The king appeared
to have no power of speech; he simply fixed his eyes upon myself and my
wife; then slowly turned them upon Lieutenant Baker and the officers in
attendance.
The crowd was perfectly silent.
"I was obliged to commence the conversation by asking him `whether he
was really Quat Kare, the old king of the Shillooks? as I had heard his
death reported.'
"Instead of replying, he conferred with one of his wives, a woman of
about sixty, who appeared to act as prime minister and adviser. This old
lady immediately took up the discourse, and very deliberately related
the intrigues of the Koordi governor of Fashoda, which had ended in the
ruin of her husband. It appeared that the Koordi did not wish that peace
should reign throughout the land. The Shillooks were a powerful tribe,
numbering upwards of a million, therefore it was advisable to sow
dissension amongst them, and thus destroy their unity. Quat Kare was a
powerful king, who had ruled the country for more than fifty years. He
was the direct descendant of a long line of kings; therefore he was a
man whose influence was to be dreaded. The policy of the Koordi
determined that he would overthrow the power of Quat Kare, and after
having vainly laid snares for his capture, the old king fled from the
governor of Fashoda as David fled from Saul and hid in the cave of
Adullam. The Koordi was clever and cunning in intrigue; thus, he wrote
to Djiaffer Pacha, the governor-general of the Soudan, and declared that
Quat Kare the king of the Shillooks was DEAD; it was therefore necessary
to elect the next heir, Jangy for whom he requested the firman of the
Khedive.
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