They fancied in Egypt that all Emin needed to do was to pack up his effects and go by the coast to Zanzibar. It never occurred to them that the greatest obstacle in Emin’s way was his own Egyptian officers and soldiers. While at Khartoum he had repeatedly notified the government that it ought to change garrisons every two years, but it had never made any reply. The larger part of his people, who had never left the country, wanted to stay at home and live as their ancestors had lived. For the Egyptians the Equatorial Provinces had become a second home and more of a Paradise than they had ever found in their native land. They had married and founded families, they had bought or stolen slaves, they had cattle and goats. As they could not have these things in Egypt, why should they leave such a country? Gordon had to meet the same difficulties when he undertook the evacuation of the entire Soudan. He too knew that such a problem could not be solved.
Emin’s subordinates had very little confidence in the Egyptian government, for they had been without pay or provisions for a year. Again, the people could not understand why the government intended giving up the whole of the Soudan. No one had the most distant idea that the Mahdi’s troops could stand against the Egyptian army. Not a person in the Equatorial Provinces believed the reports of previous defeat or the destruction of Hicks Pasha’s army. So the efforts of Emin to concentrate his entire strength in the Soudan were fruitless. His officers had no intention of leaving Lado. Unfortunately the despatch referring to evacuation was in French. Its genuineness was not only doubted, but it was regarded as an invention of Emin’s. With the intention of going southward and thence to the east coast, Emin sent messengers to Lado to prepare his people for their departure. A letter informed him that in consequence of his orders revolt was spreading and no one would go to the south. If they were forced to go, they would seize all the weapons and supplies and kill all who opposed them.
Signs of this revolt were speedily apparent. In the middle of March, 1886, the old subordinate officers and the people of Bornu, Adamana, and other places united in a plot to kill the officers at Lado as well as the Soudanese and found a free state. An Egyptian officer heard of it and reported it to his superior, who placed the leaders in chains, but some days later let them go unpunished—a mistaken clemency for such a time. In Dufile a sergeant fired at his officer, but missed him.
During this time of uneasiness Emin undertook three journeys to the Albert Nyanza and discovered a large river flowing from the south, the one called Semliki by Stanley, and the last of the hitherto unknown Nile branches. For political reasons Emin devoted his entire attention to that region which appeared to him the one which they had selected for the retreat. Thereupon he proceeded with repairs on his two steamers.
By the middle of April, 1887, twelve stations were in Emin’s possession, nearly all of them those which Gordon had intrusted to him in his time. In a letter to Dr. Felkir he writes: “We sow, harvest, spin, and live every day as if it were to continue forever. It is curious how one long shut away from the world develops his vegetative faculties. I shall not leave my people. We have had hard and troublous days together and I should consider it shameful to desert my post. We have known each other for long years and I do not believe that my successor could gain their confidence.”
He is now preparing to leave the country with his people, but not until a relief expedition reaches him. That such an expedition is on the way he knows of a certainty. His European friends have communicated to him their intention of helping him to carry out his plans.
Chapter VIII
Stanley Comes to the Relief of Emin
The scanty news from the heart of Africa relating to this heroic man, forsaken by all the world, doing his duty and remaining at his post undisturbed by any thought of danger or death, and deserted by the government he represented, aroused interest and increasing sympathy in Europe. In England especially it was regarded as a duty to help Emin, thereby making some reparation for the dilatory policy which had sacrificed Gordon, and with him the whole Soudan. Emin’s letter to Dr. Felkir was published in the London Times, in the autumn of 1886, and led to the organization of an Emin Pasha Relief Committee, under the presidency of Sir William MacKinnon. This committee quickly raised a large sum for the fitting out of a great expedition under command of Henry Morton Stanley, the founder of the Congo Free State and African expert.
Stanley came at once from America and secured all the necessary supplies, weapons, and articles for barter in such quantities that Emin could hardly have long contained himself had he possessed them. Nine Europeans, at the cost of much self-sacrifice, accompanied the expedition as officers. Among them was Dr. Parke, a noble friend of humanity, who had acquired great fame by alleviating the fearful sufferings of travellers and saving many lives. The next step was the selection of a route and Stanley chose one along the Congo and across the equator, a hitherto untraversed region. He had a special reason for selecting this route. He was anxious to complete his earlier discoveries and the possibility of going across Africa with such a large and finely equipped expedition might not occur again, for he had over six hundred carriers besides soldiers with him and he feared that these people might desert him and go back to the east coast if he went by way of Zanzibar. As they were situated, they had to follow him if they wished to get home again, for flight would only take them to unknown regions where death certainly awaited them.
Losing very little time, Stanley went to Egypt and secured from the Khedive an official letter to Emin and then went on to Zanzibar to get the necessary people. He was especially fortunate in securing Tippoo Tib, a leading trader and investor in Central Africa, and a near neighbor of the Congo Free State. Stanley feared if he did not attach this man to his service, who had almost princely power, the Arabs in the interior might play havoc with his expedition. His preparations gave him more trouble than he had expected. When he reached the mouth of the Congo and found the vessels which the King of Belgium had placed at his disposal, they were all unfit for use. It was only with the greatest exertions that three of them were put in tolerable condition. They had hardly gone a mile when the screw of the steamer Peace gave out. Then the steamer Stanley got out of order and there was no end to his troubles and disappointments. The situation, however, was not very serious so long as they were sailing up the river and ever and again passing stations belonging to the Congo Free State. At last, however, they must leave the river and travel on foot through an unknown wilderness.