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diff --git a/49657.txt b/49657.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 79c7317..0000000 --- a/49657.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,8333 +0,0 @@ - BOSAMBO OF THE RIVER - - - - -This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at -http://www.gutenberg.org/license. If you are not located in the United -States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are -located before using this ebook. - - - -Title: Bosambo of the River -Author: Edgar Wallace -Release Date: August 08, 2015 [EBook #49657] -Language: English -Character set encoding: US-ASCII - - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOSAMBO OF THE RIVER *** - - - - -Produced by Al Haines. - - - - - - *BOSAMBO - OF THE RIVER* - - - BY - - EDGAR WALLACE - - _Author of "Sanders of the River," "People of the River," - "Four Just Men," etc._ - - - - WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED - LONDON AND MELBOURNE - 1914 - - - - - _Made and Printed in Great Britain by_ - Ward, Lock & Co., Limited, London. - - - - - *CONTENTS.* - -CHAP. - -I.--ARACHI THE BORROWER -II.--THE TAX RESISTERS -III.--THE RISE OF THE EMPEROR -IV.--THE FALL OF THE EMPEROR -V.--THE KILLING OF OLANDI -VI.--THE PEDOMETER -VII.--THE BROTHER OF BOSAMBO -VIII.--THE CHAIR OF THE N'GOMBI -IX.--THE KI-CHU -X.--THE CHILD OF SACRIFICE -XI.--"THEY" -XII.--THE AMBASSADORS -XIII.--GUNS IN THE AKASAVA - - - - - *BOSAMBO OF THE RIVER* - - - - *CHAPTER I* - - *ARACHI THE BORROWER* - - -Many years ago the Monrovian Government sent one Bosambo, a native of -the Kroo coast and consequently a thief, to penal servitude for the term -of his natural life. Bosambo, who had other views on the matter, was -given an axe and a saw in the penal settlement--which was a patch of -wild forest in the back country--and told to cut down and trim certain -mahogany-trees in company with other unfortunate men similarly -circumstanced. - -To assure themselves of Bosambo's obedience, the Government of Liberia -set over him a number of compatriots, armed with weapons which had -rendered good service at Gettysburg, and had been presented to the -President of Liberia by President Grant. They were picturesque weapons, -but they were somewhat deficient in accuracy, especially when handled by -the inexpert soldiers of the Monrovian coast. Bosambo, who put his axe -to an ignoble use, no less than the slaying of Captain Peter Cole--who -was as black as the ten of clubs, but a gentleman by the Liberian -code--left the penal settlement with passionate haste. The Gettysburg -relics made fairly good practice up to two hundred yards, but Bosambo -was a mile away before the guards, searching the body of their dead -commander for the key of the ammunition store, had secured food for -their lethal weapons. - -The government offered a reward of two hundred and fifty dollars for -Bosambo, dead or alive. But, although the reward was claimed and paid to -the half-brother of the Secretary of War, it is a fact that Bosambo was -never caught. - -On the contrary, he made his way to a far land, and became, by virtue of -his attainments, chief of the Ochori. - -Bosambo was too good a sportsman to leave his persecutors at peace. -There can be little doubt that the Kroo insurrection, which cost the -Liberian Government eight hundred and twenty-one pounds sixteen -shillings to suppress, was due to the instigation and assistance of -Bosambo. Of this insurrection, and the part that Bosambo played, it may -be necessary to speak again. - -The second rebellion was a more serious and expensive affair; and it was -at the conclusion of this that the Liberian Government made -representations to Britain. Sanders, who conducted an independent -inquiry into the question of Bosambo's complicity, reported that there -was no evidence whatever that Bosambo was directly or indirectly -responsible. And with that the Liberian Government was forced to be -content; but they expressed their feelings by offering a reward of two -thousand dollars for Bosambo alive or dead--preferably alive. They -added, for the benefit of minor government officials and their -neighbours, that they would, in the language of the advertisement, -reject all substitutes. The news of this price went up and down the -coast and very far into the interior, yet strangely enough Arachi of the -Isisi did not learn of it until many years afterward. - -Arachi was of the Isisi people, and a great borrower. Up and down the -river all men knew him for such, so that his name passed into the -legendary vocabulary of the people whilst he yet lived; and did the wife -of Yoka beg from the wife of O'taki the service of a cooking-pot, be -sure that O'taki's wife would agree, but with heavy pleasantry scream -after the retiring pot: "O thou shameless Arachi!" whereupon all the -village folk who heard the jest would rock with laughter. - -Arachi was the son of a chief, but in a country where chieftainship was -not hereditary, and where, moreover, many chiefs' sons dwelt without -distinction, his parentage was of little advantage. Certainly it did not -serve him as, in his heart, he thought he should be served. - -He was tall and thin, and his knees were curiously knobbly. He carried -his head on one side importantly, and was profoundly contemptuous of his -fellows. - -Once he came to Sanders. - -"Lord," he said, "I am a chief's son, as you know, and I am very wise. -Men who look upon me say, 'Behold, this young man is full of craft,' -because of my looks. Also I am a great talker." - -"There are many in this land who are great talkers, Arachi," said -Sanders, unpleasantly; "yet they do not travel for two days down-stream -to tell me so." - -"Master," said Arachi impressively, "I came to you because I desire -advancement. Many of your little chiefs are fools, and, moreover, -unworthy. Now I am the son of a chief, and it is my wish to sit down in -the place of my father. Also, lord, remember this, that I have dwelt -among foreign people, the Angola folk, and speak their tongue." - -Sanders sighed wearily. - -"Seven times you have asked me, Arachi," he said, "and seven times I -have told you you are no chief for me. Now I tell you this--that I am -tired of seeing you, and if you come to me again I will throw you to the -monkeys.[#] As for your Angola palaver, I tell you this--that if it -happen--which may all gods forbid!--that a tribe of Angola folk sit down -with me, you shall be chief." - - -[#] Colloquial: "Make you look foolish." - - -Unabashed, Arachi returned to his village, for he thought in his heart -that Sandi was jealous of his great powers. He built a large hut at the -end of the village, borrowing his friends' labour; this he furnished -with skins and the like, and laid in stores of salt and corn, all of -which he had secured from neighbouring villages by judicious promises of -payment. - -It was like a king's hut, so glorious were the hangings of skin and the -stretched bed of hide, and the people of his village said "Ko!" -believing that Arachi had dug up those hidden treasures which every -chief is popularly supposed to possess in secret places to which his -sons may well be privy. - -Even those who had helped to supply the magnificence were impressed and -comforted. - -"I have lent Arachi two bags of salt," said Pidini, the chief of -Kolombolo, the fishing village, "and my stomach was full of doubt, -though he swore by Death that he would repay me three days after the -rains. Now I see that he is indeed very rich, as he told me he was, and -if my salt does not return to me I may seize his fine bed." - -In another village across the River Ombili, a headman of the Isisi -confided to his wife: - -"Woman, you have seen the hut of Arachi, now I think you will cease your -foolish talk. For you have reproached me bitterly because I lent Arachi -my fine bed." - -"Lord, I was wrong," said the woman meekly; "but I feared he would not -pay you the salt he promised; now I know that I was foolish, for I saw -many bags of salt in his hut." - -The story of Arachi's state spread up and down the river, and when the -borrower demanded the hand of Koran, the daughter of the chief of the -Putani ("The Fishers of the River"), she came to him without much -palaver, though she was rather young. - -A straight and winsome girl well worth the thousand rods and the twenty -bags of salt which the munificent Arachi promised, by Death, devils, and -a variety of gods, should be delivered to her father when the moon and -the river stood in certain relative positions. - -Now Arachi did no manner of work whatever, save to walk through the -village street at certain hours clad in a robe of monkey tails which he -had borrowed from the brother of the king of the Isisi. - -He neither fished nor hunted nor dug in the fields. - -He talked to Koran his wife, and explained why this was so. He talked -to her from sunset until the early hours of the morning, for he was a -great talker, and when he was on his favourite subject--which was -Arachi--he was very eloquent. He talked to her till the poor child's -head rocked from side to side, and from front to back, in her desperate -sleepiness. - -He was a great man, beloved and trusted of Sandi. He had immense -thoughts and plans--plans that would ensure him a life of ease without -the distressing effects of labour. Also, Sanders would make him -chief--in good time. - -She should be as a queen--she would much rather have been in her bed and -asleep. - -Though no Christian, Arachi was a believer in miracles. He pinned his -faith to the supreme miracle of living without work, and was near to -seeing the fulfilment of that wonder. - -But the miracle which steadfastly refused to happen was the miracle -which would bring him relief at the moment when his numerous creditors -were clamouring for the repayment of the many and various articles which -they had placed in his care. - -It is an axiom that the hour brings its man--most assuredly it brings -its creditor. - -There was a tumultuous and stormy day when the wrathful benefactors of -Arachi gathered in full strength and took from him all that was takable, -and this in the face of the village, to Koran's great shame. Arachi, on -the contrary, because of his high spirit, was neither ashamed nor -distressed, even though many men spoke harshly. - -"O thief and rat!" said the exasperated owner of a magnificent stool of -ceremony, the base of which Arachi had contrived to burn. "Is it not -enough that you should steal the wear of these things? Must you light -your fires by my beautiful stool?" - -Arachi replied philosophically and without passion: they might take his -grand furnishings--which they did; they might revile him in tones and in -language the most provocative--this also they did; but they could not -take the noble hut which their labours had built, because that was -against the law of the tribe; nor could they rob him of his faith in -himself, because that was contrary to the laws of nature--Arachi's -nature. - -"My wife," he said to the weeping girl, "these things happen. Now I -think I am the victim of Fate, therefore I propose changing all my gods. -Such as I have do not serve me, and, if you remember, I spent many hours -in the forest with my _bete_." - -Arachi had thought of many possible contingencies--as, for instance: - -Sandi might relent, and appoint him to a great chieftainship. - -Or he might dig from the river-bed some such treasure as U'fabi, the -N'gombi man, did once upon a time. - -Arachi, entranced with this latter idea, went one morning before sunrise -to a place by the shore and dug. He turned two spadefuls of earth -before an infinite weariness fell upon him, and he gave up the search. - -"For," he argued, "if treasure is buried in the river-bed, it might as -well be there as elsewhere. And if it be not there, where may it be?" - -Arachi bore his misfortune with philosophy. He sat in the bare and bleak -interior of his hut, and explained to his wife that the men who had -robbed him--as he said--hated him, and were jealous of him because of -his great powers, and that one day, when he was a great chief, he would -borrow an army from his friends the N'gombi, and put fire to their -houses. - -Yes, indeed, he said "borrow," because it was his nature to think in -loans. - -His father-in-law came on the day following the deporting, expecting to -save something from the wreckage on account of Koran's dowry. But he -was very late. - -"O son of shame!" he said bitterly. "Is it thus you repay for my -priceless daughter? By Death! but you are a wicked man." - -"Have no fear, fisherman," said Arachi loftily, "for I am a friend of -Sandi, and be sure that he will do that for me which will place me high -above common men. Even now I go to make a long palaver with him, and, -when I return, you shall hear news of strange happenings." - -Arachi was a most convincing man, possessing the powers of all great -borrowers, and he convinced his father-in-law--a relation who, from the -beginning of time, has always been the least open to conviction. - -He left his wife, and she, poor woman, glad to be relieved of the -presence of her loquacious husband, probably went to sleep. - -At any rate, Arachi came to headquarters at a propitious moment for him. -Headquarters at that moment was an armed camp at the junction of the -Isisi and Ikeli rivers. - -On the top of all his other troubles, Sanders had the problem of a -stranger who had arrived unbidden. His orderly came to him and told him -that a man desired speech of him. - -"What manner of man?" asked Sanders, wearily. - -"Master," said the orderly, "I have not seen a man like him before." - -Sanders went out to inspect his visitor. The stranger rose and saluted, -raising both hands, and the Commissioner looked him over. He was not of -any of the tribes he knew, being without the face-cuts laterally -descending either cheek, which mark the Bomongo. Neither was he -tattooed on the forehead, like the people of the Little River. - -"Where do you come from?" asked Sanders, in Swaheli--which is the -_lingua franca_ of the continent--but the man shook his head. - -So Sanders tried him again, this time in Bomongo, thinking, from his -face-marks, that he must be a man of the Bokeri people. But he answered -in a strange tongue. - -"_Quel nom avez vous?_" Sanders asked, and repeated the question in -Portuguese. To this latter he responded, saying that he was a small -chief of the Congo Angola, and that he had left his land to avoid -slavery. - -"Take him to the men's camp and feed him," said Sanders, and dismissed -him from his mind. - -Sanders had little time to bother about stray natives who might wander -into his camp. He was engaged in searching for a gentleman who was -known as Abdul Hazim, a great rascal, trading guns and powder contrary -to the law. - -"And," said Sanders to the captain of the Houssas, "if I catch him he'll -be sorry." - -Abdul Hazim shared this view, so kept out of Sanders's way to such -purpose that, after a week's further wanderings, Sanders returned to his -headquarters. - -Just about then he was dispirited, physically low from the after-effects -of fever, and mentally disturbed. - -Nothing went right with the Commissioner. There had been a begging -letter from head-quarters concerning this same Abdul Hazim. He was in -no need of Houssa palavers, yet there must needs come a free fight -amongst these valiant soldier-men, and, to crown all, two hours -afterwards, the Houssa skipper had gone to bed with a temperature of -104.6. - -"Bring the swine here," said Sanders inelegantly, when the sergeant of -Houssas reported the fight. And there were marched before him the -strange man, who had come to him from the backlands, and a pugnacious -soldier named Kano. - -"Lord," said the Houssa, "by my god, who is, I submit, greater than most -gods, I am not to blame. This Kaffir dog would not speak to me when I -spoke; also, he put his hands to my meat, so I struck him." - -"Is that all?" asked Sanders. - -"That is all, lord." - -"And did the stranger do no more than, in his ignorance, touch your -meat, and keep silence when you spoke?" - -"No more, lord." - -Sanders leant back in his seat of justice and scowled horribly at the -Houssa. - -"If there is one thing more evident to me than another," he said slowly, -"it is that a Houssa is a mighty person, a lord, a king. Now I sit here -in justice, respecting neither kings, such as you be, nor slaves, such -as this silent one. And I judge so, regarding the dignity of none, -according to the law of the book. Is that so?" - -"That is so, lord." - -"And it would seem that it is against the law to raise hand against any -man, however much he offends you, the proper course being to make -complaint according to the regulations of the service. Is that so?" - -"That is so, lord." - -"Therefore you have broken the law. Is that truth?" - -"That is truth, lord." - -"Go back to your lines, admitting this truth to your comrades, and let -the Kaffir rest. For on the next occasion, for him that breaks the law, -there will be breaking of skin. The palaver is finished." - -The Houssa retired. - -"And," said Sanders, retailing the matter to the convalescent officer -next morning, "I consider that I showed more than ordinary -self-restraint in not kicking both of them to the devil." - -"You're a great man," said the Houssa officer. "You'll become a -colonial-made gentleman one of these days, unless you're jolly careful." - -Sanders passed in silence the Houssa's gibe at the Companionship of St. -Michael and St. George, and, moreover, C.M.G.'s were not likely to come -his way whilst Abdul Hazim was still at large. - -He was in an unpleasant frame of mind when Arachi came swiftly in a -borrowed canoe, paddled by four men whom he had engaged at an Isisi -village, on a promise of payment which it was very unlikely he would -ever be able to fulfil. - -"Master," said Arachi solemnly, "I come desiring to serve your lordship, -for I am too great a man for my village, and, if no chief, behold, I -have a chief's thoughts." - -"And a chief's hut," said Sanders dryly, "if all they tell me is true." - -Arachi winced. - -"Lord," he said humbly, "all things are known to you, and your eye goes -forth like a chameleon's tongue to see round the corners." - -Sanders passed over the unpleasant picture Arachi suggested. - -"Arachi," he said, "it happens that you have come at a moment when you -can serve me, for there is in my camp a strange man from a far-away -land, who knows not this country, yet desires to cross it. Now, since -you know the Angola tongue, you shall take him in your canoe to the edge -of the Frenchi land, and there you shall put him on his way. And for -this I will pay your paddlers. And as for you, I will remember you in -the day of your need." - -It was not as Arachi could have wished, but it was something. The next -day he departed importantly. - -Before he left, Sanders gave him a word of advice. - -"Go you, Arachi," he said, "by the Little Kusu River." - -"Lord," said Arachi, "there is a shorter way by the creek of Still -Waters. This goes to the Frenchi land, and is deep enough for our -purpose." - -"It is a short way and a long way," said Sanders grimly. "For there -sits a certain Abdul Hazim who is a great buyer of men, and, because the -Angola folk are wonderful gardeners, behold, the Arab is anxious to come -by them. Go in peace." - -"On my head," said Arachi, and took his leave. - -It was rank bad luck that he should meet on his way two of his principal -creditors. These, having some grievance in the matter of foodstuffs, -advanced, desiring to do him an injury, but, on his earnest entreaties, -postponed the performance of their solemn vows. - -"It seems," said one of them, "that you are now Sandi's man, for though -I do not believe anything you have told me, yet these paddlers do not -lie." - -"Nor this silent one," said Arachi, pointing to his charge proudly. -"And because I alone in all the land can make palaver with him, Sandi -has sent me on a mission to certain kings. These will give me presents, -and on my return I will pay you what I owe, and much more for love." - -They let him pass. - -It may be said that Arachi, who lent "to none and believed no man," had -no faith whatever in his lord's story. Who the silent Angola was, what -was his mission, and why he had been chosen to guard the stranger, -Arachi did not guess. - -He would have found an easy way to understanding if he had believed all -that Sanders had told him, but that was not Arachi's way. - -On a night when the canoe was beached on an island, and the paddlers -prepared the noble Arachi's food, the borrower questioned his charge. - -"How does it happen, foreigner," he asked, "that my friend and -neighbour, Sandi, asks me of my kindness to guide you to the French -land?" - -"Patron," said the Angola man, "I am a stranger, and desire to escape -from slavery. Also, there is a small Angola-Balulu tribe, which are of -my people and faith, who dwell by the Frenchi tribe." - -"What is your faith?" asked Arachi. - -"I believe in devils and ju-jus," said the Angola man simply, -"especially one called Billimi, who has ten eyes and spits at snakes. -Also, I hate the Arabi, that being part of my faith." - -This gave Arachi food for thought, and some reason for astonishment that -Sandi should have spoken the truth to him. - -"What of this Abdul Arabi?" he asked. "Now I think that Sandi lied to -me when he said such an one buys men, for, if this be so, why does he -not raid the Isisi?" - -But the Angola man shook his head. - -"These are matters too high for my understanding," he said. "Yet I know -that he takes the Angola because they are great gardeners, and cunning -in the pruning of trees." - -Again Arachi had reason for thinking profoundly. - -This Abdul, as he saw, must come to the Upper River for the people of -the Lesser Akasava, who were also great gardeners. He would take no -Isisi, because they were notoriously lazy, and moreover, died with -exasperating readiness when transplanted to a foreign soil. - -He continued his journey till he came to the place where he would have -turned off had he taken a short cut to the French territory. - -Here he left his paddlers and his guest, and made his way up the creek -of Still Waters. - -Half-a-day's paddling brought him to the camp of Abdul. The slaver's -silent runners on the bank had kept pace with him, and when Arachi -landed he was seized by men who sprang apparently from nowhere. - -"Lead me to your master, O common men," said Arachi, "for I am a chief -of the Isisi, and desire a secret palaver." - -"If you are Isisi, and by your thinness and your boasting I see that you -are," said his captor, "my lord Abdul will make easy work of you." - -Abdul Hazim was short and stout, and a lover of happiness. Therefore he -kept his camp in that condition of readiness which enabled him to leave -quickly at the first sight of a white helmet or a Houssa's tarboosh. - -For it would have brought no happiness to Abdul had Sanders come upon -him. - -Now, seated on a soft-hued carpet of silk before the door of his little -tent, he eyed Arachi dubiously, and listened in silence while the man -spoke of himself. - -"Kaffir," he said, when the borrower had finished, "how do I know that -you do not lie, or that you are not one of Sandi's spies? I think I -should be very clever if I cut your throat." - -Arachi explained at length why Abdul Hazim should not cut his throat. - -"If you say this Angola man is near by, why should I not take him -without payment?" asked the slaver. - -"Because," said Arachi, "this foreigner is not the only man in the -country, and because I have great influence with Sandi, and am beloved -by all manner of people who trust me. I may bring many other men to -your lordship." - -Arachi returned to the camp, towing a small canoe with which the slaver -had provided him. - -He woke the Angola stranger from his sleep. - -"Brother," he said, "here is a canoe with food. Now I tell you to paddle -one day up this creek of Still Waters and there await my coming, for -there are evil men about, and I fear for your safety." - -The Angolan, simple man that he was, obeyed. Half a day's journey up the -creek Abdul's men were waiting. - -Arachi set off for his own village that night, and in his canoe was such -a store of cloth, of salt, and of brass rods as would delight any man's -heart. Arachi came to his village singing a little song about himself. - -In a year he had grown rich, for there were many ways of supplying the -needs of an Arab slaver, and Abdul paid promptly. - -Arachi worked single-handed, or, if he engaged paddlers, found them in -obscure corners of the territories. He brought to Abdul many marketable -properties, mostly young N'gombi women, who are fearful and easily -cowed, and Sanders, scouring the country for the stout man with the fez, -found him not. - - * * * * * - -"Lord Abdul," said Arachi, who met the slaver secretly one night near -the Ikusi River, "Sandi and his soldiers have gone down to the Akasava -for a killing palaver. Now I think we will do what you wish." - -They were discussing an aspect of an adventure--the grandest adventure -which Abdul had ever planned. - -"Arachi," said Abdul, "I have made you a rich man. Now, I tell you that -I can make you richer than any chief in this land." - -"I shall be glad to hear of this," said Arachi. "For though I am rich, -yet I have borrowed many things, and, it seems, I have so wonderful a -mind that I must live always in to-morrow." - -"So I have heard," said the Arab. "For they say of you that if you had -the whole world you would borrow the moon." - -"That is my mystery," said Arachi modestly. "For this reason I am a very -notable man." - -Then he sat down to listen in patience to the great plan of Abdul Hazim. -And it was a very high plan, for there were two thousand Liberian -dollars at the back of it, and, for Arachi, payment in kind. - -At the moment of the conference, Sanders was housed in the Ochori city -making palaver with Bosambo, the chief. - -"Bosambo," said Sanders, "I have given you these upper streams to your -care. Yet Abdul Hazim walks through the land without hurt, and I think -it is shame to you and to me." - -"Master," said Bosambo, "it is a shameful thing. Yet the streams -hereabouts are so many, and Abdul is a cunning man, and has spies. -Also, my people are afraid to offend him lest he 'chop' them, or sell -them into the interior." - -Sanders nodded and rose to join the _Zaire_. - -"Bosambo," he said, "this government put a price upon this Abdul, even -as a certain government put a price upon you." - -"What is his price, lord?" asked Bosambo, with an awakening of interest. - -"One hundred pounds in silver," said Sanders. - -"Lord," said Bosambo, "that is a good price." - -Two days afterwards, when Arachi came to Bosambo, this chief was engaged -in the purely domestic occupation of nursing his one small son. - -"Greeting, Bosambo," said Arachi, "to you and to your beautiful son, who -is noble in appearance and very quiet." - -"Peace be to you, Arachi. I have nothing to lend you," said Bosambo. - -"Lord," said Arachi loftily, "I am now a rich man--richer than -chiefs--and I do not borrow." - -"Ko, ko!" said Bosambo, with polite incredulity. - -"Bosambo," Arachi went on, "I came to you because I love you, and you -are not a talking man, but rather a wise and silent one." - -"All this I know, Arachi," said Bosambo cautiously. "And again I say to -you that I lend no man anything." - -The exasperated Arachi raised his patient eyes to heaven. - -"Lord Bosambo," he said, in the tone of one hurt, "I came to tell you of -that which I have found, and to ask your lordship to help me secure it. -For in a certain place I have come across a great stock of ivory, such -as the old kings buried against their need." - -"Arachi," said Bosambo, of a sudden, "you tell me that you are rich. -Now you are a little man and I am a chief, yet I am not rich." - -"I have many friends," said Arachi, trembling with pride, "and they give -me rods and salt." - -"That is nothing," said Bosambo. "Now I understand richness, for I have -lived amongst white folk who laugh at rods and throw salt to dogs." - -"Lord Bosambo," said the other eagerly, "I am rich also by white men's -rule. Behold!" - -From his waist pouch he took a handful of silver, and offered it in both -hands for the chief's inspection. - -Bosambo examined the money respectfully, turning each coin over -gingerly. - -"That is good riches," he said, and he breathed a little faster than was -his wont. "And it is new, being bright. Also the devil marks, which -you do not understand, are as they should be." - -The gratified Arachi shoved his money back into his pouch. Bosambo sat -in meditative silence, his face impassive. - -"And you will take me, Arachi, to the place of buried treasure?" he -asked slowly. "Ko! you are a generous man, for I do not know why you -should share with me, knowing that I once beat you." - -Bosambo put the child down gently. These kings' stores were -traditional. Many had been found, and it was the dream of every -properly constituted man to unearth such. - -Yet Bosambo was not impressed, being in his heart sceptical. - -"Arachi," he said, "I believe that you are a liar! Yet I would see this -store, and, if it be near by, will see with my own eyes." - -It was one day's journey, according to Arachi. - -"You shall tell me where this place is," said Bosambo. - -Arachi hesitated. - -"Lord, how do I not know that you will not go and take this store?" he -asked. - -Bosambo regarded him sternly. - -"Am I not an honest man?" he asked. "Do not the people from one end of -the world to the other swear by the name of Bosambo?" - -"No," said Arachi truthfully. - -Yet he told of the place. It was by the River of Shadows, near the -Crocodile Pool Where-the-Floods Had-Changed-The-Land. - -Bosambo went to his hut to make preparations for the journey. - -Behind his house, in a big grass cage, were many little pigeons. He -laboriously wrote in his vile Arabic a laconic message, and attached it -to the leg of a pigeon. - -To make absolutely sure, for Bosambo left nothing to chance, he sent -away a canoe secretly that night for a certain destination. - -"And this you shall say to Sandi," said the chief to his trusted -messenger, "that Arachi is rich with the richness of silver, and that -silver has the devil marks of Zanzibar--being the home of all traders, -as your lordship knows." - -Next day, at dawn, Bosambo and his guide departed. They paddled -throughout the day, taking the smaller stream that drained the eastern -side of the river, and at night they camped at a place called Bolulu, -which means "the changed land." - -They rose with the daylight to resume their journey. But it was -unnecessary, for, in the darkness before the dawn, Abdul Hazim had -surrounded the camp, and, at the persuasive muzzle of a Snider rifle, -Bosambo accompanied his captors ten minutes' journey into the wood where -Abdul awaited him. - -The slaver, sitting before the door of his tent on his silken carpet, -greeted his captive in the Ochori dialect. Bosambo replied in Arabic. - -"Ho, Bosambo!" said Abdul. "Do you know me?" - -"Sheikh," said Bosambo, "I would know you in hell, for you are the man -whose head my master desires." - -"Bosambo," said Abdul calmly, "your head is more valuable, so they say, -for the Liberians will put it upon a pole, and pay me riches for my -enterprise." - -Bosambo laughed softly. "Let the palaver finish," he said, "I am ready -to go." - -They brought him to the river again, tied him to a pole, and laid him in -the bottom of a canoe, Arachi guarding him. - -Bosambo, looking up, saw the borrower squatting on guard. - -"Arachi," he said, "if you untie my hands, it shall go easy with you." - -"If I untie your hands," said Arachi frankly, "I am both a fool and a -dead man, and neither of these conditions is desirable." - -"To every man," quoth Bosambo, "there is an easy kill somewhere,[#] and, -if he misses this, all kills are difficult." - -[#] The native equivalent for "opportunity knocks," etc. - -Four big canoes composed the waterway caravan. Abdul was in the largest -with his soldiers, and led the van. - -They moved quickly down the tiny stream, which broadened as it neared -the river. - -Then Abdul's headman suddenly gasped. - -"Look!" he whispered. - -The slaver turned his head. - -Behind them, paddling leisurely, came four canoes, and each was filled -with armed men. - -"Quickly," said Abdul, and the paddlers stroked furiously, then stopped. - -Ahead was the _Zaire_, a trim, white steamer, alive with Houssas. - -"It is God's will," said Abdul. "These things are ordained." - -He said no more until he stood before Sanders, and the Commissioner was -not especially communicative. - -"What will you do with me?" asked Abdul. - -"I will tell you when I have seen your stores," said Sanders. "If I -find rifles such as the foolish Lobolo people buy, I shall hang you -according to law." - -The Arab looked at the shaking Arachi. The borrower's knees wobbled -fearfully. - -"I see," said Abdul thoughtfully, "that this man whom I made rich has -betrayed me." - -If he had hurried or moved jerkily Sanders would have prevented the act; -but the Arab searched calmly in the fold of his _bournous_ as though -seeking a cigarette. - -His hand came out, and with it a curved knife. - -Then he struck quickly, and Arachi went blubbering to the deck, a dying -man. - -"Borrower," said the Arab, and he spoke from the centre of six Houssas -who were chaining him, so that he was hidden from the sobbing figure on -the floor, "I think you have borrowed that which you can at last repay. -For it is written in the Sura of the Djinn that from him who takes a -life, let his life be taken, that he may make full repayment." - - - - - *CHAPTER II* - - *THE TAX RESISTERS* - - -Sanders took nothing for granted when he accounted for native peoples. -These tribes of his possessed an infinite capacity for -unexpectedness--therein lay at once their danger and their charm. For -one could neither despair at their sin nor grow too confidently elated -at their virtue, knowing that the sun which went down on the naughtiness -of the one and the dovelike placidity of the other, might rise on the -smouldering sacrificial fires in the streets of the blessed village, and -reveal the folk of the incorrigible sitting at the doors of their huts, -dust on head, hands outspread in an agony of penitence. - -Yet it seemed that the people of Kiko were models of deportment, thrift, -and intelligence, and that the gods had given them beautiful natures. -Kiko, a district of the Lower Isisi, is separated from all other tribes -and people by the Kiko on the one side, the Isisi River on the other, -and on the third by clumps of forest land set at irregular intervals in -the Great Marsh. - -Kiko proper stretches from the marsh to the tongue of land at the -confluence of the Kiko and Isisi, in the shape of an irregular triangle. - -To the eastward, across the Kiko River, are the unruly N'gombi tribes; -to the westward, on the farther bank of the big river, are the Akasava; -and the Kiko people enjoy an immunity from sudden attack, which is due -in part to its geographical position, and in part to the remorseless -activities of Mr. Commissioner Sanders. - -Once upon a time a king of the N'gombi called his headmen and chiefs -together to a great palaver. - -"It seems to me," he said, "that we are children. For our crops have -failed because of the floods, and the thieving Ochori have driven the -game into their own country. Now, across the river are the Kiko people, -and they have reaped an oat harvest; also, there is game in plenty. -Must we sit and starve whilst the Kiko swell with food?" - -A fair question, though the facts were not exactly stated, for the -N'gombi were lazy, and had sown late; also the game was in their forest -for the searching, but, as the saying is, "The N'gombi hunts from his -bed and seeks only cooked meats." - -One night the N'gombi stole across the river and fell upon Kiko city, -establishing themselves masters of the country. - -There was a great palaver, which was attended by the chief and headman -of the Kiko. - -"Henceforward," said the N'gombi king--Tigilini was his name--"you are -as slaves to my people, and if you are gentle and good and work in the -fields you shall have one-half of all you produce, for I am a just man, -and very merciful. But if you rebel, I will take you for my sport." - -Lest any misunderstanding should exist, he took the first malcontent, -who was a petty chief of a border village, and performed his programme. - -This man had refused tribute, and was led, with roped hands, before the -king, all headmen having been summoned to witness the happening. - -The rebel was bound with his hands behind him, and was ordered to kneel. -A young sapling was bent over, and one end of a native rope was fixed to -its topmost branches, and the other about his neck. The tree was slowly -released till the head of the offender was held taut. - -"Now!" said the king, and his executioner struck off the head, which was -flung fifty yards by the released sapling. - -It fell at the feet of Mr. Commissioner Sanders, who, with twenty-five -Houssas and a machine gun, had just landed from the _Zaire_. - -Sanders was annoyed; he had travelled three days and four nights with -little sleep, and he had a touch of fever, which made him irritable. - -He walked into the village and interrupted an eloquent address on the -obligations of the conquered, which the N'gombi thief thought it -opportune to deliver. - -He stopped half-way through his speech, and lost a great deal of -interest in the proceedings as the crowd divided to allow of Sanders's -approach. - -"Lord," said Tigilini, that quick and subtle man, "you have come at a -proper time, for these people were in rebellion against your lordship, -and I have subdued them. Therefore, master, give me rewards as you gave -to Bosambo of the Ochori." - -Sanders gave nothing save a brief order, and his Houssas formed a half -circle about the hut of the king--Tigilini watching the manoeuvre with -some apprehension. - -"If," he said graciously. "I have done anything which your lordship -thinks I should not have done, or taken that which I should not have -taken, I will undo and restore." - -Sanders, hands on hips, regarded him dispassionately. - -"There is a body." He pointed to the stained and huddled thing on the -ground. "There, by the path, is a head. Now, you shall put the head to -that body and restore life." - -"That I cannot do," said the king nervously, "for I am no ju-ju." - -Sanders spoke two words in Arabic, and Tigilini was seized. - -They carried the king away, and no man ever saw his face again, and it -is a legend that Tigilini, the king, is everlastingly chained to the -hind leg of M'shimba M'shamba, the green devil of the Akasava. If the -truth be told, Tigilini went no nearer to perdition than the convict -prison at Sierra Leone, but the legend is not without its value as a -deterrent to ambitious chiefs. - -Sanders superintended the evacuation of the Kiko, watched the -crestfallen N'gombi retire to their own lands, and set up a new king -without fuss or ceremony. And the smooth life of the Kiko people ran -pleasantly as before. - -They tilled the ground and bred goats and caught fish. From the marsh -forest, which was their backland, they gathered rubber and copal, and -this they carried by canoe to the mouth of the river and sold. - -So they came to be rich, and even the common people could afford three -wives. - -Sanders was very wise in the psychology of native wealth. He knew that -people who grew rich in corn were dangerous, because corn is an -irresponsible form of property, and had no ramifications to hold in -check the warlike spirit of its possessors. - -He knew, too, that wealth in goats, in cloth, in brass rods, and in land -was a factor for peace, because possessions which cannot be eaten are -ever a steadying influence in communal life. - -Sanders was a wise man. He was governed by certain hard and fast rules, -and though he was well aware that failure in any respect to grapple with -a situation would bring him a reprimand, either because he had not acted -according to the strict letter of the law, or because he "had not used -his discretion" in going outside that same inflexible code, he took -responsibility without fear. - -It was left to his discretion as to what part of the burden of taxation -individual tribes should bear, and on behalf of his government he took -his full share of the Kiko surplus, adjusting his demands according to -the measure of the tribe's prosperity. - -Three years after the enterprising incursion of the N'gombi, he came to -the Kiko country on his half-yearly visit. - -In the palaver house of the city he listened to complaints, as was his -custom. - -He sat from dawn till eight o'clock in the morning, and after the tenth -complaint he turned to the chief of the Kiko, who sat at his side. - -"Chief," he said, with that air of bland innocence which would have made -men used to his ways shake in their tracks, "I observe that all men say -one thing to me--that they are poor. Now this is not the truth." - -"I am in your hands," said the chief diplomatically; "also my people, -and they will pay taxation though they starve." - -Sanders saw things in a new light. - -"It seems," he said, addressing the serried ranks of people who squatted -about, "that there is discontent in your stomachs because I ask you for -your taxes. We will have a palaver on this." - -He sat down, and a grey old headman, a notorious litigant and a -league-long speaker, rose up. - -"Lord," he said dramatically, "justice!" - -"Kwai!" cried the people in