AN ANXIOUS PERIOD. 
189 
Accordingly, bis deliberations not baying been 
sweetened by tlie frequent cups of tembo tbrust on 
bim by his insidious courtiers, be dictated a pe¬ 
remptory message to me, which one of bis soldiers was 
sent to deliver. 
I was sitting, working tranquilly, in my little bouse 
that afternoon, wdien the messenger of evil arrived. 
I bad been going through some of Mabruki’s recent 
work, and derived a melancholy satisfaction in finding 
it so bad as to be useless. I reflected pleasantly that, 
though I should have henceforth the sole charge of 
collecting, at least I should save some forty rupees a 
month, and do the work better myself. Just then I 
looked up, and saw Mandara’s man. “ What does he 
want, Abdallah ? ” I asked my servitor who ushered 
him in. “ Oh, very bad news,” he replied in a low 
tone, and then proceeded to interpret the message, for 
my men had made greater progress in Ki-caga than I 
at that time. 
“ Mandara sends to the white man, who calls him¬ 
self Child of the Baloza, and says, 4 Now I know your 
heart is black, and you have deceived me. You have 
shown me only a part of your possessions, and you 
kept concealed from me many guns, and powder, and 
engines of war ( mi-tambo ). This you did that you 
might take my country by surprise and kill me, and 
make yourself chief in my stead. And they tell me 
you have sent to Ungmja (Zanzibar), not for forty men, 
but for an army. Now, therefore, I say to you, you 
are a guest and I may not take anything from you by 
force; but give me all your guns, and the big one for 
elephants, all your powder, and all your bullets, and 
I will buy them at a fair price. Then I shall know, if 
this is done, that you do not wish to fight me, and 
