o ordered
Bombay to resume his position of factotum, and count over the kit.
Whilst this was going on, a villager came to me with a wire, and asked
me to change it for a cloth. I saw at once what the game was; so I asked
my friend where he got it, on which he at once pointed to Baraka. I
then heard the men who were standing round us say one to another in
under-tones, giggling with the fun of it, "Oh, what a shame of him! Did
you hear what Bana said, and that fool's reply to it? What a shame of
him to tell in that way." Without appearing to know, or rather to hear,
the by-play that was going on, I now said to Baraka, "How is it this
man has got one of my wires, for I told you not to touch or unpack
them during my absence?" To which he coolly replied, in face of such
evidence, "It is not one of your wires; I never gave away one of yours;
there are lots more wires besides yours in the country. The man tells
a falsehood; he had the wire before, but now, seeing your cloth open,
wants to exchange it." "If that is the case," I said, taking things
easy, "how is it you have opened my loads and scattered the wires about
in the tent?" "Oh, that was to take care of them; for I thought, if
they were left outside all night with the rest of the property, some one
would steal them, and I should get the blame of it."

Further parley was useless; for, though both my wires and cloths were
short, still it was better not to kick up a row, when I had so much
to do to keep all my men in good temper for the journey. Baraka then,
wishing to beguile me, as he thought he could do, into believing him a
wonderful man for both pluck and honesty, said he had had many battles
to fight with the men since I had been gone to Kaze, for there were
two strong parties in the camp; those who, during the late rebellion at
Zanzibar, had belonged to the Arabs that sided with Sultan Majid, and
were royalists, and those who, having belonged to the rebellious Arabs,
were on the opposite side. The battle commenced, he stated, by the one
side abusing the other for their deeds during that rebellion, the rebels
in this sort of contest proving themselves the stronger. But he, heading
the royalist party, soon reduced them to order, though only for a short
while, as from that point they turned round to open mutiny for more
rations; and some of the rebels tried to kill him, which, he said, they
would have done had he not settled the matter by buying some cows for
them. It