while the crowd of armed savages thrust them forward
with wild yells to the very verge of'the great precipice
about five hundred feet below. Down they
fe ll! hurled to utter destruction by the mass of La-
tookas pressing onward ! A few fought to the last;
but one and all were at length forced, by sheer pressure,
over the edge of the cliff, and met a just reward
for their atrocities.
My men looked utterly cast down, and a feeling of
horror pervaded the entire party. No quarter had
been given by the Latookas; and upwards of 200
natives, who had joined the slave-hunters in the
attack, had also perished with their allies. Mahommed
Her had not himself accompanied his people, both he
and Bellaal, my late ringleader, having remained in
camp; the latter having, fortunately for him, been
disabled, and placed hors de combat by the example
I had made during the mutiny. My men were almost
green with awe, when I asked them solemnly, “Where
were the men who had deserted from me ? ” Without
answering a word they brought two of my guns and
laid them a t my feet They were covered with clotted
blood mixed with sajud, which had hardened like
cement over the locks and various portions of the
barrels. My guns were all marked. As I looked
at the numbers upon the stocks, I repeated aloud the
names of the owners. “ Are they all dead ? ” I asked.
“All dead,” the men replied. “Food fo r the vultures?”
I asked. “ None of the bodies can be recovered,”
faltered my vakeel. “ The two guns were brought
from the spot by some natives who escaped, and who
saw the men fall. They are all killed.” “ Better for
them had they remained with me and done their
duty. The hand of God is heavy,” I replied. My
men slunk away abashed, leaving the gory witnesses
of defeat and death upon the ground. I called Saat
and ordered him to give the two guns to Bicharn to
clean.
Not only my own men but the whole of Ibrahim’s
party were of opinion that I had some mysterious connexion
with the disaster that had befallen my mutineers.
All remembered the bitterness of my prophecy,
“ The vultures will pick their bones,” and this terrible
mishap having occurred so immediately afterwards
took a strong hold upon their superstitious minds. As
I passed through the camp the men would quietly exclaim,
“Wah Illahi Hawaga!” (My God! Master.) To
which I simply replied, “ Robing f e ! ”, (There is a
G od.) From that moment I observed an extraordinary
change in the manner of both my people and those
of Ibrahim, all of whom now paid us the greatest
respect.