 Pallier, who was now in command, decided to take Zinder, then the biggest town in present-day Niger and a former vassal of the Bornu Empire; Pallier defeated the local ruler "sarki" Amadou, and took the city on July 30.Shortly afterwards, Pallier left Zinder with 300 riflemen to make a reconnaissance of the route to Lake Chad, but was forced by a mutiny among his men to make a premature return to the city.The soldiers had threatened to kill him if he didn't immediately take them back to Zinder and promise to send them back to French Sudan.