Part 23 (1/2)
”Pay Mionvu what he asks, and let us go away from here. This is the last place we shall have to pay. And in four days we shall be in Ujiji.”
”Did Mionvu tell you that this is the last time we would have to pay?”
”He did, indeed.”
”What do you say, Asmani? Shall we fight or pay?” Asmani's face wore the usual smile, but he replied,
”I am afraid we must pay. This is positively the last time.”
”And you, Chowpereh?”
”Pay, bana; it is better to get along quietly in this country.
If we were strong enough they would pay us. Ah, if we had only two hundred guns, how these Wahha would run!”
”What do you say, Mabruki?”
”Ah, master, dear master; it is very hard, and these people are great robbers. I would like to chop their heads off, all; so I would. But you had better pay. This is the last time; and what are one hundred cloths to you?”
”Well, then, Bombay and Asmani, go to Mionvu, and offer him twenty.
If he will not take twenty, give him thirty. If he refuses thirty, give him forty; then go up to eighty, slowly. Make plenty of talk; not one doti more. I swear to you I will shoot Mionvu if he demands more than eighty. Go, and remember to be wise.”
I will cut the matter short. At 9 P.M. sixty-four doti were handed over to Mionvu, for the King of Uhha; six doti for himself, and five doti for his sub; altogether seventy-five doti-- a bale and a quarter! No sooner had we paid than they began to fight amongst themselves over the booty, and I was in hopes that the factions would proceed to battle, that I might have good excuse for leaving them, and plunging south to the jungle that I believed existed there, by which means, under its friendly cover, we might strike west. But no, it was only a verbose war, which portended nothing more than a noisy clamor.
November 6th.--At dawn we were on the road, very silent and sad.
Our stock of cloth was much diminished; we had nine bales left, sufficient to have taken us to the Atlantic Ocean--aided by the beads, which were yet untouched--if we practised economy. If I met many more like Mionvu I had not enough to take me to Ujiji, and, though we were said to be so near, Livingstone seemed to me to be just as far as ever.
We crossed the Pombwe, and then struck across a slowly-undulating plain rising gradually to mountains on our right, and on our left sinking towards the valley of the Malagarazi, which river was about twenty miles away. Villages rose to our view everywhere.
Food was cheap, milk was plentiful, and the b.u.t.ter good.
After a four hours' march, we crossed the Kanengi River, and entered the boma of Kahirigi, inhabited by several Watusi and Wahha.
Here, we were told, lived the King of Uhha's brother. This announcement was anything but welcome, and I began to suspect I had fallen into another hornets' nest. We had not rested two hours before two w.a.n.gwana entered my tent, who were slaves of Thani bin Abdullah, our dandified friend of Unyanyembe. These men came, on the part of the king's brother, to claim the HONGA! The king's brother, demanded thirty doti! Half a bale! Merciful Providence!
What shall I do?
We had been told by Mionvu that the honga of Uhha was settled--and now here is another demand from the King's brother! It is the second time the lie has been told, and we have twice been deceived.
We shall be deceived no more.
These two men informed us there were five more chiefs, living but two hours from each other, who would exact tribute, or black-mail, like those we had seen. Knowing this much, I felt a certain calm.
It was far better to know the worst at once. Five more chiefs with their demands would a.s.suredly ruin us. In view of which, what is to be done? How am I to reach Livingstone, without being beggared?
Dismissing the men, I called Bombay, and told him to a.s.sist Asmani in settling the honga--”as cheaply as possible.” I then lit my pipe, put on the cap of consideration, and began to think. Within half an hour, I had made a plan, which was to be attempted to be put in execution that very night.
I summoned the two slaves of Thani bin Abdullah, after the honga had been settled to everybody's satisfaction--though the profoundest casuistries and diplomatic arguments failed to reduce it lower than twenty-six doti--and began asking them about the possibility of evading the tribute-taking Wahha ahead.
This rather astonished them at first, and they declared it to be impossible; but, finally, after being pressed, they replied, that one of their number should guide us at midnight, or a little after, into the jungle which grew on the frontiers of Uhha and Uvinza. By keeping a direct west course through this jungle until we came to Ukaranga we might be enabled--we were told--to travel through Uhha without further trouble. If I were willing to pay the guide twelve doti, and if I were able to impose silence on my people while pa.s.sing through the sleeping village, the guide was positive I could reach Ujiji without paying another doti. It is needless to add, that I accepted the proffered a.s.sistance at such a price with joy.
But there was much to be done. Provisions were to be purchased, sufficient to last four days, for the tramp through the jungle, and men were at once sent with cloth to purchase grain at any price.
Fortune favoured us, for before 8 P.M. we had enough for six days.
November 7th.--I did not go to sleep at all last night, but a little after midnight, as the moon was beginning to show itself, by gangs of four, the men stole quietly out of the village; and by 3 A.M. the entire Expedition was outside the boma, and not the slightest alarm had been made. After a signal to the new guide, the Expedition began to move in a southern direction along the right bank of the Kanengi River. After an hour's march in this direction, we struck west, across the gra.s.sy plain, and maintained it, despite the obstacles we encountered, which were sore enough to naked men. The bright moon lighted our path: dark clouds now and then cast immense long shadows over the deserted and silent plains, and the moonbeans were almost obscured, and at such times our position seemed awful--