Among
His Jokes Were, That I Must Never Drink Pombe Excepting With
These Sticks; If I Wanted Any When I
Leave Uganda, to show my
friends, she would give me twenty more sticks of that sort if I
liked them;
And, turning from verbal to practical jocularity, the
dirty fellow took my common sucker out of the pot, inserted one
of the queen's, and sucked at it himself, when I snatched and
threw it away.
Maula's friend, who, I imagined, was a spy, then asked me whom I
liked most - the mother or the son; but, without waiting to hear
me, Maula hastily said, "The mother, the mother of course! he
does not care for Mtesa, and won't go to see him." The friend
coaxingly responded, "Oh no; he likes Mtesa, and will go and see
him too; won't you?" I declined, however, to answer from fear of
mistake, as both interpreters were away. Still the two went on
talking to themselves, Maula swearing that I loved the mother
most, whilst the friend said, No, he loves the son, and asking me
with anxious looks, till they found I was not to be caught by
chaff, and then, both tired, walked away - the friend advising me,
next time I went to court, to put on an Arab's gown, as trousers
are indecent in the estimation of every Mganda.
5th. - Alarmed at having got involved in something that looked
like court intrigues, I called up N'yamgundu; told him all that
happened yesterday, both at the two courts and with Maula at
home; and begged him to apply to the king for a meeting of five
elders, that a proper understanding might be arrived at; but
instead of doing as I desired, he got into a terrible fright,
calling Maula, and told me if I pressed the matter in this way
men would lose their lives. Meanwhile the cunning blackguard
Maula begged for pardon; said I quite misunderstood his meaning;
all he had said was that I was very fortunate, being in such
favour at court, for the king and queen both equally loved me.
N'yamgundu now got orders to go to Karague overland for Dr
K'yengo; but, dreading to tell me of it, as I had been so kind to
him, he forged a falsehood, said he had leave to visit his home
for six days, and begged for a wire to sacrifice to his church.
I gave him what he wanted, and away he went. I then heard his
servants had received orders to go overland for Grant and
K'yengo; so I wrote another note to Grant, telling him to come
sharp, and bring all the property by boat that he could carry,
leaving what he could not behind in charge of Rumanika.
At noon, the plaguy little imps of pages hurried in to order the
attendance of all my men fully armed before the king, as he
wished to seize some refractory officer. I declined this abuse
of my arms, and said I should first go and speak to the king on
the subject myself, ordering the men on no account to go on such
an errand; and saying this, I proceeded towards the palace,
leaving instructions for those men who were not ready to follow.
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