That Being Also
Supplied, The Scoundrel Wanted More, And Made So Much Fuss About
It, That Baraka Became Conversant With All That Was Going On, And
Told Me Of It.
This set the whole camp in a flame, for Bombay and Baraka were
both very drunk, as well as most of the other men, so that it was
with great difficulty I could get hold of the rights of their
stories.
Bombay acknowledged he had tried to get the girl, for
they had been sentimentalising together for several days, and
both alike wished to be married. Baraka, he said, was allowed to
keep a wife, and his position, demanded that he should have one
also; but the wires were his own property, and not mine, for he
was given them by the chiefs as a perquisite when I paid their
hongo through him. He thought it most unjust and unfair of
Baraka to call him to account in that way, but he was not
surprised at it, as Baraka, from the beginning of the journey to
the present moment, had always been backbiting him, to try and
usurp his position. Baraka, at this, somewhat taken aback, said
there were no such things as perquisites on a journey like this;
for whatever could be saved from the chiefs was for the common
good of all, and all alike ought to share in it - repeating words
I had often expressed. Then Bombay retorted trembling and
foaming in his liquor: "I know I shall get the worst of it, for
whilst Baraka's tongue is a yard long, mine is only an inch; but
I would not have spent any wires of master's to purchase slaves
with (alluding to what Baraka had done at Mihambo); nor would I,
for any purpose of making myself richer; but when it comes to a
wife, that's a different thing."
In my heart I liked Bombay all the more for this confession, but
thought it necessary to extol Baraka for his quickness in finding
him out, which drove Bombay nearly wild.
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