chorus. - -The murmur, deep-chested and unanimous, made a low, rumbling sound like -the roll of a drum. - -"Justice!" said the headman. "For you, Sandi, are very cruel and harsh. -You take and take and give us nothing, and the people cry out in pain." - -He paused, and Sanders nodded. - -"Go on," he said. - -"Corn and fish, gum and rubber, we give you," said the spokesman; "and -when we ask whither goes this money, you point to the puc-a-puc[#] and -your soldiers, and behold we are mocked. For your puc-a-puc comes only -to take our taxes, and your soldiers to force us to pay." - - -[#] Steamer. - - -Again the applauding murmur rolled. - -"So we have had a palaver," said the headman, "and this we have said -among ourselves: 'Let Sandi remit one-half our taxes; these we will -bring in our canoes to the Village-by-the-Big-Water, for we are honest -men, and let Sandi keep his soldiers and his puc-a-puc for the folk of -the Isisi and the Akasava and the N'gombi, for these are turbulent and -wicked people.'" - -"Kwai!" - -It was evidently a popular movement, and Sanders smiled behind his hand. - -"As for us," said the headman, "we are peaceable folk, and live -comfortably with all nations, and if any demand of us that we shall pay -tribute, behold it will be better to give freely than to pay these -taxes." - -Sanders listened in silence, then he turned to the chief. - -"It shall be as you wish," he said, "and I will remit one half of your -taxation--the palaver is finished." - -He went on board the _Zaire_ that night and lay awake listening to the -castanets of the dancing women--the Kiko made merry to celebrate the -triumph of their diplomacy. - -Sanders left next day for the Isisi, having no doubt in his mind that -the news of his concession had preceded him. So it proved, for at -Lukalili no sooner had he taken his place in the speech-house than the -chief opened the proceedings. - -"Lord Sandi," he began, "we are poor men, and our people cry out against -taxation. Now, lord, we have thought largely on this matter, and this -say the people: 'If your lordship would remit one-half our taxes we -should be happy, for this puc-a-puc'----" - -Sanders waved him down. - -"Chiefs and people," he said, "I am patient, because I love you. But -talk to me more about taxation and about puc-a-pucs, and I will find a -new chief for me, and you will wish that you had never been born." - -After that Sanders had no further trouble. - -He came to the Ochori, and found Bosambo, wholly engrossed with his new -baby, but ripe for action. - -"Bosambo," said the Commissioner, after he had gingerly held the -new-comer and bestowed his natal present, "I have a story to tell you." - -He told his story, and Bosambo found it vastly entertaining. - -Five days later, when Sanders was on his way home, Bosambo with ten -picked men for paddlers, came sweeping up the river, and beached at Kiko -city. - -He was greeted effusively; a feast was prepared for him, the chief's -best hut was swept clean. - -"Lord Bosambo," said the Kiko chief, when the meal was finished, "I -shall have a sore heart this night when you are gone." - -"I am a kind man," said Bosambo, "so I will not go to-night, for the -thought of your sorrow would keep sleep from my eyes." - -"Lord," said the chief hastily, "I am not used to sorrow, and, moreover, -I shall sleep heavily, and it would be shameful if I kept you from your -people, who sigh like hungry men for your return." - -"That is true," said Bosambo, "yet I will stay this night, because my -heart is full of pleasant thoughts for you." - -"If you left to-night," said the embarrassed chief, "I would give you a -present of two goats." - -"Goats," said Bosambo, "I do not eat, being of a certain religious -faith----" - -"Salt I will give you also," said the chief. - -"I stay to-night," said Bosambo emphatically; "to-morrow I will consider -the matter." - -The next morning Bosambo went to bathe in the river, and returned to see -the chief of the Kiko squatting before the door of his hut, vastly glum. - -"Ho, Cetomati!" greeted Bosambo, "I have news which will gladden your -heart." - -A gleam of hope shone in the chief's eye. - -"Does my brother go so soon?" he asked pointedly. - -"Chief," said Bosambo acidly, "if that be good news to you, I go. And -woe to you and your people, for I am a proud man, and my people are also -proud. Likewise, they are notoriously vengeful." - -The Kiko king rose in agitation. - -"Lord," he said humbly, "my words are twisted, for, behold, all this -night I have spent mourning in fear of losing your lordship. Now, tell -me your good news that I may rejoice with you." - -But Bosambo was frowning terribly, and was not appeased for some time. - -"This is my news, O king!" he said. "Whilst I bathed I beheld, far -away, certain Ochori canoes, and I think they bring my councillors. If -this be so, I may stay with you for a long time--rejoice!" - -The Kiko chief groaned. - -He groaned more when the canoes arrived bringing reinforcements to -Bosambo--ten lusty fighting men, terribly tall and muscular. - -He groaned undisguisedly when the morrow brought another ten, and the -evening some twenty more. - -There are sayings on the river which are uncomplimentary to the -appetites of the Ochori. - -Thus: "Men eat to live fat, but the Ochori live to eat." And: "One -field of corn will feed a village for a year, ten goats for a month, and -an Ochori for a day." - -Certainly Bosambo's followers were excellent trenchermen. They ate and -they ate and they ate; from dawn till star time they alternated between -the preparation of meals and their disposal. The simple folk of the Kiko -stood in a wondering circle about them and watched in amazement as their -good food vanished. - -"I see we shall starve when the rains come," said the chief in despair. - -He sent an urgent canoe to Sanders, but Sanders was without sympathy. - -"Go to your master," he said to the envoy, "telling him that all these -things are his palaver. If he does not desire the guests of his house, -let him turn them away, for the land is his, and he is chief." - -Cold comfort for Cetomati this, for the Ochori sat in the best huts, -eating the best foods, finding the best places at the dance-fires. - -The king called a secret palaver of his headmen. - -"These miserable Ochori thieves ruin us," he said. "Are we men or dogs? -Now, I tell you, my people and councillors, that to-morrow I send -Bosambo and his robbers away, though I die for it!" - -"Kwai!" said the councillors in unison. - -"Lord," said one, "in the times of _cala-cala_ the Kiko folk were very -fierce and bloody; perchance if we rouse the people with our eloquence -they are still fierce and bloody." - -The king looked dubious. - -"I do not think," he said, "that the Kiko people are as fierce and -bloody as at one time, for we have had many fat years. What I know, O -friend, is that the Ochori are very fierce indeed, and Bosambo has -killed many men." - -He screwed up his courage through the night, and in the morning put it -to the test. - -Bosambo, in his most lordly way, had ordered a big hunting, and he and -his men were assembling in the village street when the king and his -councillors approached. - -"Lord," said the king mildly, "I have that within me which I must tell." - -"Say on," said Bosambo. - -"Now, I love you, Bosambo," said the chief, "and the thought that I must -speed you on your way--with presents--is very sad to me." - -"More sad to me," said Bosambo ominously. - -"Yet lord," said the desperate chief, "I must, for my people are very -fierce with me that I keep you so long within our borders. Likewise, -there is much sickness, and I fear lest you and your beautiful men also -become sick, and die." - -"Only one man in all the world, chief," said Bosambo, speaking with -deliberation, "has ever put such shame upon me--and, king, that -man--where is he?" - -The king of the Kiko did not say, because he did not know. He could -guess--oh, very well he could guess!--and Bosambo's next words justified -his guesswork. - -"He is dead," said Bosambo solemnly. "I will not say how he died, lest -you think I am a boastful one, or whose hand struck him down, for fear -you think vainly--nor as to the manner of his dying, for that would give -you sorrow!" - -"Bosambo," said the agitated chief of the Kiko, "these are evil -words----" - -"I say no evil words," said Bosambo, "for I am, as you know, the -brother-in-law of Sandi, and it would give him great grief. I say -nothing, O little king!" - -With a lofty wave of his hand he strode away, and, gathering his men -together, he marched them to the beach. - -It was in vain that the chief of the Kiko had stored food in enormous -quantities and presents in each canoe, that bags of salt were evenly -distributed amongst the paddlers. - -Bosambo, it is true, did not throw them back upon the shore, but he -openly and visibly scorned them. The king, standing first on one foot -and then on the other, in his anxiety and embarrassment, strove to give -the parting something of a genial character, but Bosambo was silent, -forbidding, and immensely gloomy. - -"Lord," said the chief, "when shall my heart again be gladdened at the -sight of your pretty face?" - -"Who knows?" said Bosambo mysteriously. "Who can tell when I come, or my -friends! For many men love me--Isisi, N'gombi, Akasava, Bongindi, and -the Bush people." - -He stepped daintily into his canoe. - -"I tell you," he said, wagging a solemn forefinger, "that whatever comes -to you, it is no palaver of mine; whoever steals quietly upon you in the -night, it will not be Bosambo--I call all men to witness this saying." - -And with this he went. - -There was a palaver that night, where all men spoke at once, and the -Kiko king did not more than bite his nails nervously. It was certain -that attack would come. - -"Let us meet them boldly," said the one who had beforetime rendered such -advice. "For in times of _cala-cala_ the Kiko folk were fierce and -bloody people." - -Whatever they might have been once, there was no spirit of adventure -abroad then, and many voices united to call the genius who had suggested -defiance a fool and worse. - -All night long the Kiko stood a nation in arms. - -Once the hooting of a bird sent them scampering to their huts with howls -of fear; once a wandering buffalo came upon a quaking picket and -scattered it. Night after night the fearful Kiko kept guard, sleeping -as they could by day. - -They saw no enemy; the suspense was worse than the vision of armed -warriors. A messenger went to Sanders about the fears and apprehensions -of the people, but Sanders was callous. - -"If any people attack you, I will come with my soldiers, and for every -man of you who dies, I will kill one of your enemies." - -"Lord," said the messenger, none other than the king's son, "if we are -dead, we care little who lives or dies. Now, I ask you, master, to send -your soldiers with me, for our people are tired and timid." - -"Be content," said Sanders, "that I have remitted your taxation--the -palaver is finished." - -The messenger returned to his dismal nation--Sanders at the time was -never more than a day's journey from the Kiko--and a sick and weary -people sat down in despair to await the realisation of their fears. - -They might have waited throughout all eternity, for Bosambo was back in -his own city, and had almost forgotten them, and Isisi and the Akasava, -regarding them for some reason as Sanders' _urglebes_, would have no -more thought of attacking them than they would have considered the -possibility of attacking Sanders; and as for the N'gombi, they had had -their lesson. - -Thus matters stood when the Lulungo people, who live three days beyond -the Akasava, came down the river looking for loot and trouble. - -The Lulungo people are an unlovable race; "a crabbed, bitter, and a -beastly people," Sanders once described them in his wrath. - -For two years the Lulungo folk had lain quiet, then, like foraging and -hungry dogs, they took the river trail--six canoes daubed with mud and -rushes. - -They found hospitality of a kind in the fishing villages, for the -peaceable souls who lived therein fled at the first news of the -visitation. - -They came past the Ochori warily keeping to midstream. Time was when -the Ochori would have supplied them with all their requirements, but -nowadays these men of Bosambo's snapped viciously. - -"None the less," said Gomora, titular chief of the Lulungo, to his -headmen, "since we be so strong the Ochori will not oppose us--let two -canoes paddle to land." - -The long boats were detached from the fleet and headed for the beach. A -shower of arrows fell short of them, and they turned back. - -The Isisi country they passed, the Akasava they gave the widest of -berths to, for the Lulungo folk are rather cruel than brave, better -assassins than fighting men, more willing to kill coldly than in hot -blood. They went lurching down the river, seizing such loot as the -unprotected villages gave them. - -It was a profitless expedition. - -"Now we will go to Kiko," said Gomora; "for these people are very rich, -and, moreover, they are fearful. Speak to my people, and say that there -shall be no killing, for that devil Sandi hates us, and he will incite -the tribes against us, as he did in the days of my father." - -They waited till night had fallen, and then, under the shadow of the -river bank, they moved silently upon their prey. - -"We will frighten them," confided Gomora; "and they will give us what we -ask; then we will make them swear by Iwa that they will not speak to -Sandi--it will be simple." - -The Lulungo knew the Kiko folk too well, and they landed at a convenient -place, making their way through the strip of forest without the display -of caution which such a manoeuvre would have necessitated had it been -employed against a more warlike nation. - - * * * * * - -Sanders, hurrying down stream, his guns swung out and shotted for -action, his armed Houssas sitting in the bow of the steamer, met two -canoes, unmistakably Lulungo. - -He circled and captured them. In one was Gomora, a little weak from -loss of blood, but more bewildered. - -"Lord," he said bitterly, "all this world is changed since you have -come; once the Ochori were meat for me and my people, being very -timorous. Then by certain magic they became fierce fighters. And now, -lord, the Kiko folk, who, up and down the river, are known for their -gentleness, have become like devils." - -Sanders waited, and the chief went on: - -"Last night we came to the Kiko, desiring to rest with them, and in the -dark of the forest they fell upon us, with great screaming; and, behold! -of ten canoes these men are all I have left, for the Kiko were waiting -for our coming." - -He looked earnestly at Sanders. - -"Tell me, lord," he said, "what magic do white men use to make warriors -from cowards?" - -"That is not for your knowing," said Sanders diplomatically; "yet you -should put this amongst the sayings of your people, 'Every rat fights in -his hole, and fear is more fierce than hate.'" - -He went on to Kiko city, arriving in time to check an expedition, for -the Kiko, filled with arrogance at their own powers, were assembling an -army to attack the Ochori. - -"Often have I told," said the chief, trembling with pride, "that the -Kiko were terrible and bloody--now, lord, behold! In the night we slew -our oppressors, for the spirit of our fathers returned to us, and our -enemies could not check us." - -"Excellent!" said Sanders in the vernacular. "Now I see an end to all -taxation palaver, for, truly, you do not desire my soldiers nor the -puc-a-puc. Yet, lest the Lulungo folk return--for they are as many as -the sands of the river--I will send fighting men to help you." - -"Lord you are as our father and mother," said the gratified chief. - -"Therefore I will prevail upon Bosambo, whose heart is now sore against -you, to come with his fighting tribes to sit awhile at your city." - -The chief's face worked convulsively: he was as one swallowing a noxious -draught. - -"Lord," he said, speaking under stress of emotion, "we are a poor -people, yet we may pay your lordship full taxes, for in the end I think -it would be cheaper than Bosambo and his hungry devils." - -"So I think!" said Sanders. - - - - - *CHAPTER III* - - *THE RISE OF THE EMPEROR* - - -Tobolaka, the king of the Isisi, was appointed for his virtues, being a -Christian and a Bachelor of Arts. - -For a time he ruled his country wisely and might have died full of -honour, but his enthusiasm got the better of him. - -For Tobolaka had been taken to America when a boy by an enthusiastic -Baptist, had been educated at a college and had lectured in America and -England. He wrote passable Latin verse, so I am told; was a fluent -exponent of the Free Silver Policy of Mr. Bryan, and wore patent leather -shoes with broad silk laces. - -In London he attracted the attention of a callow Under-Secretary of -State for the Colonies, and this Under-Secretary was a nephew of the -Prime Minister, cousin of the Minister of War, and son-in-law of the -Lord Chancellor, so he had a pull which most Under-Secretaries do not -ordinarily possess. - -"Mr. Tobolaka," said the Under-Secretary, "what are your plans?" - -Mr. Tobolaka was a little restrained. - -"I feel, Mr. Cardow," he said, "that my duties lie in my land--no, I do -not mean that I have any call to missionary work, but rather to -administration. I am, as you know of the Isisi people--we are a pure -Bantu stock, as far as legend supports that contention--and I have often -thought, remembering that the Isisi are the dominant race, that there -are exceptional opportunities for an agglomeration of interests; in -fact----" - -"A splendid idea--a great idea!" said the enthusiastic Under-Secretary. - -Now it happened that this young Mr. Cardow had sought for years for some -scheme which he might further to his advantage. He greatly desired, -after the fashion of all budding Parliamentarians, to be associated with -a movement which would bring kudos and advertisement in its train, and -which would earn for him the approval or the condemnation of the Press, -according to the shade of particular opinion which the particular -newspapers represented. - -So in the silence of his room in Whitehall Court, he evolved a grand -plan which he submitted to his chief. That great man promised to read -it on a given day, and was dismayed when he found himself confronted -with forty folios of typewritten matter at the very moment when he was -hurrying to catch the 10.35 to the Cotswold Golf Links. - -"I will read it in the train," he said. - -He crammed the manuscript into his bag and forgot all about it; on his -return to town he discovered that by some mischance he had left the -great scheme behind. - -Nevertheless, being a politician and resourceful, he wrote to his -subordinate. - - -"DEAR CARDOW,--I have read your valuable document with more than -ordinary interest. I think it is an excellent idea,"--he knew it was an -idea because Cardow had told him so--"but I see many difficulties. Mail -me another copy. I should like to send it to a friend of mine who would -give me an expert opinion." - - -It was a wily letter, but indiscreet, for on the strength of that letter -the Under-Secretary enlisted the sympathies and practical help of his -chief's colleagues. - -"Here we have a native and an educated native," he said impressively, -"who is patriotic, intelligent, resourceful. It is a unique -opportunity--a splendid opportunity. Let him go back to his country and -get the threads together." - -The conversation occurred in the Prime Minister's room, and there were -present three Ministers of the Crown, including a Home Secretary, who -was frankly bored, because he had a scheme of his own, and would much -rather have discussed his Artisans' Tenement (19--) Bill. - -"Isn't there a Commissioner Sanders in that part of the world?" he asked -languidly. "I seem to remember some such name. And isn't there likely -to be trouble with the minor chiefs if you set up a sort of Central -African Emperor?" - -"That can be overcome," said the sanguine Cardow. "As for Sanders, I -expect him to help. A dynasty established on the Isisi River might end -all the troubles we have had there." - -"It might end other things," said the impatient Home Secretary. "Now -about this Tenement Bill. I think we ought to accept Cronk's -amendment--er----" - -A few weeks later Mr. Tobolaka was summoned to Whitehall Court. - -"I think, Mr. Tobolaka," said Cardow complacently, "I have arranged for -a trial of our plan. The Government has agreed--after a tough fight -with the permanent officials, I admit--to establish you on the Isisi as -King and Overlord of the Isisi, Ochori, N'gombi, and Akasava. They will -vote you a yearly allowance, and will build a house in Isisi city for -you. You will find Mr. Sanders--er--difficult, but you must have a -great deal of patience." - -"Sir," said Mr. Tobolaka, speaking under stress of profound emotion, -"I'm e-eternally obliged. You've been real good to me, and I guess I'll -make good." - -Between the date of Tobolaka's sailing and his arrival Sanders ordered a -palaver of all chiefs, and they came to meet him in the city of the -Isisi. - -"Chiefs and headmen," said Sanders, "you know that many moons ago the -Isisi people rose in an evil moment and made sacrifice contrary to the -law. So I came with my soldiers and took away the king to the Village -of Irons, where he now sits. Because the Isisi are foolish people, my -Government sets up a new king, who is Tobolaka, son of Yoka'n'kema, son -of Ichulomo, the son of Tibilino." - -"Lord," gasped an Isisi headman, "this Tobolaka I remember. The -God-folk took him away to their own land, where he learnt to be white." - -"Yet I promise you that he is black," said Sanders drily, "and will be -blacker. Also, chiefs of the Ochori, N'gombi, and Akasava, this new -king will rule you, being paramount king of these parts, and you shall -bring him presents and tribute according to custom." - -There was an ominous silence. - -Then O'kara, the chief of the Akasava, an old and arrogant man, spoke: - -"Lord," he said, "many things have I learnt, such as mysteries and devil -magic, yet I have not learnt in my life that the Akasava pay tribute to -the Isisi, for, lord, in the year of the Floods, the Akasava fought with -the Isisi and made them run; also, in the year of the Elephants, we -defeated the Isisi on land and water, and would have sat down in their -city if your lordship had not come with guns and soldiers and tempted us -to go home." - -The Akasava headmen murmured their approval. - -"Alas," said the chief of the N'gombi, "we people of the N'gombi are -fierce men, and often have we made the Isisi tremble by our mighty -shouts. Now I should be ashamed to bring tribute to Tobolaka." - -The palaver waited for Bosambo of the Ochori to speak, but he was -silent, for he had not grasped the bias of the Commissioner's mind. -Other men spoke at length, taking their cue from their chiefs, but the -men of the Ochori said nothing. - -"For how was I to speak?" said Bosambo, after the palaver. "No man -knows how your lordship thinks." - -"You have ears," said Sanders, a little irritated. - -"They are large," admitted Bosambo, "so large that they hear your -beautiful voice, but not so long that they hear your lordship's loving -thoughts." - -Sanders's thoughts were by no means loving, and they diminished in -beauty day by day as the ship which carried Tobolaka to his empire drew -nearer. - -Sanders did not go down to the beach to meet him; he awaited his coming -on the verandah of the residency, and when Tobolaka arrived, clad from -head to foot in spotless white, with a helmet of exact colonial pattern -on his head, Sanders swore fluently at all interfering and experimenting -Governments. - -"Mr. Sanders, I presume?" said Tobolaka in English, and extended his -hand. - -"Chief," said Sanders in the Isisi tongue, "you know that I am Sandi, so -do not talk like a monkey; speak rather in the language of your people, -and I will understand you better--also you will understand me." - -It so happened that Tobolaka had prepared a dignified little speech, in -the course of which he intended congratulating Sanders on the prosperity -of the country, assuring him of whole-hearted co-operation, and winding -up with an expression of his wishes that harmonious relation should -exist between himself and the State. - -It was founded on a similar speech delivered by King Peter of Servia on -his assuming the crown. But, unfortunately, it was in English, and the -nearest Isisi equivalent for congratulation is an idiomatic phrase which -literally means, "High-man-look-kindly-on-dog-slave-who-lies-at-feet." -And this, thought Tobolaka, would never do at all, for he had come to -put the Commissioner in his place. - -Sanders condescended to talk English later when Tobolaka was discussing -Cabinet Ministers. - -"I shall--at the Premier's request--endeavour to establish district -councils," he said. "I think it is possible to bring the native to a -realisation of his responsibility. As Cicero said----" - -"Do not bother about Cicero," said Sanders coldly. "It is not what -Cicero said, but what Bosambo will say: there are philosophers on this -river who could lose the ancients." - -Tobolakat in a canoe sent for him by the Isisi folk, went to his new -home. He hinted broadly that a state entrance in the _Zaire_ would be -more in keeping with the occasion. - -"And a ten-gun salute, I suppose!" snarled Sanders in Isisi. "Get to -your land, chief, before I lose my patience, for I am in no mood to -palaver with you." - -Tobolaka stopped long enough at headquarters to write privately to the -admirable Mr. Cardow, complaining that he had received "scant courtesy" -at the hands of the Commissioner. He had shown "deplorable antagonism." -The letter concluded with respectful wishes regarding Mr. Cardow's -health, and there was a postscript, significant and ominous to the -effect that the writer hoped to cement the good feeling which already -existed between Great Britain and the United States of America by means -which he did not disclose. - -The excellent Mr. Cardow was frankly puzzled by the cryptic postscript, -but was too much occupied with a successful vote of censure on the -Government which had turned him into the cold shades of Opposition to -trouble to reply. - -Tobolaka came to his city and was accorded a rapturous welcome by a -people who were prepared at any given hour of the day or night to -jubilate over anything which meant dances and feasts. - -He sat in the palaver house in his white duck suit and his white helmet, -with a cavalry sword (this Sanders had not seen) between his knees, his -white-gloved hands resting on the hilt. - -And he spoke to the people in Isisi, which they understood, and in -English, which they did not understand, but thought wonderful. He also -recited as much of the "Iliad" as he could remember, and then, -triumphant and a little hoarse, he was led to the big hut of -chieftainship, and was waited upon by young girls who danced for his -amusement. - -Sanders heard of these things and more. - -He learnt that the Isisi were to be ruled in European fashion. To -Tobolaka came Cala, a sycophantic old headman from the village of -Toroli, with soft and oily words. Him the king promoted to be Minister -of Justice, though he was a notorious thief. Mijilini, the fisher -chief, Tobolaka made his Minister of War; he had a Home Secretary, a -Minister of Agriculture, and a Fishery Commissioner. - -Sanders, steaming up-river, was met by the canoe of Limibolo, the -Akasava man, and his canoe was decorated with clothes and spears as for -a wedding. - -"Lord," said the dignified Limibolo, "I go to my village to hold a -palaver, for my lord the king has called me by a certain name which I do -not understand, but it has to do with the hanging of evil men, and, by -Iwa! I know two men in my village who owe me salt, and they shall hang -at once, by Death!" - -"Then will I come and you shall hang also!" said Sanders cheerlessly. -"Be sure of that." - -It transpired that the light-hearted Limibolo had been created sheriff. - -Tobolaka was on the point of raising an army for his dignity, when -Sanders came upon the scene. - -He arrived without warning, and Tobolaka had no opportunity for -receiving him in the state which the king felt was due equally to -himself and to the representative of Government. - -But he had ample time to come to the beach to greet the Commissioner -according to custom. Instead, he remained before his hut and sent his -minister in attendance, the ignoble Cala. - -"O Cala!" said Sanders as he stepped ashore across the _Zaire's_ narrow -gangway, "what are you in this land?" - -"Lord," said Cala, "I am a great catcher of thieves by order of our -lord; also, I check evil in every place." - -"O Ko!" said Sanders offensively, "now since you are the biggest thief -of all, I think you had best catch yourself before I catch you." - -He walked through Isisi city. - -The king had been busy. Rough boards had been erected at every street -corner. - -There was a "Downing Street," a "Fifth Avenue," a "Sacramento Street," a -"Piccadilly," and a "Broadway." - -"These," explained Cala, "are certain devil marks which my king has put -up to warn witches and spirits, and they have much virtue, for, lord, my -son, who was troubled with pains in his stomach, as there"--he indicated -"Broadway"--"and the pain left him." - -"It would," said Sanders. - -Tobolaka rose from his throne and offered his hand. - -"I am sorry, Mr. Sanders," he began, "you did not give us notice of your -coming." - -"When I come again, Tobolaka," said Sanders, staring with his passionate -grey eyes at the white-clad figure, "you shall come to the beach to meet -me, for that is the custom." - -"But not the law," smiled the king. - -"My custom is the law," said Sanders. He dropped his voice till it was -so soft as to be little above a whisper. - -"Tobolaka," he said, "I hanged your father and, I believe, his father. -Now I tell you this--that you shall play this king game just so long as -it amuses your people, but you play it without soldiers. And if you -gather an army for whatever purpose, I shall come and burn your city and -send you the way of your ancestors, for there is but one king in this -land, and I am his chief minister." - -The face of the king twitched and his eyes fell. - -"Lord," he said, using the conventional "Iwa" of his people, "I meant no -harm. I desired only to do honour to my wife." - -"You shall honour her best," said Sanders, "by honouring me." - -"Cicero says----" began Tobolaka in English. - -"Damn Cicero!" snapped Sanders in the same language. - -He stayed the day, and Tobolaka did his best to make reparation for his -discourtesy. Towards evening Sanders found himself listening to -complaints. Tobolaka had his troubles. - -"I called a palaver of all chiefs," he explained, "desiring to -inaugurate a system analogous to county councils. Therefore I sent to -the Akasava, the N'gombi, and the Ochori, their chiefs. Now, sir," said -the injured Tobolaka, relapsing into English, "none of these -discourteous fellows----" - -"Speak in the language of the land, Tobolaka," said Sanders wearily. - -"Lord, no man came," said the king; "nor have they sent tribute. And I -desired to bring them to my marriage feast that my wife should be -impressed; and, since I am to be married in the Christian style, it -would be well that these little chiefs should see with their eyes the -practice of God-men." - -"Yet I cannot force these chiefs to your palaver, Tobolaka," said -Sanders. - -"Also, lord," continued the chief, "one of these men is a Mohammedan and -an evil talker, and when I sent to him to do homage to me he replied -with terrible words, such as I would not say again." - -"You must humour your chiefs, king," said Sanders, and gave the -discomfited monarch no warmer cheer. - -Sanders left next day for headquarters, and in his hurry forgot to -inquire further into the forthcoming wedding feast. - -"And the sooner he marries the better," he said to the Houssa captain. -"Nothing tires me quite so much as a Europeanised-Americanised native. -It is as indecent a spectacle as a niggerised white man." - -"He'll settle down; there's no stake in a country like a wife," said the -Houssa. "I shouldn't wonder if he doesn't forget old man Cicero. Which -chief's daughter is to be honoured?" - -Sanders shook his head. - -"I don't know, and I'm not interested. He might make a good chief--I'm -prejudiced against him, I admit. As likely as not he'll chuck his job -after a year if they don't 'chop' him--they're uncertain devils, these -Akasavas. Civilisation has a big big call for him; he's always getting -letters from England and America." - -The Houssa captain bit off the end of a cigar. - -"I hope he doesn't try Cicero on Bosambo," he said significantly. - -The next day brought the mail--an event. - -Usually Sanders was down on the beach to meet the surf-boat that carries -the post, but on this occasion he was interviewing two spies who had -arrived with urgent news. - -Therefore he did not see the passenger whom the _Castle Queen_ landed -till she stood on the stoep before the open door of the residency. - -Sanders, glancing up as a shadow fell across the wooden stoep, rose and -temporarily dismissed the two men with a gesture. - -Then he walked slowly to meet the girl. - -She was small and pretty in a way, rather flushed by the exertion of -walking from the beach to the house. - -Her features were regular, her mouth was small, her chin a little weak. -She seemed ill at ease. - -"How do you do?" said Sanders, bewildered by the unexpectedness of the -vision. He drew a chair for her, and she sank into it with a grateful -little smile, which she instantly checked, as though she had set herself -an unpleasant task and was not to be conciliated or turned aside by any -act of courtesy on his part. - -"And exactly what brings you to this unlikely place?" he asked. - -"I'm Millie Tavish," she said. "I suppose you've heard about me?" - -She spoke with a curious accent. When she told him her name he -recognised it as Scottish, on which American was imposed. - -"I haven't heard about you," he said. "I presume you are going -up-country to a missionary station. I'm sorry--I do not like lady -missionaries in the country." - -She laughed a shrill, not unmusical laugh. - -"Oh, I guess I'm not a missionary," she said complacently. "I'm the -queen." - -Sanders looked at her anxiously. To women in his country he had -conscientious objections; mad women he barred. - -"I'm the queen," she repeated, evidently pleased with the sensation she -had created. "My! I never thought I should be a queen. My grandfather -used to be a gardener of Queen Victoria's before he came to N'York----" - -"But----" said the staggered Commissioner. - -"It was like this," she rattled on. "When Toby was in Philadelphia at -the theological seminary I was a help at Miss Van Houten's--that's the -boarding house--an' Toby paid a lot of attention to me. I thought he -was joshin' when he told me he was going to be a king, but he's made -good all right. And I've written to him every week, and he's sent me -the money to come along----" - -"Toby?" said Sanders slowly. "Who is Toby?" - -"Mr. Tobolaka--King Tobolaka," she said. - -A look of horror, which he did not attempt to disguise, swept over the -face of the Commissioner. - -"You've come out to marry him--a black man?" he gasped. - -The girl flushed a deep red. - -"That's my business," she said stiffly. "I'm not asking advice from -you. Say, I've heard about you--your name's mud along this old coast, -but I'm not afraid of you. I've got a permit to go up the Isisi, and -I'm goin'." - -She was on her feet, her arms akimbo, her eyes blazing with anger, for, -womanlike, she felt the man's unspoken antagonism. - -"My name may be mud," said Sanders quietly, "and what people say about -me doesn't disturb my sleep. What they would say about me if I'd -allowed you to go up-country and marry a black man would give me bad -nights. Miss Tavish, the mail-boat leaves in an hour for Sierra Leone. -There you will find a steamer to take you to England. I will arrange for -your passage and see that you are met at Southampton and your passage -provided for New York." - -"I'll not go," she stormed; "you don't put that kind of bluff on me. -I'm an American citizeness and no dud British official is going to boss -me--so there!" - -Sanders smiled. - -He was prepared to precipitate matters now to violate treaties, to -create crises, but he was not prepared to permit what he regarded as an -outrage. In turn she bullied and pleaded; she even wept, and Sanders's -hair stood on end from sheer fright. To make the situation more -difficult, a luxurious Isisi canoe with twenty paddlers had arrived to -carry her to the city, and the headman in charge had brought a letter -from her future lord welcoming her in copper-plate English. This letter -Sanders allowed the man to deliver. - -In the end, after a hasty arrangement, concluded by letter with the -captain of the boat, he escorted Millie Tavish to the beach. - -She called down on his head all the unhappiness her vocabulary could -verbalise; she threw with charming impartiality the battle of -Bannockburn and Bunker's Hill at his stolid British head. She invoked -the shades of Washington and William Wallace. - -"You shall hear of this," she said as she stepped into the surf-boat. -"I'm going to tell the story to every paper." - -"Thank you!" said Sanders, his helmet in his hand. "I feel I deserve -it." - -He watched the boat making a slow progress to the ship and returned to -his bungalow. - - - - - *CHAPTER IV* - - *THE FALL OF THE EMPEROR* - - -"My poor soul!" said the Houssa captain. - -He looked down into the long-seated chair where Sanders sprawled limply. - -"And is the owdacious female gone?" asked the soldier. - -"She's gone," said Sanders. - -The Houssa clapped his hands, not in applause, but to summon his -orderly. - -"Ahmet," he said gravely, speaking in Arabic, "mix for the lord Sandi -the juice of lemons with certain cunning ingredients such as you know -well; let it be as cool as the hand of Azrael, as sweet as the waters of -Nir, and as refreshing as the kisses of houris--go with God." - -"I wish you wouldn't fool," said Sanders, irritated. - -"This is a crisis of our affairs," said Hamilton the Houssa. "You need -a tonic. As for myself, if this had happened to me, I should have been -in bed with a temperature. Was she very angry?" - -Sanders nodded. - -"She called me a British loafer and a Jew in the same breath. She flung -in my face every British aristocrat who had ever married an American -heiress; she talked like the New York correspondent of an Irish paper -for five minutes. She threatened me with the whole diplomatic armoury -of America and the entire strength of Scottish opinion; if she could -have made up her mind whether she was Scot or just Philadelphia I could -have answered her, but when she goaded me into a retort about American -institutions she opened her kailyard batteries and silenced me." - -The Houssa walked up and down the long bungalow. - -"It was impossible, of course," he said seriously. "absolutely -impossible. She'll land at Sierra Leone and interview Tullerton--he's -the U.S. Consul. I think she'll be surprised when she hears Tullerton's -point of view." - -Sanders stayed to tiffin, and the discussion of Millie Tavish continued -intermittently throughout the meal. - -"If I hadn't given Yoka permission to overhaul the engines of the -_Zaire_" said Sanders, "I'd start right away for the Isisi and interview -Tobolaka. But by this time he'll have her cylinders open. By the way, -I've remembered something," he said, suddenly. - -He clapped his hands, and Hamilton's orderly came. - -"Ahmet," said Sanders, "go quickly to Sergeant Abiboo and tell him to -give food to the Isisi boatmen who came this morning. Also that he -shall tell them to stay with us, for I have a 'book' to write to the -king." - -"On my life," said Ahmet conventionally, and went out. - -"I will say what I have to say by letter," said the Commissioner, when -the man had gone at a jog-trot across the compound; "and, since he has a -swift canoe, he will receive evidence of my displeasure earlier than it -would otherwise reach him." - -Ahmet came back in five minutes, and with him Abiboo. - -"Lord," said the latter, "I could not do as you wish, for the Isisi have -gone." - -"Gone!" - -"Lord, that is so, for when the lady came back from the ship she went -straight away to the canoe and----" - -Sanders was on his feet, his face white. - -"When the lady came back from the ship," he repeated slowly, "Did she -come back?" - -"Master, an hour since. I did not see her, for she came by the short -way from the beach to the river-landing. But many saw her." - -Sanders nodded. - -"Go to Yoka and let him have steam against my coming." - -The sergeant's face was blank. - -"Lord, Yoka has done many things," he said, "such as removing the -_shh-shh_ of the engine"--Sanders groaned--"yet will I go to him and -speak with him for steam." - -"If he's got the cylinder dismantled," said Sanders in despair, "it will -be hours before the _Zaire_ is ready, and I haven't a canoe that can -overtake them." - -A Houssa came to the door. - -"A telegram for you," said Hamilton, taking the envelope from the man. - -Sanders tore it open and read. It was from London: - - -"Washington wires: 'We learn American girl gone to Isisi, West Africa, -to marry native king. Government request you advise authorities turn -her back at all costs; we indemnify you against any act of arrest to -prevent her carrying plan into execution.' Use your discretion and act. -Have advised all magistrates. Girl's name Tavish.