My general idea was a march west to enable me to turn either to the Blantyre district or east of Lake Nyassa. Without any hindrance from the enemy we crossed the Ligonja at Metil and the Tipa-Namirrue road. There the grave of an officer of the 1st battalion 2nd King’s African Rifles proved that the enemy column, which had first followed us from Tipa to Namirrue, had gone round us to the north to Wamaka: for this 1st battalion 2nd King’s African Rifles belonged to the force which was now approaching from Wamaka. On the further march to Ili we passed through the camps of the enemy forces which had come from the south-west and had continued their march in the direction of Alto-Moloque. They too had made a wide détour and had accomplished correspondingly long marches. It was strange that all these enemy columns should suddenly display such a high degree of mobility; they had changed their supply system and, partially at any rate, left their lines of communication. According to the reports of prisoners they sent requisitioning parties on ahead to commandeer supplies from the natives, which were then distributed among the troops. This requisitioning of supplies seems to have been carried out with great ruthlessness. The confidence which the natives had shown during our recent stay in the Ili district had vanished. They now saw an enemy in every Askari and individual men who were left behind were on several occasions attacked by the natives. When we came to Ili, the English telegraphic station situated there was quickly captured. The papers found there gave useful information as to the movements of the enemy troops. According to this there were considerable stores at Numarroe and Regone; strong forces were to try to overtake us from Alto-Moloque and Mukubi, while one column followed immediately on our track. The enemy, who up to a short time back had been groping in the dark, had apparently received, a few days before, reliable information as to our movements. It was very difficult to find the road to Regone, as no guides could be raised. From Ili, however, a newly erected telephone line of copper wire led to Numarroe. If we followed this line we were sure to come upon something useful. As a matter of fact parts of the enemy columns were near us when we left Ili. The patrols we had left behind even met some Askari whom they took to be friends: they exchanged cigarettes and lights with these and did not realize until afterwards that they were enemies.