chap, xyil] NIGHT IN A HOSTILE COUNTRY. 465 
but recovering, he ran with liis comrades, and fell dead 
after a few yards. 
What casualties had happened during the passage 
of the gorge, I cannot say, but the enemy were 
now utterly discomfited. I had not fired a shot, as 
the whole affair was perfect child’s-play, and any one 
who could shoot would have settled the fortune of the 
day by half a dozen shots ; but both the traders’ people 
and my men were “shooters, but not hitters.” We 
now bivouacked on the field for the night. 
During the march on the following day, the natives 
watched us at a distance, following in great numbers 
parallel with our route, but fearing to attack. The 
country was perfectly open, being a succession of fine 
downs of low grass, with few trees, where any attack 
against our guns would have been madness. 
In the evening we arrived at two small deserted 
villages ; these, like most in the Bari country, were 
circular, and surrounded by a live and impenetrable 
fence of euphorbia, having only one entrance. The 
traders’ people camped in one, while I took up my 
quarters in the other. The sun had sunk, and the 
night being pitch dark, we had a glorious fire, around 
which we placed our angareps opposite the narrow 
entrance of the camp, about ten yards distant. I 
stationed fiicharn as sentry outside the gateway, as he 
was the most dependable of my men, and I thought it 
extremely probable that we might be attacked during 
the night; three other sentries I placed on guard at 
various stations. Dinner being concluded, Mrs. Baker 
lay down on her angarep for the night. I drew the 
balls from a double No. 10 smooth bore, and loaded 
with cartridge containing each twenty large-mould 
shot (about a hundred to the pound); putting this 
under my pillow I went to sleep. Hardly had I begun 
to rest, when my men woke me, saying that the camp 
was surrounded by natives. Upon inquiry I found 
this to be correct; it was so dark that they could not 
be seen without stooping to the ground, and looking 
H H 
