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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Leopard Woman, by Stewart Edward White et al
+
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+Title: The Leopard Woman
+
+Author: Stewart Edward White et al
+
+Release Date: December, 2005  [EBook #9401]
+[This file was first posted on September 29, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: US-ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE LEOPARD WOMAN ***
+
+
+
+
+E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Richard Prairie, Tonya Allen, and Project
+Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LEOPARD WOMAN
+
+BY
+
+STEWART EDWARD WHITE
+
+Illustrated by W. H. D. Koerner
+
+1916
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+     I. The March
+    II. The Camp
+   III. The Rhinoceros
+    IV. The Stranger
+     V. The Encounter
+    VI. The Leopard Woman
+   VII. The Water Hole
+  VIII. The Thirst
+    IX. On the Plateau
+     X. The _Suliani_
+    XI. The Ivory Stockade
+   XII. The Pilocarpin
+  XIII. The Tropic Moon
+   XIV. Over the Ranges
+    XV. The Sharpening of the Spear
+   XVI. The Murder
+  XVII. The Darkness
+ XVIII. The Leopard Woman Changes Her Spots
+   XIX. The Trial
+    XX. Kingozi's Ultimatum
+   XXI. The Messengers
+  XXII. The Second Messengers
+ XXIII. The Council of War
+  XXIV. M'tela's Country
+   XXV. M'tela
+  XXVI. Waiting
+ XXVII. The Magic Bone
+XXVIII. Simba's Adventure
+  XXIX. Winkleman's Safari Arrives
+   XXX. Winkleman Appears
+  XXXI. Light Again
+ XXXII. The Colours
+XXXIII. Curtain
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+"'Go, I say!' cried the Leopard Woman. 'And hold up your head. If this is
+suspected of you, you will surely die'" ... _Frontispiece_
+
+"'If you _will_ ride in a hammock, you ought to teach your men to shoot,'
+was Kingozi's greeting"
+
+"After the flat crack of the rifle a hollow _plunk_ indicated that the
+bullet had told"
+
+"Their eyes were large with curiosity as to this man and woman of a new
+species ... Kingozi touched his lips to the _tembo_"
+
+"'Cazi Moto, take this stick and make on the ground marks exactly like
+those on the _barua_. Make them deep, so that I may feel them with my
+hands'"
+
+"The search party found Winkleman, very dirty, quite hungry, profoundly
+chagrined"
+
+"At the top of the hill the guide stopped and pointed. Kingozi gathered
+that through the distant cleft he indicated the strangers must come"
+
+"So intent was the Leopard Woman on the examination and on Kingozi that
+she seemed utterly unconscious of the men standing over opposite ... A
+more startlingly exotic figure for the wilds of Central Africa could not
+be imagined"
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LEOPARD WOMAN
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+THE MARCH
+
+It was the close of the day. Over the baked veldt of Equatorial Africa a
+safari marched. The men, in single file, were reduced to the unimportance
+of moving black dots by the tremendous sweep of the dry country stretching
+away to a horizon infinitely remote, beyond which lay single mountains,
+like ships becalmed hull-down at sea. The immensities filled the world--
+the simple immensities of sky and land. Only by an effort, a wrench of the
+mind, would a bystander on the advantage, say, of one of the little rocky,
+outcropping hills have been able to narrow his vision to details.
+
+And yet details were interesting. The vast shallow cup to the horizon
+became a plain sparsely grown with flat-topped thorn trees. It was not a
+forest, yet neither was it open country. The eye penetrated the thin
+screen of tree trunks to the distance of half a mile or more, but was
+brought to a stop at last. Underfoot was hard-baked earth, covered by
+irregular patches of shale that tinkled when stepped on. Well-defined
+paths, innumerable, trodden deep and hard, cut into the iron soil. They
+nearly all ran in a northwesterly direction. The few traversing paths took
+a long slant. These paths, so exactly like those crossing a village green,
+had in all probability never been trodden by human foot. They had been
+made by the game animals, the swarming multitudinous game of Central
+Africa.
