the natives rose in a body, grasped their arms, and indulged
in a war-dance. Motio explained that it was useless
to expect any good behaviour from the Wamsara;
and added that his advice was for us to return at once
to the desert, and endeavour to find some other road
back to our camp at Hameye.
The shortest route to Hameye lay across the Jombeni
ranee, and Motio assured us that our O J march across this
range in our present condition would consume at least
three days. He added that, as the mountains were
densely populated, it would be absolutely impossible
to push across them with our small force, should the
natives prove hostile, and that they would so prove he
declared himself fully convinced.
Up to the time of our arrival at Wamsara the
behaviour of Motio was all we could desire, hence we
were loath to suspect him of treachery; but the fact
that he did not warn us of the possibility of a hostile
reception at the hands of the people on the mountains
forced us to think that whatever were his intentions,
his judgment, at least, was not the best in the world.
Our first duty was to our caravan and ourselves; so
Lieutenant von Hohnel and I both came to the conclusion
that but one road was open to us, and that it
led across the mountains, and through the territory of
the Wamsara. With the caravan in its then weakened
state, it would be impossible to make a long detour in
the desert, and trust to our rifles alone for our supply
of food. We weighed the matter carefully, and went
to rest that night with our minds fully made up.
A t two o’clock in the morning I had my men
awakened, and all preparations were silently made for
our departure. I served out twenty rounds of ammunition
to each of the porters, and provided each of
the Soudanese and Somali with fifty. This well-nigh
exhausted the store of cartridges we had taken with us.
Owing to the amount of shooting I had done while on
this journey, I had at that time but fifty-five rounds left
T y p e o f L a n d s c a p e
for my Winchester, and Lieutenant von Hohnel had
sixty-four left for his Mannlicher. After serving out
the ammunition to the men, we discovered that we had
300 rounds as a reserve supply in case of emergencies.
It was a bright moonlight night, and strict watch
was kept, lest the natives should attack us; for Motio
had told us that the Zanzibari caravan, which had been