He
Was Very Ignorant, Notwithstanding His Advantages In The Mission, But He
Possessed The First Grand Rudiments Of All Religion
- Honesty of purpose.
Although a child of only twelve years old, he was so perfectly
trustworthy that, at the period
Of our arrival at Gondokoro, he was more
to be depended upon than my vakeel, and nothing could occur among my
mutinous escort without the boy's knowledge: thus he reported the
intended mutiny of the people when there was no other means of
discovering it, and without Saat I should have had no information of
their plots.
Not only was the boy trustworthy, but he had an extraordinary amount of
moral in addition to physical courage. If any complaint were made, and
Saat was called as a witness - far from the shyness too often evinced
when the accuser is brought face to face with the accused - such was
Saat's proudest moment; and, no matter who the man might be, the boy
would challenge him, regardless of all consequences. We were very fond
of this boy; he was thoroughly good; and in that land of iniquity,
thousands of miles away from all except what was evil, there was a
comfort in having some one innocent and faithful, in whom to trust.
We were to start upon the following Monday. Mahommed had paid me a
visit, assuring me of his devotion, and begging me to have my baggage in
marching order, as he would send me fifty porters on the Monday, and we
would move off in company. At the very moment that he thus professed, he
was coolly deceiving me. He had arranged to start without me on the
Saturday, while he was proposing to march together on the Monday. This I
did not know at the time.
One morning I had returned to the tent after having, as usual, inspected
the transport animals, when I observed Mrs. Baker looking
extraordinarily pale, and immediately upon my arrival she gave orders
for the presence of the vakeel (headman). There was something in her
manner, so different to her usual calm, that I was utterly bewildered
when I heard her question the vakeel, "Whether the men were willing to
march?" Perfectly ready, was the reply. "Then order them to strike the
tent, and load the animals; we start this moment." The man appeared
confused, but not more so than I. Something was evidently on foot, but
what I could not conjecture. The vakeel wavered, and to my astonishment
I heard the accusation made against him, that, "during the night, the
whole of the escort had mutinously conspired to desert me, with my arms
and ammunition that were in their hands, and to fire simultaneously at
me should I attempt to disarm them." At first this charge was
indignantly denied until the boy Saat manfully stepped forward, and
declared that the conspiracy was entered into by the whole of the
escort, and that both he and Richarn, knowing that mutiny was intended,
had listened purposely to the conversation during the night; at daybreak
the boy reported the fact to his mistress.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 64 of 343
Words from 32945 to 33461
of 178435
