The
Escort Had Crowded Around Us, And As The Boy Saat Was Close To Me, I
Ordered Him To Fire His Gun.
This was Saat's greatest delight, and bang
went one barrel unexpectedly, close to the tall chief's ear.
The effect
was charming. The tall chief, thinking himself injured, clasped his head
with both hands, and bolted through the crowd, which, struck with a
sudden panic, rushed away in all directions, the "devil's own" tumbling
over each other, and utterly scattered by the second barrel which Saat
exultingly fired in derision as Kamrasi's warlike regiment dissolved
before a sound. I felt quite sure, that in the event of a fight, one
scream from the "Baby," with its charge of forty small bullets, would
win the battle, if well delivered into a crowd of Kamrasi's troops.
That afternoon, after a march through a most beautiful forest of large
mimosas in full blossom, we arrived at the morass that had necessitated
this great detour from our direct course to the lake. It was nearly
three-quarters of a mile broad, and so deep, that in many places the
oxen were obliged to swim; both Mrs. Baker and I were carried across on
our angareps by twelve men with the greatest difficulty; the guide, who
waded before us to show the way, suddenly disappeared in a deep hole,
and his bundle that he had carried on his head, being of light
substance, was seen floating like a buoy upon the surface; after a
thorough sousing, the guide reappeared, and scrambled out, and we made a
circuit, the men toiling frequently up to their necks through mud and
water.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 420 of 662
Words from 113310 to 113584
of 178435
