CONFLICT WITH THE NATIVES. 711 



large crowd of savages, who were hidden in the bush. A knobstick had 

 crushed the man's nose, and a spear had severely wounded him in the arm, 

 but he had managed to escape, while Suliernan was killed, a dozen spears 

 having been plunged into his back. 



" This report, and the appearance of their bleeding comrade, so excited 

 the soldiers of the Expedition, that they were only with the utmost difficulty 

 restrained from beginning a battle at once. Even yet, I hoped that war 

 might be prevented by a little diplomacy, while I did not forget to open the 

 ammunition-boxes and prepare for the worst. But much was meanwhile to 

 be done. The enclosure of the camp required to be built up, and something 

 of a fortification was necessary to repel the attack of such a large force. 

 While we were thus preparing without ostentation to defend ourselves from 

 what I conceived an imminent onslaught, the Waturu, now our declared 

 enemies, advanced upon the camp, and a shower of arrows fell all round us. 

 Sixty soldiers, held in readiness, were at once ordered to deploy in front of 

 the camp, fifty yards off; the Wanguana, or freemen of Zanzibar, obedient 

 to the command, rushed out of the camp, and the battle commenced. Im- 

 mediately after, these sixty men, with axes, were ordered to cut bushes and 

 raise a high fence of thorn around the camp, while twenty more were em- 

 ployed to throw up lofty platforms like towers within, for sharp-shooters. We 

 busied ourselves in bringing the sections of the ' Lady Alice' inside to make 

 a central refuge for a last resistance, and in otherwise strengthening the 

 defences. Every one worked with a will, and while the firing of the skir- 

 mishers, growing more distant, announced that the enemy was withdraw- 

 ing, we were left to complete our task unmolested. When the camp was pre- 

 pared I ordered the bugler to sound the retreat, in order that the savages 

 might have an opportunity to consider whether it was politic for them to 

 renew the fight. 



"The skirmishers now returned, and announced that fifteen of the enemy 

 were killed, while a great many more were wounded and borne off by their 

 friends. All my men had distinguished themselves — even ' Bull,' my British 

 bull-dog, had seized one of the Waturu by the leg, and had given Mm a taste 

 of the power of the sharp canines of his breed before the poor savage was 

 mercifully despatched by a Snider bullet. We rested that day from further 

 trouble, and the next morning we waited events until nine o'clock, when the 

 enemy appeared in greater force than ever, having summoned their neigh- 

 bours all round to assist them, as I now felt assured, in our ruin. Though we 

 were reluctant to make war upon people whom I the previous day thought 

 might still be converted into friends, we were not slow to continue fighting 

 if the natives were determined on hostilities. Accordingly I selected four 

 experienced men to lead four several detachments, and gave orders that they 

 should march in different directions through the valley, and meet at some 