--Colonial Office." - - -He had finished reading when Abiboo returned. - -"'To-morrow, two hours before the sun, there will be steam, master,' so -said Yoka." - -"It can't be helped," said Sanders; "we'll have to try another way." - - * * * * * - -By swift canoe the Isisi is three days' journey from headquarters. From -the Isisi to Ochori city is one day. Tobolaka had time to make a last -effort to secure magnificence for his wedding feast. - -He sent for his councillor, Cala, that he might carry to Bosambo fine -words and presents. - -"If he refuses to come for my honour," said Tobolaka, "you shall say to -him that I am a man who does not forgive, and that one day I will come -to with an army and there will be war." - -"Lord king," said the old man, "you are like an elephant, and the world -shakes under your feet." - -"That is so," said the king; "also I would have you know that this new -wife of mine is white and a great person in her own country." - -"Have no fear, lord," said Gala sagely; "I will lie to him." - -"If you tell me I lie, I will beat you to death, old monkey," said the -wrathful Tobolaka. "This is true that I tell you." - -The old man was dazed. - -"A white woman," he said, incredulously. "Lord, that is shame." - -Tobolaka gasped. For here was a sycophant of sycophants surprised to an -expression of opinion opposed to his master's. - -"Lord," stammered Cala, throwing a lifetime's discretion to the winds, -"Sandi would not have this--nor we, your people. If you be black and -she be white, what of the children of your lordship? By Death! they -would be neither black nor white, but a people apart!" - -Tobolaka's fine philosophy went by the board. - -He was speechless with rage. He, a Bachelor of Arts, the favoured of -Ministers, the Latinist, the wearer of white man's clothing, to be -openly criticised by a barbarian, a savage, a wearer of no clothes, and, -moreover, a worshipper of devils. - -At a word, Cala was seized and flogged. He was flogged with strips of -raw hide, and, being an old man, he died. - -Tobolaka, who had never seen a man die of violence, found an -extraordinary pleasure in the sight. There stirred within his heart -sharp exultation, fierce joys which he had never experienced before. -Dormant weeds of unreasoning hate and cruelty germinated in a second to -life. He found himself loosening the collar of his white drill jacket -as the bleeding figure pegged to the ground writhed and moaned. - -Then, obeying some inner command, he stripped first the coat and then -the silk vest beneath from his body. He tugged and tore at them, and -threw them, a ragged little bundle, into the hut behind him. - -Thus he stood, bareheaded, naked to the waist. - -His headmen were eyeing him fearfully. Tobolaka felt his heart leap -with the happiness of a new-found power. Never before had they looked -at him thus. - -He beckoned a man to him. - -"Go you," he said haughtily, "to Bosambo of the Ochori and bid him, on -his life, come to me. Take him presents, but give them proudly." - -"I am your dog," said the man, and knelt at his feet. - -Tobolaka kicked him away and went into the hut of his women to flog a -girl of the Akasava, who, in the mastery of a moment, had mocked him -that morning because of his white man's ways. - -Bosambo was delivering judgment when the messenger of the king was -announced. - -"Lord, there comes an Isisi canoe full of arrogance," said the -messenger. - -"Bring me the headman," said Bosambo. - -They escorted the messenger, and Bosambo saw, by the magnificence of his -garb, by the four red feathers which stood out of his hair at varying -angles, that the matter was important. - -"I come from the king of all this land," said the messenger; "from -Tobolaka, the unquenchable drinker of rivers, the destroyer of the evil -and the undutiful." - -"Man," said Bosambo, "you tire my ears." - -"Thus says my king," the messenger went on: "'Let Bosambo come to me by -sundown that he may do homage to me and to the woman I take to wife, for -I am not to be thwarted, nor am I to be mocked. And those who thwart me -and mock me I will come up against with fire and spear.'" - -Bosambo was amused. - -"Look around, Kilimini," he said, "and see my soldiers, and this city of -the Ochori, and beyond by those little hills the fields where all things -grow well; especially do you look well at those fields by the little -hills." - -"Lord, I see these," said the messenger. - -"Go back to Tobolaka, the black man, and tell him you saw those fields -which are more abundant than any fields in the world--and for a reason." - -He smiled at the messenger, who was a little out of his depth. - -"This is the reason, Kilimini," said Bosambo. "In those fields we buried -many hundreds of the Isisi who came against my city in their folly--this -was in the year of the Elephants. Tell your king this: that I have -other fields to manure. The palaver is finished." - -Then out of the sky in wide circles dropped a bird, all blue and white. - -Raising his eyes, Bosambo saw it narrowing the orbit of its flight till -it dropped wearily upon a ledge that fronted a roughly-made dovecot -behind Bosambo's house. - -"Let this man have food," said Bosambo, and hastened to examine the -bird. - -It was drinking greedily from a little trough of baked clay. Bosambo -disturbed his tiny servant only long enough to take from its red legs a -paper that was twice the size, but of the same substance, as a -cigarette-paper. - -He was no great Arabic scholar, but he read this readily, because -Sanders wrote beautiful characters. - -"To the servant of God, Bosambo. - -"Peace be upon your house. Take canoe and go quickly down-river. Here -is to be met the canoe of Tobolaka, the king of Isisi, and a white woman -travels therein. You shall take the white woman, though she will not go -with you; nevertheless you shall take her, and hold her for me and my -king. Let none harm her, on your head. Sanders, of the River and the -People, your friend, writes this. - -"Obey in the name of God." - -Bosambo came back to the king's messenger. - -"Tell me, Kilimini," he said, "what palaver is this that the king your -master has?" - -"Lord, it is a marrying palaver;" said the man, "and he sends you -presents." - -"These I accept," said Bosambo; "but tell me, who is this woman he -marries?" - -The man hesitated. - -"Lord," he said reluctantly, "they speak of a white woman whom my lord -loved when he was learning white men's ways." - -"May he roast in hell!" said Bosambo, shocked to profanity. "But what -manner of dog is your master that he does so shameful a thing? For -between night and day is twilight, and twilight is the light of evil, -being neither one thing nor the other; and between men there is this -same. Black is black and white is white, and all that is between is -foul and horrible; for if the moon mated with the sun we should have -neither day nor night, but a day that was too dark for work and a night -that was too light for sleep." - -Here there was a subject which touched the Monrovian deeply, pierced his -armour of superficial cynicism, overset his pinnacle of self-interest. - -"I tell you, Kilimini," he said, "I know white folk, having once been on -ship to go to the edge of the world. Also, I have seen nations where -white and black are mingled, and these people are without shame, with no -pride, for the half of them that is proud is swallowed by the half of -them that is shameful, and there is nothing of them but white man's -clothing and black man's thoughts." - -"Lord," said Kilimini timidly, "this I know, though I fear to say such -things, for my king is lately very terrible. Now we Isisi have great -sorrow because he is foolish." - -Bosambo turned abruptly. - -"Go now, Kilimini," he said. "Later I shall see you." - -He waved the messenger out of his thoughts. Into his hut, through this -to his inner hut, he went. - -His wife sat on the carpeted floor of Bosambo's harem, her brown baby on -her knees. - -"Heart of gold," said Bosambo, "I go to a war palaver, obeying Sandi. -All gods be with you and my fine son. - -"And with you, Bosambo, husband and lord," she said calmly; "for if this -is Sandi's palaver it is good." - -He left her, and sent for his fighting headman, the one-eyed Tembidini, -strong in loyalty. - -"I shall take one war canoe to the lower river," said Bosambo. "See to -this: fifty fighting men follow me, and you shall raise the country and -bring me an army to the place where the Isisi River turns twice like a -dying snake." - -"Lord, this is war," said his headman. - -"That we shall see," said Bosambo. - -"Lord, is it against the Isisi?" - -"Against the king. As to the people, we shall know in good time." - - * * * * * - -Miss Millie Tavish, seated luxuriously upon soft cushions under the -thatched roof of a deck-house, dreamt dreams of royalty and of an urbane -negro who had raised his hat to her. She watched the sweating paddlers -as they dug the water rhythmically singing a little song, and already -she tasted the joys of dominion. - -She had the haziest notion of the new position she was to occupy. If -she had been told that she would share her husband with half-a-dozen -other women--and those interchangeable from time to time--she would have -been horrified. - -Sanders had not explained that arrangement to her, partly because he was -a man with a delicate mind, and partly because he thought he had solved -the problem without such explanation. - -She smiled a triumphant little smile every time she thought of him and -her method of outwitting him. It had been easier than she had -anticipated. - -She had watched the Commissioner out of sight and had ordered the boat -to return to shore, for standing an impassive witness to her embarkation -had been the headman Tobolaka had sent. Moreover, in the letter of the -king had been a few simple words of Isisi and the English equivalent. - -She thought of many things--of the busy city she had left, of the dreary -boarding-house, of the relations who had opposed her leaving, of the -little legacy which had come to her just before she sailed, and which -had caused her to hesitate, for with that she could have lived in fair -comfort. - -But the glamour of a throne--even a Central African throne--was upon -her--she--Miss Tavish--Millie Tavish--a hired help---- - -And here was the actuality. A broad river, tree-fringed banks, high -rushes at the water edge, the feather-headed palms of her dreams showing -at intervals, and the royal paddlers with their plaintive song. - -She came to earth as the paddlers ceased, not together as at a word of -command but one by one as they saw the obstruction. - -There were two canoes ahead, and the locked shields that were turned to -the king's canoe were bright with red n'gola--and red n'gola means war. - -The king's headman reached for his spear half-heartedly. The girl's -heart beat faster. - -"Ho, Soka!" - -Bosambo, standing in the stern of the canoe, spoke: - -"Let no man touch his spear, or he dies!" said Bosambo. - -"Lord, this is the king's canoe," spluttered Soka, wiping his streaming -brow, "and you do a shameful thing, for there is peace in the land." - -"So men say," said Bosambo evasively. - -He brought his craft round so that it lay alongside the other. - -"Lady," he said in his best coast-English, "you lib for go with me one -time; I be good feller; I be big chap--no hurt 'um--no fight 'um." - -The girl was sick with terror. For all she knew, and for all she could -gather, this man was a cruel and wicked monster. She shrank back and -screamed. - -"I no hurt 'um," said Bosambo. "I be dam good chap; I be Christian, -Marki, Luki, Johni; you savee dem fellers? I be same like." - -She fainted, sinking in a heap to the bottom of the canoe. In an -instant Bosambo's arm was around her. He lifted her into his canoe as -lightly as though she was a child. - -Then from the rushes came a third canoe with a full force of paddlers -and, remarkable of a savage man's delicacy, two women of the Ochori. - -She was in this canoe when she recovered consciousness, a woman bathing -her forehead from the river. Bosambo, from another boat, watched the -operation with interest. - -"Go now," he said to the chief of the paddlers, "taking this woman to -Sandi, and if ill comes to her, behold, I will take your wives and your -children and burn them alive--go swiftly." - -Swiftly enough they went, for the river was high, and at the river head -the floods were out. - -"As for you," said Bosambo to the king's headman, "you may carry word to -your master, saying thus have I done because it was my pleasure." - -"Lord," said the head of the paddlers, "we men have spoken together and -fear for our lives; yet we will go to our king and tell him, and if he -illtreats us we will come back to you." - -Which arrangement Bosambo confirmed. - -King Tobolaka had made preparations worthy of Independence Day to greet -his bride. He had improvised flags at the expense of his people's -scanty wardrobe. Strings of tattered garments crossed the streets, but -beneath those same strings people stood in little groups, their arms -folded, their faces lowering, and they said things behind their hands -which Tobolaka did not hear. - -For he had outraged their most sacred tradition--outraged it in the face -of all protest. A rent garment, fluttering in the wind--that was the -sign of death and of graves. Wherever a little graveyard lies, there -will be found the poor wisps of cloth flapping sadly to keep away -devils. - -This Tobolaka did not know or, if he did know, scorned. - -On another such occasion he had told his councillors that he had no -respect for the "superstitions of the indigenous native," and had quoted -a wise saying of Cicero, which was to the effect that precedents and -traditions were made only to be broken. - -Now he stood, ultra-magnificent, for a _lokali_ sounding in the night -had brought him news of his bride's progress. - -It is true that there was a fly in the ointment of his self-esteem. His -invitation, couched in the choicest American, to the missionaries had -been rejected. Neither Baptist nor Church of England nor Jesuit would -be party to what they, usually divergent in their views, were unanimous -in regarding as a crime. - -But the fact did not weigh heavily on Tobolaka. He was a resplendent -figure in speckless white. Across his dress he wore the broad blue -ribbon of an Order to which he was in no sense entitled. - -In places of vantage, look-out men had been stationed, and Tobolaka -waited with growing impatience for news of the canoe. - -He sprang up from his throne as one of the watchers came pelting up the -street. - -"Lord," said the man, gasping for breath, "two war canoes have passed." - -"Fool!" said Tobolaka. "What do I care for war canoes? - -"But, lord," persisted the man, "they are of the Ochori and with them -goes Bosambo, very terrible in his war dress; and the Ochori have -reddened their shields." - -"Which way did he come?" asked Tobolaka, impressed in spite of himself. - -"Lord," said the man, "they came from below to above." - -"And what of my canoe?" asked Tobolaka. - -"That we have not seen," replied the man. - -"Go and watch." - -Tobolaka was not as perturbed as his councillors, for he had never -looked upon reddened shields or their consequences. He waited for half -an hour, and then the news came that the canoe was rounding the point, -but no woman was there. - -Half mad with rage and chagrin, Tobolaka struck down the man who brought -the intelligence. He was at the beach to meet the crestfallen headman, -and heard his story in silence. - -"Take this man," said Tobolaka, "and all the men who were with him, and -bind them with ropes. By Death! we will have a feast and a dance and -some blood!" - -That night the war drums of the Isisi beat from one end of the land to -the other, and canoes filled with armed men shot out of little creeks -and paddled to the city. - -Tobolaka, naked save for his skin robe and his anklets of feathers, -danced the dance of quick killing, and the paddlers of the royal canoe -were publicly executed--with elaborate attention to detail. - -In the dark hours before the dawn the Isisi went out against the Ochori. -At the first flash of daylight they landed, twelve thousand strong, in -Ochori territory. Bosambo was strongly placed, and his chosen regiments -fell on the Isisi right and crumpled it up. Then he turned sharply and -struck into the Isisi main body. It was a desperate venture, but it -succeeded. Raging like a veritable devil, Tobolaka sought to rally his -personal guard, but the men of the Isisi city who formed it had no heart -for the business. They broke back to the river. - -Whirling his long-handed axe (he had been a famous club swinger in the -Philadelphia seminary), Tobolaka cut a way into the heart of the Ochori -vanguard. - -"Ho, Bosambo!" he called, and his voice was thick with hate. "You have -stolen my wife; first I will take your head, then I will kill Sandi, -your master." - -Bosambo's answer was short, to the point, and in English: - -"Dam nigger!" he said. - -It needed but this. With a yelp like the howl of a wolf, Tobolaka, -B.A., sprang at him, his axe swirling. - -But Bosambo moved as only a Krooman can move. - -There was the flash of a brown body, the thud of an impact, and Tobolaka -was down with a steel grip at his throat and a knee like a battering-ram -in his stomach. - - * * * * * - -The _Zaire_ came fussing up, her decks black with Houssas, the polished -barrels of her guns swung out. Sanders interviewed King Tobolaka the -First--and last. - -The latter would have carried the affair off with a high hand. - -"Fortune of war, Mr. Sanders," he said airily. "I'm afraid you -precipitated this conduct by your unwarrantable and provocative conduct. -As Cicero says somewhere----" - -"Cut it out," said Sanders. "I want you, primarily for the killing of -Cala. You have behaved badly." - -"I am a king and above criticism," said Tobolaka philosophically. - -"I am sending you to the Coast for trial," said Sanders promptly. -"Afterwards, if you are lucky, you will probably be sent home--whither -Miss Tavish has already gone." - - - - - *CHAPTER V* - - *THE KILLING OF OLANDI* - - -Chief of Sanders's spies in the wild country was Kambara, the N'gombi -man, resolute, fearless, and very zealous for his lord. He lived in the -deep of the N'gombi forest, in one of those unexpected towns perched -upon a little hill with a meandering tributary to the great river, half -ringing its base. - -His people knew him for a wise and silent chief, who dispensed justice -evenhandedly, and wore about his neck the chain and medal of his office -(a wonder-working medal with a bearded face in relief and certain devil -marks). - -He made long journeys, leaving his village without warning and returning -without notice. At night he would be sitting before his fire, brooding -and voiceless; in the morning he would be missing. Some of his people -said that he was a witch-doctor, practising his magic in hidden places -of the forest; others that he changed himself into a leopard by his -magic and went hunting men. Figuratively speaking, the latter was near -the truth, for Kambara was a great tracker of criminals, and there was -none so wily as could escape his relentless search. - -Thus, when Bolobo, the chief, plotted a rising, it was Kambara's word -which brought Sanders and his soldiers, to the unbounded dismay of -Bolobo, who thought his secret known only to himself and his two -brothers. - -It was Kambara who accomplished the undoing of Sesikmi, the great king; -it was Kambara who held the vaguely-defined border line of the N'gombi -country more effectively than a brigade of infantry against the raider -and the Arab trader. - -Sanders left him to his devices, sending such rewards as his services -merited, and receiving in exchange information of a particularly -valuable character. - -Kambara was a man of discretion. When Olandi of the Akasava came into -the N'gombi forest, Kambara lodged him regally, although Olandi was -breaking the law in crossing the border. But Olandi was a powerful -chief and, ordinarily, a law-abiding man, and there are crimes which -Kambara preferred to shut his eyes upon. - -So he entertained Olandi for two days--not knowing that somewhere down -the little river, in Olandi's camp, was a stolen woman who moaned and -wrung her hands and greatly desired death. - -For Olandi's benefit the little village made merry, and Tisini, the wife -of Kambara, danced the dance of the two buffaloes--an exhibition which -would have been sufficient to close the doors of any London music-hall -and send its manager to hard labour. - -At the same time that Olandi departed, Kambara disappeared; for there -were rumours of raiding on the frontier, and he was curious in the -interests of government. - -Three weeks afterwards a man whose face none saw came swiftly and -secretly to the frontiers of the Akasava country, and with him came such -of his kindred as were closely enough related to feel the shame which -Olandi had put upon them. - -For Olandi of the Akasava had carried off the favourite wife of the man, -though not against her will. - -This Olandi was a fine animal, tall and broad of shoulder, muscled like -an ox, arrogant and pitiless. They called him the native name for -leopard because he wore robes of that beast's skin, two so cunningly -joined that a grinning head lay over each broad shoulder. - -He was a hunter and a fighting man. His shield was of wicker, -delicately patterned and polished with copal; his spears were made by -the greatest of the N'gombi craftsmen, and were burnished till they -shone like silver; and about his head he wore a ring of silver. A fine -man in every way. - -Some say that he aspired to the kingship of the Akasava, and that -Tombili's death might with justice be laid at his door; but as to that -we have no means of knowing the truth, for Tombili was dead when they -found him in the forest. - -Men might tolerate his tyrannies, sit meekly under his drastic -judgments, might uncomplainingly accept death at his hands; but no man -is so weak that he would take the loss of his favourite wife without -fighting, and thus it came about that these men came paddling furiously -through the black night. - -Save for the "flip-flap" of the paddles, as they struck the water, and -the little groan which accompanied each stroke, there was no sound. - -They came to the village where Olandi lorded it just as the moon cleared -the feathery tops of the N'gombi woods. - -Bondondo lay white and silent under the moon, two rows of roofs yellow -thatched, and in the centre the big rambling hut of the chief, with its -verandah propped with twisted saplings. - -The secret man and his brothers made fast their two canoes and leapt -lightly to land. They made no sound, and their leader guiding them, -they went through the street like ghostly shadows. - -Before the chief's hut the embers of a dull fire glowed. He hesitated -before the doors. Three huts built to form a triangle composed the -chief's habitation. To the right and left was an entrance with a -hanging curtain of skins. - -Likely as not Olandi slept in the third hut, which opened from either of -these. - -He hesitated a moment, then he drew aside the curtains of the right-hand -door and went in, his brother, his uncle, and his two cousins following. - -A sleepy voice asked who was there. - -"I come to see the lord Olandi," said the intruder. - -He heard a rustle at the farthermost end of the room and the creaking of -a skin bed. - -"What seek you?" said a voice, and it was that of a man used to command. - -"Is that my lord?" demanded the visitor. - -He had a broad-bladed elephant sword gripped fast, so keen of edge that -a man might shave the hair from the back of his hand therewith. - -"I am Olandi," said the man in the darkness, and came forward. - -There was absolute stillness. They who waited could hear the steady -breathing of the sleepers; they heard, too, a "whish!" such as a -civilised man hears when his womenfolk thrust a hatpin through a soft -straw shape. - -Another tense silence, then: - -"It is as it should be," said the murderer calmly, and softly called a -name. Somebody came blundering from the inner room sobbing with chokes -and gulps. - -"Come," said the man, then: "Is the foreign woman there also? Let her -also go with us." - -The girl called another in a low voice, and a woman joined them. Olandi -was catholic in his tastes and raided indiscriminately. - -The first girl shrank back as her husband laid his hand on her arm. - -"Where is my lord?" she whimpered. - -"I am your lord," said the secret man dryly; "as for the other, he has -no need of women, unless there be women in hell, which is very likely." - -None attempted to stop the party as it went through the street and back -to the canoes, though there were wails and moanings in Olandi's hut and -uneasy stirrings in the villages. - -Men hailed them sharply as they passed, saying, "Oilo?" which means, -"Who walks?" But they made no reply. - -Then with the river and safety before them, there arose the village -watchman who challenged the party. - -He had heard the faint death-cry from Olandi's hut, and advanced his -terrible cutting-spear to emphasise his challenge. - -The leader leapt at him, but the watchman parried the blow skilfully and -brought the blade of his spear down as a man of olden times might sweep -his battle-axe. - -The other's sword had been struck from his hold, and he put up his -defenceless arm to ward off the blow. - -Twice the sharp edge of the spear slashed his hand, for in the uncertain -light of the moon the watchman misjudged his distance. - -Then, as he recovered for a decisive stroke, one of the kinsmen drove at -his throat, and the watchman went down, his limbs jerking feebly. - -The injured man stopped long enough roughly to dress his bleeding palm, -then led his wife, shivering and talking to herself like a thing -demented, to the canoe, the second wife following. - -In the early hours before the dawn four swift paddlers brought the news -to Sanders, who was sleeping aboard the _Zaire_, made fast to the beach -of Akasava city. - -Sanders sat on the edge of his tiny bed, dangling his pyjama'd legs over -the side, and listened thoroughly--which is a kind of listening which -absorbs not only the story, but takes into account the inflexion of the -teller's voice, the sympathy--or lack of it--the rage, the despair, or -the resignation of the story-teller. - -"So I see," said Sanders when the man had finished, for all four were -hot with the news and eager to supply the deficiencies of the others, -"this Olandi was killed by one whose wife he had stolen, also the -watchman was killed, but none other was injured." - -"None, lord," said one of the men, "for we were greatly afraid because -of the man's brethren. Yet if he had sought to stop him, many others -would have been killed." - -"'If the sun were to set in the river, the waters would boil fish,'" -quoted Sanders. "I will find this man, whoever he be, and he shall -answer for his crime." - -He reached the scene of the killing and made prompt inquiry. None had -seen the face of the secret man save the watchman--and he was dead. As -for the women--the villagers flapped their arms hopelessly. Who could -say from what nation, from what tribes, Olandi stole his women? - -One, so other inmates of Olandi's house said, was undoubtedly Ochori; as -to the other, none knew her, and she had not spoken, for, so they said, -she loved the dead man and was a willing captive. - -This Olandi had hunted far afield, and was a hurricane lover and a tamer -of women; how perfect a tamer Sanders discovered, for, as the Isisi -saying goes, "The man who can bribe a woman's tongue could teach a snake -to grind corn." - -In a civilised country he would have found written evidence in the -chief's hut, but barbarous man establishes no clues for the prying -detective, and he must needs match primitive cunning with such powers of -reason and instinct as his civilisation had given to him. - -A diligent search of the river revealed nothing. The river had washed -away the marks where the canoes had been beached. Sanders saw the -bodies of both men who had fallen without being very much the wiser. It -was just before he left the village that Abiboo the sergeant made a -discovery. - -There is a certain tree on the river with leaves which are credited with -extraordinary curative powers. A few paces from where the watchman fell -such a tree grew. - -Abiboo found beneath its low branches a number of leaves that had been -newly plucked. Some were stained with blood, and one bore the clear -impression of a palm. - -Sanders examined it carefully. The lines of the hand were clearly to be -seen on the glossy surface of the leaf, and in the centre of the palm -was an irregular cut, shaped like a roughly-drawn St. Andrew's Cross. - -He carefully put the leaf away in his safe and went on to pursue his -inquiries. - -Now, of all crimes difficult to detect, none offers such obstacles as -the blood feud which is based on a woman palaver. - -Men will speak openly of other crimes, tell all there is to be told, be -willing--nay, eager--to put their sometime comrade's head in the noose, -if the murder be murder according to accepted native standards. But -when murder is justice, a man does not speak; for, in the near future, -might not he stand in similar case, dependent upon the silence of his -friends for very life? - -Sanders searched diligently for the murderers, but none had seen them -pass. What direction they took none knew. Indeed, as soon as the -motive for the crime became evident, all the people of the river became -blind. Then it was that Sanders thought of Kambara and sent for him, -but Kambara was on the border, importantly engaged. - -Sanders pursued a course to the Ochori country. - -"One of these women was of your people," he said to Bosambo the chief. -"Now I desire that you shall find her husband." - -Bosambo shifted his feet uneasily. - -"Lord," he said, "it was no man of my people who did this. As to the -woman, many women are stolen from far-away villages, and I know nothing. -And in all these women palavers my people are as dumb beasts." - -Bosambo had a wife who ruled him absolutely, and when Sanders had -departed, he writhed helplessly under her keen tongue. - -"Lord and chief," she said, "why did you speak falsely to Sandi, for you -know the woman of the Ochori who was stolen was the girl Michimi of -Tasali by the river? And, behold, you yourself were in search of her -when the news of Olandi's killing came." - -"These things are not for women," said Bosambo: "therefore, joy of my -life, let us talk of other things." - -"Father of my child," persisted the girl, "has Michimi no lover who did -this killing, nor a husband? Will you summon the headman of Tasali by -the river and question him?" - -She was interested--more interested than Bosambo. - -"God is all-seeing and beneficent," he said devoutly. "Leave me now, -for I have holy thoughts and certain magical ideas for finding this -killer of Olandi, though I wish him no harm." - - * * * * * - -Sanders had a trick of accepting alarming statements with a -disconcerting calm. - -People who essayed the task of making his flesh creep had no reward for -their labours; his politely incredulous "O, ko!" which, uttered in -certain tones, means, "Oh, indeed!" made his informant curl up inwardly. - -Komo, pompous to a degree, anxious to impress his lord with the fact -that he, Komo, was no ordinary chief, but a watchful, zealous, and -conscientious regent, came fussing down the river in a glad sweat to -speak of happenings on the edge of his territory. - -Sanders granted the man an immediate audience, though he arrived in the -dark hours of the night. - -If you will visualise the scene, you have Sanders sitting up in bed in -his pyjamas, and two Houssas splashed with rain--for a thunderstorm was -raging--one of whom holds a lantern, all the light necessary to reveal a -reeking Komo, shiny and wet, who, squatting on the floor, is voluble and -ominous. - -"As is my practice, lord," said Komo, "I watch men and things for your -honour's comfort, being filled with a desire to serve you. And thus it -is that I have learnt of certain things, dances and spells of evil, -which are practised by the Ochori." - -"The Ochori?" - -Sanders was puzzled. - -"By the Ochori--the trusted." - -There was no mistaking the arch turn to his speech; the two words were -charged with gentle irony. - -"Is Bosambo dead that these things should be?" asked Sanders dryly. "Or -has he perchance joined with the dancers?" - -"Lord," said Komo impressively, "Bosambo dances with his people. For, -being chief, he is the first to stamp his foot and say 'Ho!' He, too, -assists at sacrifices and is ripe for abominable treachery." - -"Oh, indeed!" said Sanders, with an inward sigh of relief. "Now I tell -you this, Komo; there was once a great lord who trusted no man, nor did -he trust his household, his wives, nor his slaves, and he walked ever -with his back to the sun so that his shadow should run before him, for -he did not trust his shadow. And one day he came to a river in flood, -and behold! his shadow lay before him. And because he feared to turn -his back upon his shadow, he plunged in and was drowned." - -"Lord, I have heard the story. He was a king, and a great one," said -Komo. Sanders nodded. - -"Therefore, Komo, heed this: I trust all men--a little. I trust Bosambo -much, for he has been my man in fair weather and foul." He turned to -the silent Houssas. "Let this man be lodged according to his dignity -and give him a present of cloth. The palaver is finished." - -And Sanders, drawing the bedclothes up to his neck, the night being -cold, turned over and was asleep before the chief and his escort had -cleared the verandah. - -"A busybody," was Sanders's verdict on Komo; yet, since there is no -smoke without fire, he deemed it advisable to investigate at first hand. - -Two days after the crestfallen chief had started on his way home the -_Zaire_ passed his canoe in mid-stream, going the same way, and the -sight of her white hull and twin smokestacks brought consolation to -Komo. - -"My lord has considered my words," said he to his headman; "for at his -village they said that the puc-a-puc did not leave till the new moon -came, and here he comes, though the old moon is still sowing his rind." - -"Chief," said the headman, "you are great in council, and even Sandi -hearkens and obeys. You are wiser than an owl, swift and terrible as a -hawk, and your voice is like the winds of a storm." - -"You speak truly," said Komo, who had no false sense of modesty. "I am -also very cunning, as you shall see." - -Sanders was indeed beating up to the Ochori country. He was perturbed, -not by reason of Komo's sinister suggestion, but because his spies had -been silent. If there were dances in the Ochori country he should have -been told, however innocent those dances were. - -Pigeons had gone ahead of him to tell of his journey, and he found the -first of his agents awaiting him at the junction of the Ikeli with the -Isisi. - -"Lord, it is true that the Ochori dance," said the man, "yet, knowing -your lordship trusted Bosambo, I did not make report." - -"There you did wrong," said Sanders; "for I tell you that if a hawk -kills a parrot, or the crocodiles find new breeding-places, I wish to -know what there is to know." - -He gleaned more of these mysterious revels which Bosambo held in the -forest as he grew nearer to the Ochori country, and was more puzzled -than ever. - -"Master," said the chief of the N'gombi village, "many folk go to the -Ochori dance, for Bosambo the chief has a great magic." - -"What manner of magic?" - -"Lord, it is a magic with whiteness," and he exhibited his hand proudly. - -Straight across the reddish-brown palm was an irregular streak of white -paint. - -"This the lord Bosambo did," he said, "and, behold, every day this -remains will be fortunate for me." - -Sanders regarded the sign with every evidence of strong emotion. - -Two months before Sanders had sent many tins of white paint with -instructions to the Ochori chief that his men should seek out the -boundary posts of his kingdom--and particularly those that impinged upon -foreign territories--and restore them to startling freshness. - -"Many people of the Isisi, N'gombi, and Akasava go to Bosambo," the -little chief continued; "for, behold, this magic of Bosambo's wipes away -all soil. And if a man has been guilty of wickedness he is released of -punishment. I," he added proudly, "once killed my wife's father _cala -cala_, and frequently I have sorrowed because of this and because my -wife often reminds me. Now, lord, I am a clean man, so clean that when -the woman spoke to me this morning about my faraway sin, I hit her with -my spear, knowing that I am now innocent." - -Sanders thought rapidly. - -"And what do you pay Bosambo for this?" he asked. - -"Nothing, lord," said the man. - -"Nothing!" repeated Sanders incredulously. - -"Lord, Bosambo gives his magic freely, saying he has made a vow to -strange gods to do this; and because it is free, many men go to his -dance for purification. The lord Kambara, the Silent One, he himself -passed at sunrise to-day." - -Sanders smiled to himself. Kambara would have an interest in stray -confessions of guilt---- - -That was it! The meaning of Bosambo's practice came to him in a flash. -The painting of hands--the lure of purification; Bosambo was waiting for -the man with the scarred hand. - -Sanders continued his journey, tied up five miles short of the Ochori -city, and went on foot through the forest to the place of meeting. - -It was dark by the time he had covered half the journey, but there was -no need of compass to guide him, even had the path been more difficult -to follow. Ahead was a dull red glow in the sky where Bosambo's fires -burnt. - -Four fires there were, set at the points of an imaginary square. In the -centre a round circle of stones, and in the centre again three spears -with red hafts. - -Bosambo had evidently witnessed, or been participant in, an initiation -ceremony of a Monrovian secret society. - -Within the circle moved Bosambo, and without it, two or three deep, the -moving figures of those who sought his merciful services. - -Slowly he moved. In one hand a bright tin of Government paint, in the -other a Government brush. - -Sanders, from his place of observation, grinned approvingly at the -solemnity in which Bosambo clothed the ceremony. - -One by one he daubed the men--a flick of the brush, a muttered -incantation, and the magic was performed. - -Sanders saw Kambara in the front rank and was puzzled, for the man was -in earnest. If he had come to scoff he remained to pray. Big beads of -perspiration glistened on his forehead, the outstretched hands were -shaking. - -Bosambo approached him, lifted his brush, peered down, then with a sweep -of his arm he drew the N'gombi chief to him. - -"Brother," he said pleasantly, "I have need of you." - -Sanders saw what it meant, and went crashing through the undergrowth to -Bosambo's side, and the yelling throng that had closed round the -struggling pair drew back. - -"Lord, here is your man!" said Bosambo, and forcibly pulled forward -Kambara's palm. - -Sanders took his prisoner back to the _Zaire_, and from thenceforward, -so far as the crime was concerned, there was no difficulty, for Kambara -told the truth. - -"Lord," he said, "my hand alone is in fault; for, though my people were -with me, none struck Olandi but I. Now do with me what you will, for my -wife hates me and I am sick for sleep." - -"This is a bad palaver," said Sanders gravely, "for I trusted you." - -"Lord, you may trust no man," said Kambara, "when his woman is the -palaver. I shall be glad to die, for I was her dog. And Olandi came -and stayed one night in my village, and all that I was to her and all -that I have given her was as nothing. And now she weeps all day for -him, as does the Ochori woman I took with her. And, lord, if women -worship only the dead, make an end, for I am sick of her scorn." - -Sanders, with his head sunk, his hands clasped behind, his eyes -examining the floor of his cabin--they were on board the -_Zaire_--whistled a tune, a trick of his when he was worried. - -"Go back to your village," he said. "You shall pay the family of Olandi -thirty goats and ten bags of salt for his blood." - - * * * * * - -"Master," said Bosambo. "I have great joy in my heart that you did not -hang this man, for it seems that Olandi did not die too soon. As for -the Ochori girl," he went on, "I would have killed Olandi on her -account--only Kambara was there first. This," he added, "I tell you, -lord, for your secret hearing, for I knew this girl." - -Sanders looked at Bosambo keenly. - -"They tell me that you have but one wife, Bosambo," he said. - -"I have one," said Bosambo evasively, "but in my lifetime I have many -perils, of which the woman my wife knows nothing, for it is written in -the Sura of the Djinn, 'Men know best who know most, but a woman's -happiness lies in her delusions.'" - - - - - *CHAPTER VI* - - *THE PEDOMETER* - - -Bosambo, the chief of the Ochori, was wont to style himself in moments -of magnificent conceit, King of the Ochori, Lord Chief of the Elebi -River, High Herd of Untamable Buffaloes and of all Goats. - -There were other titles which I forget, but I merely mention his claims -in order that I may remark that he no longer refers to the goats of his -land. There is a reason. - -Hikilari, the wise old chief of the Akasava, went hunting in strange -territories. That was the year when game went unaccountably westward, -some say through