+
+The safari was using one of the game trails. It was a compact little
+safari, comprising not over thirty men all told. The single white man
+walked fifty yards or so ahead of the main body. He was evidently tired,
+for his shoulders drooped, and his shuffling, slow-swinging gait would
+anywhere have been recognized by children of the wilderness as that which
+gets the greatest result from the least effort. Dressed in the brown cork
+helmet, the brown flannel shirt with spine-pad, the khaki trousers, and
+the light boots of the African traveller little was to be made of either
+his face or figure. The former was fully bearded, the latter powerful
+across the shoulders. His belt was heavy with little leather pockets; a
+pair of prismatic field-glasses, suspended from a strap around his neck,
+swung across his chest; in the crook of his left arm he carried a light
+rifle.
+
+Immediately at his heels followed a native. This man's face was in
+conformation that of the typical negro; but there the resemblance ceased.
+Behind the features glowed a proud, fierce spirit that transformed them.
+His head was high but his eyes roved from right to left restlessly, never
+still save when they paused for a flickering instant to examine some
+gazelle, some distant herd of zebra or wildebeeste standing in the vista
+of the flat-topped trees. His nostrils slowly expanded and contracted with
+his breathing, as do those of a spirited horse. In contrast to the gait of
+the white man he stepped vigorously and proudly as though the long day had
+not touched his strength. He wore a battered old felt hat, a tattered
+flannel shirt, a ragged pair of shorts, and the blue puttees issued by the
+British to their native troops. The straps of two canteens crossed on his
+breast; a full cartridge belt encircled his waist; he carried lightly and
+easily one of those twelve-pound double cordite rifles that constitute the
+only African life insurance.
+
+Fifty yards in the rear marched the carriers. They were a straight, strong
+lot, dressed according to their fancy or opportunity in the cast-off
+garments of the coast; comical in the ensemble, perhaps, but worthy of
+respect in that all day each had carried a seventy-pound load under a
+tropical sun, and that they were coming in strong.
+
+And finally, bringing up the rear, marched a small, lively, wizened little
+fellow, dressed as nearly as possible like the white man, and carrying as
+the badge of his office a bulging cotton umbrella and the _kiboko_--the
+slender, limber, stinging rhinoceros-hide whip.
+
+It was the end of a long march. This could be guessed by the hour, by the
+wearied slouch of the white man, above all by the conduct of the safari.
+The men were walking one on the heels of the other. Their burdens, carried
+on their heads, held them erect. They stepped out freely. But against the
+wooden chop boxes, the bags of cornmeal _potio_, the bundles of canvas
+that made up some of the loads, the long safari sticks went _tap, tap,
+tap_, in rhythm. This tapping was a steady undertone to the volume of
+noise that arose from thirty throats. Every man was singing or shouting at
+the full strength of his lungs. A little file of Wakamba sung in unison
+one of the weird wavering minor chants peculiar to savage peoples
+everywhere; some Kavirondos simply howled in staccato barks like beasts.
+Between the extremes were many variations; but every man contributed to
+the uproar, and tapped his load rhythmically with his long stick. By this
+the experienced traveller would have known that the men were very tired,
+tired to the point of exhaustion; for the more wearied the Central African
+native, or the steeper the hill he, laden, must surmount, the louder he
+sings or yells.
+
+"_Maji hapana m'bale, bwana_," observed the gun bearer to the white man.
+"Water is not far, master."
+
+The white man merely nodded. These two had been together many years, and
+explanations were not necessary between them. He, as well as Simba, had
+noticed the gradual convergence of the game trails, the presence of small
+grass birds that flushed under their feet, the sing-sing buck behind the
+aloes, the increasing numbers of game animals that stared or fled at the
+sight and sound of the safari.
+
+Nothing more was said. The way led to the top of one of those low
+transverse swells that conceal the middle distance without actually
+breaking the surface of the veldt. In the corresponding depression beyond
+now could be discerned a wandering slender line of green.
+
+"_Maji huko!_" murmured Simba. "There is the water."
+
+Suddenly he stooped low, uttering a peculiar hissing sound. The white man,
+too, dropped to the ground, throwing his rifle forward.
