north and looked and begged again until tired of his
importunities, I told him I must wait until the Usoga Road was open
before I could part with it, and then the compass would be nothing to
what I would give him. Hearing this, he reared his head proudly, and
patting his heart, said:

"That is all on my shoulders, as sure as I live it shall be done. For
that country has no king and I have long been desirous of taking it."

I declined, however, to give him the instrument on the security of this
promise, and he went to breakfast.

I had a brilliant instance of the capricious restlessness and
self-willedness of this despotic monarch Mtesa. He sent word that he had
started for N'yanza and wished me to follow. But N'yanza merely means a
piece of water, and no one knew where he meant or what project was on
foot. I walked rapidly through gardens, over hills and across rushy
swamps down the west flank of the Murchison creek, and found the king
with his Wakungu in front and women behind like a confused pack of
hounds. He had first, it seems, mingled a little business with pleasure,
for, finding a woman tied for some offence, he took the executioner's
duty, and by firing killed her outright.

It will be kept in view that the hanging about at this court and all the
perplexing and irritating negotiations had always one end in view--that
of reaching the Nile, where it pours out of the N'yanza as I was long
certain that it did.

Without the consent, and even the aid, of this capricious barbarian I
was now talking to, such a project was hopeless. I thought that whilst I
could be employed in inspecting the river and in feeling the route by
water to Gani, Grant could return to Karague by water, bring up our rear
traps, and in navigating the lake obtain the information he had been
frustrated in getting before.

We resolved to try a new political influence at court. Grant had taken
to the court of Karague a jumping-jack to amuse the young princess, but
it gave offence here as a breach of etiquette.

Finally we bade Mtesa good-bye. I flattered him with admiration of his
shooting, his country, and the possibilities of trade in the future, to
which he replied in good taste. We then rose with an English bow,
placing the hand on the heart while saying adieu, and there was a
complete uniformity in the ceremonial, for whatever I did, Mtesa in an
instant mimicked with the instinct of a monkey.

_IV.--The Source Confirmed At Last_

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