This declaration was followed by loud shouts—"We won't let you go alone; the natives are treacherous; we will follow wherever you lead. Are we not soldiers of the Sultan? are you not the Sultan's Pacha?"
I had them in hand; therefore I at once terminated the scene by commanding silence. I then gave an order aloud to the officers: "Return carts and all baggage on board vessels at sunrise to-morrow. All troops to be ready for the advance."
"Bugler! sound the retreat."
That peculiar habit of discipline yielded instinctively to the sound of the bugle. The officer gave the order, "Right, turn," and the late tumultuous crowd marched quietly to their quarters. This was ended; at the same time it was not cheering.
My Englishmen, who had been witnesses of this scene, were filled with indignation. They were men who thoroughly represented English determination, and they at once volunteered to carry their own baggage if I would only permit them to accompany me.
How often my heart has beaten with pride when I have seen the unconquerable spirit of the country burst forth like an unextinguishable flame in any great emergency!
I now had to quell the eagerness of my own good fellows, as I knew that if "the spirit was willing, the flesh was weak," and it would be impossible for Englishmen to carry loads through a journey in a tropical country.
I saw the necessity of the occasion at a glance; and I gave the necessary orders.
The Englishmen, together with the steamer sections, machinery, &c., must return to Gondokoro. They must immediately commence the construction of the No. 2 steamer of 108 tons and 20-horse power, as this vessel, being provided with twin screws instead of paddles, would be able to pass through the narrow channels of the Bahr Giraffe, and communicate with Khartoum.
I gave the order to prepare to-morrow for a return to Gondokoro.