With the retreat the panic became greater, and enormous numbers were drowned in trying to cross the rivers which lay in their road. One large body of men was driven by Lutete to the Lualaba, about three hours distant. Here they were cornered; and the Waginia, under pretence of ferrying them over the river, either carried them off as prisoners or threw them overboard, and the whole force, with the exception of the women and children — many of whom also suffered — was annihilated. Soon after the charge through the town all the different companies were separated, and the Commandant, with four men, was not only separated from everyone else, but also from his own company.

While looking for his men he was all but shot from the watch-tower of one of the finest houses in the town, which he supposed to be vacant; and