CHAP. V.] 
STOP THE MUTINY. 
135 
cliately loading. All except three, who attended to the 
ruined ringleader, mechanically obeyed. Richarn and 
Sali both shouted to them to “ hurry” ; and the vakeel 
arriving at this moment and seeing how matters stood, 
himself assisted, and urged the men to obey. 
Ibrahim’s party had started. The animals were soon 
loaded, and leaving the vakeel to take them in charge, 
we cantered on to overtake Ibrahim, having crushed 
the mutiny, and given such an example, that in the 
event of future conspiracies my men would find it 
difficult to obtain a ringleader. So ended the famous 
conspiracy that had been reported to me by both Saat 
and Richarn before we left Gondokoro *—and so much 
for the threat of “firing simultaneously at me and 
deserting my wife in the jungle.” In those savage 
countries success frequently depends upon one par¬ 
ticular moment; you may lose or win according to 
your action at that critical instant. We congratulated 
ourselves upon the termination of this affair, which I 
trusted would be the last of the mutinies. 
The country was now lovely ; we were at the base 
of the mountain “ Lafeet,” which rose abruptly on our 
left to the height of about 3,000 feet, the highest peak 
of the eastern chain that formed the broad valley of 
Latooka. The course of the valley-was from S.E. to 
N.W; about forty miles long by eighteen miles wide ; 
the flat bottom was diversified by woods, thick jungles, 
open plains, and the everpresent hegleek trees, which in 
some places gave the appearance of forest. The south 
side of the valley was bounded by a high range of 
mountains, rising to six or seven thousand feet above 
the general level of Latooka, while the extreme end 
was almost blocked by a noble but isolated mountain 
of about 5,000 feet. 
Our path being at the foot of the Lafeet chain, the 
ground was sandy but firm, being composed of disin¬ 
tegrated portions of the granite rocks that had washed 
down from the mountains, and we rode quickly along 
a natural road, equal to the best highway in England. 
