This will be described
hereafter.
Suleiman was no longer a prisoner, but he commanded the Fabbo station
for Abou Saood.
Wat-el-Mek had received my letter, and he wished to serve the
government; but Abou Saood had prevented him; and now that I was
supposed to be dead, it would be impossible.
This man, Wat-el-Mek, had nevertheless behaved well, as he had
immediately demanded 100 men from Abou Saood, and fifty men from
Abdullah, in order to march to Unyoro, join Rionga, and with a native
army he would have searched for us throughout the country.
Abou Saood had refused to give the 100 men, therefore we had been left
to our fate.
The result of the story was that I must hurry on to Fatiko; Rot Jarma
had sent his messengers to discover me whether dead or alive, and should
I not march quickly, Abdullah might be attacked and overpowered, and the
slave-hunters would possess themselves of all the ammunition and stores.
. . . This was not very refreshing news, after all the troubles we had
gone through.
Had I received this important intelligence during my stay with Rionga, I
should not have left Colonel Abd-el-Kader with sixty men behind me. It
would not do to waste time by halting: and should I send to recall
Abd-el-Kader immediately after my departure, the effect upon Rionga
would create suspicion. The withdrawal of the troops would destroy all
confidence on the part of his native allies.
I gave the order to march forward at once.
My horse, Jamoos, now the only survivor of all those that I brought from
Cairo, was in good condition, but he suffered from a woeful sore back,
occasioned by the heavy load that he had carried from Masindi. My wife
was therefore obliged to walk, as the mud was too deep for the solitary
donkey, who was weak and ill.
For more than a mile and a half we had to wade through flooded marshes
nearly hip deep; the heavy rains had made the country boggy and
unpleasant.
We had one sheep for the journey of seventy-nine miles, but this was
missing upon the second day's march, and we subsequently discovered that
it had been stolen and eaten by our guide and the carriers supplied by
Rionga. We were thus reduced to dried fish in the place of our lost
mutton, for which we felt inclined to go into mourning.
Although we had been badly fed of late, and for twenty-three days had
been without solid animal food (since the march from Masindi), we were
nevertheless in excellent health; and always hungry.
We marched well through the uninhabited wilderness of forest, high
grass, and swamps, and arrived at the village of Sharga, ten miles from
Fatiko, on August 1st, 1872.
