MUTINY AT LEVA 



49 



the poor animals ; the men had actually dared to kill them ! It 

 was hig;h time to take energetic action. But it is difficult to deal 

 with drunken men, and as most of our fellows were tipsy, Count 

 Teleki contented himself with sending for the guides, telling 

 them he should hold them responsible for any further outbreak, 

 and ordering them to bury the animals. This gave very great 

 offence, and protests were heard on every side ; then the men 

 all withdrew to the village, where wilder revels than ever were 

 held. A little later, before the work of burying the oxen was 

 accomplished, a feeble-looking old man came out of the village, 

 and, squatting down on the ground close to Count Teleki, he 

 unfolded the mission with which he had been entrusted as the 

 representative of our men. For a long time he talked to deaf 

 ears ; but at last he succeeded in, to some extent, mollifying 

 Count Teleki, especially as the guides chimed in with an 

 entreaty that he would not insist on his order being carried 

 out. So it was rescinded. The incident was now, as we thought, 

 over, and we forgot all about it, the more quickly as we were 

 soon afterwards surprised by the arrival of Mr. W. Joost, an 

 officer of the German East African Company, who was on his 

 way to Korogwe. 



Glad of his companionship, we were sitting outside my tent 

 as the sun was setting, chatting away, without thinking that the 

 gathering of a number of men round us meant anything. We 

 knew well enough how inquisitively the Zanzibari stare at any 

 new-comer, or at anything at all out of the way. But the 

 number of men continually increased, until at last the whole 

 caravan was assembled, most of the men having their weapons 

 with them. Things began to look serious, so Count Teleki 

 asked them what they wanted. 



Then one man stood forth from amongst the crowd and 

 made a speech, the upshot of which was that they were all 

 discontented with the way they were treated — with the food, 



VOL. I. E 



