When I Got Home I Found Sangoro, Whom We Thought Lost Or
Murdered, Quietly Ensconced In Camp.
He had been foraging by
himself a long way from camp, in a neighbourhood where many of
the king's
Women are kept; and it being forbidden ground, he was
taken up by the keepers, placed in the stocks, and fed, until to-
day, when he extricated his legs by means of his sword, and ran
away. My ever-grumbling men mobbed me again, clamouring for
food, saying, as they eyed my goats, I lived at ease and
overlooked their wants. In vain I told them they had fared more
abundantly than I had since we entered Uganda; whilst I spared my
goats to have a little flesh of their cows as rapidly as
possible, selling the skins for pombe, which I seldom tasted;
they robbed me as long as I had cloth or beads, and now they had
all become as fat as hogs by lifting food off the Waganda lands.
As I could not quiet them, I directed that, early next morning,
Maula should go to the king and Nasib to the queen, while I
proposed going to Kamraviona's to work them all three about this
affair of food.
23d. - According to the plan of last night, I called early on the
Kamraviona. He promised me assistance, but with an air which
seemed to say, What are the sufferings of other men to me? So I
went home to breakfast, doubting if anything ever would be done.
As Kaggo, however, the second officer of importance, had
expressed a wish to see me, I sent Bombay to him for food, and
waited the upshot. Presently the king sent to say he wished to
see me with my compass; for the blackguard Maula had told him I
possessed a wonderful instrument, by looking at which I could
find my way all over the world. I went as requested, and found
the king sitting outside the palace on my chair dressed in
cloths, with my silk neckerchief and crest-ring, playing his
flute in concert with his brothers, some thirty-odd young men and
boys, one half of them manacled, the other half free, with an
officer watching over them to see that they committed no
intrigues.
We then both sat side by side in the shade of the courtwalls,
conversed and had music by turns; for the king had invited his
brothers here to please me, the first step towards winning the
coveted compass. My hair must now be shown and admired, then my
shoes taken off and inspected, and my trousers tucked up to show
that I am white all over. Just at this time Bombay, who had been
in great request, came before us laden with plantains. This was
most opportune; for the king asked what he had been about, and
then the true state of the case as regards my difficulties in
obtaining food were, I fancy, for the first time, made known to
him.
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