Kintu is looking down upon yo u from the
spirit-land, and as he rebuked Ma’anda for
murdering his faithful servant, so is he rebuking
yo u to-day through me. Y e s , kill that poor
old man, and I shall leave y o u to-day, unless
yo u kill me to o , and from Zanzibar to Cairo I
shall tell every Arab I meet what a murderous
beast yo u are, and through all the white man’s
land I shall tell with a loud voice what wicked
act I saw Mtesa do, and how the other d ay he
wanted to run away because he heard a silly
old woman sa y the Wa so g a were marching
upon him. How grand old Kamanya must have
wept in the spirit-land when he heard o f Mtesa
about to run away. How the lion-hearted Suna
must have groaned when he saw Mtesa shiver
in terror because an old woman had had a bad
dream. Good-bye, Mtesa. Y o u may kill the
Mvuma chief, but I am going, and shall not
see it.”
Mtesa’s face had been a picture wherein the
passions o f brutish fury and thirsty murder were
portrayed most faithfully; but at the mention of
Suna and Kamanya in the spirit-land looking
down upon him, the tears began to well in his
eyes, and finally, while they rolled in large drops
down his face, he sobbed loudly like a child,
while the chiefs and executioners, maintaining a
deathly silence, looked v e ry uncomfortable.
Tori the cannonier and Kauta the steward,
however, sprang up, and, unrolling their headdresses,
officiously wiped Mtesa’s face, while
the poor wayward man murmured audibly as I
walked away from the scene:—
“ Did not Stamlee talk about the spirit-land,
a n d say that Suna was angry with me? Oh, he
speaks too true, to o true! O father, forgive me,
forgive me.” A fter which, I was ¡told he suddenly
broke away from the council.
An hour afterwards I was summoned b y a
page to his presence, and Mtesa said:
“ Stamlee will not sa y Mtesa is bad now, for
he has forgiven the Mvuma chief, and will not
hurt him. Will Stamlee say that Mtesa is good
now? And does he think. Suna is glad n ow ? ”
“ Mtesa is v e ry good,” and I clasped his hand
warmly. “ Be patient, all shall come out right,
and Kintu and Suna must b e glad when they
see that Mtesa is kind to his guests. I have
something to tell you. I have thought^ over
your trouble here, and I want to finish this war
for your g o o d without any more trouble. I will
build a structure which shall terrify the Wavuma,
and make them glad o f a peace, but yo u must
give me plenty of men to help me, and in three
days I shall be ready. Meantime shout out to
the Wavuma from the causeway that yo u have
something which will be so terrible that it will
finish the war at once.”