My transport animals were in good
condition; their saddles and pads had been made under my own inspection;
my arms, ammunition, and supplies were abundant, and I was ready to
march at five minutes' notice to any part of Africa; but the expedition,
so costly, and so carefully organized, was completely ruined by the very
people whom I had engaged to protect it. They had not only deserted, but
they had conspired to murder. There was no law in these wild regions but
brute force; human life was of no value; murder was a pastime, as the
murderer could escape all punishment. Mr. Petherick's vakeel had just
been shot dead by one of his own men, and such events were too common to
create much attention. We were utterly helpless; the whole of the people
against us, and openly threatening. For myself personally I had no
anxiety, but the fact of Mrs. Baker being with me was my greatest care.
I dared not think of her position in the event of my death amongst such
savages as those around her. These thoughts were shared by her; but she,
knowing that I had resolved to succeed, never once hinted an advice for
retreat.
Richarn was as faithful as Saat, and I accordingly confided in him my
resolution to leave all my baggage in charge of a friendly chief of the
Bari's at Gondokoro, and to take two fast dromedaries for him and Saat,
and two horses for Mrs. Baker and myself, and to make a push through the
hostile tribe for three days, to arrive among friendly people at "Moir,"
from which place I trusted to fortune. I arranged that the dromedaries
should carry a few beads, ammunition, and the astronomical instruments.
Richarn said the idea was very mad; that the natives would do nothing
for beads; that he had had great experience on the White Nile when with
a former master, and that the natives would do nothing without receiving
cows as payment; that it was of no use being good to them, as they had
no respect for any virtue but "force;" that we should most likely be
murdered; but that if I ordered him to go, he was ready to obey.
"Master, go on, and I will follow thee, To the last gasp, with truth and
loyalty."
I was delighted with Richarn's rough and frank fidelity. Ordering the
horses to be brought, I carefully pared their feet - their hard flinty
hoofs, that had never felt a shoe, were in excellent order for a gallop,
if necessary. All being ready, I sent for the chief of Gondokoro.
Meanwhile a Bari boy arrived from Koorshid to act as my interpreter.
The Bari chief was, as usual, smeared all over with red ochre and fat,
and had the shell of a small land tortoise suspended to his elbow as an
ornament. He brought me a large jar of merissa (native beer), and said
"he had been anxious to see the white man who did not steal cattle,
neither kidnap slaves, but that I should do no good in that country, as
the traders did not wish me to remain." He told me "that all people were
bad, both natives and traders, and that force was necessary in this
country." I tried to discover whether he had any respect for good and
upright conduct. "Yes," he said; "all people say that you are different
to the Turks and traders, but that character will not help you; it is
all very good and very right, but you see your men have all deserted,
thus you must go back to Khartoum; you can do nothing here without
plenty of men and guns." I proposed to him my plan of riding quickly
through the Bari tribe to Moir; he replied, "Impossible! If I were to
beat the great nogaras (drums), and call my people together to explain
who you were, they would not hurt you; but there are many petty chiefs
who do not obey me, and their people would certainly attack you when
crossing some swollen torrent, and what could you do with only a man and
a boy?"
His reply to my question concerning the value of beads corroborated
Richarn's statement; nothing could be purchased for anything but cattle;
the traders had commenced the system of stealing herds of cattle from
one tribe to barter with the next neighbour; thus the entire country was
in anarchy and confusion, and beads were of no value. My plan for a dash
through the country was impracticable.
I therefore called my vakeel, and threatened him with the gravest
punishment on my return to Khartoum. I wrote to Sir R. Colquhoun, H.M.
Consul-General for Egypt, which letter I sent by one of the return
boats; and I explained to my vakeel that the complaint to the British
authorities would end in his imprisonment, and that in case of my death
through violence he would assuredly be hanged. After frightening him
thoroughly, I suggested that he should induce some of the mutineers, who
were Dongolowas (his own tribe), many of whom were his relatives, to
accompany me, in which case I would forgive them their past misconduct.
In the course of the afternoon he returned with the news, that he had
arranged with seventeen of the men, but that they refused to march
towards the south, and would accompany me to the east if I wished to
explore that part of the country. Their plea for refusing a southern
route was the hostility of the Bari tribe. They also proposed a
condition, that I should "leave all my transport animals and baggage
behind me."
To this insane request, which completely nullified their offer to start,
I only replied by vowing vengeance against the vakeel.
