ABSTRACT
As we fully expected to be attacked, I sent a party of Somals and Wahuma ahead as scouts. The Somals are excellent at this work, most intelligent and most fearless. Unfortunately a misunderstanding arose about the place where we should camp. Momentarily expecting that the guides would point out the place agreed upon, I pushed on and on; while they, thinking that I understood that we should camp on the lake shore, but desired to find a spot that pleased me, said nothing. The result was, that we were a mile or more ahead of the caravan, and that, since I had thought camp was close by, I had pushed on without halting for some nine or ten miles, and the expedition was straggling terribly. Just at this unfortunate moment we perceived that we had run into the enemy.
