An officer, however, venturing in for the books, at length I got them.
21st .-- To-day I went to the palace, but found no one; the king was out shooting again.
22d .-- We resolved to-day to try on a new political influence at the court.

Grant had taken to the court of Karague a jumping-jack, to amuse the young princes; but it had a higher destiny, for it so fascinated the king Rumanika himself that he would not part with it--unless, indeed, Grant would make him a big one out of a tree which was handed to him for the purpose.

We resolved to try the influence of such a toy on king Mtesa, and brought with us, in addition, a mask and some pictures.

But although the king took a visiting card, the gate was never opened to us.
Finding this, and the day closing, we deposited the mask and pictures on a throne, and walked away.

We found that we had thus committed a serious breach of state etiquette; for the guard, as soon as they saw what we had done, seized the Wanguana for our offences in defiling the royal seat, and would have bound them, had they not offered to return the articles to us.
23d .-- Early in the morning, hearing the royal procession marching off on a shooting excursion, we sent Bombay running after it with the mask and pictures, to aquaint the king with our desire to see him, and explain that we had been four days successively foiled in attempts to find him in his palace, our object being an eager wish to come to some speedy understanding about the appointed journeys to the Salt Lake and Karague.
The toys produced the desired effect; for the king stopped and played with them, making Bombay and the pages don the masks by turns.