five hundred men. The object of the voyage
was to collect grain. When they reached the old station of Fashoda,
they had been fired upon by black troops, with some white men among
them, who had a strange flag flying. The firing was pretty accurate,
for they had forty men killed and wounded; and the emir in command had
disembarked, and encamped his troops from the Sapphire on the opposite
bank, and had sent the small steamer back, to ask the Khalifa for
orders.

"The story seemed so strange, and improbable, that I went down with the
Sirdar to the boat, which had been brought alongside. There was no
doubt that it had been peppered with balls. Some of the General's staff
cut one of the bullets out of the woodwork, and these fully confirmed
the story. They were not leaden balls, or bits of old iron, but conical
nickel bullets. They could only have been fired from small-bore rifles,
so there were certainly white men at Fashoda. Of course, no one can
form any opinion as to who they are, or where they come from. They may
be Belgians from the Congo. They may--but that is most improbable--be
an expeditionary party of Italians. But Italy is withdrawing, and not
pushing forward, so I think it is out of the question that they are
concerned in the matter.

"The question seems to lie between Belgians and French, unless an
expedition has been sent up from our possessions on the great lakes.
The Dervishes in the steamer can only say that the flag is not at all
like ours; but as their ignorance of colour is profound, they give all
sorts of contradictory statements. Anyhow, it is a serious matter.
Certainly, no foreign power has any right to send an expedition to the
Nile; and as certainly, if one of them did so, our government would not
allow them to remain there; for, beyond all question, Fashoda is an
Egyptian station, and within Egyptian territory; which is, at present,
as much as to say that a foreign power, established there, would be
occupying our country."

"It seems an extraordinary proceeding, sir."

"Very extraordinary. If it were not that it seems the thing has
absolutely been done, it would seem improbable that any foreign power
could take such an extraordinary, and unjustifiable, course. It is
lucky for them, whoever they are, that we have smashed up the
Dervishes; for they would have made very short work of them, and the
nation that sent them would probably never have known their fate."

Chapter 16: A Voice From