must be allowed to make a razzia upon the cattle of the natives to
procure some oxen. This demand being of course refused, they retired,
muttering in an insolent manner their determination of stealing cattle
with or without my permission. I said nothing at the time, but early on
the following morning I ordered the drum to beat and the men to fall
in. I made them a short address, reminding them of the agreement made
at Khartoum to follow me faithfully, and of the compact that had been
entered into, that they were neither to indulge in slave-hunting nor in
cattle-stealing. The only effect of my address was a great outbreak of
insolence on the part of the ringleader of the previous evening. This
fellow, named Eesur, was an Arab, and his impertinence was so violent
that I immediately ordered him twenty-five lashes, as an example to the
others.

Upon the vakeel's (Saati) advancing to seize him, there was a general
mutiny. Many of the men threw down their guns and seized sticks, and
rushed to the rescue of their tall ringleader. Saati was a little man,
and was perfectly helpless. Here was an escort! These were the men upon
whom I was to depend in hours of difficulty and danger on an expedition
into unknown regions! These were the fellows that I had considered to be
reduced "from wolves to lambs"!

I was determined not to be balked, but to insist upon the punishment
of the ringleader. I accordingly went toward him with the intention
of seizing him; but he, being backed by upward of forty men, had
the impertinence to attack me, rushing forward with a fury that was
ridiculous. To stop his blow and to knock him into the middle of the
crowd was not difficult, and after a rapid repetition of the dose I
disabled him, and seizing him by the throat I called to my vakeel Saati
for a rope to bind him, but in an instant I had a crowd of men upon me
to rescue their leader.

How the affair would have ended I cannot say; but as the scene lay
within ten yards of my boat, my wife, who was ill with fever in the
cabin, witnessed the whole affray, and seeing me surrounded, she rushed
out, and in a few moments she was in the middle of the crowd, who at
that time were endeavoring to rescue my prisoner. Her sudden appearance
had a curious effect, and calling upon several of the least mutinous to
assist, she very pluckily made her way up to me. Seizing the opportunity
of an indecision that was for the moment evinced by the crowd, I shouted
to th