At the beginning of August the expedition was reported to be advancing without the ammunition and stores designed for Emin. Provisions were scarce, the officers and men undergoing great privations, and suffering from disease and hunger. Tippu-Tib had failed to send to Yambuya the five hundred carriers who were to convey the stores. This failure was not due to treachery, since he was still at his post and faithful to Mr. Stanley’s interests. In consequence of the disturbed state of the country he could not, as had been agreed upon, organize a revictualling caravan to be dispatched direct to the Albert Nyanza by the way of the River Mbourou, but he agreed to do so as soon as possible. The agitation continued in the country between Stanley Falls and the confluence of the Aruwimi with the Congo. Several villages on the right bank of the Congo had been pillaged and laid waste, and a large number of the natives had crossed the river to the opposite bank.
Thus, Mr. Stanley and his comrades plunged into the wilderness, and were lost to the sight of the world. From time to time thereafter countless rumors came from Africa regarding them—rumors varied in tone as in number. At one time they had reached Emin in safety. Again they were all massacred long before they got to Wadelai. Now, Mr. Stanley had put himself at the head of Emin’s army, and was marching on Khartoum to avenge Gordon and overthrow the Mahdi; and then he and Emin were captured by the Mahdist forces at Lado. Stories came of a mysterious “White Pasha” who was leading a conquering army through the Bahr el Ghazel country, and it was very generally believed that it was Mr. Stanley, who had reached Wadelai and was returning to the coast by the way of the Niger. But on December 15th, 1888, startling news came from Suakim, on the Red Sea coast of Egypt. Osman Digna, the Frenchman who had turned Arab, and was leader of the Mahdist army there, under a flag of truce informed the British commander that Emin’s province had fallen into Arab hands, and that Emin and Stanley were prisoners. In proof of this he sent a copy of a letter just received from a Mahdist officer in the Soudan, as follows:
“In the name of the Great God, etc. This is from the least among God’s servants to his Master and Chief Khalifa, etc. We proceeded with the steamers and army. Reached the town Lado, where Emin, Mudir of Equator, is staying. We reached this place 5th Safar, 1306. We must thank officers and men who made this conquest easy to us before our arrival. They caught Emin and a traveler staying with him, and put both in chains. The officers and men refused to go to Egypt with the Turks. Tewfik sent Emin one of the travellers, whose name is Mr. Stanley. This Mr. Stanley brought with him a letter from Tewfik to Emin, dated 8th Jemal Aowal, 1304, No. 81, telling Emin to come with Mr. Stanley, and gave the rest of the force the option to go to Cairo or remain. The force refused the Turkish orders, and gladly received us. I found a great deal of feathers and ivory. I am sending with this, on board the ‘Bordain,’ the officers and chief clerk. I am also sending the letter which came to Emin from Tewfik, with the banners we took from the Turks. I heard that there is another traveller who came to Emin, but I heard that he returned. I am looking out for him. If he comes back again, I am sure to catch him. All the chiefs of the province with the inhabitants were delighted to receive us. I have taken all the arms and ammunition. Please return the officers and chief clerk when you have seen them and given the necessary instructions, because they will be of great use to me.”
This was accompanied by what appeared to be a letter written by the Khedive at Cairo to Emin, which had been intrusted to Mr. Stanley to deliver, and this convinced many of the truth of Osman Digna’s story. But, as a matter of fact, as will be seen later, it was all an ingenious lie, concocted for the purpose of frightening the British into abandoning Suakim to the slave-traders. Meantime there was true news of actual disasters on the Congo. Major Barttelot, commanding the rearguard of the expedition, was murdered; and Mr. Jamieson, who succeeded to the command, died of fever. Under these circumstances, the gloomiest and most anxious views prevailed regarding Mr. Stanley’s fate. That famous and experienced African traveller, Mr. Joseph Thomson, expressed the opinion that the whole expedition had been annihilated. “Stanley,” he said, “has met his terrible fate in some such way as this: He started from the Aruwimi, and almost immediately plunged into dense forests, to be made worse by swamps further east. Through such a country his caravan would have to travel in single file, with probably no more than twenty men in sight at one time. Under such conditions it would be impossible for the Europeans to keep in touch with their men, and thus scattered, thus without officers in a sense, they would fight at a terrible disadvantage. And fight they would have to for daily food if nothing else, and consequently with each succeeding week less able to continue the struggle. In this way they plunged deeper and deeper into the recesses of the unknown forest and swamp—and deeper and deeper, no doubt, into the heart of a powerful tribe of natives. And then the end came. Probably in that last struggle for life not a soul escaped.
