I should say here a few words about Major Owen. To
the majority of his countrymen he was known only as
a brilliant steeplechase rider. If he had lived I think he
would have been as well known as a great general and a
ruler of men. As soon as he reached Uganda he was
sent by Sir Gerald Portal to organize the Soudanese who
had been left in the forts south of Unyoro by Captain
Lugard. These men, with their families and slaves, made
RODDY OWEN.
up several thousand souls. Left to themselves for many
months they had lost all notion of discipline, and lived
by making raids into the territory round their forts.
Their nominal chiefs were the same officers who had
mutinied against Emin and put him in chains. From the
first moment of his arrival among this turbulent horde
Major Owen showed them that they had at last a master.
He stopped their raids and conciliated the native chiefs
round thè forts. He was next confronted by a plot
originated by the rebel Mahomedans, who, driven out of
4 14
Uganda by Captain Macdonald, had collected in great
force around the frontier forts. With these the Egyptian
officers, who had not been re-enlisted by Major Owen on
his arrival, but had been allowed to remain in the forts,
conspired to seize him as a hostage and then join the
rebels. The presence of mind of Major Owen frustrated
this design ; he called the ringleader—an Egyptian officer
who had not been re-enlisted—and told him that, having
heard of a plot, he had appointed him in command of the
forts; he further told the surprised conspirator that of course
now that he was in command he was one of the Queen’s
soldiers and responsible for the good behaviour of the men,
and also for the safety of the magazine. In case anything
happened to him (Major Owen) there were plenty more
officers in Uganda who would come and make the
responsible commander pay for his crime. The man was
so impressed that he not only remained loyal but declined
to give the keys of the magazine to his fellow conspirators.
The Major then called out the troops and asked
them if they were ready to fight the Mahomedans. They
swore they were anxious to do so, and immediately Major
Owen took them to fight the rebel Mahomedans and
completely routed them. The day before this battle he
had received orders to evacuate the forts, without any
instructions relative to the Mahomedan rebels. At the
same moment small-pox broke out in the Waganda army
that had followed the Mahomedans, and Kabarega, King of
Unyoro, attacked the western forts. As no instructions
had reached him, Major Owen made an armistice with
the rebels and decided to take them back to Uganda,
holding their chiefs as hostages. On the way he met
Captain Macdonald, but his negotiations with the chiefs
of the Mahomedans were interrupted by their flight, all
their people dispersing, partly into Unyoro and partly
into the German sphere, as I have said. A certain
number of them, however, who had taken no part in the
rebellion, remained in Uganda. After this the Soudanese