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Kamrasi sent his commander-in-chief to inquire after my health, and to say Budja had left in fear and trembling lest Mtesa should cut all their heads off for failing in the mission; but he had sent Kidgwiga's brother with a pot of pombe to escort the Waganda beyond his frontier, and cheer them on the way; for the tin cartridge-box, he thought, would save their lives by satisfying Mtesa they had seen me.
Mtesa, it was argued, had given N'yamgundu more women and men than he did to Maula, because he was the first to bring intelligence of our coming, as well as that of K'yengo, and Suworora's hongo to his king; whilst, finally, he superseded Maula by taking me out of his charge, and had done a further good service by sending men on to Karague to fetch both Grant and K'yengo.
Early in the morning, as Budja drummed the home march, I called him up, gave him a glass rain-gauge as a letter for Mtesa, and instructed him to say I would send a man to Mtesa as soon as I had seen Kamrasi about opening the road; that I trusted he would take all the guns from the deserters and keep them for me, but the men themselves I wished transported to an island on the N'yanza, for I could never allow such scoundrels again to enter my camp.
As Gordon worded his complaint, it was a case not of his wishing to annex Mtesa, but of Mtesa annexing his soldiers. Having satisfied himself that Mtesa was not willing to risk a quarrel, General Gordon sent Nuehr Agha with ninety men to bring back the 140 men detained at Dubaga, and the task was accomplished without any hitch or delay.
Mtesa, he said, was so mad to see us, that the instant he arrived at the palace and told him we wished to visit him, the king caused "fifty big men and four hundred small ones" to be executed, because, he said, his subjects were so bumptious they would not allow any visitors to come near him, else he would have had white men before. 27th.
Mtesa has no right to order me out of another man's house, to be an enemy with one whose friendship I desire.
He said, No, he could not wait, for he had been detained here a whole year already; but, if I liked, he would leave some of his children behind with me, as their presence would intimidate Suwarora, and incite him to let us off quickly. I then begged him to convey a Colt's six-chamber revolving rifle to his king, Mtesa, as an earnest that I was a prince most desirous of seeing him.
Judge justly. Little by little we creep on to our goal viz. the two lakes; and nothing can stop us, I think. Mtesa is very good friends, and agrees much more with us than with your missionaries. You know the hopelessness of such a task, till you find a St. Paul or St. John. Their representatives nowadays want so much a year and a contract. It is all nonsense; no one will stay four years out there.
He advised my returning to Karague, when Rumanika would give me an escort through Nkole to Unyoro; but finding that did not suit my views, as I swore I would never retrace one step, he proposed my going by boat to Unyoro, following down the Nile. This, of course, was exactly what I wanted; but how could king Mtesa, after the rebuff he had received from Kamrasi be induced to consent to it?
Mtesa, much pleased, complimented them on their goodly appearance, remarking that with such a force I would have no difficulty in reaching Gani, and exhorted them to follow me through fire and water; then exchanging adieus again he walked ahead in gigantic strides up the hill, the pretty favourite of his harem, Lubuga beckoning and waving with her little hands, and crying, "Bana!
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