He Ordered His People To Arm Themselves,
And When Some Of My Men Saw Them Rushing For Their Bows, Arrows, And Spears,
They Became Somewhat Panic-Stricken.
I ordered them to move away,
and not to fire unless Kawawa's people struck the first blow.
I took the lead, and expected them all to follow, as they usually had done,
but many of my men remained behind.
When I knew this, I jumped off the ox,
and made a rush to them with the revolver in my hand. Kawawa ran away
among his people, and they turned their backs too. I shouted to my men
to take up their luggage and march; some did so with alacrity,
feeling that they had disobeyed orders by remaining; but one of them refused,
and was preparing to fire at Kawawa, until I gave him a punch on the head
with the pistol, and made him go too. I felt here, as elsewhere,
that subordination must be maintained at all risks. We all moved
into the forest, the people of Kawawa standing about a hundred yards off,
gazing, but not firing a shot or an arrow. It is extremely unpleasant
to part with these chieftains thus, after spending a day or two
in the most amicable intercourse, and in a part where the people
are generally civil. This Kawawa, however, is not a good specimen
of the Balonda chiefs, and is rather notorious in the neighborhood
for his folly. We were told that he has good reason to believe that Matiamvo
will some day cut off his head for his disregard of the rights of strangers.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 700 of 1070
Words from 200494 to 200764
of 306638
