Meanwhile Frank was busy with s ix ty men
armed with axes in constructing a strong stockade,
and on the return o f the Wangwana they
were employed in building marksmen’s “ nests”
at each corner o f the camp. W e also cleared
t e ground to the space o f 200 yards around
the camp. B y night our camp was secure, and
perfectly defensible.
On the morning o f the 24th we waited patiently
in our camp. W h y should we attack? W e were
wretched enough as it was without seeking to
add to our wretchedness. We numbered only
seventy effective men, for all the others were
invalids, frightened porters, women, donkey-boys,
and children. The sick list was alarming, but,
t r y how we might, the number was not to be
reduced. While we lived from hand to mouth
on a few grains o f corn a day, after a month’s
experience o f famine fare, our plight must not
only remain pitiable, but become worse. W e
were therefore in a mood to p ra y that we might
not be attacked, but permitted to leave the camp
in safety.
A t 9 a.m., however, the enemy appeared, reinforced
both in numbers and confidence, for the adjoining
districts on the north and east had been
summoned to the “ war.” This, word means
now, as is evident, daily attacks upon our camp,
with forces hourly increasing, until we shall
have also perhaps strange tribes to the westrJan.
24, »8751 A THREE DAYS’ FIGHT.
L Vinyata. J
ward invited to the extermination o f the strangers,
and ourselves be in the meantime penned in our.
hold until hunger reduces us to surrender , to
be butchered without mercy.
Our position, as strangers in a hostile country,
is such that we cannot exist as a corporate
expedition, unless we resist with all our might
and skill, in order to terminate hostilities and.
secure access to the western country. W e therefore
wait until they advance upon our camp,
and drive them from its vicinity as we did the
day before. In half an hour our people are
b ack, and organized into four detachments of-
ten men each under their separate chiefs, two
more detachments o f ten men each being
held in re se rve , and one other, o f ten also,
detailed for the defence o f the camp. T h e y
are instructed to proceed in skirmishing order
An different directions through the hostile country,
and to drive the inhabitants out wherever they
find them lodged, to a distance o f five miles
east and north, certain ro ck y hills, the rendezvous
o f the foe, being pointed out as the place where
th ey must converge. Messengers are sent with
each detachment to bring me back information.
The left detachment, under chief Farjalla
Christie, were soon thrown into disorder, and
were killed to a man, except the messenger who
brought us the news, imploring for the reserve,
as the enemy were now concentrated on the