The girl spoke good Arabic,
and did not appear to show the slightest alarm.
I asked her why the Belinian Baris had attacked us, and taken cattle
from the station at Gondokoro, without the slightest provocation? She
replied that they had been invited by the sheik Allorron to become
allies, therefore they had attacked us and driven off the cows, some of
which were now among the cattle we had that morning captured.
I told her that we never took slaves, therefore she and her companions
might return to the Baris, and inform them that I had come upon the
tracks of the cattle which they had driven off from Gondokoro. If they
desired peace, I should be happy to treat with them, but if they should
return to attack us at head-quarters, I should not spare them, but I
would utterly root them out of the neighbourhood. The girls laughed and
started off, not in the least disturbed by the scene around them.
At length, Tayib Agha's detachment arrived. They were very angry with
Morgian, the guide, who, they declared, had purposely misled them. This
was not the fact; the man had lost his way in the dark in the endeavour
to seek a better path for the gun. However, we were now united, and I
ordered the men to breakfast.