“If you ask me why no news, no rumor of that catastrophe leaked out, I answer because there was no trade, not even a slave route, through that region. There was no native or Arab merchant to carry the news from tribe to tribe; and as each tribe has little but fighting relations with the neighboring ones, the tidings would not get through by their means. And, after all, what would the massacre of a passing caravan be to those savages? Only a common incident not worth speaking about beside the continual tribal wars they are accustomed to. The one thing they would find to remark would be the wonderful character of the plunder. Some day, no doubt, the news will leak out, but it may be months before anything reaches us. It is not much use crying over spilt milk, but one cannot help lamenting over this probable new disaster. It is all so much on a par with our terrible blunderings in the Soudan and East Africa. Only another remarkable man killed, and the magnificent life’s work of another ruined. But for the selection of the Congo route Stanley might have been alive, Emin succored, and not improbably the Mahdi’s host defeated.”
These were weighty words, coming from so eminent an authority, and they carried conviction to the hearts of many. But less than ten days later positive and authentic news of Mr. Stanley’s arrival at Emin Pasha’s capital was received, and April 3d, 1889, full details of the campaign, written by Mr. Stanley himself, were received and published. This letter was to the Chairman of the Relief Committee, and was dated at Bungangeta Island, Ituri or Aruwimi River, August 28th, 1888, and from which we quote:
“A short dispatch briefly announcing that we had placed the first installment of relief in the hands of Emin Pasha on the Albert Nyanza was sent to you by couriers from Stanley Falls, along with letters to Tippu-Tib, the Arab Governor of that district, on the 17th inst., within three hours of our meeting with the rear column of the expedition. I propose to relate to you the story of our movements since June 28th, 1887.
“I had established an entrenched and palisaded camp at Yambuya, on the Lower Aruwimi, just below the first rapids. Major Edmund Barttelot, being senior of these officers with me, was appointed commandant. Mr. J. S. Jamieson, a volunteer, was associated with him. On the arrival of all men and goods from Bolobo and Stanley Pool, the officers still believed Messrs. Troup, Ward and Bonny were to report to Major Barttelot for duty. But no important action or movement (according to letter of instructions given by me to the Major before leaving) was to be made without consulting with Messrs. Jamieson, Troup, and Ward. The columns under Major Barttelot’s orders mustered two hundred and fifty-seven men.
“As I requested the Major to send you a copy of the instructions issued to each officer, you are doubtless aware that the Major was to remain at Yambuya until the arrival of the steamer from Stanley Pool with the officers, men, and goods left behind; and if Tippu-Tib’s promised contingent of carriers had in the meantime arrived, he was to march his column and follow our track, which, so long as it traversed the forest region, would be known by the blazing of the trees, by our camps and zaribas, etc. If Tippu-Tib’s carriers did not arrive, then, if he (the Major) preferred moving on to staying at Yambuya, he was to discard such things as mentioned in letter of instructions, and commence making double and triple journeys by short stages, until I should come down from the Nyanza and relieve him. The instructions were explicit and, as the officers admitted, intelligible.
“The advance column, consisting of three hundred and eighty-nine officers and men, set out from Yambuya, June 28th, 1887. The first day we followed the river bank, marched twelve miles, and arrived in the large district of Yankondé. At our approach the natives set fire to their villages, and, under cover of the smoke, attacked the pioneers who were clearing the numerous obstructions they had planted before the first village. The skirmish lasted fifteen minutes. The second day we followed a path leading inland but trending east. We followed this path for five days through a dense population. Every art known to native minds for molesting, impeding, and wounding an enemy was resorted to, but we passed through without the loss of a man. Perceiving that the path was taking us too far from our course, we cut a northeasterly track, and reached the river again on the 5th of July. From this date until the 18th of October we followed the left bank of the Aruwimi. After seventeen days’ continuous marching we halted one day for rest. On the twenty-fourth day from Yambuya we lost two men by desertion. In the month of July we made four halts only. On the 1st of August the first death occurred, which was from dysentery; so that for thirty-four days our course had been singularly successful. But as we now entered a wilderness, which occupied us nine days in marching through it, our sufferings began to multiply, and several deaths occurred. The river at this time was of great use to us. Our boat and several canoes relieved the wearied and sick of their loads, so that progress, though not brilliant as during the first month, was still steady.