386 



THE ATTACK AT BERBERAH. 



lie keep no journal, and be withal somewhat hard 

 of persuasion, he will firmly hold, in all honour 

 and honesty, to the latest version, modified by 

 lapse of time. I made this remark more than 

 once to my companion, and he received it wdth 

 an utter incredulity which clearly proved to me 

 that his was a case in point. 



The next adventure was a savage mel^e at 

 Berberah, on April 19th, 1855, when Ave were 

 attacked by Somali plunderers. Here again I 

 unwittingly offended Lieut. Speke's suscepti- 

 bilities by saying in the thick of the fight, 'Don't 

 step back, or they'll think we are running ! ' As 

 usual, I was never allowed to know that he was 

 ' chagrined by this rebuke at his management ' 

 till his own account of the mishap aj)peared 

 before the public. Tlie story, as he tells it, reads 

 very differently from his written report still in 

 my possession, and he gives the world to under- 

 stand that he alone of the force had attempted 

 to defend the camp. The fact is, he had lost his 

 head, and instead of following me when cutting 

 my Avay through the enemy, he rushed about, 

 dealing blows with the butt of an unloaded re- 

 volver. His courage was of that cool order which 

 characterizes the English rather than the French 

 soldier. The former, constitutionally strong- 