+
+"_Nyama, bwana!_" he whispered fiercely, "_karibu sana!_"
+
+He pointed cautiously over the white man's shoulder. The safari, at the
+sight of the two dropping to a crouch, had stopped as though petrified,
+and stood waiting in silence.
+
+"We have no meat," Simba reminded his master in Swahili.
+
+The white man eased himself back to a sitting posture, resting his elbows
+on his knees, as all sensible good rifle shots do when they have the
+chance. Simba, his eyes glowing fiercely, staring with almost hypnotic
+intensity over his master's shoulder, quivered like an eager dog.
+
+"Hah!" he grunted as the loud spat of the bullet followed the rifle's
+crack. "_Na kamata_--he has it!" he added as the wildebeeste plunged into
+full view.
+
+The hunter manipulated the bolt to throw in a new cartridge, but did not
+shift his position. In less remote countries the sportsman, unlimited in
+ammunition but restricted in chances, would probably have pumped in four
+or five shots until the quarry was down. The traveller and Simba watched
+closely, with expert eyes, to determine whether a precious second
+cartridge should be expended.
+
+"Where?" asked the white man briefly.
+
+"Low in the shoulder," replied Simba.
+
+The wildebeeste plunged wildly here and there, kicking, bucking, menacing
+the unseen danger with his horns. For several seconds longer the two
+watched, then rose leisurely to their feet. Simba motioned to the waiting
+safari, who, correctly interpreting the situation, broke into a trot. Both
+Simba and his master knew that had the animal not received a mortal wound
+it would before this have whirled to look back. The fact that it still ran
+proved its extremity. Sure enough, within the hundred yards it suddenly
+plunged forward on its nose, rolled over, and lay still.
+
+The fierce countenance of the gun bearer lit up in triumph. He shifted the
+heavy rifle and reached out to touch the lighter weapon resting again in
+the crook of his master's arm.
+
+"_Nyama Yangu! Nyama Yangu!_" he murmured. That was Simba's name for the
+light rifle that did most of the shooting. The words meant simply "my
+meat." Simba had a name for everything from the sheath knife of his office
+to the white man himself. Indeed Culbertson in the Central countries was
+Culbertson to none. Should you inquire for news of him by that name news
+you could not obtain; but of Bwana Kingozi you might learn from many
+tribes and peoples.
+
+But now the safari, topping the hill, swept down with a rapid fire of
+safari sticks against the loads and a chorus whose single word was
+"_n'yama!_"
+
+Simba was already at the carcass, _Kisu M'kubwa_, his thin-bladed knife,
+in his hand. The men eased their loads to the ground, and stood about with
+eagerly gleaming eyes, as would well-trained dogs in like circumstances.
+Simba briefly indicated the three nearest to act as his assistants. The
+wildebeeste was rapidly skinned and as rapidly dismembered, the meat laid
+aside. Only once did the white man speak or manifest the slightest
+interest.
+
+"_Sarrara indani yangu_--the tenderloin is mine."
+
+The wizened little headman with the umbrella and the _kiboko_, who
+answered to the name of Cazi Moto, stepped forward and took charge of the
+indicated delicacy. Soon all was ready for a resumption of the march.
+Nothing was left of the wildebeeste save the head and the veriest offal.
+The stomach and intestines, even, had been emptied of their contents and
+packed away in the hide.
+
+Already the carrion birds had gathered in incredible numbers. The sky was
+full of them circling; an encompassing ring of them sat a scant fifty
+yards distant, their wings held half out from their bodies, as though they
+felt overheated. And in the low bushes could be discerned the lurking,
+furtive, shadowy jackals.
+
+The men were laughing, their weariness forgotten. Maulo, the camp
+humourist, declaimed loudly at the top of his lungs, mocking the
+marabouts, the buzzards, the vultures great and small, the kites and the
+eagles.
+
+"Go to the lion," he cried, "he kills much, and leaves. Little meat will
+you get here. We keep what we get!"
+
+And the men broke into meaningless but hearty laughter, as though at
+brilliant wit.
+
+But Bwana Kingozi's low voice cut across the merriment.
+
+"_Bandika!_" he commanded.
+
+And immediately Cazi Moto and Simba took up the cry.
