At All Events, If There Were Any
Further Impediments, He Himself Would Go Over There With A Force
And Release Grant.
In the evening another messenger arrived from
Grant, giving a list of his losses and expenses at M'yonga's.
They amounted to an equivalent of eight loads, and were as
follows:
- 100 yards cloth, and 4600 necklaces of beads (these
had been set aside as the wages paid to the porters, but being in
my custody, I had to make them good); 300 necklaces of beads
stolen from the loads; one brass wire stolen; one sword-bayonet
stolen; Grant's looking-glass stolen; one saw stolen; one box
ammunition stolen. Then paid in hongo, 160 yards cloth; 150
necklaces; one scarlet blanket, double; one case ammunition; ten
brass wires. Lastly, there was one donkey beaten to death by the
savages. This was the worst of all; for this poor brute carried
me on the former journey to the southern end of the N'yanza, and
in consequence was a great pet.
As nothing further transpired, and I was all in the dark (26th),
I wrote to Grant telling him of my interviews with Lumeresi, and
requesting him to pay nothing; but it was too late, for Grant, to
my inexpressible delight, was the next person I saw; he walked
into camp, and then he was a good laugh over all our misfortunes.
Poor Grant, he had indeed had a most troublesome time of it. The
scoundrel Ruhe, who only laughed at Lumeresi's orders, had
stopped his getting supplies of food for himself and his men;
told him it was lucky that he came direct to the palace, for full
preparations had been made for stopping him had he attempted to
avoid it; would not listen to any reference being made to avoid
myself; badgered and bullied over every article that he
extracted; and, finally, when he found compliance with his
extortionate requests was not readily granted, he beat the
wardrums to frighten the porters, and ordered the caravan out of
his palace, to where he said they would find his men ready to
fight it out with them. It happened that Grant had just given
Ruhe a gun when my note arrived, on which they made an agreement,
that it was to be restored, provided that, after the full
knowledge of all these transactions had reached us, it was both
Lumeresi's and my desire that it should be so.
I called Lumeresi (27th), and begged he would show whether he was
the chief or not, by requiring Ruhe to disgorge the property he
had taken from me. His Wanyapara had been despised, and I had
been most unjustly treated. Upon this the old chief hung down
his head, and said it touched his heart more than words could
tell to hear my complaint, for until I came that way no one had
come, and I had paid him handsomely. He fully appreciated the
good service I had done to him and his country by opening a road
which all caravans for the future would follow if property dealt
with.
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