On the following morning I sent ten of my men with a party of Ibrahim's
to Latome to make inquiries. They returned on the following afternoon,
bringing with them two wounded men.
It appeared that Mahommed Her had ordered his party of 110 armed men, in
addition to 300 natives, to make a razzia upon a certain village among
the mountains for slaves and cattle. They had succeeded in burning a
village, and in capturing a great number of slaves. Having descended the
pass, a native gave them the route that would lead to the capture of a
large herd of cattle that they had not yet discovered. They once more
ascended the mountain by a different path, and arriving at the kraal,
they commenced driving off the vast herd of cattle. The Latookas, who
had not fought while their wives and children were being carried into
slavery, now fronted bravely against the muskets to defend their herds,
and charging the Turks, they drove them down the pass.
It was in vain that they fought; every bullet aimed at a Latooka struck
a rock, behind which the enemy was hidden. Rocks, stones, and lances
were hurled at them from all sides and from above; they were forced to
retreat.
The retreat ended in a panic and precipitate flight. Hemmed in on all
sides, amidst a shower of lances and stones thrown from the mountain
above, the Turks fled pele-mele down the rocky and precipitous ravines.
Mistaking their route, they came to a precipice from which there was no
retreat. The screaming and yelling savages closed round them. Fighting
was useless; the natives, under cover of the numerous detached rocks,
offered no mark for an aim; while the crowd of armed savages thrust them
forward with wild yells to the very verge of the great precipice about
five hundred feet below. Down they fell! hurled to utter destruction by
the mass of Latookas pressing onward! A few fought to the last; but one
and all were at length forced, by sheer pressure, over the edge of the
cliff, and met a just reward for their atrocities.
My men looked utterly cast down, and a feeling of horror pervaded the
entire party. No quarter had been given by the Latookas; and upwards of
200 natives who had joined the slave-hunters in the attack, had also
perished with their allies. Mahommed Her had not him self accompanied
his people, both he and Bellaal, my late ringleader, having remained in
camp; the latter having, fortunately for him, been disabled, and placed
hors de combat by the example I had made during the mutiny.
My men were almost green with awe, when I asked them solemnly, "Where
were the men who had deserted from me?" Without answering a word they
brought two of my guns and laid them at my feet. They were covered with
clotted blood mixed with sand, which had hardened like cement over the
locks and various portions of the barrels. My guns were all marked. As I
looked at the numbers upon the stocks, I repeated aloud the names of the
owners. "Are they all dead?" I asked. "All dead," the men replied. "FOOD
FOR THE VULTURES?" I asked. "None of the bodies can be recovered,"
faltered my vakeel. "The two guns were brought from the spot by some
natives who escaped, and who saw the men fall. They are all killed."
"Better for them had they remained with me and done their duty. The hand
of God is heavy," I replied. My men slunk away abashed, leaving the gory
witnesses of defeat and death upon the ground. I called Saat and ordered
him to give the two guns to Richarn to clean.
Not only my own men but the whole of Ibrahim's party were of opinion
that I had some mysterious connexion with the disaster that had befallen
my mutineers. All remembered the bitterness of my prophecy, "The
vultures will pick their bones," and this terrible mishap having
occurred so immediately afterwards took a strong hold upon their
superstitious minds. As I passed through the camp, the men would quietly
exclaim, "Wah Illahi Hawaga!" (My God! Master.) To which I simply
replied, "Robinee fe!" (There is a God.) From that moment I observed an
extraordinary change in the manner of both my people and those of
Ibrahim, all of whom now paid us the greatest respect.
Unfortunately a great change had likewise taken place in the manner of
the Latookas. The whole town was greatly excited, drums were beating and
horns blowing in all quarters, every one rejoicing at the annihilation
of Mahommed Her's party. The natives no longer respected the superior
power of guns; in a hand-to-hand fight they had proved their own
superiority, and they had not the sense to distinguish the difference
between a struggle in a steep mountain pass and a battle on the open
plain. Ibrahim was apprehensive of a general attack on his party by the
Latookas.
This was rather awkward, as it was necessary for him to return to
Gondokoro for a large supply of ammunition which had been left there for
want of porters to convey it, when he had started for the interior. To
march to Gondokoro, and to guard the ammunition, would require a large
force in the present disturbed state of the country; thus we should be a
much-reduced party, which might induce the Latookas to attack us after
his departure. However, it was necessary that he should start. I
accordingly lent him a couple of donkeys to convey his powder, in case
he should not be able to procure porters.
