90 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



been shot at him. He gave quite a dramatic representation 

 of the agile way in which he had dodged some spears which 

 had also been thrown. 



For the next three days the carriers were hard at work 

 levelHng and making a base for triangulation. Our days 

 were now fairly occupied and work went on late into the 

 night. The work was enlivened by a raid made by a few 

 Montoils on June 23 on a hamlet where most of the carriers 

 lived, about a hundred yards off the one occupied by 

 myself. According to his own account, the sentry fired at 

 the attacking party, but they did not clear ofE till the two 

 soldiers from my hamlet hurried up as reinforcements. The 

 affair had its ludicrous side, as the assailants nearly succeeded 

 in capturing a couple of the carriers' wives, which resulted in 

 hysterics from the ladies concerned for the rest of the evening. 



Hearing shots, I hurried up from the other end of the base, 

 and found that the Montoils had made a clean sweep of 

 everything which the carriers had left in the huts — food, 

 clothes, and all other possessions. This loss was most felt 

 by the dandies among the carriers and by their ladies, who 

 had to go without cherished pieces of finery until they got 

 a chance of replenishing their wardrobes at Bauchi. 



All this time great fires could be seen at night, to the 

 north, north-east and north-west, and we were told that 

 these were caused by the Yergum, raiding the Montoil and 

 the Ankwe. The same evening a shot was heard in the 

 direction of Griddan Galadima, and thinking it was a signal 

 from Goshng and Alexander, I sent some soldiers there early 

 next morning and found that they had arrived, though the 

 shot had only been fired at a guinea-fowl. An hour or two 