the spell of M'Shimba M'Shamba; but, as Sanders knew, -because of the floods. - -Hikilari went by river for three days and across a swamp, he and his -hunters, before they found elephant. Then they had a good kill, and his -bearers came rollicking back to Akasava city, laden with good teeth, -some weighing as much as two hundred kilos. - -It was good fortune, but he paid for it tremendously, for when he -yearned to return he was troubled with extraordinary drowsiness, and had -strange pains in his head. For this he employed the native remedy, -which was binding a wire tightly round his head. None the less he grew -no better, and there came a time when Hikilari, the Wise One, rose in -the middle of the night and, going out into the main street of the -village, danced and sang foolishly, snapping his fingers. - -His sons, with his nephews and his brothers, held a palaver, and the -elder of his sons, M'Kovo, an evil man, spoke thuswise: - -"It seems that my father is sick with the sickness mongo, for he is now -foolish, and will soon be dead. Yet I desire that no word of this shall -go to Sandi. Let us therefore put my father away safely, saying he has -gone a long journey; and, whilst he is absent, there are many things we -may do and many enemies of whom we may rid ourselves. And if Sandi -comes with the soldiers and says, 'Why did you these things?' we shall -say, 'Lord, who is chief here? A madman. We did as he bid; let it be -on his head.'" - -The brother of the sick king thought it would be best to kill him -privily, but against this the king's son set his face. - -"Whilst he is alive he is chief," he said significantly; "if he be dead, -be sure Sandi will find somebody to punish, and it may well be me." - -For three days they kept the king to his hut, whilst witch-doctors -smeared him with red clay and ingola and chanted and put wet clay on his -eyes. At the end of that time they removed him by night to a hastily -thatched hut in the forest, and there he was left to M'Kovo's creatures. - -Sanders, who knew many things of which he was supposed to be ignorant, -did not know this. He knew that Hikilari was a wise man; that he had -been on a journey; that there were no reasons why he (Sanders) should -not make a tour to investigate affairs in the Akasava. - -He was collecting hut tax in the N'gombl country from a simple pastoral -people who objected on principle to pay anything, when the news came to -him that a party of Akasava folk had crossed the Ochori border, raided a -village, and, having killed the men, had expeditiously carried away the -women and goats. - -Sanders was in the midst of an interminable palaver when the news came, -and the N'gombi people who squatted at his feet regarded him with -expectant hope, a hope which was expressed by a small chief who at the -moment had the ear of the assembly. - -"Lord, this is bad news," he said in the friendly manner of his kind, -"and we will not trouble your lordship any farther with our grievances, -which are very small. So, therefore, if on account of our bad crops you -remit a half of our taxation, we will go peaceably to our villages -saying good words about your honour's justice." - -"You shall pay all your taxation," said Sanders brusquely. "I waste my -time talking with you." - -"Remit one-third," murmured the melancholy speaker. "We are poor men, -and there has been no fish in the river----" - -Sanders rose from his seat of state wearily. - -"I will return with the moon," he said, "and if all taxes be not paid, -there will be sad hearts in this village and sore backs, believe me. -The palaver is finished." - -He sent one messenger to the chief of the Akasava, and he himself went -by a short cut through the forest to the Ochori city, for at the -psychological moment a cylinder head on the _Zaire_ had blown out. - -He reached the Ochori by way of Elebi River, through Tunberi--which was -swamp, owing to unexpected, unseasonable, and most atrocious rains. -Three days he waded, from knee-deep to waist-high, till his arms ached -maddeningly from holding his rifle above the black ooze and mud. - -And he came upon hippo and water-snake, and once the "boy" who walked -ahead yelled shrilly and went down, and Sanders himself was nearly -knocked off his feet by the quick rush of the crocodile bearing his -victim to the near-by river. - -At the end of three days Sanders came to the higher land, where a man -might sleep elsewhere than in trees, and where, too, it was possible to -bathe in spring water, unpack shirts from headborne loads and count -noses. - -He was now a day's march from the Ochori, but considerably less than a -day's march from the Ochori army, for two hours after he had resumed his -journey he came upon the chief Bosambo and with him a thousand spears. - -And Bosambo was naked, save for his kilt of monkey-tails, and in the -crook of the arm which carried his wicker shield, he carried his five -fighting spears. - -He halted his army at the sight of Sanders, and came out to meet him. - -"Bosambo," said Sanders quietly, "you do me honour that you bring the -pick of your fighting men to guard me." - -"Lord," said Bosambo with commendable frankness, "this is no honour to -you, for I go to settle an account with the King of the Akasava." - -Sanders stood before him, his head perched on one side like a bird's, -and he slapped his leg absent-mindedly with his pliant cane. - -"Behold," he said, "I am he who settles all accounts as between kings -and kings and men and men, and I tell you that you go back to your city -and sit in patience whilst I do the work for which my lord the King -appointed me." - -Bosambo hesitated. He was pardonably annoyed. - -"Go back to your city, Bosambo," said Sanders gently. - -The chief squared his broad shoulders. - -"I am your man," he said, and turned without another word. - -Sanders stopped him before he had taken half a dozen paces. - -"Give me twenty fighting men," he said, "and two canoes. You shall hold -your men in check whilst I go about the King's business." - -An hour later he was going down-stream as fast as a five-knot current -and his swift paddlers could take him. - -He came to the Akasava city at noon of the following day, and found it -peaceable enough. - -M'Kovo, the king's son, came to the beach to meet him. - -"Lord Sandi," he said with an extravagant gesture of surprise, "I see -that the summer comes twice in one season, for you----" - -Sanders was in no mood for compliments. - -"Where is the old chief, your father?" he asked. - -"Master," said M'Kovo earnestly, "I will not lie to you. My father has -taken his warriors into the forest, and I fear that he will do evil." - -And he told a story which was long and circumstantial, of the sudden -flaming up of an old man's rages and animosities. - -Sanders listened patiently. - -An unwavering instinct, which he had developed to a point where it rose -superior to reason, told him that the man was lying. Nor was his faith -in his own judgment shaken when M'Kovo produced his elder men and -witnesses to his sire's sudden fit of depravity. - -But Sanders was a cunning man and full of guile. - -He dropped his hand of a sudden upon the other's shoulder. - -"M'Kovo," he said mildly, "it seems that your chief and father is no -longer worthy. Therefore you shall dwell in the chief's hut. Yet first -you shall bring me the chief Hikilari, and you shall bring him unhurt -and he shall have his eyes. Bring him quickly, M'Kovo." - -"Lord," said M'Kovo sullenly, "he will not come, and how may I force -him, for he has many warriors with him?" - -Sanders thought the matter out. - -"Go now," he said after a while, "and speak with him, telling him that I -await him." - -"Lord, that I will do," said M'Kovo, "but I cannot go till night because -I fear your men will follow me, and my father, seeing them, will put me -to death." - -Sanders nodded. - -That night M'Kovo came to him ready for his journey, and Sanders took -from his pocket a round silver box. - -"This you shall hang about your neck," he said, "that your father may -know you come from me." - -M'Kovo hung the round box by a piece of string and walked quickly toward -the forest. - -Two miles on the forest path he met his cousins and brothers, an -apprehensive assembly. - -"My stomach is sick with fear," said his elder cousin Tangiri; "for -Sandi has an eye that sees through trees." - -"You are a fool," snarled M'Kovo; "for Sandi is a bat who sees nothing. -What of Hikilari, my father?" - -His younger brother extended the point of his spear and M'Kovo saw that -it was caked brown with blood. - -"That was best," he said. "Now we will all go to sleep, and in the -morning I will go back to Sandi and tell him a tale." - -In the morning his relatives scratched his legs with thorns and threw -dust over him, and an hour later, artificially exhausted, he staggered -to the hut before which Mr. Commissioner Sanders sat at breakfast. - -Sanders glanced keenly at the travel-worn figure. - -"My friend," he said softly, "you have come a long way?" - -"Lord," said M'Kovo, weak of voice, "since I left you I have not rested -save before my father, who sent me away with evil words concerning your -honour." - -And the exact and unabridged text of those "evil words" he delivered -with relish. - -Sanders reached down and took the little silver box that lay upon the -heaving chest. - -"And this you showed to your father?" he asked. - -"Lord, I showed him this," repeated the man. - -"And you travelled through the night--many miles?" - -"Master, I did as I have told," M'Kovo replied. - -Sanders touched a spring, and the case of the box flew open. There was -revealed a dial like that of a watch save that it contained many little -hands. - -M'Kovo watched curiously as Sanders examined the instrument. - -"Look well at this, M'Kovo," said Sanders dryly; "for it is a small -devil which talks truly--and it tells me that you have travelled no -farther than a man may walk in the time that the full moon climbs a -tree." - -The _Zaire_ had arrived during the night, and a Houssa guard stood -waiting. - -Sanders slipped the pedometer into his pocket, gave a characteristic -jerk of his head, and Sergeant Abiboo seized his prisoner. - -"Let him sit in irons," said Sanders in Arabic, "and take six men along -the forest road and bring me any man you may find." - -Abiboo returned in an hour with four prisoners, and they were very -voluble--too voluble for the safety of M'Kovo and his younger brother, -for by night Sanders had discovered a forest grave where Hikilari the -wise chief lay. - -It was under a tree with wide-spreading branches, and was eminently -suitable for the sequel to that tragedy. - - * * * * * - -Bosambo was not to blame for every crime laid at his door. He had a -feud with the Akasava, not without reason. The death of M'Kovo his -enemy was not sufficient to extinguish the obligation, for the Akasava -had spilt blood, and that rankled for many months. He was by nature a -thief, being a Krooman from the Liberian coast before he came to be king -over the simple and fearful Ochori. - -So when all the trouble between the Akasava and Ochori seemed at rest, -Sanders had occasion to come to the Ochori country in a hurry--and the -river was low. - -There is no chart of the big river worth two cents in the dry season, -because unexpected sand banks come barking up in the fairway, and there -are whole stretches of river wherein less than a fathom of water runs. -Sometimes the boy sitting on the bow of the _Zaire_, thrusting a pliant -rod into the stream, would cry through his nose that there were two -fathoms of water when there was but one. - -He was, as I have beforetime said, of the Kano folk, and somewhat -religious, dreaming of a pilgrimage to Mecca, and a green band round his -tarboosh. - -"I declare to you the glory of God and a fathom and a little." - -Bump! - -"Get overboard, you talkative devil!" said Sanders, who was more annoyed -because this was the fourteenth bank he had struck since he left -headquarters. So the whole crew jumped waist deep into the water, and -singing a little song as they toiled, pushed the boat clear. - -Sanders struck his thirty-ninth bank just before he came to the village -of Ochori, and he landed in a most unamiable mood. - -"Bosambo," he said, "I have two minds about you--the one is to hang you -for your many wickednesses, the other is to whip you." - -"Master," said Bosambo with grave piety, "all things shall be as -ordained." - -"Have no fear but that it will be one or the other," warned the -Commissioner. "I am no dog that I should run from one end of the state -to the other because a thieving black man raids in forbidden territory." - -Bosambo, whose guilty conscience suggested many reasons for the -unexpected visit of the Commissioner, seemed less genuinely astonished. - -"Master, I am no nigger," he said, "being related by birth and previous -marriages to several kings, also----" - -"You are a liar," said Sanders, fuming, "and related by birth and -marriage to the father of liars; and I did not come to talk about your -uninteresting family, but rather to discuss a matter of night raiding." - -"As to night raiding" said Bosambo frankly, "I know nothing about that. -I went with my councillors to the Akasava, being anxious to see the new -chief and tell him of my love; also," he said piously, "to say certain -Christian prayers by the grave of my enemy, for, as you know, lord, our -faith teaches this." - -"By night you went," said Sanders, ignoring the challenge of "our -faith," "and Akasava city may easily be gained in broad daylight; also, -when the Akasava fell upon you, you had many goats tied up in your -canoes. - -"They were my goats," said Bosambo with dignity. "These I brought with -me as a present to the new chief." - -In his exasperation Sanders swore long and fluently. - -"Blood has paid for blood," he said wrathfully, "and there shall be no -more raidings. More than this, you shall stay in this city and shall -not move therefrom till you have my word." - -"Lord Sandi," said Bosambo, "I hear to obey." - -A light of unholy joy came momentarily into the eyes of the -Commissioner, flickered a moment, and was gone, leaving his face -impassive. - -"You know, Bosambo," he said mildly--for him, "that I have great faith -in you; therefore I leave you a powerful fetish, who shall be as me in -my absence." - -He took from the pocket of his uniform jacket a certain round box of -silver, very pleasant to the touch, being somewhat like a flattened egg. - -Sanders had set his pedometer that morning. - -"Take this and wear it for my sake," he said. - -Bosambo threaded a chain through its loop of silver and hung it about -his neck. - -"Lord," he said gratefully, "you have done this thing before the eyes of -my people, and now they will believe all I tell them regarding your love -for me." - -Sanders left the Ochori city next morning. - -"Remember," he warned, "you do not go beyond the borders of your city." - -"Master," said Bosambo, "I sit fasting and without movement until your -lordship returns." - -He watched the _Zaire_ until she was a white speck on the placid face of -the water; then he went to his hut. - -Very carefully he removed the silver case from his neck and laid it in -the palm of his hand. - -"Now, little devil," he addressed it, "who watches the coming and going -of men, I think I will learn all about you. O hanger of M'Kovo!" - -He pressed the knob--he had once possessed a watch, and was wise in the -way of stem springs--the case flew open, and showed him the little -dials. - -He shook the instrument violently, and heard a faint clicking. He saw a -large hand move across the second of a circle. - -Bearing the pedometer in his hand, he paced the length of the village -street, and at every pace the instrument clicked and the hand moved. -When he was still it did not move. - -"Praise be to all gods!" said Bosambo. "Now I know you, O Talker! For -I have seen your wicked tongue wagging, and I know the manner of your -speech." - -He made his way slowly back to his hut. - -Before the door his new baby, the light of his eyes, sprawled upon a -skin rug, clutching frantically at the family goat, a staid veteran, -tolerant of the indignities which a small brown man-child might put upon -him. Bosambo stopped to rub the child's little brown head and pat the -goat's sleek neck. - -Then he went into the hut, carefully removed the tell-tale instrument -from the chain at his neck, and hid it with other household treasures in -a hole beneath his bed. - -At sundown his _lokali_ brought the fighting men together. - -"We go to the Akasava," he said, addressing them briefly, "for I know a -village that is fat with corn and the stolen goats of the Ochori. Also -the blood of our brothers calls us, though not so loudly as the goats." - -He marched away, and was gone three days, at the end of which time he -returned minus three men--for the Akasava village had resisted his -attentions strenuously--but bringing with him some notable loot. - -News travels fast on the river, especially bad news, and this reached -Sanders, who, continuing his quest for hut tax, had reached the Isisi. - -On the top of this arrived a messenger from the Akasava chief, and -Sanders went as fast as the _Zaire_ could carry him to the Ochori city. - -Bosambo heard of his coming. - -"Bring me, O my life and pride," he said to his wife, "a certain silver -box which is under my bed; it is so large and of such a shape." - -"Lord," said his wife, "I know the box well." - -He slipped the loop of the string that held it over his head, and in all -calmness awaited his master's coming. - -Sanders was very angry indeed, so angry that he was almost polite to his -erring chief. - -"Lord," said Bosambo, when the question was put to him, "I have not left -my city by day or by night. As you find me, so have I been--sitting -before my hut thinking of holy things and your lordship's goodness." - -"Give me that box," said Sanders. - -He took it in his hand and snapped it open. He looked at the dials for a -long time; then he looked at Bosambo, and that worthy man returned his -glance without embarrassment. - -"Bosambo," said Sanders, "my little devil tells me that you have -travelled for many miles----" - -"Lord," said the bewildered chief, "if it says that it lies." - -"It is true enough for me," said Sanders. "Now I tell you that you have -gone too far, and therefore I fine you and your people fifty goats, also -I increase your taxation, revoke your hunting privileges in the Isisi -forest, and order you to find me fifty workmen every day to labour in -the Government service." - -"Oh, ko!" groaned Bosambo, standing on one leg in his anguish. "That is -just, but hard, for I tell you, Lord Sandi, that I did raid the Akasava, -yet how your devil box should know this I cannot tell, for I wrapped it -in cloth and hid it under my bed." - -"You did not carry it?" asked Sanders incredulously. - -"I speak the truth, and my wife shall testify," said Bosambo. - -He called her by name, and the graceful Kano girl who domineered him -came to the door of his hut. - -"Lord, it is true," she said, "for I have seen it, and all the people -have seen it, even while my lord Bosambo was absent." - -She stooped down and lifted her fat baby from the dust. - -"This one also saw it," she said, the light of pride in her eyes, "and -to please my Lord Bosambo's son, I hung it round the neck of Neta the -goat. Did I wrong?" - -"Bright eyes," said Bosambo, "you can do no wrong, yet tell me, did Neta -the goat go far from the city?" - -The woman nodded. - -"Once only," she said. "She was gone for a day and a night, and I -feared for your box, for this is the season when goats are very -restless." - -Bosambo turned to his overlord. - -"You have heard, O Sandi," he said. "I am in fault, and will pay the -price." - -"That you will," said Sanders, "for the other goat has done no wrong." - - - - - *CHAPTER VII* - - *THE BROTHER OF BOSAMBO* - - -Bosambo was a Monrovian. Therefore he was a thief. For just as most -Swedes are born fair and with blue eyes, and most Spaniards come into -this world with swarthy skins, so all Monrovians come into this life -constitutionally dishonest. - -In another place I have told the story of the chief's arrival in -Sanders's territory, of the audacious methods by which he usurped the -throne, of that crazy stool of chieftainship, and I hinted at the sudden -and unexpected ends, discreditable to Bosambo, which befell the rightful -heirs to the chieftainship. - -Bosambo was a good man by many standards--Christian and pagan. He ruled -his people wisely, and extracted more revenue in one year than any -previous chief had taken from the lazy Ochori in ten years. - -Incidentally he made an excellent commission, for it was Bosambo's way -to collect one for the Government and two for himself. He had in those -far-off days, if I remember rightly, been an unruly subject of the -President of Liberia. Before a solemn tribunal he had been convicted of -having stolen a buoy-bell which had been placed in the fairway to warn -navigators of a wreck, and had converted the same to his own use. He -had escaped from captivity and, after months of weary travelling, had -arrived in the Ochori country. - -Sanders had found him a loyal man, and trusted him in all matters -affecting good government. There were others who did not trust Bosambo -at all--notably certain chiefs of the Isisi, of the Akasava, and of the -N'gombi. - -These men had measured their wits with the foreigner, the ruler of the -Ochori, and been worsted. And because of certain courageous acts -performed in the defence of his country it was well known from one end -of the territories to the other that Bosambo was "well loved by Sandi," -who rumour said--in no complimentary manner--was related to the chief. - -As to how this rumour arose Bosambo knows best. It is an elementary -fact that travelling news accumulates material in its transit. - -Thus it came about that in Monrovia, and in Liberia itself, the fame of -the ex-convict grew apace, and he was exalted to a position which he -never pretended to occupy. I believe a Liberian journal, published by a -black man, or men, so far forgot the heinous offence of which Bosambo -stood convicted as to refer to him as "our worthy fellow-citizen, Mr. -Bosambo, High Commissioner for the Ochori." - -He was a wealthy prince; he was a king. He was above Commissioner -Sanders in point of importance. He was even credited with exercising an -influence over the Home Government which was without parallel in the -history of the Coast. - -Bosambo had relatives along the Coast, and these discovered themselves -in ratio with his greatness. He had a brother named Siskolo, a tall, -bony, and important man. - -Siskolo was first in importance by reason of the fact that he had served -on one of his Majesty's ships as a Krooman, that he had a smattering of -English, and that he had, by strict attention to business during the -period of his contact with white men, stolen sufficient to set him up in -Liberia as a native storekeeper. - -He was called Mr. Siskolo, and had ambitions at some future period to -become a member of the Legislative Council. - -It cannot be said with truth that the possession of a brother such as -Bosambo was gave him any cause for pride or exaltation during the time -when Bosambo's name in Liberia was synonymous with mud. It is even on -record that after having denied the relationship he referred to -Bosambo--when the relationship was a certainty beyond dispute--as a "low -nigger." - -When the Liberian Government, in its munificence, offered an adequate -reward for the arrest of this law-breaker, Mr. Siskolo, in the most -public-spirited way, through the columns of the Press, offered to add a -personal reward of his own. - -Then the public attitude of Liberia changed towards Bosambo, and with -this change Siskolo's views upon his brother also underwent a change. -Then came a time when Bosambo was honoured in his own land, and men -spoke of him proudly, and, as I have indicated, even the public Press -wrote of him in terms of pride. - -Now Mr. Siskolo, as is recounted, gathered around him all people who -were nearly or distantly related to him, and they ranged from the pure -aboriginal grandfather to the frock-coated son-in-law, who ran a boot -factory in Liberia. - -"My friends and my comrades," said Mr. Siskolo oracularly, "you all know -that my dear brother Bosambo has now a large territory, and is honoured -beyond any other coloured man upon this coast. Now I have loved Bosambo -for many years, and often in the night I have wrestled in prayer for his -safety. Also, I have spoken well about him to all the white men I have -met, and I have on many occasions sent him large sums of money by -messenger. If this money has not been received," continued Mr. Siskolo -stoutly, "it is because the messengers were thieves, or robbers may have -set upon them by the wayside. But all my clerks and the people who love -me know that I sent this money, also I have sent him letters praising -him, and giving him great riches." - -He paused, did Mr. Siskolo, and thrust a bony hand into the pockets of -the dress trousers he had acquired from the valet of the French Consul. - -"I have called you together," he said slowly, "because I am going to -make a journey into the country, and I am going to speak face to face -with my beloved brother. For I hear that he has many treasures in his -land, and it is not good that he should be so rich, and we, all of us -who are related to him in blood, and have loved him and prayed for him -for so many years, should be poor." - -None of the relations who squatted or sat about the room denied this. -Indeed, there was a murmur of applause, not unmixed, however, with -suspicion, which was voiced by one Lakiro, popularly supposed to be -learned in the law. - -"All this is fine talk, Siskolo," he said; "yet how shall we know in -what proportion our dear relation Bosambo will desire to distribute his -wealth amongst those of us who love him?" - -This time the applause was unmistakable. - -Mr. Siskolo said haughtily: "After I have received treasure from my dear -brother Bosambo--my own brother, related to me in blood, as you will all -understand, and no cousin, as you are--after this brother of mine, whom -I have loved so dearly and for so long, has given me of his treasure, I -will take my half, and the other half I will distribute evenly among -you." - -Lakiro assumed his most judicial air. - -"It seems to me," he said, "that as we are all blood relations, and have -brought money for this journey which you make, Siskolo, and you -yourself, so far as I know, are not finding so much as a dollar, our -dear friend and relative Bosambo would be better pleased if his great -gifts were distributed equally, though perhaps"--and he eyed the -back-country brethren who had assembled, and who were listening -uncomprehendingly to a conversation which was half in English and half -in Monrovian--"it would be better to give less to those who have no need -of money, or less need than we who have acquired by our high education, -expensive and luxurious tastes, such as champagne, wine and other noble -foods." - -For two days and the greater part of two nights the relations of Bosambo -argued over the distribution of the booty which they so confidently -anticipated. At the end of a fortnight Siskolo departed from Liberia on -a coasting steamer, and in the course of time he arrived at Sanders's -headquarters. - -Now it may be said that the civilised native--the native of the frock -coat and the top hat--was Mr. Commissioner Sanders's pet abomination. -He also loathed all native men who spoke English--however badly they -spake it--with the sole exception of Bosambo himself, whose stock was -exhausted within fifty words. Yet he listened patiently as Siskolo -unfolded his plan, and with the development of the scheme something like -a holy joy took its place in Sanders's soul. - -He even smiled graciously upon this black man. - -"Go you, Siskolo," he said gently. "I will send a canoe to carry you to -your brother. It is true, as you say, that he is a great chief, though -how rich he may be I have no means of knowing. I have not your -wonderful eyes." - -Siskolo passed over the insult without a word. - -"Lord Sandi," he said, dropping into the vernacular, for he received -little encouragement to proceed in the language which was Sanders's own. -"Lord Sandi, I am glad in my heart that I go to see my brother Bosambo, -that I may take him by the hand. As to his treasure, I do not doubt -that he has more than most men, for Bosambo is a very cunning man, as I -know. I am taking him rich presents, amongst them a clock, which goes -by machinery, from my own store, which could not be bought at any Coast -port under three dollars, and also lengths and pieces of cloth." - -Mr. Siskolo was up early in a morning of July. Mr. Siskolo in a tall -hat--his frock coat carefully folded and deposited in the little -deckhouse on the canoe, and even his trousers protected against the -elements by a piece of cardboard box--set out on the long journey which -separated him from his beloved brother. - -In a country where time does not count, and where imagination plays a -very small part, travelling is a pleasant though lengthy business. It -was a month and three days before Siskolo came to the border of his -brother's territory. He was two miles from Ochori city when he arrayed -himself in the hat, the frock coat, and the trousers of civilisation -that he might make an entry in a manner befitting one who was of kin to -a great and wealthy prince. - -Bosambo received the news of his brother's arrival with something akin -to perturbation. - -"If this man is indeed my brother," he said, "I am a happy man, for he -owes me four dollars he borrowed _cala-cala_ and has never repaid." - -Yet he was uneasy. Relations have a trick of producing curious disorder -in their hosts. This is not peculiar to any race or colour, and it was -with a feeling of apprehension that Bosambo in his state dress went -solemnly in procession to meet his brother. - -In his eagerness Siskolo stepped out of the canoe before it was -grounded, and waded ashore to greet his brother. - -"You are indeed my brother--my own brother Bosambo," he said, and -embraced him tenderly. "This is a glorious day to me." - -"To me," said Bosambo, "the sun shines twice as bright and the little -birds sing very loudly, and I feel so glad, that I could dance. Now -tell me, Siskolo," he went on, striking a more practical note, "why did -you come all this way to see me? For I am a poor man, and have nothing -to give you." - -"Bosambo," said Siskolo reproachfully, "I bring you presents of great -value. I do not desire so much as a dollar. All I wish is to see your -beautiful face and to hear your wise words which men speak about from -one end of the country to the other." - -Siskolo took Bosambo's hands again. - -There was a brief halt whilst Siskolo removed the soaked -trousers--"for," he explained, "these cost me three dollars." - -Thus they went into the city of the Ochori--arm in arm, in the white -man's fashion--and all the city gazed spellbound at the spectacle of a -tall, slim man in a frock coat and top hat with a wisp of white shirt -fluttering about his legs walking in an attitude of such affectionate -regard with Bosambo their chief. - -Bosambo placed at the disposal of his brother his finest hut. For his -amusement he brought along girls of six different tribes to dance before -this interested member of the Ethiopian Church. Nothing that he could -devise, nothing that the unrewarded labours of his people could perform, -was left undone to make the stay of his brother a happy and a memorable -time. - -Yet Siskolo was not happy. Despite the enjoyment he had in all the -happy days which Bosambo provided of evidence of his power, of his -popularity, there still remained a very important proof which Siskolo -required of Bosambo's wealth. - -He broached the subject one night at a feast given in his honour by the -chief, and furnished, it may be remarked in parenthesis, by those who -sat about and watched the disposal of their most precious goods with -some resentment. - -"Bosambo, my brother," said Siskolo, "though I love you, I envy you. -You are a rich man, and I am a very poor man and I know that you have -many beautiful treasures hidden away from view." - -"Do not envy me, Siskolo," said Bosambo sadly, "for though I am a chief -and beloved by Sandi, I have no wealth. Yet you, my brother, and my -friend, have more dollars than the grains of the sand. Now you know I -love you," Bosambo went on breathlessly, for the protest was breaking -from the other's lips, "and I do these things without desire of reward. -I should feel great pain in my heart if I thought you should offer me -little pieces of silver. Yet, if you do so desire, knowing how humble I -am before your face, I would take what you gave me not because I wish -for riches at your hands, but because I am a poor man." - -Siskolo's face was lengthening. - -"Bosambo," he said, and there was less geniality in his tone, "I am also -a poor man, having a large family and many relations who are also your -relations, and I think it would be a good thing if you would offer me -some fine present that I might take back to the Coast, and, calling all -the people together, say 'Behold, this was given to me in a far country -by Bosambo, my brother, who is a great chief and very rich.'" - -Bosambo's face showed no signs of enthusiasm. - -"That is true," he said softly, "it would be a beautiful thing to do, -and I am sick in my heart that I cannot do this because I am so poor." - -This was a type of the conversation which occupied the attention of the -two brothers whenever the round of entertainments allowed talking space. - -Bosambo was a weary man at the end of ten days, and cast forth hints -which any but Bosambo's brother would have taken. - -It was: - -"Brother," he said, "I had a dream last night that your family were sick -and that your business was ruined. Now I think that if you go swiftly -to your home----" - -Or: - -"Brother, I am filled with sorrow, for the season approaches in our land -when all strangers suffer from boils." - -But Siskolo countered with neatness and resolution, for was he not -Bosambo's brother? - -The chief was filled with gloom and foreboding. As the weeks passed and -his brother showed no signs of departing, Bosambo took his swiftest -canoe and ten paddlers and made his way to the I'kan where Sanders was -collecting taxes. - -"Master," said Bosambo, squatting on the deck before the weary -Commissioner, "I have a tale to tell you." - -"Let it be such a tale," said Sanders, "as may be told between the -settling of a mosquito and the sting of her." - -"Lord, this is a short tale," said Bosambo sadly, "but it is a very bad -tale--for me." - -And he told the story of the unwelcome brother. - -"Lord," he went on, "I have done all that a man can do, for I have given -him food that was not quite good; and one night my young men played a -game, pretending, in their love of me, that they were certain fierce men -of the Isisi, though your lordship knows that they are not fierce, -but----" - -"Get on! Get on!" snarled Sanders, for the day had been hot, and the -tax-payers more than a little trying. - -"Now I come to you, my master and lord," said Bosambo, "knowing that you -are very wise and cunning, and also that you have the powers of gods. -Send my brother away from me, for I love him so much that I fear I will -do him an injury." - -Sanders was a man who counted nothing too small for his -consideration--always excepting the quarrels of women. For he had seen -the beginnings of wars in pin-point differences, and had watched an -expedition of eight thousand men march into the bush to settle a palaver -concerning a cooking-pot. - -He thought deeply for a while, then: - -"Two moons ago," he said, "there came to me a hunting man of the -Akasava, who told me that in the forest of the Ochori, on the very -border of the Isisi, was a place where five trees grew in the form of a -crescent----" - -"Praise be to God and to His prophet Mohammed," said the pious Bosambo, -and crossed himself with some inconsequence. - -"In the form of a crescent," Sanders went on, "and beneath the centre -tree, so said this young man of the Akasava, is a great store of dead -ivory" (_i.e._, old ivory which has been buried or stored). - -He stopped and Bosambo looked at him. - -"Such stories are often told," he said. - -"Let it be told again," said Sanders significantly. - -Intelligence dawned on Bosambo's eyes. - -Two days later he was again in his own city, and at night he called his -brother to a secret palaver. - -"Brother," he said, "for many days have I thought about you and how I -might serve you best. As you know, I am a poor man." - -"'A king is a poor man and a beggar is poorer,'" quoted Siskolo, -insolently incredulous. - -Bosambo drew a long breath. - -"Now I will tell you something," he said, lowering his voice. "Against -my old age and the treachery of a disloyal people I have stored great -stores of ivory. I have taken this ivory from my people. I have won it -in bloody battles. I have hunted many elephants. Siskolo, my brother," -he went on, speaking under stress of emotion, "all this I give you -because I love you and my beautiful relations. Go now in peace, but do -not return, for when my people learn that you are seeking the treasures -of the nation they will not forgive you and, though I am their chief, I -cannot hold them." - -All through the night they sat, Bosambo mournful but informative, -Siskolo a-quiver with excitement. - -At dawn the brother left by water for the border-line of the Isisi, -where five trees grew in the form of a crescent. - - * * * * * - -"Lord," said Bosambo, a bitter and an injured man, "I have been a -Christian, a worshipper of devils, a fetish man, and now I am of the -true faith--though as to whether it is true I have reason to doubt." He -stood before Sanders at headquarters. - -Away down by the little quay on the river his sweating paddlers were -lying exhausted, for Bosambo had come by the river day and night. - -Sanders did not speak. There was a twinkle in his eye, and a smile -hovered at the corners of his mouth. - -"And it seems to me," said Bosambo tragically, "that none of the gods -loves me." - -"That is your palaver," said Sanders, "and remember your brother loves -you more than ever." - -"Master," said Bosambo, throwing out his arms in despair, "did I know -that beneath the middle tree of five was buried ten tusks of ivory? -Lord, am I mad that I should give this dog such blessed treasure? I -thought----" - -"I also thought it was an old man's story," said Sanders gently. - -"Lord, may I look?" - -Sanders nodded, and Bosambo walked to the end of the verandah and looked -across the sea. - -There was a smudge of smoke on the horizon. It was the smoke of the -departing mail-boat which carried Siskolo and his wonderful ivory back -to Monrovia. - -Bosambo raised a solemn fist and cursed the disappearing vessel. - -"O brother!" he wailed. "O devil! O snake! Nigger! Nigger! Dam' -nigger!" - -Bosambo wept. - - - - - *CHAPTER VIII* - - *THE CHAIR OF THE N'GOMBI* - - -The N'gombi people prized a certain chair beyond all other treasures. - -For it was made of ivory and native silver, in which the N'gombi are -clever workers. - -Upon this chair sat kings, great warriors, and chiefs of people; also -favoured guests of the land. - -Bosambo of the Ochori went to a friendly palaver with the king of the -N'gombi, and sat upon the chair and admired it. - -After he had gone away, four men came to the village by night and -carried off the treasure, and though the King of N'gombi and his -councillors searched the land from one end to the other the chair was -never found. - -It might never have been found but for a Mr. Wooling, a trader and man -of parts. - -He was known from one end of the coast to the other as a wonderful -seller of things, and was by all accounts rich. - -One day he decided to conquer new worlds and came into Sanders's -territory with complete faith in his mission, a cargo of junk, and an -intense curiosity. - -Hitherto, his trading had been confined to the most civilized stretches -of the country--to places where the educated aboriginal studied the -rates of exchange and sold their crops forward. - -He had long desired to tread a country where heathenism reigned and -where white men were regarded as gods and were allowed to swindle on -magnificent scale. - -Wooling had many shocks, not the least of which was the discovery that -gin, even when it was German gin in square bottles, gaudily labelled and -enclosed in straw packets, was not regarded as a marketable commodity by -Sanders. - -"You can take anything you like," said Sanders, waving his fly-whisk -lazily, "but the bar is up against alcohol and firearms, both of which, -in the hands of an enthusiastic and experimental people, are peculiarly -deadly." - -"But, Mr. Sanders!" protested the woolgatherer, with the confident -little smile which represented seventy-five per cent. of his -stock-in-trade. "I am not one of these new chums straight out from -home! Damn it! I know the people, I speak all their lingo, from Coast -talk to Swaheli." - -"You don't speak gin to them, anyway," said Sanders; "and the palaver -may be regarded as finished." - -And all the persuasive eloquence of Mr. Wooling did not shift the -adamantine Commissioner; and the trader left with a polite reference to -the weather, and an unspoken condemnation of an officious swine of a -British jack-in-office which Sanders would have given money to have -heard. - -Wooling went up-country and traded to the best of his ability without -the alluring stock, which had been the long suit in his campaign, and if -the truth be told--and there is no pressing reason why it should not--he -did very well till he tied up one morning at Ochori city and interviewed -a chief whose name was Bosambo. - -Wooling landed at midday, and in an hour he had arrayed his beautiful -stores on the beach. - -They included Manchester cotton goods from Belgium, genuine Indian junk -from Birmingham, salt which contained a sensible proportion of good -river sand, and similar attractive bargains. - -His visit to the chief was something of an event. He found Bosambo -sitting before his tent in a robe of leopard skins. - -"Chief," he said in the flowery manner of his kind, "I have come many -weary days through the forest and against the current of the river, that -I may see the greatness of all kings, and I bring you a present from the -King of England, who is my personal friend and is distantly related to -me." - -And with some ceremony he handed to his host a small ikon representing a -yellow St. Sebastian perforated with purple arrows--such as may be -purchased from any manufacturer on the Baltic for three cents wholesale. - -Bosambo received the gift gravely. - -"Lord," he said, "I will put this with other presents which the King has -sent me, some of which are of great value, such as a fine bedstead of -gold, a clock of silver, and a crown so full of diamonds that no man has -ever counted them." - -He said this easily; and the staggered Mr. Wooling caught his breath. - -"As to this beautiful present," said Bosambo, handling the ikon -carelessly, and apparently repenting of his decision to add it to his -collection, "behold, to show how much I love you--as I love all white -lords--I give it to you, but since it is a bad palaver that a present -should be returned, you shall give me ten silver dollars: in this way -none of us shall meet with misfortune." - -"Chief," said Mr. Wooling, recovering himself with a great effort, "that -is a very beautiful present, and the King will be angry when he hears -that you have returned it, for there is a saying, 'Give nothing which -has been given,' and that is the picture of a very holy man." - -Bosambo looked at the ikon. - -"It is a very holy man," he agreed, "for I see that it is a picture of -the blessed Judas--therefore you shall have this by my head and by my -soul." - -In the end Mr. Wooling compromised reluctantly on a five-dollar basis, -throwing in the ikon as a sort of ecclesiastical makeweight. - -More than this, Bosambo bought exactly ten dollars' worth of -merchandise, including a length of chiffon, and paid for them with -money. Mr. Wooling went away comforted. - -It was many days before he discovered amongst his cash ten separate and -distinct dollar pieces that were unmistakably bad and of the type which -unscrupulous Coast houses sell at a dollar a dozen to the traders who -deal with the unsophisticated heathen. - -Wooling got back to the Coast with a profit which was fairly elusive -unless it was possible to include experience on the credit side of the -ledger. Six months later, he made another trip into the interior, -carrying a special line of talking-machines, which were chiefly -remarkable for the fact that the sample machine which he exhibited was a -more effective instrument than the one he sold. Here again he found -himself in Ochori city. He had, in his big trading canoe, one phonograph -and twenty-four things that looked like phonographs, and were in point -of fact phonographs with this difference, that they had no workable -interiors, and phonographs without mechanism are a drug upon the African -market. - -Nevertheless, Bosambo purchased one at the ridiculously low price -offered, and the chief viewed with a pained and reproachful mien the -exhaustive tests which Mr. Wooling applied to the purchase money. - -"Lord," said Bosambo, gently, "this money is good money, for it was sent -to me by my half-brother Sandi." - -"Blow your half-brother Sandi," said Wooling, in energetic English, and -to his amazement the chief replied in the same language: - -"You make um swear--you lib for hell one time--you say damn words you -not fit for make angel." - -Wooling, arriving at the next city--which was N'gombi--was certainly no -angel, for he had discovered that in some mysterious fashion he had sold -Bosambo the genuine phonograph, and had none wherewith to beguile his -new client. - -He made a forced journey back to Ochori city and discovered Bosambo -entertaining a large audience with a throaty presentment of the "Holy -City." - -As the enraged trader stamped his way through the long, straggling -street, there floated to him on the evening breeze the voice of the -far-away tenor: - - Jer-u-salem! Jer-u-salem! - Sing for the night is o'er! - - -"Chief!" said Mr. Wooling hotly, "this is a bad palaver, for you have -taken my best devil box, which I did not sell you." - - Last night I lay a sleeping, - There came a dream so fair. - -sang the phonograph soulfully. - -"Lord," said Bosambo, "this devil box I bought--paying you with dollars -which your lordship ate fearing they were evil dollars." - -"By your head, you thief!" swore Wooling. "I sold you this." And he -produced from under his arm the excellent substitute. - -"Lord," said Bosambo, humbly enough, "I am sorry." - -He switched off the phonograph. He dismounted the tin horn with -reluctant fingers; with his own hands he wrapped it in a piece of the -native matting and handed it to the trader, and Wooling, who had -expected trouble, "dashed" his courteous host a whole dollar. - -"Thus I reward those who are honest," he said magnificently. - -"Master," said Bosambo, "that we may remember one another kindly, you -shall keep one half of this and I the other." - -And with no effort he broke the coin in half, for it was made of metal -considerably inferior to silver. - -Wooling was a man not easily abashed, yet it is on record that in his -agitation he handed over a genuine dollar and was half way back to -Akasava city before he realised his folly. Then he laughed to himself, -for the phonograph was worth all the trouble, and the money. - -That night he assembled the Akasava to hear the "Holy City"--only to -discover that he had again brought away from Ochori city the -unsatisfactory instrument he had taken. - -In the city of the Ochori all the night a wheezy voice acclaimed -Jerusalem to the admiration and awe of the Ochori people. - -"It is partly your own fault," said Sanders, when the trader complained. -"Bosambo was educated in a civilised community, and naturally has a way -with his fingers which less gifted people do not possess." - -"Mr. Sanders," said the woolgatherer earnestly, "I've traded this coast, -man and boy, for sixteen years, and there never was and there never will -be," he spoke with painful emphasis, "an eternally condemned native -nigger in this inevitably-doomed-by-Providence world who can get the -better of Bill Wooling." - -All this he said, employing in his pardonable exasperation, certain -lurid similes which need not be reproduced. - -"I don't like your language," said Sanders, "but I admire your -determination." - -Such was the determination of Mr. Wooling, in fact, that a month later -he returned with a third cargo, this time a particularly fascinating -one, for it consisted in the main of golden chains of surprising -thickness which were studded at intervals with very rare and precious -pieces of coloured glass. - -"And this time," he said to the unmoved Commissioner, who for want of -something better to do, had come down to the landing-stage to see the -trader depart, "this time this Bosambo is going to get it abaft the -collar." - -"Keep away from the N'gombi people," said Sanders, "they are -fidgety--that territory is barred to you." - -Mr. Wooling made a resentful noise, for he had laid down an itinerary -through the N'gombi country, which is very rich in gum and rubber. - -He made a pleasant way through the territories, for he was a glib man -and had a ready explanation for those who complained bitterly about the -failing properties of their previous purchases. - -He went straight to the Ochori district. There lay the challenge to his -astuteness and especial gifts. He so far forgot the decencies of his -calling as to come straight to the point. - -"Bosambo," he said, "I have brought you very rare and wonderful things. -Now I swear to you by," he produced a bunch of variegated deities and -holy things with characteristic glibness, "that these chains," he spread -one of particular beauty for the other's admiration, "are more to me -than my very life. Yet for one tusk of ivory this chain shall be -yours." - -"Lord," said Bosambo, handling the jewel reverently, "what virtue has -this chain?" - -"It is a great killer of enemies," said Wooling enthusiastically; "it -protects from danger and gives courage to the wearer; it is worth two -teeth, but because I love you and because Sandi loves you I will give -you this for one." - -Bosambo pondered. - -"I cannot give you teeth," he said, "yet I will give you a stool of -ivory which is very wonderful." - -And he produced the marvel from a secret place in his hut. - -It was indeed a lovely thing and worth many chains. - -"This," said Bosambo, with much friendliness, "you will sell to the -N'gombi, who are lovers of such things, and they will pay you well." - -Wooling came to the N'gombi territory with the happy sense of having -purchased fifty pounds for fourpence, and entered it, for he regarded -official warnings as the expression of a poor form of humour. - -He found the N'gombi (as he expected) in a mild and benevolent mood. -They purchased by public subscription one of his beautiful chains to -adorn the neck of their chief, and they feted him, and brought dancing -women from the villages about, to do him honour. - -They expressed their love and admiration for Sandi volubly, until, -discovering that their enthusiasm awoke no responsive thrill in the -heart or the voice of their hearer, they tactfully volunteered the -opinion that Sandi was a cruel and oppressive master. - -Whereupon Wooling cursed them fluently, calling them eaters of fish and -friends of dogs; for it is against the severe and inborn creed of the -Coast to allow a nigger to speak disrespectfully of a white man--even -though he is a Government officer. - -"Now listen all people," said Wooling; "I have a great and beautiful -object to sell you----" - - * * * * * - -Over the tree-tops there rolled a thick yellow cloud which twisted and -twirled into fantastic shapes. - -Sanders walked to the bow of the _Zaire_ to examine the steel hawser. -His light-hearted crew had a trick of "tying-up" to the first dead and -rotten stump which presented itself to their eyes. - -For once they had found a firm anchorage. The hawser was clamped about -the trunk of a strong young copal which grew near the water's edge. An -inspection of the stern hawser was as satisfactory. - -"Let her rip," said Sanders, and the elements answered _instanter_. - -A jagged blue streak of flame leapt from the yellow skies, a deafening -crack-crash of thunder broke overhead, and suddenly a great wind smote -the little steamer at her shelter, and set the tops of the trees bowing -with grave unanimity. - -Sanders reached his cabin, slid back the door, and pulled it back to its -place after him. - -In the stuffy calm of his cabin he surveyed the storm through his -window, for his cabin was on the top deck and he could command as -extensive a view of the scene as it was possible to see from the little -bay. - -He saw the placid waters of the big river lashed to waves; saw tree -after tree sway and snap as M'shimba M'shamba stalked terribly through -the forest; heard the high piercing howl of the tempest punctuated by -the ripping crack of the thunder, and was glad in the manner of the -Philistine that he was not where other men were. - -Night came with alarming swiftness. - -Half an hour before, at the first sign of the cyclone, he had steered -for the first likely mooring. In the last rays of a blood-red sun he -had brought his boat to land. - -Now it was pitch dark--almost as he stood watching the mad passion of -the storm it faded first into grey, then into inky blue--then night -obliterated the view. - -He groped for the switch and turned it, and the cabin was filled with -soft light. There was a small telephone connecting the cabin with the -Houssa guard, and he pressed the button and called the attention of -Sergeant Abiboo to his need. - -"Get men to watch the hawsers," he instructed, and a guttural response -answered him. - -Sanders was on the upper reaches of the Tesai, in terra incognita. The -tribes around were frankly hostile, but they would not venture about on -a night like this. - -Outside, the thunder cracked and rolled and the lightning flashed -incessantly. - -Sanders found a cheroot in a drawer and lighted it, and soon the cabin -was blue with smoke, for it had been necessary to close the ventilator. -Dinner was impossible under the conditions. The galley fire would be -out. The rain which was now beating fiercely on the cabin windows would -have long since extinguished the range. - -Sanders walked to the window and peered out. He switched off the light, -the better to observe the condition outside. The wind still howled, the -lightning flickered over the tree-tops, and above the sound of wind and -rushing water came the sulky grumble of thunder. - -But the clouds had broken, and fitful beams of moonlight showed on the -white-crested waves. Suddenly Sanders stepped to the door and slid it -open. - -He sprang out upon the deck. - -The waning forces of the hurricane caught him and flung him back against -the cabin, but he grasped a convenient rail and pulled himself to the -side of the boat. - -Out in mid-stream he had seen a canoe and had caught a glimpse of a -white face. - -"Noka! Abiboo!" he roared. But the wind drowned his voice. His hand -went to his hip--a revolver cracked, men came along the deck, hand over -hand, grasping the rails. - -In dumb show he indicated the boat. - -A line was flung, and out of the swift control current of the stream -they drew all that was left of Mr. Wooling. - -He gained enough breath to whisper a word--it was a word that set the -_Zaire_ humming with life. There was steam in the boiler--Sanders would -not draw fires in a storm which might snap the moorings and leave the -boat at the mercy of the elements. - -"... they chased me down river ... I shot a few ... but they came on ... -then the storm struck us ... they're not far away." - -Wrapped in a big overcoat and shivering in spite of the closeness of the -night, he sat by Sanders, as he steered away into the seething waters of -the river. - -"What's the trouble?" - -The wind blew his words to shreds, but the huddled figure crouching at -his side heard him and answered. - -"What's that?" asked Sanders, bending his head. - -Wooling shouted again. - -Sanders shook his head. - -The two words he caught were "chair" and "Bosambo." - -They explained nothing to Sanders at the moment. - - - - - *CHAPTER IX* - - *THE KI-CHU* - - -The messenger from Sakola, the chief of the little folk who live in the -bush, stood up. He was an ugly little man, four feet in height and -burly, and he wore little save a small kilt of grass. - -Sanders eyed him thoughtfully, for the Commissioner knew the bush people -very well. - -"You will tell your master that I, who govern this land for the King, -have sent him lord's pleasure in such shape as rice and salt and cloth, -and that he has sworn by death to keep the peace of the forest. Now I -will give him no further present----" - -"Lord," interrupted the little bushman outrageously, "he asks of your -lordship only this cloth to make him a fine robe, also ten thousand -beads for his wives, and he will be your man for ever." - -Sanders showed his teeth in a smile in which could be discovered no -amusement. - -"He shall be my man," he said significantly - -The little bushman shuffled his uneasy feet. - -"Lord, it will be death to me to carry your proud message to our city, -for we ourselves are very proud people, and Sakola is a man of greater -pride than any." - -"The palaver is finished," said Sanders, and the little man descended -the wooden steps to the sandy garden path. - -He turned, shading his eyes from the strong sun in the way that bushmen -have, for these folk live in the solemn half-lights of the woods and do -not love the brazen glow of the heavens. - -"Lord," he said timidly, "Sakola is a terrible man, and I fear that he -will carry his spears to a killing." - -Sanders sighed wearily and thrust his hands into the deep pockets of his -white jacket. - -"Also I will carry my spears to a killing," he said. "O ko! Am I a man -of the Ochori that I should fear the chattering of a bushman?" - -Still the man hesitated. - -He stood balancing a light spear on the palm of his hand, as a man -occupied with his thoughts will play with that which is in reach. First -he set it twirling, then he spun it deftly with his finger and thumb. - -"I am the servant of Sakola," he said simply. - -Like a flash of light his thin brown arm swung out, the spear held -stiffly. - -Sanders fired three times with his automatic Colt, and the messenger of -the proud chief Sakola went down sideways like a drunken man. - -Sergeant Abiboo, revolver in hand, leapt through a window of the -bungalow to find his master moving a smouldering uniform jacket--you -cannot fire through your pocket with impunity--and eyeing the huddled -form of the fallen bushman with a thoughtful frown. - -"Carry him to the hospital," said Sanders. "I do not think he is dead." - -He picked up the spear and examined the point. - -There was lock-jaw in the slightest scratch of it, for these men are -skilled in the use of tetanus. - -The compound was aroused. Men had come racing over from the Houssa -lines, and a rough stretcher was formed to carry away the debris. - -Thus occupied with his affairs Sanders had no time to observe the -arrival of the mail-boat, and the landing of Mr. Hold. - -The big American filled the only comfortable seat in the surf-boat, but -called upon his familiar gods to witness the perilous character of his -sitting. - -He was dressed in white, white irregularly splashed with dull grey -patches of sea-water, for the Kroomen who manipulated the sweeps had not -the finesse, nor the feather stroke, of a Harvard eight, and they worked -independently. - -He was tall and broad and thick--the other way. His face was -clean-shaven, and he wore a cigar two points south-west. - -Yet, withal, he was a genial man, or the lines about his face lied -cruelly. - -Nearing the long yellow beach where the waters were engaged -everlastingly in a futile attempt to create a permanent sea-wall, his -references to home ceased, and he confined himself to apprehensive -"huh's!" - -"Huh!" he grunted, as the boat was kicked into the air on the heels of a -playful roller. "Huh!" he said, as the big surfer dropped from the -ninth floor to a watery basement. "Huh--oh!" he exclaimed--but there -was no accident; the boat was gripped by wading landsmen and slid to -safety. - -Big Ben Hold rolled ashore and stood on the firm beach looking -resentfully across the two miles of water which separated him from the -ship. - -"Orter build a dock," he grumbled. - -He watched, with a jealous eye, the unloading of his kit, checking the -packing cases with a piece of green chalk he dug up from his waistcoat -pocket and found at least one package missing. The only important one, -too. Is this it? No! Is that it? No! Is that--ah, yes, that was it. - -He was sitting on it. - -"Suh," said a polite Krooman, "you lib for dem k'miss'ner?" - -"Hey?" - -"Dem Sandi--you find um?" - -"Say," said Mr. Hold, "I don't quite get you--I want the -Commissioner--the Englishman--savee." - -Later, he crossed the neat and spotless compound of the big, cool -bungalow, where, on the shaded verandah, Mr. Commissioner Sanders -watched the progress of the newcomer without enthusiasm. - -For Sanders had a horror of white strangers; they upset things; had -fads; desired escorts for passing through territories where the natural -desire for war and an unnatural fear of Government reprisal were always -delicately balanced. - -"Glad to see you. Boy, push that chair along; sit down, won't you?" - -Mr. Hold seated himself gingerly. - -"When a man turns the scale at two hundred and thirty-eight pounds," -grumbled Big Ben pleasantly, "he sits mit circumspection, as a Dutch -friend of mine says." He breathed a long, deep sigh of relief as he -settled himself in the chair and discovered that it accepted the strain -without so much as a creak. - -Sanders waited with an amused glint in his eyes. - -"You'd like a drink?" - -Mr. Hold held up a solemn hand. "Tempt me not," he adjured. "I'm on a -diet--I don't look like a food crank, do I?" - -He searched the inside pocket of his coat with some labour. Sanders had -an insane desire to assist him. It seemed that the tailor had taken a -grossly unfair advantage of Mr. Hold in building the pocket so far -outside the radius of his short arm. - -"Here it is!" - -Big Ben handed a letter to the Commissioner, and Sanders opened it. He -read the letter very carefully, then handed it back to its owner. And -as he did so he smiled with a rare smile, for Sanders was not easily -amused. - -"You expect to find the ki-chu here?" he asked. - -Mr. Hold nodded. - -"I have never seen it," said Sanders; "I have heard of it; I have read -about it, and I have listened to people who have passed through my -territories and who have told me that they have seen it with, I am -afraid, disrespect." - -Big Ben leant forward, and laid his large and earnest hand on the -other's knee. - -"Say, Mr. Sanders," he said, "you've probably heard of me--I'm Big Ben -Hold--everybody knows me, from the Pacific to the Atlantic. I am the -biggest thing in circuses and wild beast expositions the world has ever -seen. Mr. Sanders, I have made money, and I am out of the show business -for a million years, but I want to see that monkey ki-chu----" - -"But----" - -"Hold hard." Big Ben's hand arrested the other. "Mr. Sanders, I have -made money out of the ki-chu. Barnum made it out of the mermaid, but my -fake has been the tailless ki-chu, the monkey that is so like a man that -no alderman dare go near the cage for fear people think the ki-chu has -escaped. I've run the ki-chu from Seattle to Portland, from Buffalo to -Arizona City. I've had a company of militia to regulate the crowds to -see the ki-chu. I have had a whole police squad to protect me from the -in-fu-ri-ated populace when the ki-chu hasn't been up to sample. I have -had ki-chus of every make and build. There are old ki-chus of mine that -are now raising families an' mortgages in the Middlewest; there are -ki-chus who are running East-side saloons with profit to themselves and -their dude sons, there----" - -"Yes, yes!" Sanders smiled again. "But why?" - -"Let me tell you, sir," again Big Ben held up his beringed hand, "I am -out of the business--good! But, Mr. Sanders, sir, I have a conscience." -He laid his big hand over his heart and lowered his voice. "Lately I -have been worrying over this old ki-chu. I have built myself a -magnificent dwelling in Boston; I have surrounded myself with the -evidences and services of luxury; but there is a still small voice which -penetrates the sound-proof walls of my bedroom, that intrudes upon the -silences of my Turkish bath--and the voice says, 'Big Ben Hold--there -aren't any ki-chu; you're a fake; you're a swindler; you're a green -goods man; you're rollin' in riches secured by fraud.' Mr. Sanders, I -must see a ki-chu; I must have a real ki-chu if I spend the whole of my -fortune in getting it"; he dropped his voice again, "if I lose my life -in the attempt." - -He stared with gloom, but earnestness, at Sanders, and the Commissioner -looked at him thoughtfully. And from Mr. Hold his eyes wandered to the -gravelled path outside, and the big American, following his eyes, saw a -discoloured patch. - -"Somebody been spillin' paint?" he suggested. "I had----" - -Sanders shook his head. - -"That's blood," he said simply, and Mr. Hold jerked. - -"I've just shot a native," said Sanders, in a conversational tone. "He -was rather keen on spearing me, and I was rather keen on not being -speared. So I shot him." - -"Dead?" - -"Not very!" replied the Commissioner. "As a matter of fact I think I -just missed putting him out--there's an Eurasian doctor looking him over -just now, and if you're interested, I'll let you know how he gets -along." - -The showman drew a long breath. - -"This is a nice country," he said. - -Sanders nodded. He called his servants and gave directions for the -visitor's comfortable housing. - -A week later, Mr. Hold embarked for the upper river with considerable -misgiving, for the canoe which Sanders had placed at his disposal -seemed, to say the least, inadequate. - -It was at this time that the Ochori were in some disfavour with the -neighbouring tribes, and a small epidemic of rebellion and warfare had -sustained the interest of the Commissioner in his wayward peoples. - -First, the N'gombi people fought the Ochori, then the Isisi folk went to -war with the Akasava over a question of women, and the Ochori went to -war with the Isisi, and between whiles, the little bush folk warred -indiscriminately with everybody, relying on the fact that they lived in -the forest and used poisoned arrows. - -They were a shy, yet haughty people, and they poisoned their arrows with -tetanus, so that all who were wounded by them died of lock-jaw after -many miserable hours. - -They were engaged in harrying the Ochori people, when Mr. Commissioner -Sanders, who was not unnaturally annoyed, came upon the scene with fifty -Houssas and a Maxim gun, and although the little people were quick, they -did not travel as fast as a well-sprayed congregation of .303 bullets, -and they sustained a few losses. - -Then Timbani, the little chief of the Lesser Isisi, spoke to his people -assembled: - -"Let us fight the Ochori, for they are insolent, and their chief is a -foreigner and of no consequence." - -And the fighting men of the tribe raised their hands and cried, "Wa!" - -Timbani led a thousand spears into the Ochori country, and wished he had -chosen another method of spending a sultry morning, for whilst he was -burning the village of Kisi, Sanders came with vicious unexpectedness -upon his flank, from the bush country. - -Two companies of Houssas shot with considerable accuracy at two hundred -yards, and when the spears were stacked and the prisoners squatted, -resigned but curious, in a circle of armed guards, Timbani realised that -it was a black day in his history. - -"I only saw this, lord," he said, "that Bosambo has made me a sorrowful -man, for if it were not for his prosperity, I should never have led my -men against him, and I should not be here before your lordship, -wondering which of my wives would mourn me most." - -"As to that, Timbani," said Sanders, "I have no means of knowing. -Later, when you work in the Village of Irons, men will come and tell -you." - -Timbani drew a deep breath. "Then my lord does not hang me?" he asked. - -"I do not hang you because you are a fool," said Sanders. "I hang -wicked men, but fools I send to hard labour." - -The chief pondered. "It is in my mind, Lord Sandi," he said, "that I -would as soon hang for villainy as live for folly." - -"Hang him!" said Sanders, who was in an obliging mood. - -But when the rope was deftly thrown across the limb of a tree, Timbani -altered his point of view, electing to drag out an ignominious -existence. Wherein he was wise, for whilst there is life there is scope, -if you will pardon the perversion. - -To the Village of Irons went Timbani, titular chief of the Lesser Isisi, -and found agreeable company there, and, moreover, many predecessors, for -the Isisi folk are notoriously improvident in the matter of chiefs. - -They formed a little community of their own, they and their wives, and -at evening time they would sit round a smouldering log of gum wood, -their red blankets about their shoulders, and tell stories of their -former grandeur, and as they moved the loose shackles about their feet -would jingle musically. - -On a night when the Houssa sentries, walking along raised platforms, -which commanded all views of the prisoners' compound, were unusually -lax, Timbani effected his escape, and made the best of his way across -country to the bush lands. The journey occupied two months in time, but -native folk are patient workers, and there came a spring morning, when -Timbani, lean and muscular, stood in the presence of Sakola, the bush -king. - -"Lord," said he, though he despised all bushmen, "I have journeyed many -days to see you, knowing that you are the greatest of all kings." - -Sakola sat on a stool carved crudely to represent snakes. He was under -four feet in height, and was ill-favoured by bush standards--and the -bush standard is very charitable. His big head, his little eyes, the -tuft of wiry whisker under his chin, the high cheek bones, all -contributed to the unhappy total of ugliness. - -He was fat in an obvious way, and had a trick of scratching the calf of -his leg as he spoke. - -He blinked up at the intruder--for intruder he was, and the guard at -each elbow was eloquent of the fact. - -"Why do you come here?" croaked Sakola. - -He said it in two short words, which literally mean, "Here--why?" - -"Master of the forest," explained Timbani glibly, "I come because I -desire your happiness. The Ochori are very rich, for Sandi loves them. -If you go to them Sandi will be sorry." - -The bushman sniffed. "I went to them and I was sorry," he said, -significantly. - -"I have a ju-ju," said the eager Timbani, alarmed at the lack of -enthusiasm. "He will help you; and will give you signs." - -Sakola eyed him with a cold and calculating eye. In the silence of the -forest they stared at one another, the escaped prisoner with his breast -filled with hatred of his overlord, and the squat figure on the stool. - -Then Sakola spoke. - -"I believe in devils," he said, "and I will try your ju-ju. For I will -cut you a little and tie you to the top of my tree of sacrifice. And if -you are alive when the sun sets, behold I will think that is a good -sign, and go once again into the Ochori land. But if you are dead, that -shall be a bad sign, and I will not fight." - -When the sun set behind the golden green of the tree tops, the stolid -crowd of bushmen who stood with their necks craning and their faces -upturned, saw the poor wreck of a man twist slowly. - -"That is a good sign," said Sakola, and sent messengers through the -forest to assemble his fighting men. - -Twice he flung a cloud of warriors into the Ochori territory. Twice the -chiefs of the Ochori hurled back the invader, slaying many and taking -prisoners. - -About these prisoners. Sanders, who knew something of the gentle -Ochori, had sent definite instructions. - -When news of the third raid came, Bosambo gave certain orders. - -"You march with food for five days," he said to the heads of his army, -"and behold you shall feed all the prisoners you take from the grain you -carry, giving two hands to each prisoner and one to yourself." - -"But, lord," protested the chief, "this is madness, for if we take many -prisoners we shall starve." - -Bosambo waved him away. "M'bilini," he said, with dignity, "once I was -a Christian--just as my brother Sandi, was once a Christian--and we -Christians are kind to prisoners." - -"But, lord Bosambo," persisted the other, "if we kill our prisoners and -do not bring them back it will be better for us." - -"These things are with the gods," said the pious Bosambo vaguely. - -So M'bilini went out against the bushmen and defeated them. He brought -back an army well fed, but without prisoners. - -Thus matters stood when Big Ben Hold came leisurely up the river, his -canoe paddled close in shore, for here the stream does not run so -swiftly. - -It had been a long journey, and the big man in the soiled white ducks -showed relief as he stepped ashore on the Ochori beach and stretched his -legs. - -He had no need to inquire which of the party approaching him was -Bosambo. For the chief wore his red plush robe, his opera hat, his -glass bracelets, and all the other appurtenances of his office. - -Big Ben had come up the river in his own good time and was now used to -the way of the little chiefs. - -His interpreter began a conversational oration, but Bosambo cut him -short. - -"Nigger," he said, in English, "you no speak 'um--I speak 'um fine -English. I know Luki, Marki, John, Judas--all fine fellers. You, sah," -he addressed the impressed Mr. Hold, "you lib for me? Sixpence--four -dollar, good-night, I love you, mister!" - -He delivered his stock breathlessly. - -"Fine!" said Mr. Hold, awestricken and dazed. - -He felt at home in the procession which marched in stately manner -towards the chief's hut; it was as near a circus parade as made no -difference. - -Over a dinner of fish he outlined the object of his search and the -reason for his presence. - -It was a laborious business, necessitating the employment of the -despised and frightened interpreter until the words "ki-chu" were -mentioned, whereupon Bosambo brightened up. - -"Sah," interrupted Bosambo, "I savee al dem talk; I make 'um English one -time good." - -"Fine," said Mr. Hold gratefully, "I get you, Steve." - -"You lookum ki-chu," continued Bosambo, "you no find 'um; I see 'um; I -am God-man--Christian; I savee Johnny Baptist; Peter cut 'um head -off--dam' bad man; I savee Hell an' all dem fine fellers." - -"Tell him----" began Big Ben. - -"I spik English same like white man!" said the indignant Bosambo. "You -no lib for make dem feller talky talk--I savee dem ki-chu." - -Big Ben sighed helplessly. All along the river the legend of the ki-chu -was common property. Everybody knew of the ki-chu--some had seen those -who had seen it. He was not elated that Bosambo should be counted -amongst the faithful. - -For the retired showman had by this time almost salved his conscience. -It was enough, perhaps, that evidence of the ki-chu's being should be -afforded--still he would dearly have loved to carry one of the alleged -fabulous creatures back to America with him. - -He had visions of a tame ki-chu chained to a stake on his Boston lawn; -of a ki-chu sitting behind gilded bars in a private menagerie annexe. - -"I suppose," said Mr. Hold, "you haven't seen a ki-chu--you savee--you -no look 'um?" - -Bosambo was on the point of protesting that the ki-chu was a familiar -object of the landscape when a thought occurred to him. - -"S'pose I find 'um ki-chu you dash[#] me plenty dollar?" he asked. - - -[#] Give. - - -"If you find me that ki-chu," said Mr. Hold slowly, and with immense -gravity, "I will pay you a thousand dollars." - -Bosambo rose to his feet, frankly agitated. - -"Thousan' dollar?" he repeated. - -"A thousand dollars," said Big Ben with the comfortable air of one to -whom a thousand dollars was a piece of bad luck. - -Bosambo put out his hand and steadied himself against the straw-plaited -wall of his hut. - -"You make 'um hundred dollar ten time?" he asked, huskily, "you make 'um -book?" - -"I make 'um book," said Ben, and in a moment of inspiration drew a -note-book from his pocket and carefully wrote down the substance of his -offer. - -He handed the note to the chief, and Bosambo stared at it -uncomprehendingly. - -"And," said Big Ben, confidentially leaning across and tapping the knee -of the standing chief with the golden head of his cane, "if you----" - -Bosambo raised his hand, and his big face was solemn. - -"Master," he said, relapsing into the vernacular in his excitement, -"though this ki-chu lives in a village of devils, and ghosts walk about -his hut, I will bring him." - -The next morning Bosambo disappeared, taking with him three hunters of -skill, and to those who met him and said, "Ho! Bosambo; where do you -walk?" he answered no word, but men who saw his face were shocked, for -Bosambo had been a Christian and knew the value of money. - -Eight days he was absent, and Big Ben Hold found life very pleasant, for -he was treated with all the ceremony which is usually the privilege of -kings. - -On the evening of the eighth day Bosambo returned, and he brought with -him the ki-chu. - -Looking at this wonder Big Ben Hold found his heart beating faster. - -"My God!" he said, and his profanity was almost excusable. - -For the ki-chu exceeded his wildest dreams. It was like a man, yet -unlike. Its head was almost bald, the stick tied bit-wise between his -teeth had been painted green and added to the sinister appearance of the -brute. Its long arms reaching nearly to its knees were almost human, -and the big splayed feet dancing a never-ceasing tattoo of rage were -less than animal. - -"Lord," said Bosambo proudly, "I have found the ki-chu!" - -The chief's face bore signs of a fierce encounter. It was gashed and -lacerated. His arms, too, bore signs of rough surgical dressing. - -"Three hunters I took with me," said Bosambo, "and one have I brought -back, for I took the ki-chu as he sat on a tree, and he was very -fierce." - -"My God!" said Big Ben again, and breathed heavily. - -They built a cage for the ki-chu, a cage of heavy wooden bars, and the -rare animal was screened from the vulgar gaze by curtains of native -cloth. - -It did not take kindly to its imprisonment. - -It howled and gibbered and flung itself against the bars, and Bosambo -viewed its transports with interest. - -"Lord," he said, "this only I ask you: that you take this ki-chu shortly -from here. Also, you shall not show it to Sandi lest he be jealous that -we send away from our country so rare a thing." - -"But," protested Mr. Hold to the interpreter, "you tell the chief that -Mr. Sanders just wants me to catch the ki-chu--say, Bosambo, you savee, -Sandi wantee see dem ki-chu?" - -They were sitting before the chief's hut on the ninth day of the -American's visit. The calm of evening lay on the city, and save for the -unhappy noises of the captive no sound broke the Sabbath stillness of -the closing day. - -Bosambo was sitting at his ease, a bundle of English banknotes suspended -by a cord about his neck, and the peace of heaven in his heart. - -He had opened his mouth to explain the idiosyncrasies of the -Commissioner when---- - -"Whiff--snick!" - -Something flicked past Big Ben's nose--something that buried its head in -the straw of the hut with a soft swish! - -He saw the quivering arrow, heard the shrill call of alarm and the -dribbling roll of a skin-covered drum. - -Then a hand like steel grasped his arm and flung him headlong into the -hut, for Sakola's headman had come in person to avenge certain -indignities and the city of the Ochori was surrounded by twenty thousand -bushmen. - -Night was falling and the position was desperate. Bosambo had no doubt -as to that. A wounded bushman fell into his hands--a mad little man, -who howled and spat and bit like a vicious little animal. - -"Burn him till he talks," said Bosambo--but at the very sight of fire -the little man told all--and Bosambo knew that he spoke the truth. - -The _lokali_ on the high watch tower of the city beat its staccato call -for help and some of the villagers about answered. - -Bosambo stood at the foot of the rough ladder leading to the tower, -listening. - -From east and south and north came the replies--from the -westward--nothing. The bushmen had swept into the country from the -west, and the _lokalis_ were silent where the invader had passed. - -Big Ben Hold, an automatic pistol in his hand, took his part in the -defence of the city. All through that night charge after charge broke -before the defences, and at intervals the one firearm of the defending -force spat noisily out into the darkness. - -With the dawn came an unshaven Sanders. He swept round the bend of the -river, two Hotchkiss guns banging destructively, and the end of the bush -war came when the rallied villagers of the Ochori fell on the left flank -of the attackers and drove them towards the guns of the _Zaire_. - -Then it was that Bosambo threw the whole fighting force of the city upon -the enemy. - -Sanders landed his Houssas to complete the disaster; he made his way -straight to the city and drew a whistling breath of relief to find Big -Ben Hold alive, for Big Ben was a white man, and moreover a citizen of -another land. The big man held out an enormous hand of welcome. - -"Glad to see you," he said. - -Sanders smiled. - -"Found that ki-chu?" he asked derisively, and his eyes rose -incredulously at the other's nod. - -"Here!" said Mr. Hold triumphantly, and he drew aside the curtains of -the cage. - -It was empty. - -"Hell!" bellowed Big Ben Hold, and threw his helmet on the ground -naughtily. - -"There it is!" He pointed across the open stretch of country which -separated the city from the forest. A little form was running swiftly -towards the woods. Suddenly it stopped, lifted something from the -ground, and turned towards the group. As its hands came up, Sergeant -Abiboo of the Houssas raised his rifle and fired; and the figure -crumpled up. - -"My ki-chu!" wailed the showman, as he looked down at the silent figure. - -Sanders said nothing. He looked first at the dead Sakola, outrageously -kidnapped in the very midst of his people, then he looked round for -Bosambo, but Bosambo had disappeared. - -At that precise moment the latter was feverishly scraping a hole in the -floor of his hut wherein to bank his ill-gotten reward. - - - - - *CHAPTER X* - - *THE CHILD OF SACRIFICE* - - -Out of the waste came a long, low wail of infinite weariness. It was -like the cry of