Our position was now critical. When we came to look at our stores and take stock of our resources, we found we had food for some days, and water, owing to Hatibu’s foresight in choosing the position of our camp. But though we only numbered, including Hatibu, myself, and the new-comers, thirty-three men, of whom only seventeen had muskets, we could not muster more than four rounds for each gun. Many of us were wounded, and though the wounded were all able to get about in camp, still in a hand-to-hand fight, which might be expected at any instant, they would not be so useful as if they were unhurt. Worst of all, six of the men lost that day had their muskets with them, and ammunition in their pouches; also, a small barrel of powder had been among the stores abandoned when the first surprise took place.

We no longer possessed the advantage of our enemies being without fire-arms. That they knew how to use them we soon had proof, for several times during the night muskets were fired in the woods around us. The slugs or whatever they used fell short, and though they kept us on the alert they did us no actual harm.

All night long we also worked hard at improving our fortifications. As the platforms erected, though protected against spears and arrows, were not safe from musketry fire, on my suggestion we dug pits at different points round the inside of our boma, and a ditch to connect them, so that we could run to the most threatened points without danger from bullets.

At daybreak, though we could see the natives swarming in the woods, and evidently prepared to swoop down on us if we left our cover, we were able to snatch a little rest, only leaving a few of our number to keep a look-out on their movements. Up till the middle of the afternoon they did not attempt to annoy us; but then we saw bodies of men come out from the jungle, headed by men who carried our lost muskets, while the barrel of powder was borne behind them in triumph. We tried one or two shots in the hope of drawing their fire, but it had only the effect of making them keep out of range; and as we could afford no ammunition for fancy firing and long shots, we let them go on as they chose without interference.

After a time we saw men bringing trees and branches and building a sort of boma round the clearing in which our camp was situated. Soon we saw their intention was to enclose us, so that if we attempted to force our way out they would have the advantage of the position, and that we were now caught like rats in a trap.

Some of the men now began to despond, and said if one of the parties of slaves had been intercepted all might have been. There was no chance of Tipolo coming to our relief, and we had best surrender, for the worst that would happen to us was to be made slaves, and as well be the slaves of Mona Mkulla as be killed.

Hatibu’s look of anger and indignation when he heard this craven counsel was a sight worthy of a painter. He rated the men who made it as cowards and dogs, and said the idea that men from “the island” should become slaves to these heathen was not to be entertained for one instant. Those who wished to be slaves could go at once, and there would be more food and more powder for those who remained behind. The effect of his fiery indignation was to put a stop to all mention of surrender, and all we could do was now to wait patiently for assistance, or for the deliverance from our sufferings by death.

Two or three times the natives seemed to make up their mind to take us by assault, but each time when they came within range of our fire they faltered and fell back, and never pushed their attack home. Soon they confined their annoyance to insults and gibes, and in the darkness of night sending men armed with our muskets to keep us on the alert by a dropping fire. As we were well sheltered in our pits, we did not care for this last form of offence at all; in fact we were rather glad of it, as we knew that they were expending their powder uselessly.

On the third day of our blockade we were destined to a fresh and more painful experience than we had yet encountered. One of the men who had been very slightly wounded with an arrow on the fore arm came to Hatibu and complained that he felt shooting pains in his arm. We did all we could by bathing it with cold water; but his pains increased, and soon he fell into most frightful convulsions. He begged for water, being consumed by thirst, but was utterly unable to swallow owing to the convulsive action of his throat, and soon his jaw became locked. He now endured the most frightful agony, his body becoming at times as rigid as a bar of steel, while pieces of wood which he gripped in his hands were crumbled into splinters. Sometimes the action of his muscles was so powerful as to bend him like a bow backwards, and then there were spasmodic relaxations and twitchings which seemed to tear him in pieces.

