28 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

a great fancy to me—gathering for me ripe bananas,

and fetching me water when I wanted it. On the

second day the Mhuma manned to get a bad thorn

in her foot, which she tried in vain to extract.

Failing, however, and being in great pain, she came

to me, and I took it out for her, for which she

appeared very grateful.

On May 21, after a long march of twenty miles, we halted under a splendid shady tree near a village.

I was very tired, and after lunch I lay down against

a fallen log to get a little rest, while my men were

all scattered about eating and drinking, the chief

and his women being under the tree with me. I

lit my pipe, and under its influence fell fast asleep

;

but soon after I was awakened by the Mhuma girl, who had taken my revolver out of its case, and was

holding it with its butt end towards me. I jumped

up at once and seized the revolver, and as I did so a

spear quivered in the log, just in the place where

I had been lying, while another passed between my arm and side. The fact was, we were attacked by

about fifty natives. As there was no time to deli-

berate, I fired over them with my revolver. This

frightened them, they could not understand six

shots at a time. My men now came rushing up, and

the fray was soon ended, a few slight wounds and

bruises being the only damage. After this inter-

lude, my men all got drunk ; so that although we

had intended to reach Kahiira this day, we could

not do so, but passed the night at some huts about