a little child in pain. The Government steamer was -drifting at the moment. Her engine had stopped whilst the engineer -repaired a float which had been smashed through coming in contact with a -floating log. - -Assistant-Commissioner Sanders, a young man in those days, bent his -head, listening. Again the wail arose; this time there was a sob at the -end of it. It came from a little patch of tall, coarse elephant grass -near the shore. - -Sanders turned to his orderly. - -"Take a canoe, O man," he said in Arabic, "and go with your rifle." He -pointed. "There you will find a monkey that is wounded. Shoot him, -that he may suffer no more, for it is written, 'Blessed is he that -giveth sleep from pain.'" - -Obedient to his master's order, Abiboo leapt into a little canoe, which -the _Zaire_ carried by her side, and went paddling into the grass. - -He disappeared, and they heard the rustle of elephant grass; but no shot -came. - -They waited until the grass rattled again, and - -Abiboo reappeared with a baby boy in the crook of his arm, naked and -tearful. - -This child was a first-born, and had been left on a sandy spit so that a -crocodile might come and complete the sacrifice. - -This happened nearly twenty years ago, and the memory of the drastic -punishment meted out to the father of that first-born is scarcely a -memory. - -"We will call this child 'N'mika,'" Sanders had said, which means "the -child of sacrifice." - -N'mika was brought up in the hut of a good man, and came to maturity. - - * * * * * - -When the monkeys suddenly changed their abiding-place from the little -woods near by Bonganga, on the Isisi, to the forest which lies at the -back of the Akasava, all the wise men said with one accord that bad -fortune was coming to the people of Isisi. - -N'mika laughed at these warnings, for he was in Sanders's employ, and -knew all things that happened in his district. - -Boy and man he served the Government faithfully; loyalty was his high -fetish, and Sanders knew this. - -The Commissioner might have taken this man and made him a great chief; -and had N'mika raised the finger of desire, Sanders would have placed -him above all others of his people; but the man knew where he might -serve best, and at nineteen he had scotched three wars, saved the life -of Sanders twice, and had sent three petty chiefs of enterprising -character to the gallows. - -Then love came to N'mika. - -He loved a woman of the Lesser Isisi--a fine, straight girl, and very -beautiful by certain standards. He married her, and took her to his hut, -making her his principal wife, and investing her with all the privileges -and dignity of that office. - -Kira, as the woman was called, was, in many ways, a desirable woman, and -N'mika loved her as only a man of intelligence could love her; and she -had ornaments of brass and of beads exceeding in richness the -possessions of any other woman in the village. - -Now, there are ways of treating a woman the world over, and they differ -in very little degree whether they are black or white, cannibal or -vegetarian, rich or poor. - -N'mika treated this woman too well. He looked in the forest for her -wishes, as the saying goes, and so insistent was this good husband on -serving his wife, that she was hard put to it to invent requirements. - -"Bright star reflected in the pool of the world," he said to her one -morning, "what is your need this day? Tell me, so that I may go and -seek fulfilment." - -She smiled. "Lord," she said, "I desire the tail of a white antelope." - -"I will find this tail," he said stoutly, and went forth to his hunting, -discouraged by the knowledge that the white antelope is seen once in the -year, and then by chance. - -Now this woman, although counted cold by many former suitors, and -indubitably discovered so by her husband, had one lover who was of her -people, and when the seeker of white antelope tails had departed she -sent a message to the young man. - -That evening Sanders was "tied up" five miles from the village, and was -watching the sun sinking in the swamp which lay south and west of the -anchorage, when N'mika came down river in his canoe, intent on his -quest, but not so intent that he could pass his lord without giving him -due obeisance. - -"Ho, N'mika!" said Sanders, leaning over the rail of the boat, and -looking down kindly at the solemn figure in the canoe, "men up and down -the river speak of you as the wonderful lover." - -"That is true, lord," said N'mika simply; "for, although I paid two -thousand matakos for this woman, I think she is worth more rods than -have ever been counted." - -Sanders nodded, eyeing him thoughtfully, for he suspected the unusual -whenever women came into the picture, and was open to the conviction -that the man was mad. - -"I go now, lord, to serve her," N'mika said, and he played with one of -the paddles with some embarrassment; "for my wife desires a tail of a -white antelope, and there is no antelope nearer than the N'gombi -country--and white antelopes are very little seen." - -Sanders's eyebrows rose. - -"For many months," continued N'mika, "I must seek my beautiful white -swish; but I am pleased, finding happiness in weariness because I serve -her." - -Sanders made a sign, and the man clambered on deck. - -"You have a powerful ju-ju," he said, when N'mika stood before him, "for -I will save you all weariness and privation. Three days since I shot a -white antelope on the edge of the Mourning Pools, and you shall be given -its tail." - -Into the hands of the waiting man he placed the precious trophy, and -N'mika sighed happily. - -"Lord," he said simply, "you are as a god to me--and have been for all -time; for you found me, and named me the 'Child of Sacrifice,' and I -hope, my fine master, to give my life in your service. This would be a -good end for me." - -"This is a little thing, N'mika," said Sanders gently; "but I give you -now a greater thing, which is a word of wisdom. Do not give all your -heart to one woman, lest she squeeze it till you are dead." - -"That also would be a great end," said N'mika and went his way. - -It was a sad way, for it led to knowledge. - -Sanders was coming up the river at his leisure. Two days ahead of him -had gone a canoe, swiftly paddled, to summon to the place of snakes, -near the elephants' ground where three small rivers meet (it was -necessary to be very explicit in a country which abounded in elephants' -playgrounds and haunts of snakes, and was, moreover, watered by -innumerable rivers), a palaver of the chiefs of his land. - -To the palaver in the snake-place came the chiefs, high and puisne, the -headmen, great and small, in their various states. Some arrived in war -canoes, with _lokali_ shrilling, announcing the dignity and pride of the -lazy figure in the stern. Some came in patched canoes that leaked -continually. Some tramped long journeys through the forest--Isisi, -Ochori, Akasava, Little N'gombi and Greater Isisi. Even the shy bushmen -came sneaking down the river, giving a wide berth to all other peoples, -and grasping in their delicate hands spears and arrows which, as a -precautionary measure, had been poisoned with tetanus. - -Egili of the Akasava, Tombolo of the Isisi, N'rambara of the N'gombi, -and, last but not least, Bosambo of the Ochori, came, the last named -being splendid to behold; for he had a robe of green velvet, sent to him -from the Coast, and about his neck, suspended by a chain, jewelled at -intervals with Parisian diamonds, was a large gold-plated watch, with a -blue enamel dial, which he consulted from time to time with marked -insolence. - -They sat upon their carved stools about the Commissioner, and he told -them many things which they knew, and some which they had hoped he did -not know. - -"Now, I tell you," said Sanders, "I call you together because there is -peace in the land, and no man's hand is against his brother's, and thus -it has been for nearly twelve moons, and behold! you all grow rich and -fat." - -"Kwai!" murmured the chiefs approvingly. - -"Therefore," said Sanders, "I have spoken a good word to Government for -you, and Government is pleased; also my King and yours has sent you a -token of his love, which he has made with great mystery and -intelligence, that you may see him always with you, watching you." - -He had brought half a hundred oleographs of His Majesty from the -headquarters, and these he had solemnly distributed. It was a -head-and-shoulder photograph of the King lighting a cigarette, and had -been distributed gratis with an English Christmas number. - -"Now all people see! For peace is a beautiful thing, and men may lie -down in their huts and fear nothing of their using. Also, they may go -out to their hunting and fear nothing as to their return, for their -wives will be waiting with food in their hands." - -"Lord," said a little chief of the N'gombi, "even I, a blind and -ignorant man, see all this. Now, I swear by death that I will hold the -King's peace in my two hands, offending none; for though my village is a -small one, I have influence, owing to my wife's own brother, by the same -father and of the same mother, being the high chief of the -N'gombi-by-the-River." - -"Lord Sandi," said Bosambo, and all eyes were fixed upon a chief so -brave and so gallantly arrayed, who was, moreover, by all understanding, -related too nearly to Sandi for the Commissioner's ease. "Lord Sandi," -said Bosambo, "that I am your faithful slave all men know. Some have -spoken evilly of me, but, lo! where are they? They are in hell, as your -lordship knows, for we were both Christians before I learnt the true way -and worshipped God and the Prophet. Nevertheless, lord, Mussulman and -Christian are one alike in this, that they have a very terrible hell to -which their enemies go----" - -"Bosambo," said Sanders interrupting, "your voice is pleasant, and like -the falling of rain after drought, yet I am a busy man, and there are -many to speak." - -Bosambo inclined his head gravely. The conference looked at him now in -awe, for he had earned an admonition from Sandi, and still lived--nay! -still preserved his dignity. - -"Lord," said Bosambo. "I speak no more now, for, as you say, we have -many private palavers, where much is said which no man knows; therefore -it is unseemly to stand between other great speakers and your honour." -He sat down. - -"You speak truly, Bosambo," said Sanders calmly. "Often we speak in -private, you and I, for when I speak harshly to chiefs it is thus--in -the secrecy of their huts that I talk, lest I put shame upon them in the -eyes of their people." - -"O, ko!" said the dismayed Bosambo under his breath, for he saw the good -impression his cryptic utterance had wrought wearing off with some -rapidity. - -After the palaver had dispersed, a weary Sanders made his way to the -_Zaire_. A bath freshened him, and he came out to a wire-screened patch -of deck to his dinner with some zest. A chicken of microscopic -proportions had been the main dish every night for months. - -He ate his meal in solitude, a book propped up against a bottle before -him, a steaming cup of tea at one elbow, and a little electric hand-lamp -at the other. - -He was worried. For nine months he had kept a regiment of the Ochori on -the Isisi border prepared for any eventualities. This regiment had been -withdrawn. Sanders had an uncomfortable feeling that he had made a bad -mistake. It would take three weeks to police the border again. - -Long after the meal had been cleared away he sat thinking, and then a -familiar voice, speaking with Abiboo on the lower deck, aroused him. - -He turned to the immobile Houssa orderly who squatted outside the fly -wire. - -"If that voice is the voice of the chief Bosambo, bring him to me." - -A minute later Bosambo came, standing before the meshed door of the -fly-proof enclosure. - -"Enter, Bosambo," said Sanders, and when he had done so: "Bosambo," he -said, "you are a wise man, though somewhat boastful. Yet I have some -faith in your judgment. Now you have heard all manner of people -speaking before me, and you know that there is peace in this land. Tell -me, by your head and your love, what things are there which may split -this friendship between man and man?" - -"Lord," said Bosambo, preparing to orate at length, "I know of two -things which may bring war, and the one is land and such high matters as -fishing rights and hunting grounds, and the other is women. And, lord, -since women live and are born to this world every hour of the day, -faster--as it seems to me--than they die, there will always be voices to -call spears from the roof." - -Sanders nodded. "And now?" he asked. - -Bosambo looked at him swiftly. "Lord," he said suavely, "all men live -in peace, as your lordship has said this day, and we love one another -too well to break the King's peace. Yet we keep a regiment of my Ochori -on the Akasava border to keep the peace." - -"And now?" said Sanders again, more softly. - -Bosambo shifted uncomfortably. "I am your man," he said, "I have eaten -your salt, and have shown you by various heroic deeds, and by terrible -fighting, how much I love you, lord Sandi." - -"Yet," said Sanders, speaking rather to the swaying electric bulb -hanging from the awning, "and yet I did not see the chief of the little -Isisi at my palaver." - -Bosambo was silent for a moment. Then he heaved a deep sigh. - -"Lord," he said, with reluctant admiration, "you have eyes all over your -body. You can see the words of men before they are uttered, and are -very quick to read thoughts. You are all eyes," he went on -extravagantly, "you have eyes on the top of your head and behind your -ears. You have eyes----" - -"That will do," said Sanders quietly. "I think that will do, Bosambo." - -There was another long pause. - -"And I tell you this, because there are no secrets between you and me. -It was I who persuaded the little chief not to come." - -Sanders nodded. "That I know," he said. - -"For, lord, I desired that this should be a very pleasant day for your -lordship, and that you should go away with your heart filled with -gladness, singing great songs; also, as your lordship knows, the Ochori -guard has left the Akasava border." - -There was no mistaking the significance. - -"Why should Bimebibi make me otherwise?" asked Sanders, ignoring the -addition. - -"Lord," said Bosambo loftily, "I am, as you know, of the true faith, -believing neither in devils nor spells, save those which are prescribed -by the blessed Prophet, it is well known that Bimebibi is a friend of -ghosts, and has the eye which withers and kills. Therefore, lord, he is -an evil man, and all the chiefs and peoples of this land are for -chopping him--all save the people of the Lesser Isisi, who greatly love -him." - -Again Sanders nodded. - -The Lesser Isisi were the fighting Isisi; they held the land between the -Ochori and the Akasava, and were fierce men in some moments, though -gentle enough in others. Yet he had had no word from N'mika that -trouble was brewing. This was strange. Sanders sat in thought for the -greater part of ten minutes. Then he spoke. - -"War is very terrible," he said, "for if one mad man comes up against -five men who are not mad, behold! they become all mad together. I tell -you this, Bosambo, if you do well for me in this matter, I will pay you -beyond your dreams." - -"How can a man do well?" asked Bosambo. - -"He shall hold this war," said Sanders. - -Bosambo raised his right arm stiffly. - -"This I would do, lord," he said gravely; "but it is not for me, for -Bimebibi will cross with the Akasava just as soon as he knows that the -Ochori do not hold the border." - -"He must never know until I bring my soldiers," said Sanders; "and none -can tell him." He looked up quietly, and met the chief's eye. "And -none can tell him?" he challenged. - -Bosambo shook his head. "N'mika sits in his village, lord," said he; -"and N'mika is a great lover of his wife by all accounts." - -Sanders smiled. "If N'mika betrays me," he said, "there is no man in -the world I will ever trust." - - * * * * * - -N'mika faced his wife. He wore neither frown nor smile, but upon her -face was the terror of death. On a stool in the centre of the hut was -the tail of the white antelope, but to this she gave no attention, for -her mind was busy with the thoughts of terrible reprisals. - -They sat in silence; the fire in the centre of the big hut spluttered -and burnt, throwing weird shadows upon the wattle walls. - -When N'mika spoke his voice was even and calm. - -"Kira, my wife," he said, "you have taken my heart out of me, and left a -stone, for you do not love me." - -She licked her dry lips and said nothing. - -"Now, I may put you away," he went on, "for the shame you have brought, -and the sorrow, and the loneliness." - -She opened her mouth to speak. Twice she tried, but her tongue refused. -Then, again: - -"Kill me," she whispered, and kept her staring eyes on his. - -N'mika, the Wonderful Lover, shook his head. - -"You are a woman, and you have not my strength," he said, half to -himself, "and you are young. I have trusted you, and I am afraid." - -She was silent. - -If the man, her lover, did what she had told him to do in the frantic -moment when she had been warned of her husband's return, she might have -saved her life--and more. - -He read her thoughts in part. - -"You shall take no harm from me," he said; "for I love you beyond -understanding; and though I stand on the edge of death for my kindness, -I will do no ill to you." - -She sprang up. The fear in her eyes was gone; hate shone there -banefully. He saw the look, and it scorched his very soul--and he -heard. - -It was the soft pad-pad of the king's guard, and he turned to greet -Bimebibi's head chief. - -His wife would have run to the guard, but N'mika's hand shot out and -held her. - -"Take him--take him!" she cried hoarsely "He will kill me--also he plots -against the king, for he is Sandi's man!" - -Chekolana, the king's headman, watched her curiously, but no more -dispassionate was the face her husband turned upon her. - -"Kira," he said, "though you hate me, I love you. Though I die for this -at the hands of the king, I love you." - -She laughed aloud. - -She was safe--and N'mika was afraid. Her outstretched finger almost -touched his face. - -"Tell this to the king," she cried, "N'mika is Sandi's man, and knows -his heart----" - -The headman, Chekolana, made a step forward and peered into N'mika's -face. - -"If this is true," he said, "you shall tell Bimebibi all he desires to -know. Say, N'mika, how many men of the Ochori hold the border?" - -N'mika laughed. - -"Ask Sandi that," he said. - -"Lord! lord!"--it was the woman, her eyes blazing--"this I will tell -you, if you put my man away. On the border there is----" - -She gasped once and sighed like one grown weary, then she slid down to -the floor of the hut--dead, for N'mika was a quick killer, and his -hunting-knife very sharp. - -"Take me to the king," he said, his eyes upon the figure at his feet, -"saying N'mika has slain the woman he loved; N'mika, the Wonderful -Lover; N'mika, the Child of Sacrifice, who loved his wife well, and -loved his high duty best." - -No other word spoke N'mika. - -They crucified him on a stake before the chief's hut, and there Sanders -found him three days later, Bimebibi explained the circumstances. - -"Lord, this man murdered a woman, so I killed him," he said. - -He might have saved his breath, for he had need of it. - - - - - *CHAPTER XI* - - *"THEY"* - - -In the Akarti country they worshipped many devils, and feared none, save -one strange devil, who was called "Wu," which in our language means -"They." - -"Remember this," said Sanders of the River, as he grasped the hand of -Grayson Smith, his assistant. - -"I will not forget," said that bright young man; "and, by the way, if -anything happens to me, you might find out how it all came about, and -drop a note to my people--suppressing the beastly details." - -Sanders nodded. - -"I will make it a pretty story," he said; "and, whatever happens, your -death will be as instantaneous and as painless as my fountain-pen can -make it." - -"You're a brick!" said Grayson Smith, and turned to swear volubly in -Swaheli at his headman--for Smith, albeit young, was a great linguist. - -Sanders watched the big canoe as it swung into the yellow waters of the -Fasai; watched it until it disappeared round a bank, then sent his -steamer round to the current, and set his course homeward. - -To appreciate the full value of the Akartis' independence, and their -immunity from all attack, it must be remembered that the territory -ranged from the Forest-by-the-Waters to the Forest-by-the-Mountains. It -was a stretch of broad, pastoral lands, enclosed by natural defences. -Forest and swamp on the westward kept back the rapacious people of the -Great King, mountain and forest on the south held the Ochori, the -Akasava, and the Isisi. - -The boldest of the N'gombi never ventured across the saw-shaped peaks of -the big mountains, even though loot and women were there for the taking. - -The king of the Akarti was undisputed lord of vast territories, and he -had ten regiments of a thousand men, and one regiment of women, whom he -called his "Angry Maidens," who drank strong juices, and wrestled like -men. - -Since he was king from the Forest-by-the-Mountains to the -Forest-by-the-Waters he was powerful and merciless, and none said "nay" -to N'raki's "yea," for he was too fierce, and too terrible a man to -cross. - -Culuka of the Wet Lands once came down into N'raki's territory, and -brought a thousand spears. - -Now the Wet Lands are many miles from the city of the king, and the raid -that Culuka planned injured none, for the raided territories were poor -and stony. - -But N'raki, the killer, was hurt in his tenderest spot, and he led his -thousands across the swamps to the city of Culuka, and he fought him up -to the stockades and beyond. The city he burnt. The men and children -he slew out of hand. Culuka he crucified before his flaming hut, and, -thereafter, the borders of the killer were immune from attack. - -This was a lesson peculiarly poignant, and when the French -Government--for Culuka dwelt in a territory which was nominally under -the tricolour--sent a mission to inquire into the wherefores of the -happening, N'raki cut off the head of the leader, and sent it back with -unprintable messages intended primarily for the governor of French West -Africa, and eventually for the Quai d'Orsay. - -N'raki lived, therefore, undisturbed, for the outrage coincided with the -findings of the Demarcation Commission which had been sitting for two -years to settle certain border-line questions. By the finding of the -Commission all the Akarti country became, in the twinkling of an eye, -British territory, and N'raki a vassal of the King of England--though he -was sublimely unconscious of the honour. - -N'raki was an autocrat of autocrats, and of his many battalions of -skilled fighting men, all very young and strong, with shining limbs and -feathered heads, he was proudest of his first regiment. - -These were the tallest, the strongest, the fleetest, and the fiercest of -fighters, and he forbade them to marry, for all men know that women have -an evil effect upon warriors; and no married man is brave until he has -children to defend, and by that time he is fat also. - -So this austere regiment knew none of the comforts or languor of love, -and they were proud that their lord, the king, had set them apart from -all other men, and had so distinguished them. - -At the games they excelled, because they were stronger and faster, -knowing nothing of women's influence; and the old king saw their -excellence, and said "Wa!" - -There was a man of the regiment whose name was Taga'ka, who was a fine -man of twenty. There was also in the king's city a woman of fifteen, -named Lapai, who was a straight, comely girl, and a great dancer. - -She was a haughty woman, because her uncle was the chief witch-doctor, -and such was her power that she had put away two husbands. - -One day, at the wells, she saw Taga'ka, and loved him; and meeting him -alone in the forest, she fell down before him and clasped his feet. - -"Lord Taga'ka," said she, "you are the one man in the world I desire." - -"I am beyond desire," said Taga'ka, in his arrogant pride; "for I am of -the king's regiment, and women are grass for our feet." - -And not all her allurements could tempt him to so much as stroke her -face; and the heart of the woman was wild with grief. - -Then the king fell sick, and daily grew worse. - -The witch-doctors made seven sacrifices, and learnt from grisly -portents, which need not be described in detail, that the king should -take a long journey to the far end of his kingdom, where he should meet -a man with one eye, who would live in the shadow of the royal hut. - -This he did, journeying for three months, till he came to the appointed -place, where he met a man afflicted in accordance with the prediction. -And the man sat in the shadow of the king's hut. - -Now, it is a fact, which none will care to deny, that the niece of the -chief witch-doctor had planned the treatment of the king. She had -planned it with great cleverness, and she it was who saw to it that the -deformed man waited at the king's hut. - -For she loved Taga'ka with all the passion of her soul, and when the -long months passed, and the king remained far away, and Lapai whispered -into the young man's ear, he took her to wife, though death would be his -penalty for his wrong-doing. - -The other men of the royal regiment, who held Taga'ka a model in all -things austere, seeing this happen, said: "Behold! Taga'ka, the -favourite of the king, has taken a woman to himself. Now, if we all do -this, it would be better for Taga'ka, and better for us. The king, the -old man, will forgive him, and not punish us." - -It might have been that N'raki, the king, would have ended his days in -the place to which his medicine-man had sent him, but there arose in -that district a greater magician than any--a certain wild alien of the -Wet Lands, who possessed magical powers, and cured pains in the king's -legs by a no more painful process than the laying on of hands, and whom -the king appointed his chief magician. And this was the end of the -uncle of Lapai; for, if no two kings can rule in one land, most -certainly no two witch-doctors can hold power. - -And they killed the deposed uncle of Lapai, and used the blood for -making spells. - -One morning the new witch-doctor stood in the presence of N'raki the -king. - -"Lord king," he said, "I have had a dream, and it says that your -lordship shall go back to your city, and that you shall travel secretly, -so that the devils who guard the way shall not lay hands upon you." - -N'raki, the king, went back to his city unattended, save by his personal -guard, and unheralded, to the discomfort of the royal regiment. - -And when he learnt what he learnt, he administered justice swiftly. He -carried the forbidden wives to the top of a high mountain and cast them -over a cliff, one by one, to the number of six hundred. - -And that mountain is to this day called "The Mountain of Sorrowful -Women." - -One alone he spared--Lapai. Before the assembled people in judgment he -spared her. - -"Behold this woman, people of the Akarti!" he said; "she that has -brought sorrow and death to my regiment. To-day she shall watch her -man, Taga'ka, burn; and from henceforth she shall live amongst you to -remind you that I am a very jealous king, and terrible in my anger." - -The news of the massacre filtered slowly through the territories. It -came to the British Government, but the British Government is a cautious -Government where primitive natives are concerned. - -Sanders, sitting between Downing Street and the District Commissioners -of many far-away and isolated spots, realised the futility of an -expedition. He sent two special messages, one of which was to a young -man named Farquharson, who, at the moment, was shooting snipe on the big -swamp south of the Ambalina Mountains. And this young man swore like a -Scotsman because his sport had been interrupted, but girded up his -loins, and, with half a company of the King's African Rifles, trekked -for the city. - -On his way he ran into an ambush, and swore still more, for he realised -that death had overtaken him before he had had his annual holiday. - -He called for his orderly. - -"Hafiz," he said in Arabic, "if you should escape, cross the country to -the Ochori land by the big river. There you will find Sandi; give him -my dear love, and say that Fagozoni sent a cheerful word, also that the -Slayer of Regiments is killing his people." - -An hour later Farquharson, or Fagozoni, as they called him, was lying -before the king, his unseeing eyes staring at the hard, blue heavens, -his lips parted in the very ghost of a smile. - -"This is a bad palaver," said the king, looking at the dead man. "Now -they will come, and I know not what will happen." - -In his perturbation he omitted to take into his calculations the fact -that he had in his city a thousand men sick with grief at the loss of -their wives. - -N'raki, the king, was no coward. There was a prompt smelling out of all -suspicious characters. Even the councillors about his person were not -exempt, for the new witch-doctor found traces of disloyalty in every -one. - -With the aid of his regiment of virgins, he held his city, and -ruthlessly disposed of secret critics. These included men who stood at -his very elbow, and there came a time when he found none to whom he -might transmit his thoughts with any feeling of security. - -News came to him that there was an Arab caravan traversing his western -border, trading with his people, and the report he received was -flattering to the intelligence and genius of the man in charge of the -party. - -N'raki sent messengers with gifts and kind words to the intruder, and on -a certain day there was brought before him the slim Arab, Ussuf. - -"O Ussuf," said the king, "I have heard of you, and of your wisdom. -Often you have journeyed through my territories, and no man has done you -hurt." - -"Lord king," said the Arab, "that is true." - -The king looked at him thoughtfully. N'raki, in those days, had reached -his maturity; he was a wise, cunning man, and had no illusions. - -"Arabi," he said, "this is in my mind: that you shall stay here with me, -living in the shadow of my hut, and be my chief man, for you are very -clever, and know the ways of foreign people. You shall have treasures -beyond your dreams, for in this land there is much dead ivory hidden by -the people of my fathers." - -"Lord king," said Ussuf, "this is a very great honour, and I am too mean -and small a man to serve you. Yet it is true I know the ways of foreign -people, and I am wise in the government of men." - -"This also I say to you," the king went on slowly, "that I do not fear -men or devils, yet I fear 'They,' because of their terrible cruelty. -Now if you will serve me, so that I avert the wrath of these, you shall -sit down here in peace and happiness." - -Thus it came about that Ussuf, the Arab, became Prime Minister to the -King of Akarti, and two days after his arrival the new witch-doctor was -put away with promptitude and dispatch by a king who had no further use -for him. - -All the news that came from the territories to Sanders was that the -country was being ruled with some wisdom. The fear of "They" was an -ever-present fear with the king. The long evenings he sat with his Arab -counsellor, thinking of that mysterious force which lay beyond the -saw-back. - -"I tell you this, Ussuf," he said, "that my heart is like water within -me when I think of 'They,' for it is a terrible devil, and I make -sacrifices at every new moon to appease its anger." - -"Lord king," said Ussuf, "I am skilled in the way of 'They,' and I tell -you that they do not love sacrifices." - -The king shifted on his stool irritably. - -"That is strange," he said, "for the gods told me in a dream that I must -sacrifice Lapai." - -He shot a swift glance at the Arab, for this Ussuf was the only man in -the city who did not deal scornfully with the lonely, outcast woman, -whose every day was a hell. - -It was the king's order that she should walk through the city twice -between sunrise and sunset, and it was the king's pleasure that every -man she met should execrate her; and although the native memory is -short, and the recollection of the tragedy had died, men feared the king -too much to allow her to pass without a formal curse. - -Ussuf alone had walked with her, and men had gasped to see the kindly -Arabi at her side. - -"You may have this woman," said the king suddenly, "and take her into -your house." - -The Arab turned his calm eyes upon the wizened face of the other. - -"Lord," he said, "she is not of my faith, being an unbeliever and an -infidel, and, according to my gods, unworthy." - -He was wise to the danger his undiplomatic friendship had brought him. -He knew the reigns of Prime Ministers were invariably short. - -He had become less indispensable than he had been, for the king had -regained some of his lost confidence in the loyalty of his people; -moreover, he had aroused suspicion in the Akartis' mind, and that was -fatal. - -The king dismissed him, and Ussuf went back to his hut, where his six -Arab followers were. - -"Ahmed," he said to one of these, "it is written in the blessed Word -that the life of man is very short. Now I particularly desire that it -shall be no shorter than the days our God has given to me. Be prepared -to-morrow, therefore, to leave this city, for I see an end to my power." - -He rose early in the morning, and went to the palaver which began the -day. He was not perturbed to discover the seat usually reserved on the -right of the king occupied by a lesser chief, and his own stool placed -four seats down on the left. - -"I have spoken with my wise counsellors," said the king, "also with -witch-doctors, and these wise men have seen that the crops are bad, and -that there is no fortune in this land, and because of this we will make -a great sacrifice." - -Ussuf bowed his head. - -"Now, I think," said King N'raki slowly, "because I love my people very -dearly, and I will not take any young maidens, as is the custom, for the -fire, and for the killing, that it would be good for all people if I -took the woman Lapai." - -All eyes were fixed on Ussuf. His face was calm and motionless. - -"Also," the king went on, "I hear terrible things, which fill my stomach -with sorrow." - -"Lord, I hear many things also," said Ussuf calmly; "but I am neither -sorry nor glad, for such stories belong to the women at their -cooking-pots and to men who are mad because of sickness." - -N'raki made a little face. - -"Women or madmen," he said shortly, "they say that you are under the -spell of this woman, and that you are plotting against this land, and -have also sent secret messengers to 'They,' and that you will bring -great armies against my warriors, eating up my country as Sandi ate up -the Akasava and the lands of the Great King." - -Ussuf said nothing. He would not deny this for many reasons. - -"When the moon comes up," said the king, and he addressed the assembly -generally, "you shall tie Lapai to a stake before my royal house, and -all the young maidens shall dance and sing songs, for good fortune will -come to us, as it came in the days of my father, when a bad woman died." - -Ussuf made no secret of his movements that day. First he went to his hut -at the far end of the village, and spoke to the six Arabs who had come -with him into the kingdom. - -To the headman he said: - -"Ahmed, this is a time when death is very near us all, be ready at -moonrise to die, if needs be. But since life is precious to us all, be -at the little plantation at the edge of the city at sunset, as soon as -darkness falls and the people come in to sacrifice." - -He left them and walked through the broad, palm-fringed street of the -Akarti city till he came to the lonely hut, where the outcast woman -dwelt. It was such a hut as the people of Akarti built for those who are -about to die, so that no dwelling-place might be polluted with the -mustiness of death. - -The girl was starting on her daily penance--a tall, fine woman. She -watched the approach of the king's minister without expressing in her -face any of the torments which raged in her bosom. - -"Lapai," said Ussuf, "this night the king makes a sacrifice." - -He made no further explanation, nor did the girl require one. - -"If he had made this sacrifice earlier, he would have been kind," she -said quietly, "for I am a very sorrowful woman." - -"That I know, Lapai," said the Arab gently. - -"That you do not know," she corrected. "I had sorrow because I loved a -man and destroyed him, because I love my people and they hate me, and -now because I love you, Ussuf, with a love which is greater than any." - -He looked at her; there was a strange pity in his eyes, and his thin, -brown hands went out till they reached to her shoulders. - -"All things are with the gods," he said. "Now, I cannot love you, -Lapai, although I am full of pity for you, for you are not of my race, -and there are other reasons. But because you are a woman, and because -of certain teachings which I received in my youth, I will take you out -of this city, and, if needs be, die for you." - -He watched her as she walked slowly down towards where the people of the -Akarti waited for her, drawn by morbid curiosity, since the king's -intention was no secret. Then he shrugged his shoulders helplessly. - -At nine o'clock, when the virgin guards and the old king went to find -her for the killing, she had gone. - -So also had Ussuf and his six Arabi. The king's _lokali_ beat -furiously, summoning all the country to deliver into his hands the woman -and the man. - - * * * * * - -Sanders, at that moment, was hunting for the Long Man, whose name was -O'Fasa. O'Fasa was twelve months gone in sleeping-sickness, and had -turned from being a gentle husband and a kindly father into a brute -beast. He had speared his wife, cut down the Houssa guard left by -Sanders to keep the peace of his village, and had made for the forest. - -Now, a madman is a king, holding his subjects in the thrall of fear, and -since there was no room in the territory for two kings and Sanders, the -Commissioner came full tilt up the river, landed half a company of black -infantry, and followed on the ravaging trace of the madman. - -At the end of eight days he came upon O'Fasa, the Long Man. He was -sitting with his back against a gum-tree, his well-polished spears close -at hand, and he was singing the death song of the Isisi, a long low, -wailing, sorrowful song, which may be so translated into doggerel -English: - - Life is a thing so small - That you cannot see it at all; - Death is a thing so wise - That you see it in every guise. - Death is the son of life, - Pain is his favourite wife. - -Sanders went slowly across the clearing, his automatic pistol in his -hand. - -O'Fasa looked at him and laughed. - -"O'Fasa," said Sanders gently, "I have come to see you, because my King -heard you were sick." - -"O ko!" laughed the other. "I am a great man when kings send their -messengers to me." - -Sanders, his eye upon the spears, advanced warily. - -"Come with me, O'Fasa," he said. - -The man rose to his feet. He made no attempt to reach his spears. Of a -sudden he ducked, and turned, running swiftly towards the black heart of -the forest. Sanders raised his pistol, and hesitated a second--just too -long. He could not kill the man, though by letting him live he might -endanger the lives of his fellows and the peace of the land. - -The Commissioner was in an awkward predicament. Ten miles beyond was the -narrow gap which led into the territory of N'raki. To lead an armed -expedition through that gap would bring about complications which it was -his duty and desire to avoid. The only hope was that O'Fasa would -double back, for the trail they followed left little doubt as to where -he had gone. Unerringly, with the instinct of the hunted beast, he had -made for the gap. - -They came to the gorge, palm-fringed, and damp with the running waters, -at sunset, and camped. They found the spoor of the hunted man, lost it, -and picked it up again. At daybreak Sanders, with two men, pushed -through the narrow pass and came into the forbidden territory. There -was no sign of the fugitive. - -Sanders's _lokali_ beat out four urgent messages. They were addressed to -a Mr. Grayson Smith, who might possibly be in that neighbourhood, but if -he received them, he sent no reply. - -Now, madmen and children have a rooted dislike for strange places, and -Sanders, backing on this, fixed his ambush in the narrow end of the -gorge. Sooner or later O'Fasa would return. At any rate, he decided to -give him four days. Thus matters stood when the sometime minister, -Ussuf, with a woman and five Arabi, made for the gap, with the swift and -tireless guards of the king at their heels. - -Three times the Arab had halted to fight off his pursuers, and in one of -these engagements he had sustained his only casualty, and had left a -dead Arab follower on the ground of his stand. - -The gap was in sight, when a regiment of the north, summoned by -_lokali_, swept down on his left and effectively blocked his retreat. -Ussuf took up his position on a little rocky hill. His right was -protected by swamp land, and his left and rear were open. - -"Lapai," he said, when he had surveyed the position, "it seems to me -that the death you desire is very close at hand. Now, I am very sorry -for you, but God knows my sorrow can do little to save you." - -The woman looked at him steadily. - -"Lord," she said, "I am very glad if you and