d
been anxiously watching our movements, and longed for our arrival. This
looked famous, and it was agreed we should move the next morning. Just
then a new light broke in on my defeat at Sorombo, for with Makinga I
recognised one of my former porters, who I had supposed was a "child" of
the Pig's. This man now said before all my men, Baraka included, that he
wished to accept the load of mzizima I had offered the Pig if he would
go forward with Baraka and tell Suwarora I wanted some porters to help
me to reach him. He was not a "child" of the Pig's, but a "child" of
K'yengo's; and as Baraka would not allow him to accept the load of
mzizima, he went on to K'yengo by himself, and told all that had
happened. It was now quite clear what motives induced Suwarora to send
out the three Wasui; but how I blessed Baraka for this in my heart,
though I said nothing about it to him, for fear of his playing some more
treacherous tricks. Grant then told me Baraka had been frightened at
Mininga, by a blackguard Mganga to whom he would not give a present,
into the belief that our journey would encounter some terrible
mishap; for, when the M'yonga catastrophe happened, he thought that a
fulfillment of the Mganga's prophecy.

I wished to move in the morning (23d), and had all hands ready, but was
told by Makinga he must be settled with first. His dues for the present
were four brass wires, and as many more when we reached the palace.
I could not stand this: we were literally, as Musa said we should be,
being "torn to pieces"; so I appealed to the mace-bearers, protested
that Makinga could have no claims on me, as he was not a man of Usui,
but a native of Utambara, and brought on a row. On the other hand, as
he could not refute this, Makinga swore the mace was all a pretence, and
set a-fighting with the Wasui and all the men in turn.

To put a stop to this, I ordered a halt, and called on the district
officer to assist us, on which he said he would escort us on to
Suwarora's if we would stop till next morning. This was agreed to; but
in the night we were robbed of three goats, which he said he could not
allow to be passed over, lest Suwarora might hear of it, and he would
get into a scrape. He pressed us strongly to stop another day whilst
he sought for them, but I told him I would not, as his magic powder was
weak, else he would have found the scabbard we lost long before this.

At last we got under way, and, after winding through a long