tained his clay. Peering softly over
the edge of the pit, he saw a bundle of bark-cloth and fur. From its
external appearance he could not guess what this bundle might contain,
but, fearing to disturb it by any precipitate movement, he silently
retreated from the pit, and sped away to tell his wife, as he was in
duty bound, and obtain her advice and assistance, for the wife in all
such matters is safer than the man. His wife on hearing this news cried
out at him, saying:

"Why, what a fool thou art! Why didst thou not do as the soothsayer
commanded thee? Come, I will go with thee at once, for my mind is
troubled with a dream which I had last night, and this thing thou
tellest me may have a weighty meaning for us both."

Mugema and his wife hurried together towards the clay-pit, and as her
husband insisted on it, she crept silently to its edge to look down. At
that moment the child uttered a cry and moved the clothes which covered
it.

"Why, it is a babe," cried the woman; "just as I found it in my dream.
Hurry, Mugema. Descend quickly, and bring it up to me; and take care
not to hurt it."

Mugema wondered so much at his wife's words that he almost lost his
wits, but being pushed into the pit he mechanically obeyed, and brought
up the bundle and its living occupant, which he handed to his wife
without uttering a word.

On opening the bundle there was discovered the form of a beautiful and
remarkably lusty child, of such weight, size, and form, that the woman
exclaimed:

"Oh! Mugema, was ever anybody's luck like this of ours? My very heart
sighed for a child that I could bring up to be our joy, and here the
good spirits have given us the pick of all the world. Mugema, thy
fortune is made."

"But whose child is it?" asked Mugema, suspiciously.

"How can I tell thee that? Hadst thou not brought the news to me of it
being in the pit, I should have been childless all my life. The
soothsayer who directed thee hither is a wise man. He knows the secret,
I warrant him. But come, Mugema, drop these silly thoughts. What
sayest thou? shall we rear the child, or leave it here to perish?"

"All right, wife. If it prove of joy to thee, I shall live content."

Thus it was that the child of Wanyana found foster-parents, and no woman
in Unyoro could be prouder of her child than Mugema's wife came to be of
the foundling. The milk of woman, goat, and cow was given to him, and
he throve prodigiously; and when Mu