I go down to hell together, -for in some new, strange world you might love me, and I should be -satisfied." - -Ussuf laughed, showing his straight rows of white teeth in genuine -amusement. - -"That we shall see," he said. - -The attack came almost at once, but the rifles of the six shot back the -assault. At the end of two hours the little party stood intact. A -second attack followed; one man of the Arab guard went down with an -arrow through his throat, but Ussuf's shooting was effective, and again -the northern regiment drew off. - -Before the hill, and in the direction of Akarti city, was the king's -legion. It was from this point that Ussuf expected the last destroying -assault. - -"Lapai," he said, turning round, "I----" - -The woman had gone! In the fury of the defence he had not noticed her -slip away from him. Suddenly she appeared half-way down the hill and -turned to him. - -"Come back!" he called. - -She framed her mouth with two hands that her words might carry better. -In the still evening air every word came distinctly. - -"Lord," she said, "this is best, for if they have me, they will let you -go, and death will come some day to you, and I shall be waiting." - -She turned and ran quickly down the hill towards the stiff lines of -warriors below. - -Then suddenly appeared out of the ground, as It seemed, a tall, lank -figure right in her path. She stopped a moment, and the man sprang at -her and lifted her without an effort. Ussuf raised his rifle and -covered them, but he dare not shoot. - -There was another interested spectator. King N'raki, a vengeful man, -and agile despite his years, had followed as eagerly as the youngest of -his warriors, and now stood in the midst of his counsellors, watching -the scene upon the hill. - -"What man is that?" he asked. "For I see he is not of our people." - -Before the messengers he would have dispatched could be instructed, the -tall man, running lightly with his burden, came towards him, and laid a -dead woman almost at the king's feet. - -"Man," he said insolently, "I bring you this woman, whom I have killed, -because a devil put it into my heart to do so." - -"Who are you?" asked N'raki. "For I see you are a stranger." - -"I am a king," said O'Fasa, the Long Man; "greater than all kings, for I -have behind me the armies of white men." - -The humour of this twisted truth struck him of a sudden, for he burst -into a fit of uncontrollable laughter. - -"You have the armies of the white men behind you?" repeated N'raki -slowly, and looked nervously from side to side. - -"Behold!" said O'Fasa, stretching out his hand. - -The king's eyes followed the direction of the hand. Far away across the -bare plain he saw black specks of men advancing at regular intervals. -The sinking sun set the bayonets of Sander's little force aglitter. The -Commissioner had heard the firing, and had guessed much. - -"It is 'They,'" said King N'raki, and blinked furiously at the Long Man, -O'Fasa. - -He turned swiftly to his guard. - -"Kill that man!" he said. - - * * * * * - -Sanders brought his half-company of Houssas to the hill and was met -half-way by Ussuf. - -"I heard your rifles," he said. "Have you seen anything of a long chap, -of wild and aggressive mien!" He spoke in English, and Ussuf replied in -the same language. - -"A tall man?" he asked, and Sanders wondered a little that a man so -unemotional as was Grayson Smith, of the Colonial Intelligence, should -speak so shakily. - -"I think he is here," said the Englishman in Arab attire, and he led the -way down the hill. - -N'raki's armies had moved off swiftly. The fear of "They" had been -greater in its effect than all its legions. - -The Englishmen made their way to where two figures lay in a calm sleep -of death. - -"Who is the woman?" asked Sanders. - -"A native woman, who loved me," said Grayson Smith simply, and he bent -down and closed the eyes of the girl who had loved him so well. - - - - - *CHAPTER XII* - - *THE AMBASSADORS* - - -There is a saying amongst the Akasava: - -"The Isisi sees with his eyes, the N'gombi with his ears, but the Ochori -sees nothing but his meat." - -This is translated badly, but in its original form it is immensely -subtle. In the old days before Bosambo became chief, king, headman, or -what you will, of his people, the Ochori were quite prepared to accept -the insulting description of their sleepiness without resentment. - -But this was _cala-cala_, and now the Ochori are a proud people, and it -is not good to throw insulting proverbs in their direction, lest they -throw them back with something good and heavy at the end of it. - -The native mind works slowly, and it was not until every tribe within -three hundred miles had received some significant indication of the -change which had come about in the spirit and character of this timorous -people, that they realised the Ochori were no longer a race which might -serve as butts for the shafts of wisdom. - -There was a petty chief of the Isisi who governed a great district, for, -although "Isisi" means "small" the name must not be taken literally. He -had power under his king to call palavers on all great national -questions, such as the failure of crops, the shifting of -fishing-grounds, and the infidelities of highly-placed women. - -One day he called his people together--his counsellors, his headmen, and -all sons of chiefs--and he laid before them a remarkable proposition. - -"In the days of my father," said Embed, "the Ochori were a weak and -cowardly people; now they have become strong and powerful. Last week -they came down upon our brothers of the Akasava and stole their goats -and laid shame upon them, and behold! the Akasava, who are great -warriors, did nothing more than send to Sandi the story of their sorrow. -Now it seems to me that this is because Bosambo, the chief, has a devil -of great potency, and I have sent to my king to ask him to entreat the -lord Bosambo to tell us why these things should be." - -The gathered counsellors nodded their heads wisely. There was no doubt -at all that Bosambo had the advantage of communication with a devil; or -if this were not so, he was blessed to a minor degree with a nodding -acquaintance with one of those ghosts in which the forest of the Ochori -abounded. - -"And thus says my lord, the king of the Akasava, and of all the -territories and the rivers and the unknown lands beyond the forest as -far as the eye can see," the chief went on. "He sends me his message by -his counsellor, saying: 'It is true Bosambo has a devil, and for the -sake of my people I will send to him, asking him to put his strength in -our hands, that we may be wise and bold.'" - -Now this was a conclusion which had been arrived at simultaneously by -the six nations, and, although the thoughts of their rulers were not -communicated in such a public fashion, the faith in Bosambo's -inspiration was universal, and the idea that Bosambo should be thus -approached was a violent and shameless plagiarism on the part of the -chief Emberi. - -One morning in the late spring the ambassadors of the powers came -paddling up to Ochori city in twelve canoes with their headmen, their -warriors, their beaters of drums and their carriers. Bosambo, who had -no faith whatever in humanity, was warned of their approach and threw -the city into a condition of defence. He himself received the -deputation on the foreshore, and the spokesman was Emberi. - -"Lord Bosambo," said the chief, "we come in peace, and from the chief -and the kings and all the peoples of these lands." - -"That may be so," said Bosambo, "and my heart is full of joy to see you. -But I beg of you that you land your spearmen and your warriors and your -beaters of drums on the other side of the river, for I am a timorous -man, and I fear that I cannot in this city show you the love and honour -which Sandi has asked me to give even to common people." - -"But, lord," protested the chief, who, to do him credit, had no warlike -or injurious ideas concerning his host, "on the other side of the water -there is only sand and water and evil spirits." - -"That may be so," said Bosambo; "but on this side of the river there are -me and my people, and we desire to live happily for many years. I tell -you, that it is better that you should all die because of the sand and -the water and the evil spirits, than that I should be slain by those who -do not love me." - -"My master," said Emberi pompously, "is a great king and a great lover -of you." - -"Your master," said Bosambo, "is a great liar." - -"He loves you," protested Emberi. - -"He is still a great liar," said Bosambo; "for the last time I met him -he not only said that he would come with his legions and eat me up, but -he also called me evil names, such as 'fish-eater' and 'chicken,' and -'fat dog.'" - -Bosambo spoke without fear of consequences because he had a hundred of -his picked men behind him, and all the advantage of the sloping beach. -He would have turned the delegates back to their homes, but that the -persistent and alarmed Emberi succeeded in interesting him in his -announcements, and, more important, there were landed from one of the -canoes, rich presents, including goats and rice and a looking-glass, -which latter was, explained Emberi, the very core of his master's soul. - -In the end Bosambo left his hundred men to hold the beach, and Emberi -persuaded his reluctant followers to make their home on the sandy shore -across the river. - -Then, and only then, did Bosambo unbend, and had prepared one of his -famous feasts, to which all the chiefs of the land contributed in the -shape of meat and drink--all the chiefs, that is, except Bosambo, who -made a point of giving nothing away to anybody in any circumstances. - -The palaver that followed was very interesting, indeed, to the chief of -the Ochori. One by one, from nine in the morning to four in the -following morning, the delegates spoke. - -Much of their speeches dealt with the superlative qualities which -distinguished Bosambo's rule--his magnificent courage, his noble -generosity--Bosambo glanced quickly round to see the faces of the -counsellors who had reluctantly provided the feast--and to the future -which awaited all nations which imitated all his virtues. - -"Lord, I speak the truth," said Emberi, "and thus it runs that all -people from the sea where the river ends, to the leopard's mouth from -whence it has its source, know that you are familiar with devils that -give you courage and cunning and tell you magic, so that you can make -men from rats." - -Bosambo nodded his head gravely. - -"All this is true," he said. "I have several devils, although I do not -always use them. For, as you know, I am a follower of a particular -faith, and was for one life-time a Christian, believing in all manners -of mysteries of which you know nothing--Marki, Luki, and Johnny Baptist, -who are not for you." - -He looked round at the awed men and shook his head. - -"Nor do you know of the wonders they worked, such as curing burns, and -striking dead, and cutting ears. Now I know these things," he continued -impressively, "therefore Sandi loves me, for he also is a God-man, and -often comes to me to speak with him concerning these white men." - -"Lord, what are devils?" asked an impatient delegate. - -"Of the devils," repeated Bosambo, "I have many." - -He half closed his eyes and was silent for the space of two minutes. He -gave the impression that he was counting his staff--and, indeed, this -was the idea precisely that he wished to convey. - -"O ko!" said Emberi in a hushed voice. "If it is true, as you say it -is, then our master desires that you shall send us one devil or two that -we might be taught the peculiar manner of these wonderful ghosts." - -Bosambo coughed, and glanced round at the sober faces of his advisers. - -"I have many devils who serve me," he began. "There is one I know who is -very small and has two noses--one before him and one behind--so that he -may smell his enemy who stalks him. Also there is one who is so tall -that the highest trees are grass to his feet. And another one who is -green and walks upside down." - -For an hour Bosambo orated at length on daemonology, even though he -might never have known the word. He drew on the misty depths of his -imagination. He availed himself of every recollection dealing with -science. He spoke of ghosts who were familiar friends, and came to his -bidding much in the same way that the civilised dog comes to his -master's whistle. - -The delegates retired to their huts for the night in a condition of -panic when Bosambo informed them that he had duly appointed a particular -brand of devil to serve their individual needs, and protect them against -the ills which the flesh is heir to. - -Now Ochori city and the Ochori nation had indeed awakened from the spell -of lethargy under the beneficent and drastic government of Bosambo, and -it is known in the history of nations, however primitive or however -advanced they may be, that no matter how excellent may be the changes -effected there will be a small but compact party who regard the reformer -as one who encumbers the earth. Bosambo had of his own people a small -but powerful section who regarded all changes with horror, and who saw -in the new spirit which the chief had infused into the Ochori, the -beginning of the end. This is a view which is not peculiar to the -Ochori. - -There were old chiefs and headmen who remembered the fat and idle days -which preceded the upraising of Bosambo, who remembered how easy it was -to secure slave service, and, remembering, spoke of Bosambo with -unkindness. The chief might have settled the matter of devils out of -hand in his own way, and would, I doubt not, have sent away the -delegation happily enough with such messages of the Koran as he could -remember written on the paper Sanders had supplied him for official -messages. - -But it was not Bosambo's way, nor was it the way with the men with whom -he had to deal to expedite important palavers. Normally, such a -conference as was now assembled, would last at least three days and -three nights. It seemed that it would last much longer, for Bosambo had -troubles of his own. - -At dawn on the morning following the arrival of the delegation, a -dust-stained messenger, naked as he was born, came at a jog-trot and -panting heavily from the bush road which leads to the Elivi, and without -ceremony stood at the door of the royal hut. - -"Lord Bosambo," said the messenger, "Ikifari, the chief of Elivi, brings -his soldiers and headmen to the number of a thousand, for a palaver." - -"What is in his heart?" said Bosambo. - -"Master," said the man, "this is in his heart: there shall be no roads -in the Ochori, for the men of Elivi are crying out against the work. -They desire to live in peace and comfort." - -Bosambo had instituted a law of his own--with the full approval of -Sanders--and it was that each district should provide a straight and -well-made forest road from one city to another, and a great road which -should lead from one district to its neighbour. - -Unfortunately, every little tribe did not approach the idea with the -enthusiasm which Bosambo himself felt, nor regard it with the approval -which was offered to this most excellent plan by the King's Government. - -For road-making is a bad business. It brings men out early in the -morning, and keeps them working with the sweat running off their bare -backs in the hot hours of the day. Also there were fines and levies -which Bosambo the chief took an unholy joy in extracting whenever -default was made. - -Of all the reluctant tribes, the Elivi were the most frankly so. Whilst -all the others were covered with a network of rough roads--slovenly -made, but roads none the less--Elivi stood a virgin patch of land two -hundred miles square in the very heart of make-shift civilisation. - -Bosambo might deal drastically with the enemy who stood outside his -gate. It was a more delicate matter when he had to deal with a district -tacitly rebellious, and this question of roads threatened to develop, -unhappily. - -He had sent spies into the land of the Elivi and this was the first man -back. - -"Now it seems to me," said Bosambo, half to himself, "that I have need -of all my devils, for Ikifari is a bitter man, and his sons and his -counsellors are of a mind with him." - -He sent his headman to his guests with a message that for the whole day -he would be deep in counsel with himself over this matter of ghosts; and -when late in the evening the van of the Elivi force was sighted on the -east of the village, Bosambo, seated in state in his magnificent -palaver-house, adorned with such Christmas plates as came his way, -awaited their arrival. - -Limberi, the headman, went out to meet the disgruntled force. - -"Chief," he said, "it is our lord's wish that you leave your spears -outside the city." - -"Limberi," said Ikifari, a hard man of forty, all wiry muscle and -leanness, "we are people of your race and your brothers. Why should we -leave our spears--we who are of the Ochori?" - -"You do not come otherwise," said Limberi decisively. "For across the -river are many enemies of our lord, and he loves you so much, that for -his own protection, he desired your armed men--your spearmen and your -swordsmen--to sit outside. Thus he will be confident and happy." - -There was no more to be done than to obey. - -Ikifari with his counsellors followed the headman to the palaver, and -his insolence was notable. - -"I speak for all Elivi," he said, without any ceremonious preliminaries. -"We are an oppressed people, lord Bosambo, and our young men cry out -with great voices against your cruelty." - -"They shall cry louder," said Bosambo, and Ikifari, the chief, scowled. - -"Lord," he said sullenly, "if it is true that Sandi loves you, he also -loves us, and no man is so great in this land that he may stir a people -to rebellion." - -Bosambo knew this was true--knew it without the muttered approval of -Ikifari's headmen. He ran his eye over the little party. They were all -there--the malcontents. Tinif'si, the stout headman, M'kera and -Calasari, the lesser chiefs; and there was in their minds a certain -defiance which particularly exasperated Bosambo. He might punish one or -two who set themselves up against his authority, but here was an -organised rebellion. Punishment would mean fighting, and fighting would -weaken his position with Sanders. - -It was the moment to temporise. - -Fortunately the devil deputation was not present. It was considered to -be against all etiquette for men of another nation to be present at the -domestic councils of their neighbours. Otherwise some doubt might have -been born in the bosom of Emberi as to the efficacy of Bosambo's devils -at this particular moment. - -"And this I would say to you, lord," said Ikifari, and Bosambo knew that -the crux of the situation would be revealed. "We Elivi are your dogs. -You do not send for us to come to your great feasts, nor do you honour -us in any way. But when there is fighting you call up our spears and -our young men, and you send us abroad to be eaten up by your terrible -enemies. Also," he went on, "when you choose your chiefs and -counsellors to go pleasant journeys to such places where they are -honoured and feasted, you send only men of the Ochori city." - -It may be said here that from whatever source Bosambo derived his -inspiration, he had certainly acquired royal habits which were foreign -to his primitive people. Thus he would dispatch envoys and ambassadors -on ceremonious visits bearing gifts and presents which they themselves -provided and returning with richer presents which Bosambo acquired. It -was, if the truth be told, a novel and pleasant method of extracting -blackmail--pleasant because it gave Bosambo little trouble, and afforded -his subordinates titillation of importance, and no one had arisen to -complain save these unfortunate cities of Akasava--Isisi and -N'gombi--which entertained his representatives. - -"It is true I have never sent you," said Bosambo, "and my heart is sore -at the thought that you should think evil of me because I have saved you -all this trouble. For my heart is like water within me. Yet a moon -since I sent Kill, my headman, bearing gifts to the king of the bush -people, and they chopped him so that he died, and now I fear to send -other messengers." - -There was an unmistakable sneer on Ikifari's face. - -"Lord," he said, with asperity, "Kili was a foolish man and you hated -him, for he had spoken evilly against you, stirring up your people. -Therefore you sent him to the bushmen and he did not come back." He -added significantly: "Now I tell you that if you send me to the bushmen -I do not go." - -Bosambo thought a moment. - -"Now I see," he said, almost jovially, "that Ikifari, whom I love better -than my own brother"--this was true--"is angry with me because I have -not sent him on a journey. Now I shall show how much I love you, for I -will send you all--each of you--as guests of my house, bearing my word -to such great nations as the Akasava, the Isisi, the N'gombi; also to -the people beyond the river, who are great and give large presents." - -He saw the faces brighten, and seized the psychological moment. - -"The palaver is finished," said Bosambo magnificently. - -He ordered a feast to be made outside the city for his unwelcome guests, -and summoned the devil delegates to his presence. - -"My friends," he said, "I have given this matter of devils great -thought, and since I desire to stand well with you and with your master, -I have spent this night in company with six great devils, who are my -best friends and who help me in all matters. Now I tell you this--which -is known only to myself and to you, whom I trust--that to-day I send to -your master six great spirits which inspire me." - -There was a hush. The sense of responsibility, which comes to the -nervous who are suddenly entrusted with the delivery of a ferocious -bull, fell upon the men of the delegation. - -"Lord, this is a great honour," said Emberi, "and our masters will send -many more presents than your lordship has ever seen. But how may we -take these devils with us, for we are fearful and are not used to their -ways?" - -Bosambo bowed his head graciously. - -"That also filled my thoughts," he said, "and thus I have ordered it. I -shall take six of my people--six counsellors and chiefs, who are to me -as the sun and the flowers--and by magic I will place inside the heart -of each chief and headman one great devil. You shall take these men -with you, and you shall listen to all they say save this." He paused. -"These devils love me, and they will greatly desire to return to my city -and to my land, where they have been so long. Now I tell you that you -must treat them kindly. Yet you must hold them, putting a guard about -them, and keeping them in a secret place, so that Sandi may not find -them and hear of them. And they will bring you fortune and prosperity -and the courage of lions." - - * * * * * - -Sanders was coming up river to settle a woman palaver, when he came slap -into a flotilla of such pretension and warlike appearance that he did -not hesitate for one moment. - -At a word, the canvas jackets were slipped from the Hotchkiss guns, and -they were swung over the side. But there was no need for such -preparations, as he discovered when Emberi's canoe came alongside. - -"Tell me, Emberi," said Sanders, "what is this wonderful thing I -see--that the Akasavas and the Isisi, and the N'gombi and the people of -the lower forest sail together in love and harmony?" - -"Lord," said Emberi proudly, "this is Bosambo's doing." - -Sanders was all suspicion. - -"Now I know that Bosambo is a clever man," he said, "yet I did not know -that he was so great a character that he could bring together all men in -peace, but rather the contrary." - -"He has done this because of devils," said Emberi importantly. "Behold, -there are certain things about which I must not speak to you, and this -is one of them. So, Sandi, ask me no more, for I have sworn an oath." - -Leaning over the steamer Sanders surveyed the flotilla. His keen eyes -ranged the boat from stem to stern. He noted with interest the presence -of one Ikifari, who was known to him. And Ikifari in a scarlet coat was -a happy and satisfied man. - -"O Ikifari," bantered Sanders, "what of my roads?" - -The chief looked up. "Lord, they shall be made," he said, "though my -young men die in the making. I go now to make a grand palaver for my -friend and father Bosambo, for he trusts me above all men and has sent -me to the Isisi." - -Sanders knew something of Bosambo's idiosyncrasies, and nodded. - -"When you come back," he said, "I will speak on the matter of these -roads. Tell me now, my friend, how long do you stay with the Isisi?" - -"Lord," said Ikifari, "I stay for the time of a moon. Afterwards I go -back to the Ochori, bearing rich presents which my lord Bosambo has made -me swear I will keep for myself." - -"The space of a moon," repeated Sanders. - -He turned to ring the engines "Ahead" and did not see Emberi's hand go -up to cover a smile. - - - - - *CHAPTER XIII* - - *GUNS IN THE AKASAVA* - - -"Thank God!" said the Houssa captain fervently, "there is no war in this -country." - -"Touch wood!" said Sanders, and the two men simultaneously reached out -and laid solemn hands upon the handle of the coffee-pot, which was -vulcanite. - -If they had touched wood who knows what might have happened in the first -place to Ofesi the chief of Mc-Canti? - -Who knows what might have happened to the two smugglers of gold from the -French territory? - -The wife of Bikilini might have gone off with her lover, and Bikilini -resigned and patient taken another to wife, and the death men of the -Ofesi might never have gone forth upon their unamiable missions, or -going forth have been drowned, or grown faint-hearted. - -Anyway it is an indisputable fact that neither Sanders nor Captain -Hamilton touched wood on the occasion. - -And as to Bannister Fish----? - -That singular man was a trader in questionable commodities, for he had -not the nice sentiments which usually go with the composition of a white -man. - -Some say that he ran slaves from Angola to places where a black man or a -black woman is worth a certain price; that he did this openly with the -connivance of the Government of Portugal and made a tolerable fortune. -He certainly bought more poached ivory than any man in Africa, and his -crowning infamy up to date was the arming of a South Soudanese -Mahdi--arms for employment against his fellow-countrymen. - -There are certain manufacturers of small arms in the Midlands who will -execute orders to any capacity, produce weapons modern or antiquated at -a cost varying with the delicacy or mechanism of the weapon. They have -no conscience, but have a hard struggle to pay dividends because there -are other firms in Liege who run the same line of business, but produce -at from 10 per cent. to 25 per cent. lower cost. - -Mr. Bannister Fish, a thin, wiry man of thirty-four, as yellow as a -guinea and with the temper of a fiend, was not popular on the coast, -especially with officials. Fortunately Africa has many coasts, and -since Africa in mass was Mr. Fish's hunting-ground, rather than any -particular section, the coast men--as we know the coast--saw little of -him. - -It was Mr. Fish's boast that there was not twenty miles of coast line -from Dakka to Capetown, and from Lourenco Marques to Suez, that had not -contributed something of beauty to his lordly mansion on the top of -Highgate Hill. - -You will observe that he omits reference to the coast which encloses -Cape Colony, and there is a reason. Cape Colony is immensely civilised, -has stipendiary magistrates and a horrible breakwater where -yellow-jacketed convicts labour for their sins, and Mr. Fish's sins were -many. He tackled Sanders's territory in the same spirit as a racehorse -breeder will start raising Pekingese poodles--not for the money he could -make out of it, but as an amusing sideline. - -He worked ruin on the edge of the Akasava country, operating from the -adjoining foreign territories, and found an unholy joy in worrying -Sanders, whom he had met once and most cordially disliked. - -His dislike was intensified on the next occasion of their meeting, for -Sanders, making a forced march across the Akasava, seized the caravan of -Mr. Bannister Fish, burnt his stores out of hand, and submitted the -plutocrat of Highgate Hill to the indignity of marching handcuffed to -headquarters. Mr. Fish was tried by a divisional court and fined L500, -or, as an alternative, awarded twelve months imprisonment with hard -labour. - -The fine was paid, and Mr. Fish went home saying horrible things about -Mr. Commissioner Sanders, which I will not sully these fair pages by -repeating. - -Highgate Hill is a prosaic neighbourhood served by prosaic motor-buses, -and not the place where one would imagine wholesale murder might be -planned, yet from his domain in Highgate Mr. Fish issued certain -instructions by telephone and cablegram, and at his word men went -secretly into Sanders's territory looking for the likely man. - -They found Ofesi, and Highgate spoke to the Akasava to some purpose. - -In the month of February in a certain year Mr. Fish drove resplendently -in his electric landau from Highgate to Waterloo. He arrived on the -Akasava border seven weeks later no less angry with Sanders than he had -ever been, and of a cheerful countenance because, being a millionaire, -he could indulge in his hobbies, and his hobby was the annoyance of a -far-away Commissioner who, at that precise moment was touching vulcanite -and thinking it wood. - -Ofesi, the son of Malaka, the son of G'nani, was predestined. - -Thus it was predicted by the famous witch-doctor Komonobologo, of the -Akasava. - -For it would appear that on the night that Ofesi came squealing into the -world, there were certain solar manifestations such as an eclipse of the -moon and prodigious shooting of stars, which Komonobologo translated -favourably to the clucking, sobbing and shrill whimpering morsel of -whitey-brown humanity. - -Thus Ofesi was to rule all peoples as far as the sun shone (some three -hundred miles in all directions according to local calculations), and he -should not suffer ignominious death at the hand of any man. - -Ofesi (literally "the Born-Lucky") should be mighty in counsel and in -war; should shake the earth with the tread of his legions; might risk -and gain, never risk and lose; was the favoured of ju-jus and ghosts; -and would have many sons. - -The hollow-eyed woman stretched on the floor of the hut spoke faintly of -her happiness, the baby with greedy mouth satisfying the beast in him -said nothing, being too much occupied with his natural and instinctive -desires. - -Such prophecies are common, and some come to nothing. Some, for no -apparent reason, stick fest to the recipients. - -Ofesi--his destiny--was of the sticking kind. - -When Sanders took up his duties on the river, Ofesi was a lank and -awkward youth of whom his fellows stood in awe. - -Sanders was in awe of nobody. He listened quietly to the recital of -portents, omens, and the like, and when it was finished, he delivered a -little homily on the fallibility of human things and the extraordinarily -high death-rate which existed amongst those misguided people who walked -outside the rigid circle of the land. - -Ofesi had neighbours more hearty than Sanders, and by these he was -accepted as something on account of the total wonder which the years -would produce. - -So Ofesi grew and flourished, doing much mischief in his way, which was -neither innocent nor boyish, and the friendly hand which is upraised to -small boys all the world over never fell sharply upon his well-covered -nerves, because Ofesi was predestined and immune. - -In course of time he was appointed by the then king of the Akasava to -the chieftainship of the village of Mi-lanti, and the city of the -Akasava breathed a sigh of relief to see his canoe go round the bend of -the river out of sight. - -No report of the chief's minor misdoings came to Sanders because this -legend of destiny carried to all the nations save and except one. - -It is said that Ofesi received more homage and held a more regal court -in his tiny principality than did the king his master; that N'gombi, -Isisi, and the tribes about sent him presents doubly precious, and that -he had a household of sixty wives, all contributed by his devotees. It -was also said that he made the intoxicating distributions of Mr. Fish -possible, but Sanders had no proof of this. - -He raided his friends impartially, did all manner of unpleasant things, -terrorised the river from the Lesser Isisi to the edge of the Ochori, -and the fishermen watching his war canoes creeping stealthily through -the night would say: "Let no man see the lord Ofesi; lest in the days to -come he remember and blind us." - -Whether from sheer cunning or from the intuitive faculty which is a part -of genius, Ofesi grew to stout manhood without once violating the border -line of the Ochori. - -Until upon a day---- - -Sanders came in great haste one wet April night when the clouds hung so -low over the river that you might have touched them with a fishing-rod. - -It was a night of billowing mists, of drenching cloud bursts, of loud -cracking thunders and the flicker-flacker of lightning so incessant that -only the darkness counted as interval. - -Yet, against the swollen stream, drenched to the skin, his wet face set -to the stinging rain and the white rod of his searchlight piercing such -gloom as there was, Sanders came as fast as stern wheel could revolve -for the Akasava land. - -He came up to the village of Mi-lanti in the wild grey of a stormy dawn, -and such of the huts as the flooding waters of the heavens had spared -stood isolated sentinels amidst smoking ruins. - -He landed tired and immensely angry, and found many dead men and one or -two who thought they were dead. They told him a doleful story of rapine -and murder, of an innocent village set upon by the Ochori and taken in -its defencelessness. "That is a lie," said Sanders promptly, "for you -have stockades, built to the west of the village and your dead are all -painted as men paint themselves who prepare long for war. Also the -Ochori--such as I have seen--are not so painted, which tells me that -they came in haste against a warring people." - -The wounded man turned his tired face to Sanders. - -"It is my faith," he said, in the conventional terminology of his tribe, -"that you have eyes like a big cat." - -Sanders attended to his injuries and left him and his pitiful fellows in -a dry hut. Then he went to look for Bosambo, and found him sitting -patiently ten miles up the river. He sat before a steep hill of rock -and undergrowth. At the top of the hill was the chief of the village of -Mi-lanti, and with him were such of his fighting men as were not at the -moment in a happier world. - -"Lord, this is true," said Bosambo, "that this dog attacked my river -villages and put my men to death and my women to service. So I came -down against him, for it is written in the Sura of the Djinn that no man -shall live to laugh at his own evil." - -"There will be a palaver," said Sanders briefly, and bade the -crestfallen chief, Ofesi, to come down and stack his spears. Since it -is not in the nature of the native man to speak the truth when his skin -is in peril, it goes without saying that both sides lied fearfully, and -Sanders, sifting the truth, knew which side lied the least. - -"Ofesi," he said, at the end of much weariness of listening, "what do -you say that I shall not hang you?" - -Ofesi, a short, thick man with a faint beard, looked up and down, left -and right for inspiration. "Lord," he said after a while, "this you -know, that all my life I have been a good man--and it is said that I -have a high destiny, and shall not die by cruelty." - -"'Man is eternal whilst he lives,'" quoted Sanders, "'yet man dies -sooner or later.'" - -Ofesi stared round at Bosambo, and Bosambo was guilty of an -indiscretion--possibly the greatest indiscretion of his life. In the -presence of his master, and filled with the exultation and virtuous -righteousness which come to the palpably innocent in the face of trial, -he said in English, shaking his head the while reprovingly: - -"Oh, you dam' naughty devil!" - -Sanders had condemned the man to death in his heart; had mentally chosen -the tree on which the marauding chief should swing when Bosambo spoke. - -Sanders had an immense idea as to the sanctity of life in one sense. He -had killed many by rope with seeming indifference, and, indeed, he never -allowed the question of a man's life or death to influence him one way -or the other when an end was in view. - -He would watch with unwavering eyes the breath choke out of a swaying -body, yet there must be a certain ritual of decency, of fitness, of -decorum in such matters, or his delicate sense of justice was outraged. - -Bosambo's words, grotesque, uncalled for, wholly absurd, saved the life -of Ofesi the chief. - -For a moment Sanders's lips twitched irresponsibly, then he turned with -a snarl upon the discomfited chief of the Ochori. - -"Back to your land, you monkey man!" he snapped; "this man has offended -against the land--yet he shall live, for he is a fool. I know a greater -one!" - -He sent Ofesi back to his village to build up what his folly had -overthrown. - -"Remember, Ofesi," he said, "I give you back your life, though you -deserve death: and I do this because it comes to me suddenly that you -are a child as Bosambo is a child. Now, I will come back to you with -the early spring, and if you have deserved well of me you shall be -rewarded with your liberty; and if you have done ill to me, you shall go -to the Village of Irons or to a worse place." - -Back at headquarters Sanders told a sympathetic captain of Houssas the -story. - -"It was horribly weak of course," he said; "but, somehow, when that ass -Bosambo let rip his infernal English I couldn't hang a sparrow." - -"Might have brought this Ofesi person down to the village," said the -captain thoughtfully. "He's got an extraordinary reputation." - -Sanders sat on the edge of the table, his hands thrust into his breeches -pockets. - -"I thought of that, too, and it affected me. You see, there was just a -fear in my mind that I was being influenced on the wrong side by this -fellow's talk of destiny--that I was being, in fact, a little -malicious." - -The Houssa skipper snapped his cigarette case and looked thoughtful. - -"I'll get another company down from headquarters," he said. - -"You might ask for a machine-gun section also," said Sanders. "I've got -it in my bones that there's going to be trouble." - -A week later the upper river saw many strange faces. Isolated fishermen -came from nowhere in particular to pursue their mild calling in strange -waters. - -They built their huts in unfrequented patches of forest, and you might -pass up and down a stretch of the beach without knowing that hut was -modestly concealed in the thick bush at the back. - -Also they went about their business at night with fishing spear and -light canoe tacking across river and up river, moving without sound in -the shadows of the bank, approaching villages and cities with remarkable -circumspection. - -They were strange fishermen indeed, for they fished with pigeons. In -every canoe the birds drowsed in a wicker-work cage, little red labels -about their legs on which even an untutored spy might make a rude but -significant mark with the aid of an indelible pencil. - -Sanders took no risks. - -He summoned Ahmed Ali, the chief of his secret men. - -"Go to the Akasava country, and there you will find Ofesi, a chief of -the village Mi-lanti. Watch him, for he is an evil man. On the day that -he moves against me and my people you shall judge whether I can come in -time with my soldiers. If there is time send for me: but if he moves -swiftly you shall shoot him dead and you shall not be blamed. Go with -God." - -"Master," said Ahmed, "Ofesi is already in hell." - -If all reports worked out, and they certainly tallied, Ofesi, the -predestined chief, gave no offence. He rebuilt his city, choosing higher -ground and following a long and unexpected hunting trip, which took him -to the edge of the Akasava country, and he projected a visit of love and -harmony to Bosambo. - -He even sent swift couriers to Sanders to ask permission for the -ceremonial, though such permission was wholly unnecessary. Sanders -granted the request, delaying the deputation until he had sent his own -messengers to Bosambo. - -So on a bright June morning Ofesi set forth on his mission, his two and -twenty canoes painted red, and even the paddles newly burnt to fantastic -and complimentary designs; and he came to the Ochori and was met by -Bosambo, a profound sceptic but outwardly pleasant. - -"I see you," said Ofesi, "I see you, lord Bosambo, also your brave and -beautiful people; yet I come in peace and it grieves me that you should -meet me with so many spears." - -For in truth the beach bristled a steel welcome and three fighting -regiments of the Ochori, gallantly arrayed, were ranked in hollow -square, the fourth side of which was the river. - -"Lord Ofesi," said Bosambo suavely, "this is the white man's way of -doing honour and, as you know, I have much white blood in my veins, -being related to the English Prime Minister." - -He surveyed the two-and-twenty canoes with their twenty paddlers to -each, and duly noted that each paddler carried his fighting spears as a -matter of course. - -That Ofesi had any sinister design upon the stronghold of the Ochori may -be dismissed as unlikely. He was cast in no heroic mould, and