I also sent a proclamation to be read publicly in the zareeba, summoning
all subjects of the Khedive to declare their allegiance to the
government.
On the following day (6th August) the blacksmith and his people returned
to Fabbo thoroughly disgusted. Upon their arrival near the zareeba of
Abou Saood they had cried out to the slave-hunters that they had brought
"a letter from the Pacha to Abou Saood!" The slave-hunters had replied
with a well-known form of abuse in that country, and had immediately
fired a volley into the blacksmith and the eight men of their own
people!
The blacksmith and his natives had lost no time in running back to
Fatiko; and the eight irregulars having thrown themselves on the ground,
had (the blacksmith supposed) at length explained who they were.
The patience and forbearance that I was obliged to assume were far more
trying to my feelings than the march from Masindi.
It has always been an intense satisfaction to me that I had reliable
witnesses to every incident of the expedition; otherwise, I might
perhaps have been suspected of some prejudice against Abou Saood and
certain Egyptian authorities that, unknown to myself, might have
discoloured the true aspect of affairs.
