A soldier must obey, and
he learns to respect his officers as his superiors; thus, a savage who
has learnt all that he knows from his officers, whom he admits as his
superiors, will quickly adopt their religion, as he has been obliged to
adopt their military rules. My soldiers were all Mohammedans, simply
because they had been taught by their officers that good soldiers should
be true believers.
As I have already described, my station was a mile and a half distant
from head-quarters, and the arrangements under my personal inspection
were very different from the lax discipline of the officers at
Gondokoro.
The natives of Belinian had disregarded the warning they had received,
and now, having leagued themselves with the Baris of Gondokoro, they
were constantly on the watch for an opportunity of surprising the cattle
guards. Concealing themselves behind thick foliage, they stalked the
careless sentries with the adroitness of American Indians, and sometimes
succeeded in making a dash and driving off a few head of cattle.
I was obliged to take extra precautions during the night, as my little
station was dependent only upon "The Forty," while the camp at
head-quarters was occupied by 1,100 men, in addition to about 400
sailors, and the six Englishmen.