abhorred -unnecessary risk, for destiny requires some assistance. - -He had brought his spears for display rather than for employment. -Willy-nilly he must stack them now--an unpleasant operation, reminiscent -of another stacking under the cold eye of Sanders. - -So it may be said that the _rapprochement_ between the Ochori and the -Akasava chief began inauspiciously. Bosambo led the way to his -guest-house--new-thatched as is the custom. - -There was a great feast in Ofesi's honour, and a dance of girls--every -village contributing its chief dancer for the event. Next day there was -a palaver with sacrifices of fowl and beast, and blood friendships were -sworn fluently. Bosambo and Ofesi embraced before all the people -assembled, and ate salt from the same dish. - -"Now I will tell you all my business, my brother," said Ofesi that -night. "To-morrow I go back to my people with your good word, and I -shall speak of you by day and night because of your noble heart." - -"I also will have no rest," said Bosambo, "till I have journeyed all -over this land, speaking about my wonderful brother Ofesi." - -With a word Ofesi dismissed his counsellors, and Bosambo, accepting the -invitation, sent away his headmen. - -"Now I will tell you," said Ofesi. - -And what he said, what flood of ego-oratory, what promises, what covert -threats, provided Bosambo with reminiscences for long afterwards. - -"Yet," he concluded, "though all things have moved to make me what I am, -yet there is much I have to learn, and from none can I learn so well as -from you, my brother." - -"That is very true," said Bosambo, and meant it. - -"Now," Ofesi went on to his peroration, "the king of the Akasava is -dying and all men are agreed that I shall be king in his place, -therefore I would learn to the utmost grain all the secrets of kingship. -Therefore, since I cannot sit with you, I ask you, lord Bosambo, to give -a home to Tolinobo, my headman, that he may sit for a year in the shadow -of your wisdom and tell me the many beautiful things you say." - -Bosambo looked thoughtfully at Tolinobo, the headman, a shifty fisherman -promoted to that position, and somewhat deficient in sanity, as Bosambo -judged. - -"He shall sit with me," said Bosambo at length, "and be as my own son, -sleeping in a hut by mine, and I will treat him as if he were my -brother." - -There was a fleeting gleam of satisfaction in Ofesi's eye as he rose to -embrace his blood-friend; but then he did not know how Bosambo treated -his brother. - -The Akasava chief and his two and twenty canoes paddled homeward at -daybreak, and Bosambo saw them off. - -When they were gone, he turned to his headman. - -"Tell me, Solonkinini," he said, "what have we done with this Tolinobo -who stays with us?" - -"Lord, we build him a new hut this morning in your lordship's shadow." - -Bosambo nodded. - -"First," he said, "you shall take him to the secret place near the -Crocodile Pool and stake him out. Presently I will come, and we will -ask him some questions." - -"Lord, he will not answer," said the headman. "I myself have spoken with -him." - -"He shall answer me," said Bosambo, significantly, "and you shall build -a fire and make very hot your spears, for I think this Tolinobo has -something he will be glad to tell." - -Bosambo's prediction was justified by fact. - -Ofesi was not half-way home, happy in his success, when a blubbering -Tolinobo, stretched ignominiously on the ground, spoke with a lamentable -lack of reserve on all manner of private matters, being urged thereto by -a red hot spear-head which Bosambo held much too near his face for -comfort. - - * * * * * - -At about this time came Jim Greel, an American adventurer, and Francis -E. Coulson, a citizen of the world. They came into Sanders's territory -unwillingly, for they were bound, via the French river which skirted the -north of the N'gombi land, for German West Africa. There was in normal -times a bit of a stream which connected the great river with the Frenchi -river. It was, according to a facetious government surveyor, navigable -for balloons and paper boats except once in a decade when a mild spring -in the one thousand-miles distant mountains coincided with heavy rains -in the Isisi watershed. Given the coincidence the tiny dribble of -rush-choked water achieved the dignity of riverhood. It was bad luck -that Jim and Coulson hit an exceptional season. - -Keeping to the left bank, and moving only by night--they had reason for -this--the adventurers followed the course of the stream which ordinarily -was not on the map, and they were pardonably and almost literally at -sea. - -Two long nights they worked their crazy little steamer through an -unknown territory without realising that it was unknown. They avoided -such villages as they passed, shutting off steam and dowsing all lights -till they drifted beyond sight and hearing. - -At last they reached a stage in their enterprise where the maintenance -of secrecy was a matter of some personal danger, and they looked around -in the black night for assistance. - -"Looks like a village over there, Jim," said Coulson, and the steersman -nodded. - -"There's shoal water here," he said grimly, "and the forehold is up to -water-level." - -"Leakin'?" - -"Not exactly leakin'," said Jim carefully; "but there's no bottom to the -forepart of this tub." - -Coulson swore softly at the African night. The velvet darkness had -fallen on them suddenly, and it was a case of tie-up or go on--Jim -decided to go on. - -They had struck a submerged log and ripped away the bottom of the tiny -compartment that was magniloquently called "No. 1 hold"; the bulkhead of -Nos. 1 and 2 was of the thinnest steel and was bulging perceptibly. - -Coulson did not know this, but Jim did. - -Now he turned the prow of the ancient steamer to the dark shore, and the -revolving paddle-wheels made an expiring effort. - -Somewhere on the river bank a voice called to them in the Akasava -tongue; they saw the fires of the village, and black shadows passing -before them; they heard women laughing. - -Jim turned his head and gave an order to one of his naked crew, and the -man leapt overboard with a thin rope hawser. - -Then the ripped keel of the little boat took the sand and she grounded. - -Jim lit his pipe from a lantern that hung in the deck cabin behind him, -wiped his streaming forehead with the back of his hand, and spoke -rapidly in the Akasava tongue to the little crowd who had gathered on -the beach. He spoke mechanically, warning all and sundry for the safety -of their immortal souls not to slip his hawser! warning them that if he -lost so much as a deck rivet he would flay alive the thief, and ended by -commending his admiring audience to M'shimba M'shamba, Bim-bi, O'kili, -and such local devils as he could call to his tongue. "That's let me -out," he said, and waded ashore through the shallow water as one too -much overcome by the big tragedies of life to care very much one way or -another whether he was wet or dry. - -He strode up the shelving beach and was led by a straggling group of -villagers to the headman's hut to make inquiries, and came back to the -boat with unpleasant news. - -Coulson had brought her nose to the sand, and by a brushwood fire that -the men of the village had lit upon the beach, the damage was plainly to -be seen. - -The tiny hull had torn like brown paper, and part of the cause--a stiff -branch of gun-wood--still protruded from the hole. - -"We're in Sanders's territory, if it's all the same to you," said Jim -gloomily. "The damnation old Frenchi river is in spruit and we've come -about eighty miles on the wrong track." - -Coulson, kneeling by the side of the boat, a short, black briar clutched -between his even white teeth, looked up with a grin. - -"'Sande catchee makee hell,'" quoted he. "Do you remember the Chink -shaver who used to run the Angola women up to the old king for Bannister -Fish?" - -Jim said nothing. He took a roll of twist from his pocket, bit off a -section, and chewed philosophically. - -"There's no slavery outfit in this packet," he said. "I guess even old -man Fish wouldn't fool 'round in this land--may the devil grind him for -bone-meal!" - -There was no love lost between the amiable adventurers and Mr. Bannister -Fish. That gentleman himself, sitting in close conference with Ofesi -not fifty miles from whence the _Grasshopper_ lay, would have been -extremely glad to know that her owners were where they were. - -"Fish is out in these territories for good," said Jim; "but it'll do us -no good--our not bein' Fish, I mean, if Sandi comes nosing round lookin' -for traders' licences--somehow I don't want anybody to inspect our -cargo." - -Coulson nodded as he wielded a heavy hammer on the damaged plate. - -"I guess he'll know all right," Jim went on. "You can't keep these old -_lokalis_ quiet--listen to the joyous news bein', so to speak, flashed -forth to the expectant world." - -Coulson suspended his operations. Clear and shrill came the rattle of -the _lokali_ tapping its message: - - -"Tom-te tom, tom-te tom, tommitty tommitty tommitty-tom." - - -"There she goes," said the loquacious Jim, complacently. "Two white men -of suspicious appearance have arrived in town--Court papers please -copy." - -Coulson grinned again. He was working his hammer deftly, and already -the offending branch had disappeared. - -"A ha'porth of cement in the morning," he said, "and she's the Royal -yacht." - -Jim sniffed. - -"It'll take many ha'porths of cement to make her anything but a big -intake pipe," he said. He put his hand on the edge of the boat and -leapt aboard. Abaft the deck-house were two tiny cupboards of cabins, -the length of a man's body and twice his width. Into one of these he -dived, and returned shortly afterwards with a small, worn portmanteau, -patched and soiled. He jumped down over the bows to the beach, first -handing the piece of baggage down to the engineer of the little boat. -It was so heavy that the man nearly dropped it. - -"What's the idea?" Coulson mopped the sweat from his forehead with a -pocket-handkerchief, and turned his astonished gaze to the other. - -"'Tis the loot," said Jim significantly. "We make a cache of this -to-night lest a worse thing happen. - -"Oh, God, this man!" prayed Coulson, appealing heavenward. "With the -eyes of the whole dam' barbarian rabble directed on him, he stalks -through the wilderness with his grip full of gold and his heart full of -innocent guile!" - -Jim refilled his pipe leisurely from a big, leather pouch that hung at -his waist before he replied. "Coulson," he said between puffs, "in the -language of that ridiculous vaudeville artiste we saw before we quit -London, you may have brains in your head, but you've got rabbit's blood -in your feet. There's no occasion for getting scared, only I surmise -that one of your fellow-countrymen will be prowling around here long -before the bows of out stately craft take the water like a thing of -life, and since he is the Lord High Everything in this part of the -world, and can turn out a man's pocket without so much as a 'damn ye,' I -am for removing all trace of the Frenchi Creed River diggings." - -Coulson had paused in his work, and sat squatting on his heels, his eyes -fixed steadily on his partner's. He was a good-looking young man of -twenty-seven, a few years the junior of the other, whose tanned face was -long and thin, but by no means unpleasant. - -"What does it matter?" asked Coulson after a while. "He can only ask -where we got the dust, and we needn't tell him; and if we do we've got -enough here to keep us in comfort all our days." - -Jim smiled. - -"Suppose he holds this gold?" he asked quietly. "Suppose he just sends -his spies along to discover where the river digging is--and suppose he -finds it is in French territory and that there is a prohibitive export -duty from the French country. Oh! there's a hundred suppositions, and -they're all unpleasant." - -Coulson rose stiffly. - -"I think we'll take the risk of the boat foundering, Jim," he said. -"Put the grip back." - -Jim hesitated, then with a nod he swung the portmanteau aboard and -followed. A few minutes later he was doubled up in the perfectly -inadequate space of No. 1 hold, swabbing out the ooze of the river, and -singing in a high falsetto the love song of a mythical Bedouin. - -It was past midnight when the two men, tired, aching, and cheerful, -sought their beds. - -"If Sanders turns up," shouted Jim as he arranged his mosquito curtain -(the shouting was necessary, since he was addressing his companion -through a matchboard partition between the two cabins), "you've got to -lie, Coulson." - -"I hate lying," grumbled Coulson loudly; "but I suppose we shall have -to?" - -"Betcher!" yawned the other, and said his prayers with lightning -rapidity. - -Daylight brought dismay to the two voyagers. - -The hole in the hull was not alone responsible for the flooded hold. -There was a great gash in her keel--the plate had been ripped away by -some snag or snags unknown. Coulson looked at Jim, and Jim returned the -despairing gaze. - -"A canoe for mine," said Jim after a while. "Me for the German river and -so home. That is the way I intended moving, and that is the way I go." - -Coulson shook his head. - -"Flight!" he said briefly. "You can explain being in Sanders's -territory, but you can't explain the bolt--stick it out!" - -All that morning the two men laboured in the hot sun to repair the -damage. Fortunately the cement was enough to stop up the bottom leak, -and there was enough over to make a paste with twigs and sun-dried sand -to stop the other. But there was no blinking the fact that the -protection afforded was of the frailest. The veriest twig embedded in a -sandbank would be sufficient to pierce the flimsy "plating." This much -the two men saw when the repairs were completed at the end of the day. -The hole in the bow could only be effectively dealt with by the removal -of one plate and the substitution of another, "and that," said Jim, "can -hardly happen." - -The German river was eighty miles upstream and a flooded stream that ran -five knots an hour at that. Allow a normal speed of nine knots to the -tiny _Grasshopper_, and you have a twenty hours' run at best. - -"The river's full of floatin' timber," said Jim wrathfully, eyeing the -swift sweep of the black waters, "an' we stand no better chance of -gettin' anywhere except to the bottom; it's a new plate or nothing." - -Thus matters stood with a battered _Grasshopper_ high and dry on the -shelving beach of the Akasava village, and two intrepid but unhappy gold -smugglers discussing ways and means, when complications occurred which -did much to make the life of Mr. Commissioner Sanders unbearable. - - * * * * * - -There was a woman of the Akasava who bore the name of Ufambi, which -means a "bad woman." She had a lover--indeed, she had many, but the -principal was a hunter named Logi. He was a tall, taciturn man, and his -teeth were sharpened to two points. He was broad-shouldered, his hair -was plastered with clay, and he wore a cloak that was made from the -tails of monkeys. For this reason he was named Logi N'kemi, that is to -say, Logi the Monkey. - -He had a hut far in the woods, three days' journey, and in this wood -were several devils; therefore he had few visitors. - -Ufambi loved this man exceedingly, and as fervently hated her husband, -who was a creature of Ofesi. Also, he was not superior to the use of -the stick. - -One day Ufambi annoyed him and he beat her. She flew at him like a wild -cat and bit him, but he shook her off and beat her the more, till she -ran from the hut to the cool and solitary woods, for she was not afraid -of devils. - -Here her lover found her, sitting patiently by the side of the forest -path, her well-moulded arms hugging her knees, her chin sunk, a -watchful, brooding and an injured woman. - -They sat together and talked, and the woman told him all there was to be -told, and Logi the Monkey listened in silence. - -"Furthermore," she went on, "he has buried beneath the floor of the hut -certain treasures given to him by white men, which you may take." - -She said this pleadingly, for he had shown no enthusiasm in the support -of her plan. - -"Yet how can I kill your husband," said Logi, carefully, "and if I do -kill him and Sandi comes here, how may I escape his cruel vengeance? I -think it would be better if you gave him death in his chop, for then -none would think evilly of me." - -She was not distressed at his patent selfishness. It was understandable -that a man should seek safety for himself, but she had no intention of -carrying out her lover's plan. - -She returned to her husband, and found him so far amiable that she -escaped a further beating. Moreover, he was communicative. - -"Woman," he said, "to-morrow I go a long journey because of certain -things I have seen, and you go with me. In a secret place, as you know, -I have hidden my new canoe, and when it is dark you shall take as much -fish and my two little dogs and sit in the canoe waiting for me." - -"I will do this thing, lord," she said meekly. - -He looked at her for a long time. - -"Also," he said after a while, "you shall tell no man that I am leaving, -for I do not desire that Sandi shall know, though," he added, "if all -things be true that Ofesi says, he will know nothing." - -"I will do this as you tell me, lord," said the woman. - -He rose from the floor of the hut where he had been squatting and went -out of the hut. - -"Come!" he said graciously, and she followed him to the beach and joined -the crowd of villagers who watched two white men labouring under -difficulties. - -By and by she saw her husband detach himself from the group and make his -cautious way to where the white men were. - -Now Bikilari--such was the husband's name--was a N'gombi man, and the -N'gombi folk are one of two things, and more often than not, both. They -are either workers in iron or thieves, and Jim, looking up at the man, -felt a little spasm of satisfaction at the sight of the lateral face -marks which betrayed his nationality. - -"Ho, man!" said Jim in the vernacular, "what are you that you stand in -my sun?" - -"I am a poor man, lord," said Bikilari, "and I am the slave of all white -men: now I can do things which ignorant men cannot, for I can take iron -and bend it by heat, also I can bend it without heat, as my fathers and -my tribe have done since the world began." - -Coulson watched the man keenly, for he was no lover of the N'gombi. - -"Try him out, Jim," he said, so they gave Bikilari a hammer and some -strips of steel, and all the day he worked strengthening the rotten bow -of the _Grasshopper_. - -In the evening, tired and hungry, he went back to his hut for food; but -his wife had watched him too faithfully for his comfort, and the -cooking-pot was cold and empty. Bikilari beat her with his stick, and -for two hours she sobbed and blew upon the embers of the fire -alternately whilst my lord's fish stewed and spluttered over her bent -head. - - * * * * * - -Jim was a good sleeper but a light one. He woke on the very smell of -danger. Here was something more tangible than scent--a dog-like -scratching at his door. In the faint moonlight he saw a figure -crouching in the narrow alley-way, saw, too, by certain conformations, -that it was a woman, and drew an uncharitable conclusion. Yet, since she -desired secrecy, he was willing to observe her wishes. He slid back the -gauze door and flickered an electric lamp (most precious possession, to -be used with all reserve and economy). She shrank back at this evidence -of magic and breathed an entreaty. - -"What do you want?" he asked in a low voice. - -"Lord," she answered, her voice muffled, "if you desire your life, do -not stay here." - -Jim thrust his face nearer to the woman's. - -"Say what you must say very quickly," he said. - -"Lord," she began again, "my husband is Bikilari, a worker in iron. He -is the man of Ofesi, and to-night Ofesi sends his killers to do his work -upon all white men and upon all chiefs who thwart him. Also upon you -because you are white and there is treasure in your ship." - -"Wait," said Jim, and turned to tap on Coulson's door. There was no -need. Coulson was out of bed at the first sound of whispering and now -stood in the doorway, the moonlight reflected in a cold blue line on the -revolver he held in his hand. - -"It may be a fake--but there's no reason why it should be," he said when -the story was told. "We'll chance the hole in the bow." - -Jim ran forward and woke the sleeping engineer, and came back with the -first crackle of burning wood in the furnace. - -He found the woman waiting. - -"What is your name?" he asked. - -She stood with her back to the tiny rail, an easy mark for the man who -had followed her and now crouched in the shadow of the hull. He could -reach up and touch her. He slipped out his long N'gombi hunting knife -and felt the point. - -"Lord," said the woman, "I am----" - -Then she slipped down to the deck. - -Coulson fired twice at the fleeing Bikilari, and missed him. Logi, the -lover, leapt at him from the beach but fell before a quick knife-thrust. - -Bikilari reached the bushes in safety and plunged into the gloom--and -into the arms of Ahmed Ali, a swift, silent man, who caught the knife -arm in one hand and broke the neck of the murderer with the other--for -Ahmed Ali was a famous wrestler in the Kono country. - -The city was aroused, naked feet pattered through the street. Jim and -Coulson, lying flat on the bow of the steamer, held the curious at bay. - -Two hours they lay thus whilst the cold boilers generated energy. Then -the paddle wheel threshed desperately astern, and the _Grasshopper_ -dragged herself to deep water. - -A figure hailed them from the bank in Swaheli. - -"Lord," it said, "go you south and meet Sandi--northward is death, for -the Isisi are up and the Akasava villagers are in their canoes--also all -white men in this land are dead, save Sandi." - -"Who are you?" megaphoned Jim, and the answer came faintly as the boat -drifted to mid-stream. - -"I am Ahmed Ali, the servant of Sandi, whom may God preserve!" - -"Come with us!" shouted Jim. - -The figure on the bank, clear to be seen in his white jellab, made a -trumpet of his hands. - -"I go to kill one Ofesi, according to orders--say this to Sandi." - -Then the boat drifted beyond earshot. - -"Up stream or down?" demanded Jim at the wheel. "Down we meet Sanders -and up we meet the heathen in his wrath." - -"Up," said Coulson, and went aft to count noses. - -That night died Iliki, the chief of the Isisi, and I'mini, his brother, -stabbed as they sat at meat, also Bosomo of the Little Isisi, and B'ramo -of the N'gomi, chiefs all; also the wives and sons of B'ramo and Bosomo; -Father O'Leary of the Jesuit Mission at Mosankuli, his lay minister, and -the Rev. George Galley, of the Wesleyan Mission at Bogori, and the Rev. -Septimus Keen and his wife, at the Baptist Mission at Michi. - -Bosambo did not die, because he knew; also a certain headman of Ofesi -knew--and died. - -Ofesi had planned largely and well. War had come to the territories in -the most terrible form, yet Bosambo did not hesitate, though he was -aware of his inferiority, not only in point of numbers, but in the more -important matter of armament. - -For the most dreadful thing had happened, and pigeons flying southward -from a dozen points carried the news to Sanders--for the first time in -history the rebellious people of the Akasava were armed with -rifles--rifles smuggled across the border and placed in the hands of -Ofesi's warriors. - -The war-drum of the Ochori sounded. At dawn Bosambo led forty war -canoes down the river, seized the first village that offered resistance -and burnt it. He was for Ofesi's stronghold, and was half-way there when -he met the tiny _Grasshopper_ coming up stream. - -At first he mistook it for the _Zaire_ and made little effort to -disclose the pacific intentions of his forty canoes, but a whistling -rifle bullet aimed precisely made him realise the danger of taking -things for granted. - -He paddled forward alone, ostentatiously peaceable, and Jim received -him. - -"Rifles?" Coulson was incredulous. "O chief, you are mad!" - -"Lord," said Bosambo earnestly, "let Sandi say if I be mad--for Sandi is -my bro--is my master and friend," he corrected himself. - -Jim knew of Bosambo--the chief enjoyed a reputation along the coast, and -trusted him now. - -He turned to his companion. - -"If all Bosambo says is true there'll be hell in this country," he said -quietly. "We can't cut and run. Can you use a rifle?" he asked. - -Bosambo drew himself up. - -"Suh," he said in plain English, "I make 'um shoot plenty at Cape Coast -Cassell--I shoot 'um two bulls' eyes out." - -Coulson considered. - -"We'll cashee that gold," he said. "It would be absurd to take that -with us. O Bosambo, we have a great treasure, and this we will leave in -your city." - -"Lord," said Bosambo quietly, "it shall be as my own treasure." - -"That's exactly what I don't want it to be," said Coulson. - -The fleet waited whilst Bosambo returned to Ochori city with the -smugglers; there, in Bosambo's hut, and in a cunningly-devised hole -beneath the floor, the portmanteau was hidden and the _Grasshopper_ went -joyfully with the stream to whatever adventures awaited her. - - * * * * * - -The moonlight lay in streaks of sage and emerald green--such a green as -only the moon, beheld through the mists of the river, can show. Sage -green for shadow, bright emerald on the young spring verdure, looking -from light to dark or from dark to light, as the lazy breezes stirred -the undergrowth. In the gleam of the moonlight there was one bright, -glowing speck of red--it was the end of Mr. Commissioner Sanders's -cigar. - -He sat in the ink-black shadow cast by the awning on the foredeck of the -_Zaire_. His feet, encased in long, pliant mosquito boots that reached -to his knees, rested on the rail of the boat, and he was a picture of -contentment and cheerful idleness. - -An idle man might be restless. You might expect to hear the creak of -the wicker chair as he changed his position ever so slightly, yet it is -a strange fact that no such sound broke the pleasant stillness of the -night. - -He sat in silence, motionless. Only the red tip of the cigar glowed to -fiery brightness and dulled to an ashen red as he drew noiselessly at -his cheroot. - -A soft felt hat, pulled down over his eyes, would have concealed the -direction of his gaze, even had the awning been removed. His lightly -clasped hands rested over one knee, and but for the steady glow of the -cigar he might have been asleep. - -Yet Sanders of the River was monstrously awake. His eyes were watching -the tousled bushes by the water's edge, roving from point to point, -searching every possible egress. - -There was somebody concealed in those bushes--as to that Sanders had no -doubt. But why did they wait--for it was a case of "they"--and why, if -they were hostile, had they not attacked him before? - -Sanders had had his warnings. Some of the pigeons came before he had -left headquarters; awkwardly scrawled red labels had set the bugles -ringing through the Houssa quarters. But he had missed the worst of the -messages. Bosambo's all-Arabic exclamation had fallen into the talons -of a watchful hawk--poor winged messenger and all. - -Sanders rose swiftly and silently. Behind him was the open door of his -cabin, and he stepped in, walked in the darkness to the telephone above -the head of his bunk and pressed a button. - -Abiboo dozing with his head against the buzzer answered instantly. - -"Let all men be awakened," said Sanders in a whisper. "Six rifles to -cover the bush between the two dead trees." - -"On my head," whispered Abiboo, and settled his tarboosh more firmly -upon that section of his anatomy. - -Sanders stood by the door of his cabin, a sporting Lee-Enfield in the -crook of his arm, waiting. - -Then from far away he heard a faint cry, a melancholy, shrill -whoo-wooing. It was the cry that set the men of the villages -shuddering, for it was such a cry as ghosts make. - -Men in the secret service of Sanders, and the Government also, made it, -and Sanders nodded his head. - -Here came a man in haste to tell him things. - -A long pause and "Whoo-woo!" drearily, plaintively, and nearer. The man -was whooing then at a jog-trot, and they on the bank were waiting---- - -"Fire!" cried Sanders sharply. - -Six rifles crashed like a thunderclap, there was a staccato flick-flack -as the bullets struck the leaves, and two screams of anguish. - -Out of the bush blundered a dark figure, looked about dazed and -uncertain, saw the _Zaire_ and raised his hand. - -Bang! - -A bullet smacked viciously past Sanders's head. - -"Guns!" said Sanders with a gasp, and as the man on the bank rattled -back the lever of his repeater, Sanders shot him. - -"Bang! bang!" - -This time from the bush, and the Houssas answered it. Forty men fired -independently at the patch of green from whence the flashes had come. - -Forty men and more leapt into the water and waded ashore, Sanders at -their head. - -The ambush had failed. Sanders found three dead men of the Isisi and -one slightly injured and quite prepared for surrender. - -"Maennlichers!" said Sanders, examining the rifles, and he whistled. - -"Lord," said the living of the four, "we did what we were told; for it -is an order that no man shall come to you with tidings; also, on a -certain night that we should shoot you." - -"Whose order?" demanded Sanders. - -"Our lord Ofesi's," said the man. "Also, it is an order from a certain -white lord who dwells with his people on the border of the land." - -They were speaking when the whoo-ing messenger came up at a jog-trot, -too weary to be cautioned by the sound of guns. - -He was a tired man, dusty, almost naked, and he carried a spear and a -cleft-stick. - -Sanders read the letter which was stuck therein. It was in ornamental -Arabic, and was from Ahmed Ali. - -He read it carefully; then he spoke. - -"What do you know of this?" he asked. - -"Lord," said the tired man, flat on the bare ground and breathing -heavily, "there is war in this land such as we have never seen, for -Ofesi has guns and has slain all chiefs by his cunning; also there is a -white man whom he visits secretly in the forest." - -Sanders turned back to the _Zaire_, sick at heart. All these years he -had kept his territories free from an expeditionary force, building -slowly towards the civilisation which was every administrator's ideal. -This meant a punitive force, the introduction of a new regime. The -coming of armed white men against these children of his. - -Who supplied the arms? He could not think. He had never dreamt of their -importation. His people were too poor, had too little to give. - -"Lord," called the resting messenger, as Sanders turned, "there are two -white men in a puc-a-puc who rest by the Akasava city." - -Sanders shook his head. - -These men--who knew them by name?--were smugglers of gold, who had come -through a swollen river by accident. (His spies were very efficient, be -it noted.) - -Whoever it was, the mischief was done. - -"Steam," he said briefly to the waiting Abiboo. - -"And this man, lord?" asked the Houssa, pointing to the last of the -would-be assassins. - -Sanders walked to the man. - -"Tell me," he said, "how many were you who waited to kill me?" - -"Five, lord," said the man. - -"Five?" said Sanders, "but I found only four bodies." - -It was at that instant that the fifth man fired from the bank. - - * * * * * - -The _Grasshopper_, towing forty war canoes of the Ochori, came round a -bend of the great river and fell into an ambuscade. - -The Ochori were a brave people, but unused to the demoralising effect of -firearms, however badly and wildly aimed. - -Bosambo from the stern of the little steamer yelled directions to his -panic-stricken fleet without effect. They turned and fled, paddling for -their lives the way they had come. Jim essayed a turning movement in -the literal sense, and struck a submerged log. The ill-fated -_Grasshopper_ went down steadily by the bow, and in a last desperate -effort ran for the shore under a hail of bullets. They leapt to land, -four men--Bosambo's fighting headman was the fourth--and, shooting down -immediate opposition, made for the bush. - -But they were in the heart of the enemy's land--within shooting distance -of the Akasava city. Long before they had crossed the league of wood, -the _lokali_ had brought reinforcements to oppose them. They were borne -down by sheer weight of numbers at a place called Iffsimori, and that -night came into the presence of the great King Ofesi, the Predestined. - -They came, four wounded and battered men bound tightly with cords of -grass, spared for the great king's sport. - -"O brother," greeted Ofesi in the face of all his people, "look at me -and tell me what has become of Tobolono, my dear headman?" - -Bosambo, his face streaked with dried blood, stared at him insolently. - -"He is in hell," he said, "being _majiki_" (predestined). - -"Also you will be in hell," said the king, "because men say that you are -Sandi's brother." - -Bosambo was taken aback for a moment. - -"It is true," he said, "that I am Sandi's brother; for it seems that -this is not the time for a man to deny him. Yet I am Sandi's brother -only because all men are brothers, according to certain white magic I -learnt as a boy." - -Ofesi sat before the door of his hut, and it was noticeable that no man -stood or sat nearer to him than twenty paces distant. - -Jim, glancing round the mob, which surrounded the palaver, saw that -every other man carried a rifle, and had hitched across his naked -shoulders a canvas cartridge-belt. He noticed, too, now and then, the -king would turn his head and speak, as it were, to the dark interior of -the hut. - -Ofesi directed his gaze to the white prisoners. - -"O white men," he said, "you see me now, a great lord, greater than any -white man has ever been, for all the little chiefs of this land are -dead, and all people say 'Wah, king,' to Ofesi." - -"I dare say," said Coulson in English. - -"To-night," the king went on, "we sacrifice you, for you are the last -white men in this land--Sandi being dead." - -"Ofesi, you lie!" - -It was Bosambo, his face puckered with rage, his voice shrill. - -"No man can kill Sandi," he cried, "for Sindi alone of all men is beyond -death, and he will come to you bringing terror and worse than death!" - -Ofesi made a gesture of contempt. - -He waved his hand to the right and as at a signal the crowd moved back. - -Bosambo held himself tense, expecting to see the lifeless form of his -master. But it was something less harrowing he saw--a prosaic stack of -wooden boxes six feet high and eight feet square. - -"Ammunition," said Jim under his breath. "The devil had made pretty -good preparation." - -"Behold!" said Ofesi, "therein is Sanders' death--listen all people!" - -He held up his hand for silence. - -Bosambo heard it--that faint rattle of the _lokali_. From some far -distant place it was carrying the news. "Sanders dead!" it rolled -mournfully, "distantly--moonlight--puc-a-puc--middle of river--man on -bank--boat at shore--Sandi dead on ground--many wounds." He pieced -together the tidings. Sandi had been shot from the bank and the boat -had landed him dead. The chief of the Ochori heard the news and wept. - -"Now you shall smell death," said Ofesi. - -He turned abruptly to the door of the hut and exchanged a dozen quick -words with the man inside. He spoke imperiously, sharply. - -Alas! Mr. Bannister Fish, guest of honour on the remarkable occasion, -the Ofesi you deal with now is not the meek Ofesi with whom you drove -your one-sided bargain in the deep of the Akasava forest! Camel-train -and boat have brought ammunition and rifles piecemeal to your enemy's -undoing. Ofesi owes his power to you, but the maker of tyrants was ever -a builder if his own prison-house. - -Mr. Fish felt his danger keenly, pulled two long-barrelled automatic -pistols from his pocket and mentally chose his route for the border, -cursing his own stupidity that he had not brought his Arab bodyguard -along the final stages of the journey. - -"Ofesi," he muttered, "there shall be no killing until I am gone." - -"Fisi," replied the other louder, "you shall see all that I wish you to -see," and he made a signal. - -They stripped the white men as naked as they were on the day they were -born, pegged them at equal distance on the ground spread-eagle fashion. -Heads to the white man's feet they laid Bosambo and his headman. - -When all was finished Ofesi walked over to them. - -"When the sun comes up," he said, "you will all be dead--but there is -half the night to go." - -"Nigger!" said Bosambo in English, "yo' mother done be washerwomans!" - -It was the most insulting expression in his vocabulary, and he reserved -it for the last. - - * * * * * - -Sanders saw the glow of the great fire long before he reached the -Akasava, his own _lokali_ sounding forth the news of his premature -decease--Sanders with the red weal of a bullet across his cheek, and a -feeling of unfriendliness toward Ofesi in his heart. All the way up the -river through the night his _lokali_ sent forth the joyless tidings. -Villagers heard it and shivered--but sent it on. A half-naked man -crouching in the bushes near Akasava city heard it and sobbed himself -sick, for Ahmed Ali saw in himself a murderer. He who had sworn by the -prophet to end the life of Ofesi had left the matter until it was too -late. - -In a cold rage he crept nearer to the crowd which was gathered about the -king's hut--a neck-craning, tip-toeing crowd of vicious men-children. -The moment of torment had come. At Ofesi's feet crouched two -half-witted Akasava youths giggling at one another in pleasurable -excitement, and whetting the razor-keen edges of their skinning knives -on their palms. - -"Listen, now," said Ofesi in exultation. "I am he, the predestined, the -ruler of all men from the black waters to the white mountains. Thus you -see me, all people, your master, and master of white men. The skins of -these men shall be drums to call all other nations to the service of the -Akasava--begin Ginin and M'quasa." - -The youths rose and eyed the silent victims critically--and Mr. -Bannister Fish stepped out of the hut into the light of the fire, a -pistol in each hand. - -"Chief," said he, "this matter ends here. Release those men or you die -very soon." - -Ofesi laughed. - -"Too late, lord Fisi," he said, and nodded his head. - -One shot rang out from the crowd--a man, skilled in the use of arms, had -waited for the gun-runner's appearance. Bannister Fish, of Highgate -Hill, pitched forward dead. - -"Now," said Ofesi. - -Ahmed Ali came through the crowd like a cyclone, but quicker far was the -two-pound shell of a Hotchkiss gun. Looking upward into the moonlit -vault of the sky, Jim saw a momentary flash of light, heard the "pang!" -of the gun and the whine of the shell as it curved downward; heard a -roar louder than any, and was struck senseless by the sharp edge of an -exploded cartridge-box. - - * * * * * - -"Ofesi," said Sanders, "I think this is your end." - -"Lord, I think so too," said Ofesi. - -Sanders let him hang for two hours before he cut him down. - -"Mr. Sanders," said Jim, dressed in a suit of the Commissioner's clothes -which fitted none too well, "we ought to explain----" - -"I understand," said Sanders with a smile. "Gold smuggling!" - -Jim nodded. - -"And where is your gold--at the bottom of the river?" - -It was in the American's heart to lie, but he shook his head. "The -chief Bosambo is holding it for me," he confessed. - -"H'm!" said Sanders. "Do you know to an ounce how much you have?" - -Coulson shook his head. - -"Where is Bosambo?" asked Sanders of his orderly. - -"Lord, he has gone in haste to his city with twenty paddlers," said -Abiboo. - -Sanders looked at Jim queerly. - -"You had better go in haste, too," he said dryly. "Bosambo has views of -his own on portable property." - -"We wept for you," said the indignant Jim, something of a -sentimentalist. - -"You'll be weeping for yourself if you don't hurry," said the practical -Sanders. - - - - THE END. - - - - * * * * * * * * - - - - - POPULAR NOVELS - - BY - - EDGAR WALLACE - - - PUBLISHED BY - WARD, LOCK & Co., LIMITED. - _In Various Editions._ - - SANDERS OF THE RIVER - BONES - BOSAMBO OF THE RIVER - BONES IN LONDON - THE KEEPERS OF THE KING'S PEACE - THE COUNCIL OF JUSTICE - THE DUKE IN THE SUBURBS - THE PEOPLE OF THE RIVER - DOWN UNDER DONOVAN - PRIVATE SELBY - THE ADMIRABLE CARFEW - THE MAN WHO BOUGHT LONDON - THE JUST MEN OF CORDOVA - THE SECRET HOUSE - KATE, PLUS TEN - LIEUTENANT BONES - THE ADVENTURES OF HEINE - JACK O' JUDGMENT - THE DAFFODIL MYSTERY - THE NINE BEARS - THE BOOK OF ALL POWER - MR. JUSTICE MAXELL - THE BOOKS OF BART - THE DARK EYES OF LONDON - CHICK - SANDI, THE KING-MAKER - THE THREE OAK MYSTERY - THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE FROG - BLUE HAND - GREY TIMOTHY - A DEBT DISCHARGED - THOSE FOLK OF BULBORO - THE MAN WHO WAS NOBODY - THE GREEN RUST - - - - - - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BOSAMBO OF THE RIVER *** - - - - -A Word from Project Gutenberg - - -We will update this book if we find any errors. - -This book can be found under: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/49657 - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so -the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. -Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this -license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg(tm) -electronic works to protect the Project Gutenberg(tm) concept and -trademark. 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