In The Stillness Of The Night Wherever We Had Halted We Had
Distinctly Heard The Distant Roar Of The River; But The Sound Had So
Much Increased Within The Last Hour That I Felt Convinced We Must Be
Near Foweera At The Bend Of The Victoria Nile.
My wife was so exhausted
with the long march, rendered doubly fatiguing by the dew that had added
additional weight to her clothes, that she could hardly ascend the hill
we had just commenced.
For the last hour our guide had declared that
Foweera was close to us; but experienced in natives' descriptions of
distance, we were quite uncertain as to the hour at which we should
arrive. We were already at the top of the hill, and within about two
hundred yards of the dense clump of trees my wife was obliged to confess
that she could go no farther. Just at that moment a cock crowed; another
replied immediately from the clump of trees close to us, and the guide,
little appreciating the blessing of his announcement, told us that we
had arrived at Kalloe's village, for which we were bound.
It was nearly 5 A.M., and we had marched from Deang at 9 P.M. There was
some caution required in approaching the village, as, should one of the
Turks' sentries be on guard, he would in all probability fire at the
first object he might see, without a challenge. I therefore ordered my
men to shout, while I gave my well-known whistle that would be a signal
of our arrival. For some time we exerted our lungs in this manner before
we received a reply, and I began to fear that our people were not at
this village: at length a well-known voice replied in Arabic. The
sentries and the whole party were positively ASLEEP, although close to
an enemy's country. They were soon awake when it was reported that we
had arrived, and upon our entering the village they crowded around us
with the usual welcome. A large fire was lighted in a spacious hut, and
fortunately, the portmanteau having preceded us together with the
ammunition, we were provided with a change of clothes.
I slept for a couple of hours, and then sent for the chief of Foweera,
Kalloe. Both he and his son appeared; they said that their spies had
reported that the M'was would attack this village on the following day;
that they had devastated the entire country and occupied the whole of
Unyoro and Chopi; that they had cut off a large herd of cattle belonging
to Kamrasi, and he had only just reached the island in time for
security, as the enemy had arrived at the spot and killed a number of
people who were too late to embark. Kalloe reported that Kamrasi had
fired at the M'was from the island, but having no bullets his rifle was
useless. The M'was had returned the fire, being provided with four guns
that they had procured from Speke's deserters; - they were in the same
condition as Kamrasi, having no bullets; thus a harmless fusilade had
been carried on by both parties.
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