i66 UNDER THE AFRICAN SUN 



The ostensible reason of my departure from Masindi with 

 the half company of Soudanese, the Maxim gun, and the ammu- 

 nition, was supposed to be the necessity of holding Ntuti, in 

 Singo, against the rebel king IMwanga. We arrived at Ntuti. 

 In a couple of days orders from headquarters reached me to 

 march on to Kampala, where the soldiers were promptly dis- 

 armed, and the Maxim gun and ammunition safely lodged in 

 the fort. I had an anxious time of it from Masindi to Kampala. 

 First of all, because the soldiers over which I had temporary 

 command were some of the men who a few days previously 

 had murdered Bekamba and had endangered my own life ; they 

 were at heart disloyal, and they had very nearly openly mutinied. 

 Secondly, the Maxim gun and the twenty-one loads of ammuni- 

 tion would have strengthened the mutineers enormously, if they 

 could have managed to intercept me on the march. 



It was a great relief to me when, on arrival at Kampala, my 

 militarv command ended. A few days later Captain Harrison 

 gained a final success over the mutineers, which practically 

 ended the mutiny, though it cost the life of one more Euro- 

 pean, Captain Moloney who was dangerously wounded in the 

 attack and succumbed to his injuries. Captain Fielding and 

 Captain Macdonald fell in the earlier engagements. 



Of course everybody must regret the occurrence of the 

 mutiny, with its accompaniment of bloodshed and destruction, 

 but it is doubly to be regretted as the Soudanese seemed ideal 

 troops for a country like Uganda. Being Africans, the Protec- 

 torate was a natural home to them ; being aliens in the country, 

 they had no sympathy with King Mwanga or any of the indigenous 

 races ; being Mohammedans, their creed of " Kismet" or "fate" 

 made them dangerous enemies on the battlefield ; being inured 

 to hardships, they could live on native produce and did not 

 require, like Indian troops, to be provided with special articles 

 of diet ; and last, but not least, owing to their many wives 

 and followers, they looked after their own transport, and were 

 ready to start for an expedition at a moment's notice, without 

 requiring any special preliminary transport arrangements. 



Rumours of the narrow escape I had in Unyoro, preceded 

 me to the coast ; for when I met the colonel in command of the 

 Indian troops, then on their way to our assistance in Uganda, he 

 expressed surprise at seeing me alive, having heard that I had 

 been carried off into the interior and then murdered. But 

 " all's well that ends well." 



