at war on all sides with his brothers, and Mtesa will ally himself with
them at any moment that he wishes, and where will you be then?"

Saying this, Budja walked off, muttering that our being here would much
embarrass Mtesa's actions; whilst my Wanguana, who had been attentively
listening, like timid hares, made up their minds to leave me, and tried,
through Bombay, to obtain a final interview with me, saying they knew
Mtesa's power, and disobedience to him would only end in taking away all
chance of escape. In reply, I said I would not listen to them, as I
had seen enough of them to know it was no use speaking to a pack of
unreasonable cowards, having tried it so often before; but I sent a
message requesting them, if they did desert me at last, to leave my
guns; and, further, added an intimation that, as soon as they reached
the coast, they would be put into prison for three years. The scoundrels
insolently said "tuende setu" (let's be off), rushed to the Waganda
drums, and beat the march.

1st.--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. It was the effect of desertions
like these that prevented any white men visiting these countries. This
said, the Waganda all left us, taking with them twenty-eight Wanguana,
armed with twenty-two carbines. Amongst them was the wretched governess,
Manamaka, who had always thought me a wonderful magician, because I
possessed, in her belief, an extraordinary power in inclining all the
black kings' hearts to me, and induced them to give the roads no one
before of my colour had ever attempted to use.

With a following reduced to twenty men, armed with fourteen carbines, I
now wished to start for Kamrasi's, but had not even sufficient force
to lift the loads. A little while elapsed, and a party of fifty Wanyoro
rushed wildly into camp, with their spears uplifted, and looked for the
Waganda, but found them gone. The athletic Kajunju, it transpired, had
returned to Kamrasi's, told him our story, and received orders to snatch
us away from the Waganda by force, for the great Mkamma, or king,