At Once, On Arriving, Mtesa
Admitted The Men, And Ordered Them To Shoot At Some Cows; But
Bombay, Obeying My
Orders to first have his talk out, said, No -
before he could shoot he must obey master and deliver his
Message; which no sooner was told than the king, in a hurry,
excited by the prospects of sport, impatiently said, "Very good;
I will send men either by water or overland through Kidi,[FN#19]
just as your master likes; only some of his men had better go
with mine: but now shoot cows, shoot cows; for I want to see how
the Waguana shoot." They shot seven, and all were given to them
when they were dismissed. In the evening the pages came to ask
me if I would like to shoot kites in the palace with their king;
but I declined shooting anything less than elephants, rhinoceros,
or buffaloes; and even for these I would not go out unless the
king went with me; - a dodge I conceived would tend more than any
other to bring us together, and so break through those ceremonial
restraints of the court, which at present were stopping all pans
of progression.
25th. - The king invited me to shoot with him - really buffaloes -
close to the palace; but as the pages had been sent off in a
hurry, without being fully instructed, I declined, on the plea
that I had always been gulled and kept waiting or treated with
incivility, for hours before I obtained an interview; and as I
did not wish to have any more ruptures in the palace, I proposed
Bombay should go to make proper arrangements for my reception on
the morrow - as anyhow, at present I felt indisposed. The pages
dreaded their master's wrath, departed for a while, and then sent
another lad to tell me he was sorry to hear I felt unwell, but he
hoped I would come if only for a minute, bringing my medicines
with me, for he himself felt pain. That this second message was
a forged one I had no doubt, for the boys had not been long
enough gone; still, I packed up my medicines and went, leaving
the onus, should any accident happen, upon the mischievous story-
bearers.
As I anticipated, on arrival at the palace I found the king was
not ready to receive me, and the pages desired me to sit with the
officers in waiting until he might appear. I found it necessary
to fly at once into a rage, called the pages a set of deceiving
young blackguards, turned upon my heel, and walked straight back
through the courts, intending to leave the palace. Everybody was
alarmed; information of my retreat at once reached the king, and
he sent his Wakungu to prevent my egress. These officers passed
me, as I was walking hurriedly along under my umbrella, in the
last court, and shut the entrance-gate in front of me. This was
too much, so I stamped, and, pointing my finger, swore in every
language I knew, that if they did not open the gate again, as
they had shut it at once, and that, too, before my face, I would
never leave the spot I stood upon alive.
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