I Was Now Requested To Shoot The Four Cows As Quickly As
Possible; But Having No Bullets For My Gun,
I borrowed the
revolving pistol I had given him, and shot all four in a second
of time; but as
The last one, only wounded, turned sharply upon
me, I gave him the fifth and settled him. Great applause
followed this wonderful feat, and the cows were given to my men.
The king now loaded one of the carbines I had given him with his
own hands, and giving it full-cock to a page, told him to go out
and shoot a man in the outer court; which was no sooner
accomplished than the little urchin returned to announce his
success, with a look of glee such as one would see in the face of
a boy who had robbed a bird's nest, caught a trout, or done any
other boyish trick. The king said to him, "And did you do it
well?" "Oh, yes, capitally." He spoke the truth, no doubt, for
he dared not have trifled with the king; but the affair created
hardly any interest. I never heard, and there appeared no
curiosity to know, what individual human being the urchin had
deprived of life.
The Wakungu were not dismissed, and I asked to draw near, when
the king showed me a book I had given to Rumanika, and begged for
the inspiring medicine which he had before applied for through
the mystic stick. The day was now gone, so torches were lit, and
we were ordered to go, though as yet I had not been able to speak
one word I wished to impart about Petherick and Grant; for my
interpreters were so afraid of the king they dared not open their
mouths until they were spoken to. The king was now rising to go,
when, in great fear and anxiety that the day would be lost, I
said, in Kisuahili, "I wish you would send a letter by post to
Grant, and also send a boat up the Kitangule, as far as
Rumanika's palace, for him, for he is totally unable to walk." I
thus attracted his notice, though he did not understand one word
I uttered. The result was, that he waited for the
interpretation, and replied that a post would be no use, for no
one would be responsible for the safe delivery of the message; he
would send N'yamgundu to fetch him, but he thought Rumanika would
not consent to his sending boats up the Kitangule as far as the
Little Windermere; and then, turning round with true Mganda
impetuosity, he walked away without taking a word from me in
exchange.
24th. - Early this morning the pages came to say Mtesa desired I
would send him three of my Wanguaga to shoot cows before him.
This was just what I wanted. It had struck me that personal
conferences with me so roused the excitable king, that there was
no bringing plain matters of business home to him; so, detaching
seven men with Bombay, I told him, before shooting, to be sure
and elicit the matter I wanted - which was, to excite the king's
cupidity by telling him I had a boat full of stores with two
white men at Gani, whom I wished to call to me if he would
furnish some guides to accompany my men; and further, as Grant
could not walk, I wished boats sent for him, at least as far as
the ferry on the Kitangule, to which place Rumanika, at any rate,
would slip him down in canoes. At once, on arriving, Mtesa
admitted the men, and ordered them to shoot at some cows; but
Bombay, obeying my orders to first have his talk out, said, No -
before he could shoot he must obey master and deliver his
message; which no sooner was told than the king, in a hurry,
excited by the prospects of sport, impatiently said, "Very good;
I will send men either by water or overland through Kidi,[FN#19]
just as your master likes; only some of his men had better go
with mine: but now shoot cows, shoot cows; for I want to see how
the Waguana shoot." They shot seven, and all were given to them
when they were dismissed. In the evening the pages came to ask
me if I would like to shoot kites in the palace with their king;
but I declined shooting anything less than elephants, rhinoceros,
or buffaloes; and even for these I would not go out unless the
king went with me; - a dodge I conceived would tend more than any
other to bring us together, and so break through those ceremonial
restraints of the court, which at present were stopping all pans
of progression.
25th. - The king invited me to shoot with him - really buffaloes -
close to the palace; but as the pages had been sent off in a
hurry, without being fully instructed, I declined, on the plea
that I had always been gulled and kept waiting or treated with
incivility, for hours before I obtained an interview; and as I
did not wish to have any more ruptures in the palace, I proposed
Bombay should go to make proper arrangements for my reception on
the morrow - as anyhow, at present I felt indisposed. The pages
dreaded their master's wrath, departed for a while, and then sent
another lad to tell me he was sorry to hear I felt unwell, but he
hoped I would come if only for a minute, bringing my medicines
with me, for he himself felt pain. That this second message was
a forged one I had no doubt, for the boys had not been long
enough gone; still, I packed up my medicines and went, leaving
the onus, should any accident happen, upon the mischievous story-
bearers.
As I anticipated, on arrival at the palace I found the king was
not ready to receive me, and the pages desired me to sit with the
officers in waiting until he might appear.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 103 of 207
Words from 104286 to 105299
of 210958
