Page:Under the Sun.djvu/386

362 and with them they took a cow and a goat, a banana and a potato; and Kintu said, ‘This land is black with blood.’ I ran after them, and with me was only my little brother Pokino, and he and I watched Kintu and his wife go away down by the wood to the river that comes from the west.”

The children had been the last to see Kintu; for though every one was asked, no one had seen the Blameless Priest go forth except the little ones, Saramba, with the round eyes, and her baby brother Pokino.

Then the people were in great consternation, and ran hither and thither, looking for the patriarch; but he was never found. And when the tumult of the first lamentation was over, Chwa, the eldest son of Kintu, took his shield and spear, and going out into the marketplace, shook his spear before the assembled chiefs, and struck his spear upon his shield to show that he was king. And he made all the nation into castes, and to two castes he gave the duty of finding Kintu. Far and near they sought him, crossing strange rivers and subduing many tribes; but the lost patriarch was never seen. And when Chwa was dead, his son shook his spear before the people, and searched for Kintu all his life, and died without finding him. And thirtyeight kings ruled in succession over Uganda, but never again did human eye behold the man they sought.

Then Ma’anda came to the throne. He was different from all the kings that had preceded him, for he robed himself in white, and no blood might be shed within a mile’s distance of his palace, and no man who had killed an animal might come within a spear’s