As has already been described, the Lobore natives had not only cheated
us out of many cows that had been received, for which the carriers had
not been forthcoming, but numbers had deserted on the road, which had
caused the troops great trouble and fatigue, as they had been obliged to
divide among them the abandoned loads. Upon our arrival at Fatiko, the
son of sheik Abbio, of Lobore, would have absconded with all his people,
had he not been retained by the troops. This man was responsible for the
natives who had engaged themselves for the journey.
It would have been the height of imprudence to have permitted the
immediate departure of our carriers before I had arranged for the
future, thus about eighty were secured by the soldiers, including the
sheik's son, from a general stampede that took place.
I ordered them to be disarmed, as I considered that if unarmed, they
would not venture alone through the Madi country.
In the evening they were secured by a slight line tied round each man's
neck, and connected in gangs of five. A guard was placed over them in
addition to the usual sentries.
At about 4 a.m. a signal was given by one of their people. Every man had
gnawed through his cord with his teeth during the darkness, and at the
concerted cry in a language that no one understood, the entire party, of
upwards of eighty men, knocked down the astonished guard, also the
sentries, and rushed headlong over the rocks in the direction of Lobore.
