- For Destiny - My Arrival Cut Short The Existence Of One Being;
What Was Joy To Some Was Death To A Sheep, And In A Few Moments The
Fattest Was Slain In Honour Of Master's Return, And My Men Were Busily
Employed In Preparing It For A General Feast.
Numbers of people gathered round me:
Foremost among them was the old
chief Katchiba, whose self-satisfied countenance exhibited an extreme
purity of conscience in having adhered to his promise to act as guardian
during my absence. Mrs. Baker gave him an excellent character; he had
taken the greatest care of her, and had supplied all the luxuries that
had so much excited my appetite on the first coup d'oeil of my home. He
had been so mindful of his responsibility, that he had placed some of
his own sons as sentries over the hut both by day and night.
I accordingly made him a present of many beads and bracelets, and a few
odds and ends, that threw him into ecstacies: he had weak eyes, and the
most valued present was a pair of sun-goggles, which I fitted on his
head, to his intense delight, and exhibited in a looking-glass - this
being likewise added to his gifts. I noticed that he was very stiff in
the back, and he told me that he had had a bad fall during my absence.
My wife explained the affair. He had come to her to declare his
intention of procuring fowls for her from some distant village; but,
said he, "My people are not very good, and perhaps they will say that
they have none; but if you will lend me a horse, I will ride there, and
the effect will impose upon them so much, that they will not dare to
refuse me." Now, Katchiba was not a good walker, and his usual way of
travelling was upon the back of a very strong subject, precisely as
children are wont to ride "pic-a-back." He generally had two or three
spare men, who alternately acted as guides and ponies, while one of his
wives invariably accompanied him, bearing a large jar of beer, with
which it was said that the old chief refreshed himself so copiously
during the journey, that it sometimes became necessary for two men to
carry him instead of one. This may have been merely a scandalous report
in Obbo; however, it appeared that Katchiba was ready for a start, as
usual accompanied by a Hebe with a jar of beer. Confident in his powers
as a rider across country on a man, he considered that he could easily
ride a horse. It was in vain that my wife had protested, and had
prophesied a broken neck should he attempt to bestride the hitherto
unknown animal: to ride he was determined.
Accordingly my horse Tetel was brought, and Katchiba was assisted upon
his back. The horse recognising an awkward hand, did not move a step.
"Now then," said Katchiba, "go on!" but Tetel, not understanding the
Obbo language, was perfectly ignorant of his rider's wishes.
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