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 ivalked 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 
powder. There was a quantity of luggage most fortu¬ 
nately lying before the muzzle, but the effects of the 
discharge were extraordinary. The ball struck the 
steel scabbard of a sword, tearing off the ring ; it then 
passed obliquely through the stock of a large rifle, and 
burst through the shoulder-plate; entering a packing- 
case of inch-deal, it passed through it and through the 
legs of a man who was sitting at some distance, and 
striking the hip-bone of another man, who was sitting 
at some paces beyond, it completely smashed both hips, 
