CHAPTER III. 
GUN ACCIDENT. 
A day before the departure of Speke and Grant from 
Gondokoro, an event occurred which appeared as a bad 
omen to the superstitions of my men. I had ordered 
the diahbiah to be prepared for sailing : thus, the cargo 
having been landed and the boat cleared and washed, 
we were sitting in the cabin, when a sudden explosion 
close to the windows startled us from our seats, and 
the consternation of a crowd of men who were on the 
bank, showed that some accident had happened. I 
immediately ran out, and found that the servants had 
laid all my rifles upon a mat upon the ground, and 
that one of the men had walked over the guns; his foot 
striking the hammer of one of the No. 10 Reilly rifles, 
had momentarily raised it from the nipple, and an 
instantaneous explosion was the consequence. The 
rifle was loaded for elephants, with seven drachms of 
