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THE KING'S LOVE FOR SPORT. 
The boy, through Speke's intercession, was pardoned, 
and it was thought he would never again be punished ; 
but on Bombay asking this high functionary " how 
the son was ; had anything more been said of it ? " the 
father replied, "My boy was killed yesterday for 
another offence." A child-page whom we took an 
interest in, and whom Speke had dressed up very 
gaily, named Loogohie (or cloth), got into a dreadful 
scrape one day for coughing while the king was at 
dinner. It was thought his little ears would have 
been cut off, and he laughed very much when he found 
he had escaped, but he did not expect to live long, as 
he was always getting into hot water. On my asking 
what the king had killed when out shooting, Loogohie's 
reply was that, " As his highness could not get any 
game to shoot at, he shot down many people." 
The king had become so fond of the gun, that, like 
a young sportsman, he seemed to dream of it. In the 
early morning his gun or the rattle of the diminutive 
drums which always accompanied his movements was 
heard. Interviews were difficult; his whole time was 
occupied. He had received so many presents from 
us, he had made so many promises to open the road, 
and his pages had stolen for him so much of our 
ammunition, that he at last was ashamed of himself, 
and suddenly permitted us to leave. For several days 
neither of us could visit him, being unwell, but Bom- 
bay, by showing some pictures to his servants, conveyed 
such accounts of us that communication was some- 
times obtained. In a book he had received from 
Eumanika, 'Kaffir Laws/ his highness wished all 
the birds he had shot to be painted in imitation of 
our sketch-books. His pages pestered us, and became 
