The Camps Were Full
Of Slaves, And The Bari Natives Assured Me That There Were Large Depots
Of Slaves In
The interior belonging to the traders that would be marched
to Gondokoro for shipment to the Soudan a few hours
After my departure.
I was the great stumbling-block to the trade, and my presence at
Gondokoro was considered as an unwarrantable intrusion upon a locality
sacred to slavery and iniquity. There were about six hundred of the
traders' people at Gondokoro, whose time was passed in drinking,
quarrelling, and ill-treating the slaves. The greater number were in a
constant state of intoxication, and when in such a state, it was their
invariable custom to fire off their guns in the first direction prompted
by their drunken instincts; thus, from morning till night, guns were
popping in all quarters, and the bullets humming through the air
sometimes close to our ears, and on more than one occasion they struck
up the dust at my feet. Nothing was more probable than a ball through
the head by ACCIDENT, which might have had the beneficial effect of
ridding the traders from a spy. A boy was sitting upon the gunwale of
one of the boats, when a bullet suddenly struck him in the head,
shattering the skull to atoms. NO ONE HAD DONE IT. The body fell into
the water, and the fragments of the skull were scattered on the deck.
After a few days' detention at Gondokoro, I saw unmistakeable signs of
discontent among my men, who had evidently been tampered with by the
different traders' parties. One evening several of the most disaffected
came to me with a complaint that they had not enough meat, and that they
must be allowed to make a razzia upon the cattle of the natives to
procure some oxen. This demand being of course refused, they retired,
muttering in an insolent manner their determination of stealing cattle
with or without my permission. I said nothing at the time, but early on
the following morning I ordered the drum to beat, and the men to fall
in. I made them a short address, reminding them of the agreement made at
Khartoum to follow me faithfully, and of the compact that had been
entered into, that they were neither to indulge in slave-hunting nor in
cattle-stealing. The only effect of my address was a great outbreak of
insolence on the part of the ringleader of the previous evening. This
fellow, named Eesur, was an Arab, and his impertinence was so violent,
that I immediately ordered him twenty-five lashes, as an example to the
others.
Upon the vakeel (Saati) advancing to seize him, there was a general
mutiny. Many of the men threw down their guns and seized sticks, and
rushed to the rescue of their tall ringleader. Saati was a little man,
and was perfectly helpless. Here was an escort: these were the men upon
whom I was to depend in hours of difficulty and danger on an expedition
in unknown regions; these were the fellows that I had considered to be
reduced "from wolves to lambs!"
I was determined not to be done, and to insist upon the punishment of
the ringleader. I accordingly went towards him with the intention of
seizing him; but he, being backed by upwards of forty men, had the
impertinence to attack me, rushing forward with a fury that was
ridiculous. To stop his blow, and to knock him into the middle of the
crowd, was not difficult; and after a rapid repetition of the dose, I
disabled him, and seizing him by the throat, I called to my vakeel Saati
for a rope to bind him, but in an instant I had a crowd of men upon me
to rescue their leader. How the affair would have ended I cannot say;
but as the scene lay within ten yards of my boat, my wife, who was ill
with fever in the cabin, witnessed the whole affray, and seeing me
surrounded, she rushed out, and in a few moments she was in the middle
of the crowd, who at that time were endeavoring to rescue my prisoner.
Her sudden appearance had a curious effect, and calling upon several of
the least mutinous to assist, she very pluckily made her way up to me.
Seizing the opportunity of an indecision that was for the moment evinced
by the crowd, I shouted to the drummer boy to beat the drum. In an
instant the drum beat, and at the top of my voice I ordered the men to
"fall in." It is curious how mechanically an order is obeyed if given at
the right moment, even in the midst of mutiny. Two-thirds of the men
fell in, and formed in line, while the remainder retreated with the
ringleader, Eesur, whom they led away, declaring that he was badly hurt.
The affair ended in my insisting upon all forming in line, and upon the
ringleader being brought forward. In this critical moment Mrs. Baker,
with great tact, came forward and implored me to forgive him if he
kissed my hand and begged for pardon. This compromise completely won the
men, who, although a few minutes before in open mutiny, now called upon
their ringleader Eesur to apologize, and that all would be right. I made
them rather a bitter speech, and dismissed them.
From that moment I knew that my expedition was fated. This outbreak was
an example of what was to follow. Previous to leaving Khartoum I had
felt convinced that I could not succeed with such villains for escort as
these Khartoumers: thus I had applied to the Egyptian authorities for a
few troops, but had been refused. I was now in an awkward position. All
my men had received five months' wages in advance, according to the
custom of the White Nile; thus I had no control over them. There were no
Egyptian authorities in Gondokoro; it was a nest of robbers; and my men
had just exhibited so pleasantly their attachment to me, and their
fidelity.
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