gravest
punishment on my return to Khartoum. I wrote to Sir R. Colquhoun, H.M.
Consul-General for Egypt, which letter I sent by one of the return
boats, and I explained to my vakeel that the complaint to the British
authorities would end in his imprisonment, and that in case of my death
through violence he would assuredly be hanged. After frightening him
thoroughly, I suggested that he should induce some of the mutineers, who
were Dongolowas (his own tribe), many of whom were his relatives, to
accompany me, in which case I would forgive them their past misconduct.
In the course of the afternoon he returned with the news that he had
arranged with seventeen of the men, but that they refused to march
toward the south, and would accompany me to the east if I wished to
explore that part of the country. Their plea for refusing a southern
route was the hostility of the Bari tribe. They also proposed a
condition, that I should "LEAVE ALL MY TRANSPORT ANIMALS AND BAGGAGE
BEHIND ME." To this insane request, which completely nullified their
offer to start, I only replied by vowing vengeance against the vakeel.
The time was passed by the men in vociferously quarrelling among
themselves during the day and in close conference with the vakeel during
the night, the substance of which was reported on the following morning
by the faithful Saat.
