If we went
neat the Malagarazi we should come across Lokanda-Mira."
"Well, then, we will go north."
"Up that way Uhha extends far; and beyond Uhha are the Watuta."
"Well, then, say what we shall do. We must do something; but we
must not be robbed."
"Pay Mionvu what he asks, and let us go away from here. This is
the last place we shall have to pay. And in four days we shall be
in Ujiji."
"Did Mionvu tell you that this is the last time we would have to
pay?"
"He did, indeed."
"What do you say, Asmani ? Shall we fight or pay?" Asmani's
face wore the usual smile, but he replied,
"I am afraid we must pay. This is positively the last time."
"And you, Chowpereh?"
"Pay, bana; it is better to get along quietly in this country.
If we were strong enough they would pay us. Ah, if we had only
two hundred guns, how these Wahha would run!"
"What do you say, Mabruki?"
"Ah, master, dear master; it is very hard, and these people are
great robbers. I would like to chop their heads off, all; so I
would. But you had better pay. This is the last time; and what
are one hundred cloths to you?"
"Well, then, Bombay and Asmani, go to Mionvu, and offer him twenty.
If he will not take twenty, give him thirty. If he refuses thirty,
give him forty; then go up to eighty, slowly. Make plenty of talk;
not one doti more. I swear to you I will shoot Mionvu if he demands
more than eighty. Go, and remember to be wise."
I will cut the matter short. At 9 P.M. sixty-four doti were
handed over to Mionvu, for the King of Uhha; six doti for
himself, and five doti for his sub; altogether seventy-five doti -
a bale and a quarter! No sooner had we paid than they began to
fight amongst themselves over the booty, and I was in hopes that
the factions would proceed to battle, that I might have good excuse
for leaving them, and plunging south to the jungle that I believed
existed there, by which means, under its friendly cover, we might
strike west. But no, it was only a verbose war, which portended
nothing more than a noisy clamor.
November 6th. - At dawn we were on the road, very silent and sad.
Our stock of cloth was much diminished; we had nine bales left,
sufficient to have taken us to the Atlantic Ocean - aided by the
beads, which were yet untouched - if we practised economy. If I
met many more like Mionvu I had not enough to take me to Ujiji,
and, though we were said to be so near, Livingstone seemed to me
to be just as far as ever.
