Whew! Here was another diplomatic crisis, which had to be dealt with in the usual way.

"I bide my time!" I said, rising in a towering passion, and thrashing the air with my ramrod walking-stick, before all the visiting Wakungu, "when the queen has assured me her door would always be open to me! I shall leave this court at once, and I solemnly swear I shall never set foot in it again, unless some apology be made for treating me like a dog." Then, returning home, I tied up all the presents her majesty had given me in a bundle, and calling Maula and my men together, told them to take them where they came from; for it ill became me to keep tokens of friendship when no friendship existed between us.

I came to make friends with the queen, not to trade or take things from her--and so forth.

The blackguard Maula, laughing, said, "Bana does not know what he is doing; it is a heinous offence in Uganda sending presents back; nobody for their lives dare do so to the queen; her wrath would know no bounds.

She will say, 'I took a few trifles from Bana as specimens of his country, but they shall all go back, and the things the king has received shall go back also, for we are all of one family'; and then won't Bana be very sorry?
Moreover, Wakungu will be killed by dozens, and lamentations will reign throughout the court to propitiate the devils who brought such disasters on them." Bombay, also in a fright, said, "Pray don't do so; you don't know these savages as we do; there is no knowing what will happen; it may defeat our journey altogether.