138 TAVETA AND MOUNTS KILIMANJARO AND MERU 



wet to the skin, liungry, worn out with fatigue, not one of them 

 having brought anything. And the news they gave us was bad 

 enough. After wandering about a long time they had come 

 to a settlement of natives. At first they had been kindly 

 received and the Wameru seemed willing to trade ; but when 

 their forces were strengthened by the arrival of others they fell 

 upon our men and took everything from them, thrashed them, 

 and drove them away. Two of our Werndl carbines were also 

 lost. Our people made no defence, and did not fire a shot, 

 though they had all their weapons with them. Their accounts 

 gave us plenty of food for thought. To have yielded in this 

 way to an attack from the natives at the outset of the Expedi- 

 tion boded ill for its future fate, for how could we hope to 

 carry out our plans when we had received such a check 

 whilst still in sight of Kilimanjaro, and almost within reach of 

 the coast ? We must give our men confidence in themselves 

 and in their leader. We knew well enough that reputation 

 is everything in Africa, and we quickly determined to give 

 the natives a lesson, unless our weapons were restored to us 

 peaceably. 



The wet weather the next day was calculated to damp our 

 ardour, but for all that the plan of our campaign of vengeance 

 was quickly formed. Our men were told of our intentions, 

 supplied with ammunition, and warned on no account to show the 

 white feather. Keeping well together, we slowly and in silence 

 climbed up the mountain, following the course of the stream. 

 We crossed it at a shallow place, then waded through a smaller 

 watercourse, and after a march of three hours found ourselves 

 in a clearing sparsely dotted with bush and surrounded by a 

 dense forest. There was no sign of the native settlement ; but 

 the men assured us we were not an hour's march from it, and 

 Count Teleki decided to halt here, although the water was some 

 four to five inches deep. His idea was to leave the loads behind 



