There were "wheels
within wheels." It was now reported that in the past year, immediately
after the departure of Speke and Grant from Gondokoro, when Debono's
people had left me in the manner already described, they had marched
direct to Rionga, allied themselves to him, crossed the Nile with his
people, and had attacked Kamrasi's country, killing about three hundred
of his men, and capturing many slaves. I now understood why they had
deceived me at Gondokoro; they had obtained information of the country
from Speke's people, and had made use of it by immediately attacking
Kamrasi in conjunction with Rionga.
This would be a pleasant introduction for me on entering Unyoro, as
almost immediately after the departure of Speke and Grant, Kamrasi had
been invaded by the very people into whose hands his messengers had
delivered them, when they were guided from Unyoro to the Turks' station
at Faloro; he would naturally have considered that the Turks had been
sent by Speke to attack him; thus the road appeared closed to all
exploration, through the atrocities of Debono's people.
Many of Ibrahim's men, at hearing this intelligence, refused to proceed
to Unyoro. Fortunately for me, Ibrahim had been extremely unlucky in
procuring ivory; the year had almost passed away, and he had a mere
nothing with which to return to Gondokoro.
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