AT FORT LAMY 131 



The responsibility of command now devolved upon 

 Commandant Maillard, successor to Colonel Moll. He 

 was sorely needed at the front, yet there was much 

 important work to do at headquarters. Reinforce- 

 ments had to be arranged for, and, when serious ris- 

 ings might occur in that very district from which 

 some of the garrison had been taken, it was hard 

 indeed to know how to act for the best. Transport 

 alone required much organisation, and in a place where 

 news could only travel slowly, decisions had to be 

 made without possible knowledge of what the con- 

 ditions might be in neighbouring districts. 



It seemed, however, that the immediate need was 

 in Wadai, and thither Commandant Maillard settled 

 to go. Captain Facon, military resident of Fort Lamy, 

 was left in control of the situation there, and it could 

 not have been in more efficient keeping. The work 

 of administration was made trebly difficult by the 

 fact that Colonel Moll's secretaries had all been killed 

 at Dorote. 



Captain Lancrenon now introduced us to Command- 

 ant Maillard and to Captain Facon. They at once put 

 aside their grave anxiety and personal distress to assist 

 us, and, in order that they might do so more fully, 

 asked us to come and stay, so that we might have 

 further opportunity for discussions with Commandant 

 Maillard before he left for the front. Accordingly, 

 thougli we returned to Kusseri for that night, we took 

 up our quarters at Fort Lamy the following day. 



It is an unpretentious town, situated on the Shari, 

 just below the confluence of that river with the Logone. 

 The houses are made of mud and thatch, like the 

 native buildings, and are clustered amongst and behind 



