CHAP. III.] 
THE CONSPIRACY. 
91 
ening him thoroughly, I suggested that he should 
induce some of the mutineers, who were Dongolowas 
(his own tribe), many of whom were his relatives, to 
accompany me, in which case I would forgive them 
their past misconduct. 
In the course of the afternoon he returned with the 
news, that he had arranged with seventeen of the men, 
but that they refused to march towards the south, and 
would accompany me to the east if I wished to explore 
that part of the country. Their plea for refusing a 
southern route was the hostility of the Bari tribe. 
They also proposed a condition, that I should “ leave 
all my transport animals and baggage behind me ” 
To this insane request, which completely nullified 
their offer to start, I only replied by vowing vengeance 
against the vakeel. 
Their time was passed in vociferously quarrelling 
among themselves during the day, and in close con¬ 
ference with the vakeel during the night, the substance 
of which was reported on the following morning by the 
faithful “ Saat.” The boy recounted their plot. They 
agreed to march to the east, with the intention of 
deserting me at the station of a trader named Chenooda, 
seven days’ march from Gondokoro, in the Latooka 
country, whose men were, like themselves, Dongolowas ; 
they had conspired to mutiny at that place, and to 
desert to the slave-hunting party with my arms and 
ammunition, and to shoot me should I attempt to 
disarm them. They also threatened to shoot my 
vakeel, who now, through fear of punishment at 
Khartoum, exerted his influence to induce them to 
start. Altogether, it was a pleasant state of things. 
That night I was asleep in my tent, when I was 
suddenly awoke by loud screams, and upon listening 
attentively I distinctly heard the heavy breathing of 
something in the tent, and I could distinguish a dark 
object crouching close to the head of my bed. A slight 
pull at my sleeve showed me that my wife also noticed 
the object, as this was always the signal that she made 
