232 FROM TANGANYIKA TO THE CONGO 



few miles along the road we met Captain E 



the police-officer of the Manyuema District, who 

 was making a tour of inspection. The man stopped 



and told his story to Captain E , and I explained 



the circumstances apparently to his satisfaction. He 

 told me that the judges had long ears in the Congo, 

 and he advised me to be more careful in the future ; 

 I apologized, and we parted good friends. It might 

 have been supposed that the affair had ended there, 

 but when we arrived at Kasongo, three weeks later, 

 I was met with a request to call on the Deputy- 

 fudge, who was armed with a proces-verbal that 

 occupied some eight or ten sheets of folio. It 



appeared that Captain E , on arriving at 



Muniemboka, and having presumably nothing better 

 to do, had inquired into the matter, and had ex- 

 amined various ' witnesses.' It happened that all 

 the actual witnesses of the occurrence were with me 

 at the time, but plenty of willing and imaginative 

 volunteers presented themselves, and told the most 

 monstrous collection of falsehoods, all of which 



Captain E had embodied in his proces-verbal. 



The Deputy- Judge at Kasongo found the case too 

 difficult to be dealt with there, so it was referred to the 

 Judge at Stanleyville, the head-quarters of the Pro- 

 vince Orientale. At Stanleyville I spent a pleasant 

 afternoon discussing it with the Judge, but he again 

 found the case beyond his powers, so the papers, which 

 by this time had grown to formidable proportions, 

 were forwarded to Boma, the chief town of the 



