FROM FORT LAMY TO THE TOGBAU HILLS 175 



Rabeh now retraced his steps to Dikwa to gather his 

 strength together afresh, for he had received news that white 

 men with large forces were marching on Kusseri from the 

 north and west. These were the Foreau-Lamy Mission which 

 left Algeria in October 1898 with the aim of reaching Lake 

 Chad through the Sahara, and the remnants of the Voulet- 

 Chanoine Mission under Lieutenants Joalland and Meynier, 

 coming from Zinder. They joined forces on February 24, 

 1900, at Gulfei and captured Kusseri where they awaited the 

 advance of Gentil coming from the south. 



Once again in headquarters at Dikwa, Rabeh lost no time 

 in making preparations for a great and final effort against 

 his enemies. Up to this time he had never been defeated 

 by the white race, but his encounters with them had taught 

 him that he had no mean foes to deal with. Moreover the 

 battles of Togbau and Kouno had taxed his strength to its 

 utmost, and now the power that he had pushed away from 

 him was returning to strike him with redoubled force. The 

 time had come in which the prophecy of his death should be 

 fulfilled, and his fatalist mind was darkened by brooding 

 fears. His army, too, had lost heart, since the death of Ba- 

 Bukar. Faderellah his brave son was away holding Gulfei, 

 and his son Nyebe was a coward, so in spirit Rabeh stood 

 alone. Instinctively he felt that his hour had come, but 

 like the great fighter he had ever been, he determined to go 

 down over the bodies of his enemies. 



The night before he left Dikwa he sat outside the palace 

 with his captains, and summoning his army, called upon all 

 who were willing to follow him on the morrow to battle, to 

 take each a bean from a large calabash that stood before him. 