For four or five hours he endured this agony, and before he died three more of our wounded men were seized in the same manner. We could do nothing whatever to relieve them, but could only remain passive spectators of their horrible and intense agony. All four had been wounded with arrows; and five others, who had also received arrow wounds, became so powerfully affected by seeing the sufferings of their fellows, that they too fell victims to the fell demon of lockjaw. I cannot describe a tithe of the extraordinary things they suffered, and if I did I do not think that I should be believed; but one of them in his agony seized a hardwood spear-shaft in his teeth and bedded them so deeply that after death it could not be taken out of his mouth.

Curiously enough the remainder of the wounded men, whose wounds being from spears were much larger and apparently more serious than those from the arrows, did not suffer from lockjaw, and all their wounds healed up kindly. The sufferers themselves ascribed their torments to the arrows being poisoned; but I afterwards found that it was not the case that our enemies used poisoned arrows in war, but reserved them for hunting. Their fighting arrows were tipped with pieces of excessively hard wood made as sharp as needles; and I believe that the truth is, that a punctured wound is likely to cause lockjaw, while a cut or a gash will not.

All these nine poor fellows died, thus reducing our number to twenty-four. We had hard work to make shift to bury the dead; but this, however, after much toil we managed to do, scraping and digging their graves to a depth of about four feet, and arranging over their bodies a screen of grass and branches so that no clods of earth should fall directly on them. Hatibu, who had been brought up in the house of Hamees ibu Sayf’s father at Zanzibar, recited some verses of the Koran over them. All was done by the survivors that lay in their power to render the poor fellows’ funeral decent according to their ideas.

This dreadful visitation seemed to depress the spirits of our people very much, and whispers as to the advisability of our surrendering began again to be heard. At last I hit upon an idea to inspirit my companions, which, when I mentioned it to Hatibu, he approved of immensely. Our besiegers, in order to shelter themselves from the weather, had built thatched sheds close against their boma, and, time hanging heavy on their hands, they had amused themselves with making screens and divisions of grass, which now through the action of the sun were as dry as tinder.

My proposal was that about four in the morning, when all would be sound asleep, I should creep out with a fire-brand and set all these grass erections on fire. Hatibu did not wish me to run the risk alone. I pointed out that one man would have a better chance of success than many, and that as through his kindness to me I owed my life to him, I begged to be allowed to undertake the task by myself. After much discussion he consented. As he saw we ran the same risk as our enemies if our camp was set on fire, and unlike them had no place of retreat, he gave orders for all our thatch and screens to be pulled down and burned, care being taken to prevent a general conflagration.

The natives outside seemed to take this as a sign that we were about to surrender, and in the evening we could hear drums and marimba and signs of rejoicing. They kept up singing, dancing, and drumming till nearly two in the morning. At this I was very glad, for I knew they would sleep extra sound for the rest of the night. At last, all being quiet and still, I crept out and made my way to a hut as big as a haystack where Mona Mkulla had his head-quarters, and arriving at the boma of the natives I hurled my fire-brand over it into the hut. I thought I had been the only one to quit our camp, but as this big hut burst into flames I saw three other places had been fired likewise, and on regaining our camp I found that Hatibu and two other men had gone out the moment after me on a like errand.

The natives’ huts blazed up merrily, and we could see them working hard to try to save their belongings. About five minutes after Hatibu and the others had returned to the camp, the large hut that I had fired fell in, and immediately after there was a great explosion. Evidently the keg of powder which had been abandoned by our men had been placed there and had now blown up. For a few moments after the explosion there was a deep silence; but soon there arose shouts and yells and sounds of mourning, and it was evident that some great person or persons had been killed by the gunpowder.

When day broke we could see that not only all the huts had been burned, but there were also great gaps in the boma of the natives. Men were busy in repairing these, and drums were signalling to all the villages in the neighbourhood. Some of our men who understood the drum-beats said that they were spreading the news that Mona Mkulla was dead, and calling on all their warriors to come and avenge him.

