I ordered him to beat the
drum loudly for about five minutes to answer the nogara. His men were
all scattered in several small inclosures. I called them all out into
the open quadrangle; in the centre of which I placed the baggage, and
planted the English ensign in the middle, while the Turks fixed their
flag within a few paces. Posting sentries at each corner of the square,
I stationed patrols in the principal street. In the meantime Mrs. Baker
had laid out upon a mat several hundred cartridges of buck-shot,
powder-flasks, wadding, and opened several boxes of caps, all of which
were neatly arranged for a reserve of ammunition; while a long row of
first-class double guns and rifles lay in readiness. The boy Saat was
full of fight, and immediately strapped on his belt and cartouche-box,
and took his stand among the men.
I ordered the men, in the event of an attack, to immediately set fire to
all the huts around the quadrangle; in which case the sudden rush of a
large body of men would be impossible, and the huts being of straw, the
town would be quickly in a blaze.
Everything was in order to resist an attack in five minutes from the
sounding of the nogara.
The patrols shortly reported that large bodies of men were collecting
outside the town. The great nogara again beat, and was answered at
intervals as before from the neighbouring villages; but the Turks' drum
kept up an uninterrupted roll as a challenge whenever the nogara
sounded. Instead of the intense stillness that had formerly been almost
painful, a distinct hum of distant voices betokened the gathering of
large bodies of men. However, we were well fortified; and the Latookas
knew it. We occupied the very stronghold that they had themselves
constructed for the defence of their town; and the square being
surrounded with strong iron-wood palisades with only a narrow entrance,
would be impregnable when held, as now, by fifty men well armed with
guns against a mob whose best weapons were only lances. I sent men up
the watchmen's stations; these were about twenty-five feet high; and the
night being clear, they could distinctly report the movements of a dark
mass of natives that were ever increasing on the outside of the town at
about two hundred yards' distance. The rattle of the Turks' drum
repeatedly sounded in reply to the nogara, and the intended attack
seemed destined to relapse into a noisy but empty battle of the drums.
A few hours passed in uncertainty, when, at about midnight, the chief
Commoro came fearlessly to the patrol, and was admitted to the
quadrangle. He seemed greatly struck with the preparations for defence,
and explained that the nogara had been beaten without his orders, and
accordingly the whole country had risen; but that he had explained to
the people that I had no hostile intentions, and that all would be well
if they only kept the peace.
