Page:Two kings of Uganda.djvu/98

rather than curative, or whether he was smothered by some of his wives, will never be known. The latter alternative is by no means impossible, for, as Emin Pasha shows, the practice is not confined to Buganda.

The possibility that the king's death might prove a very serious matter for us had of course been in our minds, though we did not suspect that the end was so near. From the inquiries which we made of the converts, and from the accounts of previous visitors to Buganda, we were led to expect that there would be a wild scene of anarchy and confusion upon the death of Mutesa, and probably a bloody civil war. However, as the sequel will show, these apprehensions were not fulfilled, and the interregnum passed in comparative calm.

One night, as Mr. O'Flaherty was sitting up late writing home letters, at about half-past twelve, he heard a low voice outside his window, and on going out he found one of the native Christians who had come down with a friend to warn us that the king was dead. I slept in a room up-stairs, and he came up immediately and aroused me. When I opened the door, he seemed much agitated, and said, "Mukassa of the drum has just come down to tell us that the king is dead." He added in a dubious tone that he did not suppose that they would kill us. We could now hear the quick beat of drums, sudden and alarming, and the sound of a great cry swept fitfully and wildly across the intervening valleys, as ever and anon a gust of wind stronger than