Hatibu said if that were the case we might expect to be attacked in our camp, for now they would consider it necessary to kill us all as a sacrifice to his spirit. Men would be selected for the task who would be given a choice between being killed at his grave and attacking us. As for us, no terms of surrender would be entertained, but all that we could do when the attack was delivered was to die fighting. Now that there was no prospect of escape, unless by some unheard of good fortune relief should come in time from Hamees ibu Sayf, one and all rose to the occasion, and determined to sell their lives as dearly as possible.

As our present enclosure was too large for us to defend if attacked on all sides at once, we set about making a smaller one inside, into which we could retreat when our assailants came close to the outer one, and from which we could harass them considerably whilst they were making their way through the remains of the old one. This kept us employed all day. At night we divided ourselves into two parties, one to keep watch while the other slept, for we did not know at what moment the attack might be delivered, and we could make out that our besiegers were receiving reinforcements every hour.

The night passed away without our being assailed. About an hour after sunrise four bodies of about a hundred men each rushed at each side of our camp. As soon as they came within effective range we fired our muskets loaded with stones above the bullets. This discharge was most effective, and staggered our assailants, some of whom broke and fled; but on reaching the woods they were speared down without mercy by the people there. Seeing that the only chance of life lay in killing us, the remainder pressed on again; but we had time to reload and give them another volley before they reached our outer defences, and to retreat into our inner citadel.

Whilst the storming party were making their way through our outer defences we were able to knock over many of them. Our ammunition soon gave out. We could have still further decreased their numbers by hurling our spears at them; but this would have left us destitute of weapons for the hand-to-hand fight now imminent, save a few knives and hatchets, and we had to look on passively while they tore away the tree trunks and branches which we had piled up with so much care and toil.

At last this was done, and for a few moments they paused before delivering their final onslaught. The position of affairs now was this:—Inside a small circle, formed by a rude abattis which might be twenty yards or rather more in diameter, was our party of twenty-four grasping their weapons, and every man prepared to sell his life as dearly as he could. Outside were assembled about two hundred and fifty men, animated like us by the courage of despair, who were gathering up their energies for the supreme moment. The masses of people who had kept within the shelter of the woods while firing had been going on, were pressing forward, now that our ammunition had given out, and doubtless in a few moments they would be so carried away by their lust for slaying that they would rush in upon us.

For some minutes there was a lull and silence, which was broken by the beating of the big drums of the natives. Then with a yell the storming party rushed at us, hurling their spears before them and holding their shields above their heads to cover themselves. The first flight of spears knocked over four of our men; but now we were able to return them, and in the short distance which the enemy had to cover I suppose each of our number killed at least two of our assailants. It became sheer hand-to-hand fighting, and gradually they made their way through and over our last shelter. We were at last driven to the centre, where four or five of us, all that were now left alive, stood back to back and resisted fiercely. The spear which I was using I thrust so deeply into the body of a man that was opposed to me that I could not withdraw it, and had to draw a hatchet from my belt for my last means of offence and defence. The man whom I had just killed had his place filled by another, who thrust fiercely at me. I managed to guide his spear to one side, and buried my hatchet in his brain. My companions, too, bore themselves like men, and a rampart of bodies was gradually being formed around us. We were all wounded, and two were beaten down on their knees.

I thought my last moment had come as a huge fellow, tearing away the corpses that sheltered us to some extent, raised his spear to thrust me through. I threw my hatchet at him, and fortunately struck its edge full in his face. He fell backwards, but his place was immediately filled. I was able to seize the spear of my fresh foe, and a struggle for its possession began between us. I knew my chance of life was hopeless, but the warlike spirit of our Norse and Saxon forefathers was on me, and I felt that if only I could kill this one man I should die happy.

Suddenly we heard the sound of guns, and in a few seconds the shouts of men. Hatibu, who was by me, shouted, “Allah il Allah! Wanguana, Wanyamwesi, Tipolo! Fight, men, fight! we are saved!”

Our assailants now broke and fled, and we could see some four or five hundred men, armed with guns, driving our enemies before them like sheep.