While the events described in the preceding chapter were being enacted, M. Tobback, Resident for the Congo Free State at Stanley Falls, with his second in command, Lieutenant Van Lindt, and a small force, occupied a position of imminent danger. Rashid, a nephew of Tippo Tip and cousin to Sefu, was installed there. This arch-traitor, while professing the utmost friendship for the State authorities, and accepting favours at the hands of Belgian officers, was really a confederate of the Arabs. His character, which had long been suspected, appeared unmistakably from evidence discovered by Lieutenant Dhanis at Kassongo, when that place was captured by the State troops. On May 13th, immediately after he had been informed of the fall of Kassongo, Rashid openly attacked the State garrison. A fierce fight ensued, in which three of Tobback’s men were killed and seven wounded. Nearly a hundred of Rashid’s men were placed hors de combat; but he was better able to stand the loss than Tobback was his. Four days the struggle continued with varying fortune, but on the fifth day it became evident to Tobback that it was impossible for him, with the handful of men at his disposal, to successfully resist the large force operating against him. He was perfecting his plans for the evacuation of the station, and had prepared six large canoes, when the whole situation changed by the opportune arrival of Commandant Chaltin. The presence of this officer, and the State troops that accompanied him, justified the experiment of an attack upon the Arabs, which proved entirely successful. The State troops captured all the Arab positions, and took fifteen hundred prisoners, Rashid himself escaping capture in ignominious flight.
At this juncture the Congo State officers came to the conclusion that the Arab power was effectually broken, and they did not anticipate further trouble with the slave-traders beyond, possibly, an occasional skirmish. The State’s progress in its campaign against the Arabs had, on the whole, been extremely successful, and its Sovereign had good reason to be satisfied with the work accomplished. When, in June, 1893, Captain Ponthier came up the Congo with reinforcements for Dhanis, that event seemed to give emphasis to this optimistic view. Certainly it so alarmed Sefu that he abandoned the struggle and fled to German territory.
An Avenue at Boma.
A Fatal Blunder.
Immediately after the flight of Sefu a painful incident occurred which greatly embarrassed the Congo State authorities. A Belgian officer, having come to the groundless opinion that Gongo Lutete was a traitor, ordered him to be court-martialled and shot. It was a disastrous event, not only wrong in itself, but alienating from the State the affection of Gongo’s men, and affording its enemies in Europe an opportunity of reviling the Congo Administration; a libel which, though it has been many times refuted, they still industriously disseminate.
A New Enemy Appears.
It soon became evident that May, 1893, was not to be recorded in history as the month in which slave-trading Arabs had been finally repressed. A chief belonging to Ujiji, named Rumeliza, with a considerable force of Arabs, now appeared east of Tanganyika. Having penetrated as far as Kabambari, midway between Kassongo and the lake, he encamped there, and explained his presence by avowing his intention to reconquer Manyema.
Rumeliza’s following was so numerous and so well equipped that October had arrived before Captain (for such he had recently become) Dhanis thought it expedient to move against him. When he did take the field, his force consisted of five officers (of whom Ponthier was one), about four hundred regulars, and three hundred auxiliaries; and they had with them the Krupp gun which had served them so well in many a battle. Unfortunately, ammunition for it was all but exhausted.
On reaching the Arabs’ camp at Mwana Mkwanga, they were found to be very advantageously placed in two large, well-built bomas.[18] The first efforts to dislodge them met with no success. The Krupp gun proved of very little service. Of the scanty supply of ammunition, a large portion was wasted by the native troops through lack of skill in manipulating the gun, and finally they abandoned it, after which it was worked by European officers who could be ill spared for the duty. When one of his officers, De Lange, fell wounded, Captain Dhanis decided to retire, and a position was taken up scarcely inferior to that held by the Arabs.