They Had Returned
Six Days Or More, But Etiquette Had Forbidden Their Approaching
Majesty Sooner.
Their successes had been great, their losses,
nil, for not one man had lost his life fighting.
To these men
the king narrated all the adventures of the day; dwelling more
particularly on my defending his wife's life, whom he had
destined for execution. This was highly approved of by all; and
they unanimously said Bana knew what he was about, because he
dispenses justice like a king in his own country.
Early in the morning a great hue and cry was made because the
Wanguana had been seen bathing in the N'yanza naked, without the
slightest regard to decency. We went boating as usual all day
long, sometimes after hippopotami, at others racing up and down
the lake, the king and Wakungu paddling and steering by turns,
the only break to this fatigue being when we went ashore to
picnic, or the king took a turn at the drums. During the evening
some of the principal Wakungu were collected to listen to an
intellectual discourse on the peculiarities of the different
women in the royal establishment, and the king in good-honour
described the benefits he had derived from this pleasant tour on
the water.
Whilst I was preparing my Massey's log to show the use of it to
the king, he went off boating without me; and as the few
remaining boats would not take me off because they had received
no orders to do so, I fired guns, but, getting no reply, went
into the country hoping to find game; but, disappointed in that
also, I spent the first half of the day with a hospitable old
lady, who treated us to the last drop of pombe in her house - for
the king's servants had robbed her of nearly everything - smoked
her pipe with me, and chatted incessantly on the honour paid her
by the white king's visit, as well as of the horrors of Uganda
punishment, when my servants told her I saved the life of one
queen. Returning homewards, the afternoon was spent at a
hospitable officer's, who would not allow us to depart until my
men were all fuddled with pombe, and the evening setting in
warned us to wend our way. On arrival at camp, the king, quite
shocked with himself for having deserted me, asked me if I did
not hear his guns fire. He had sent twenty officers to scour the
country, looking for me everywhere. He had been on the lake the
whole day himself, and was now amusing his officers with a little
archery practice, even using the bow himself, and making them
shoot by turns. A lucky shot brought forth immense applause, all
jumping and n'yanzigging with delight, whether it was done by
their own bows or the king's.
A shield was the mark, stuck up at only thirty paces; still they
were such bad shots that they hardly ever hit it. Now tired of
this slow sport, and to show his superior prowess, the king
ordered sixteen shields to be placed before him, one in front of
the other, and with one shot from Whitworth pierced the whole of
them, the bullet passing through the bosses of nearly every one.
"Ah!" says the king, strutting about with gigantic strides, and
brandishing the rifle over his head before all his men, "what is
the use of spears and bows? I shall never fight with anything
but guns in the future." These Wakungu, having only just then
returned from plundering Unyoro, had never before seen their king
in a chair, or anybody sitting, as I was, by his side; and it
being foreign to their notions, as well as, perhaps, unpleasant
to their feelings, to find a stranger sitting higher than
themselves, they complained against this outrage to custom, and
induced the king to order my dethronement. The result was, as my
iron stool was objectionable, I stood for a moment to see that I
thoroughly understood their meaning; and then showing them my
back, walked straightway home to make a grass throne, and dodge
them that way.
There was nothing for dinner last night, nothing again this
morning, yet no one would go in to report this fact, as rain was
falling, and the king was shut up with his women. Presently the
thought struck me that the rifle, which was always infallible in
gaining me admittance at the palace, might be of the same service
now. I therefore shot a dove close to the royal abode, and, as I
expected, roused the king at once, who sent his pages to know
what the firing was about. When told the truth - that I had been
trying to shoot a dish of doves for breakfast, as I could get
neither meat nor drink from his kitchen - the head boy, rather
guessing than understanding what was told him, distorted my
message, and said to the king, as I could not obtain a regular
supply of food from his house, I did not wish to accept anything
further at his hands, but intended foraging for the future in the
jungles. The king, as might be imagined, did not believe the
boy's story, and sent other pages to ascertain the truth of the
case, bidding them listen well, and beware of what they were
about. This second lot of boys conveyed the story rightly, when
the king sent me a cow. As I afterwards heard, he cut off the
ears of the unfortunate little mischief-maker for not making a
proper use of those organs; and then, as the lad was the son of
one of his own officers he was sent home to have the sores
healed. After breakfast the king called me to go boating, when I
used my grass throne, to the annoyance of the attendants. This
induced the king to say before them, laughing, "Bana, you see, is
not to be done; he is accustomed to sit before kings, and sit he
will." Then by way of a change, he ordered all the drums to
embark and play upon the waters; whilst he and his attendants
paddled and steered by turns, first up the creek, and then down
nearly to the broad waters of the lake.
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