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The only answer I could obtain was, "that they belonged to Bedden, and if he told them to carry our things, they would obey; but without his order they could do nothing." This is the regular African diplomacy when work is required. The people say, "We must receive orders from our sheik." The sheik says, "I am willing, but my people will not obey me."
They explained, that although they were Baris, they had no connection with the people who had fought us. They were governed by a great sheik named Bedden, whose territory was bounded by the torrent bed that we had just crossed. They promised that he should pay me a visit on the morrow: in the mean tine, if we required any corn, they would supply us.
I pretended that his question had now been asked simply to amuse me, and I begged him in earnest to lose no time in collecting his people, as I should require at least 2,000 carriers. Bedden continued in a cold, stoical manner, and declared that his people were determined not to work for me; they had never before carried for "The Turks," and nothing would induce them to engage in such a labour.
I should not be able to move. All my care and trouble would have been thrown away. I was very anxious; but, without mentioning my suspicions, I ordered all the heavy vessels to cross over to the east side of the river, to prepare for disembarking the carts and general effects. On the following morning the sheik, Bedden, arrived to visit me, with many of his people.
Pittia explained that the natives had all left the neighbourhood together with their sheik, therefore it would be well not to allow the soldiers to stray far from camp. This was the gross ingratitude exhibited by Bedden and his people. Not only had I scrupulously respected all their property, but I had even placed sentries over their tobacco gardens to prevent the possibility of theft.
The hostile chiefs, hearing, as Bedden did, that he restored his cattle to and recompensed in other ways a friendly chief who had been attacked in mistake, would lie in wait for him, and lay their views and grievances before him.
The Baris, as usual, had employed treachery, which had very nearly succeeded. A day or two after I had left the vessels, several natives had desired to communicate with Major Abdullah. These men declared that they had nothing to do with Bedden, and that all the Baris of the east side of the Nile desired peace.
It was now walking about the deck, and while its extraordinary powers were being described by my Bari interpreter, Morgian, to the amazement and fear of the natives, it advanced stoutly to the sheik Bedden, and would have bitten his big toe had he not quickly jumped up and taken leave. The magnetic battery and the large musical box were also believed to be magic.
I had very little hope, but I had so frequently seen a sudden ray of good fortune when all had looked dark and cloudy, that I went to bed at night trusting that something might turn up in our favour to-morrow. On 29th January, 1872, Pittia returned with bad news. Bedden had sent me a laconic message that "he should not call again, and that his people declined to carry the baggage."
Bedden seemed determined to help us, and I really believed that our luck had arrived at last, and that I should be able to convey the carts, together with the steamer, to the navigable portion of the Nile in N. lat. 3 degrees 32'.
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