Page:Two kings of Uganda.djvu/71
mission as compensation for the theft of the coat. The child was eventually baptized, and went by the name of Bobby. He learned to read fluently and could sing hymns admirably and say prayers to perfection ; but he belonged to a class which should be clearly distinguished from that of people who believe in Christ from deep personal conviction. If the existence of such a class were always recognised, it would do away with the slurs so often cast upon so-called converts. Bobby was a little liar born and bred; he could not keep his little fingers out of any tin or box or other receptacle for things pleasant to the sight and desirable for food. Though he could take the cover off a tin as well as any one, I caught him one day flagrante delicto owing to his inability to replace it properly, and on that occasion he got his deserts in the shape of a sound thrashing.
The poor little lad lost his mother on this voyage, and it was as well, for he was now separated from her for ever, as she would have been sold probably to one of the Arabs, and taken away never more to see her little Kangire in this world. The canoe in which she was travelling was upset by a hippopotamus, and she and two others were drowned.
We skirted the territories governed by Roma on the south up to those of Kigaju, his neighbour, and on past Kaitaba, pro-king of the Baziba ; passing the important rivers the Katonga and Kagera we coasted along Budu, whose chief Pokino was one of the great Earls of