well knew those three notes were the war-signal of
the Latookas.
I immediately called Suleiman. It was necessary
to act in -Unison. I ordered him to heat the drum
loudly for about five minutes to answer the nogara,
His men Were all scattered in several small inelosures,
I called them all out into the open quadrangle; in
the centre of which I placed the baggage, and planted
the English ensign in the middle, while the Turks
fixed their flag within a few paces. Posting sentries
at each corner of the square, I stationed patrols in
the principal street. In the meantime Mrs. Baker
had laid out upon a mat several hundred cartridges of
buck-shot, powder-flasks, . wadding, and opened several:
boxes of caps, all of which were neatly arranged for a
reserve of ammunition; while a long row of first-class
double guns and rifles lay in readiness. - The boy Saat
was full of fight, and immediately strapped on his belt
and eartouche-box, and took his stand among the men.
I ordered the men, in the event of an attack, to
immediately set fire to all the huts around the quadrangle;
in which ease the sudden rush Of a large body
of men would be impossible, and the huts being of
straw, the town would be quickly in a blaze.
Everything was in order to resist an attack in five
minutes from the sounding of the nogara,
The patrols shortly reported that' large bodies of
men were collecting outside the town. The.great
nogara again beat, and was answered at intervals as
before from the neighbouring villages; but the Turks’
drum kept up an uninterrupted roll as a challenge
whenever the nogara sounded. Instead of the intense
stillness that had formerly been almost painful, a
distinct hum of distant voices betokened the gathering
of large bodies of men. However, we were well fortified;
and the Latookas knew it. We occupied the,
very stronghold that they had themselves constructed
for the defence of their town; and the square being
surrounded with strong iron-wood palisades with only
a narrow entrance, would be impregnable when held,
as now, by fifty men well armed with guns against
a mob whose best weapons were only lances. I sent
men up the watchmen’s stations; these were about
twenty-five feet high ; and the night being clear, they
could distinctly report the movements of a dark mass
qf natives that were ever increasing on the outside
of the town at about two hundred yards’ distance..
The rattle of the Turks’ drum repeatedly sounded in
reply to the nogara, and the intended attack seemed
destined to relapse into a noisy but empty battle of
the drums.
A few hours passed in uncertainty, when, at about