158 UNDER THE AFRICAN SUN 



had heard of his disloyal doings. Of course he denied every- 

 thing, and professed to be ready to swear on the Koran that 

 he was loyal. I said I would accept his assurance, but that I 

 had spoken thus openly to him on the subject, in order that 

 he might judge by the fact of my having remained at Fovira, 

 that I was not afraid of him or of any disloyal act he might 

 be meditating. I asked both officers to call the soldiers together, 

 and to ascertain openly whether they were prepared to remain 

 loyal, and to warn all the men not to follow the bad example 

 set by the mutineers in Uganda, as the miutineers were bound 

 to be crushed before long by the overwhelming power of the 

 white man. This was done, and I believe it had a very good 

 effect. 



In a day or two the disloyal Elfendi was summoned to 

 proceed under escort to headquarters ; and when I arrived 

 at Misindi, I found he had been promptly imprisoned. That 

 the disloyal spirit had not disappeared, I found out by a con- 

 versation of the Soudanese soldiers forming my escort on the 

 return journey to Masindi. My companion, when he left me 

 at Fovira, had taken the Maxim gun away with him. The 

 soldiers, talking this over by the camp-fire, declared that any 

 attempt made by the white man to take away the only other 

 gun remaining at the fort would be resisted bv them openly 

 and by force. 



The road from Fovira to Masindi was rather dangerous at 

 this time, being raided by hostile hordes, led by the son of 

 ex-king Kabarega. At " Kaligire " we heard that the enemy 

 had raided a village only three hours off, and had killed twelve 

 of our friendlies. Next day at " Kiorbezi " we heard that the 

 enemy had passed the previous night, and had killed the chief 

 of the village. The following day, the 17th of January 1898, 

 I arrived at Masindi ; and what happened there the same 

 evening, I am not likely to forget very soon. 



I found a letter for me from the commanding military 

 officer, away at the time at Mruli, requesting me to take charge 

 of the fort. The Armenian clerk informed me in the afternoon 

 that a letter had to be sent to Fovira, and accordingly three 

 armed friendlies were sent off with it. I may say at once that 

 next day two only of these men returned alive ; they had been 

 met and attacked by the enemy who killed one, but the two 

 others made good their escape back to our fort. I have there- 



