"I remember," said Frank, "reading in Speke's account of his travels how the King of Unyoro kept demanding one thing after another, and finally asked for the finger-rings that Grant was wearing. Everything that was shown to him he begged for at once, and the only way to silence him was by saying that in their country the king does not beg, like a common man. [Illustration: CAMP WHERE SPEKE WAS DETAINED.] "He visited their tents one day, and everything he saw he admired, and what he admired he wanted at once. It made no difference whether an article would be of any use to him or not: he probably reasoned that if it was valuable to the white man it must be good, and therefore he coveted it. One of the most mysterious things to him was a pocket-compass, as he had been told by his officers that it was a magic horn, by which the white man could travel anywhere." "Yes," replied the captain; "the compass has never ceased to be a wonder to the negroes in the interior of Africa; we are careful not to let them know its principles, and it is not at all surprising that they cannot comprehend it. "Once when I was among the people of the Bahr-el-Azrek I obtained great control over the chief by the use of the compass. I told him I knew how to direct myself in the darkest night or in the thickest forest, and left him to suppose it was done by supernatural aid. "He disbelieved me; and I then offered to prove the truth of my assertion. I was to go out in the middle of the plain near his village, and there be placed under a canopy and blindfolded. His men might walk me around in a circle, or in any other way, for a quarter of an hour, and then remove the bandage while I was under the canopy in such a way that I could not look out. With a magic stone in my hand I would walk in any direction he indicated, and if I failed I was to forfeit a large amount of cloth and other things that in Africa are equivalent to money. "All was arranged to suit the ideas of the chief, and he effectually prevented my seeing the sun or getting any other indication of my position. When the bandage was removed I simply looked in my hand, where the pocket-compass was partially concealed, and as he asked the direction of the sun I indicated it to him, and also the course I would take to return to the village. He could not understand it; and as I allowed him to believe that I worked by magic he had a great respect for me from that moment."