A firm, tremendous crash burst from among the bushes, and my single
person, enveloped in smoke and flame, was, I believe, the only object
visible to those in the camp.
"Hip, hip, hip, hurrah! forward!" I shouted; and with a ferocious yell
we poured like a whirlwind upon the foe.
The same result that had occurred at the dell took place here. The
enemy never awaited our charge. They fled instantly, and so great was
their terror that they actually threw down their arms, in order to
facilitate their flight.
On gaining the camp, however, I found, to my sorrow, that we had done
the thing only too vigorously; for we had not only put the enemy to
flight, but we had also frightened away those whom we had come to
deliver!
At this point in the engagement I came to learn how incompetent I was to
command men in cases of emergency, for here my presence of mind utterly
forsook me. In my anxiety to capture Mbango and his friends I ordered
an immediate pursuit. Then it occurred to me that, in the event of my
men being successful in overtaking the fugitives, they would instantly
murder them all, so I tried to call them back; but, alas! they did not
understand my words, and they were by this time so excited as to be
beyond all restraint. In a few minutes I found myself left alone in the
enemy's camp, and heard the shouts of pursued and pursuers growing
gradually fainter and more distant, as they scattered themselves through
the jungle.
Seating myself by the fire in a state of mind bordering on despair, I
buried my face in my hands, and endeavoured to collect myself, and
consider what, under the circumstances, should be now done.