Mtesa's forceful message was only a smokescreen; he per- mitted Gordon and the army to finish the way station, and he allowed the villagers to trade freely with the Egyptian soldiers. When the outpost was finished, the army hoisted the Egyptian flag over it, then shot off a twenty- one-gun salute "announcing the conquest of this district. With regard to all this, Mtesa displayed affection and friendship to Gordon, and said to us,'We are one hand, and I derive my strength from the Egyptian government, which extends my authority over the governed, for their security and wel- fare.'"50

Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Coloni…, loc. 590