The Umiro Were Beaten Back With Some Loss, And The Slave-Hunters Held The Position, Although In A State Of Terror, As They Felt That Some Terrible Calamity Must Have Befallen The Party Which Had Started To Surprise The Villages.

After dark, a Bari native cried out to the sentries to let him pass. This was a wounded man of their own people, the only survivor of all those who had left the main body on that morning.

The Bari described, that the Umiro, having gained information of the intended attack, had lain in ambush within high withered grass, in which they had awaited the arrival of their assailants.

The slave-hunters were advancing as usual, in single file, along the narrow track through the high grass, unsuspicious of an enemy, when the Umiro rushed from both sides of the ambuscade upon them.

Taken by surprise, a panic seized the slave-hunters, very few of whom had time to fire their muskets before they were speared by the pitiless Umiro, who wreaked wholesale vengeance by the massacre of 103 of Abou Saood's men and about 150 of their allies.

The main body under Lazim were completely cowed, as they feared an overwhelming attack that might exhaust their ammunition. The Umiro had now become possessed of 103 guns and several large cases of cartridges, in addition to those in the pouches of the soldiers.

Night favoured the retreat, and the remnant of the expedition under Lazim returned by forced marches to Fatiko.

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