One Young Man
Made A Charge At My Head From Behind, But I Quickly Brought Round
The Muzzle Of My Gun To His Mouth, And He Retreated.
I pointed him out
to the chief, and he ordered him to retire a little.
I felt anxious
to avoid the effusion of blood; and though sure of being able,
with my Makololo, who had been drilled by Sebituane, to drive off
twice the number of our assailants, though now a large body,
and well armed with spears, swords, arrows, and guns, I strove to avoid
actual collision. My men were quite unprepared for this exhibition,
but behaved with admirable coolness. The chief and counselors,
by accepting my invitation to be seated, had placed themselves in a trap,
for my men very quietly surrounded them, and made them feel
that there was no chance of escaping their spears. I then said that,
as one thing after another had failed to satisfy them, it was evident
that THEY wanted to fight, while WE only wanted to pass peaceably
through the country; that they must begin first, and bear the guilt
before God: we would not fight till they had struck the first blow.
I then sat silent for some time. It was rather trying for me,
because I knew that the Chiboque would aim at the white man first;
but I was careful not to appear flurried, and, having four barrels
ready for instant action, looked quietly at the savage scene around.
The Chiboque countenance, by no means handsome, is not improved
by the practice which they have adopted of filing the teeth to a point.
The chief and counselors, seeing that they were in more danger than I,
did not choose to follow our decision that they should begin
by striking the first blow, and then see what we could do,
and were perhaps influenced by seeing the air of cool preparation
which some of my men displayed at the prospect of a work of blood.
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