+
+"_Bandika! bandika! bandika!_" they vociferated over and over. Cazi Moto
+moved here and there, lively as a cricket, his eyes alert for any
+indication of slackness, his _kiboko_ held threateningly.
+
+But there was no need for the latter. The men willingly enough swung aloft
+their loads, now augmented by the meat, and the little caravan moved on.
+
+Scarcely had Cazi Moto, bringing up the rear, quitted the scene when the
+carrion birds swooped. They fell from the open sky like plummets, their
+wings half folded. When within ten feet of the ground they checked their
+fall with pinion and tail, and the sound of them was like the roar of a
+cataract. Those seated on the ground moved forward in a series of ungainly
+hops, trying for more haste by futile urgings of their wings. Where the
+wildebeeste had fallen was a writhing, flopping, struggling brown mass. In
+an incredibly brief number of seconds it was all over. The birds withdrew.
+Some sat disgruntled and humpbacked in the low trees; some merely hopped
+away a few yards to indulge in gloomy thoughts. A few of the more
+ambitious rose heavily and laboriously with strenuous beating of pinions,
+finally to soar grandly away into the infinities of the African sky. Of
+the wildebeeste remained only a trampled bloody space and bones picked
+clean. The jackals crept forward at last. So brief a time did all this
+occupy that Maulo, looking back, saw them.
+
+"Ho, little dogs!" he cried with one of his great empty laughs; "your
+stomachs will go hollow but you can fill your noses!"
+
+They tramped on steadily toward the low narrow line of green trees, and
+the sun sank toward the hills.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+THE CAMP
+
+The game trails converged at a point where the steep, eroded bank had been
+broken down into an approach to a pool. The dust was deep here, and arose
+in a cloud as a little band of zebra scrambled away. The borders of this
+pool were a fascinating palimpsest: the tracks of many sorts of beast had
+been impressed there in the mud. Both Kingozi and Simba examined them with
+an approach to interest, though to an observer the examination would have
+seemed but the most casual of glances. They saw the indications of zebra,
+wildebeeste, hartebeeste, gazelles of various sorts, the deep, round,
+well-like prints of the rhinoceros, and all the other usual inhabitants of
+the veldt. But over these their eyes passed lightly. Only three things
+could here interest these seasoned African travellers. Simba espied one of
+them, and pointed it out, just at the edge of the narrow border of softer
+mud.
+
+"There is the lion," said he. "A big one. He was here this morning. But no
+buffalo, _bwana_; and no elephant."
+
+The water in the pool was muddy and foul. Thousands of animals drank from
+it daily; and after drinking had stood or wallowed in it. The flavour
+would be rich of the barnyard, which even a strong infusion of tea could
+not disguise. _Kingozi_ had often been forced to worse; but here he hoped
+for better.
+
+The safari had dumped down the loads at the top of the bank, and were
+resting in utter relaxation. The march was over, and they waited.
+
+Bwana Kingozi threw off the carefully calculated listless slouch that had
+conserved his strength for an unknown goal. His work was not yet done.
+
+"Simba," he directed, "go that way, down the river[1] and look for another
+pool--of good water. Take the big rifle."
+
+[Footnote 1: Every watercourse with any water at all, even in occasional
+pools, is _m'to_--a river--in Africa.]
+
+"And I to go in the other direction?" asked Cazi Moto.
+
+Bwana Kingozi considered, glancing at the setting sun, and again up the
+dry stream-bed where, as far as the eye could reach, were no more
+indications of water.
+
+"No," he decided. "It is late. Soon the lions will be hunting. I will go."
+
+The men sprawled in abandon. After an interval a shrill whistle sounded
+from the direction in which Bwana Kingozi had disappeared. The men
+stretched and began to rise to their feet slowly. The short rest had
+stiffened them and brought home the weariness to their bones. They
+grumbled and muttered, and only the omnipresence of Cazi Moto and the
+threat of his restless whip roused them to activity. Down the stream they
+limped sullenly.
+
+Kingozi stood waiting near the edge of the bank. The thicket here was very
+dense.
+
+"Water there," he briefly indicated. "The big tent here; the opening in
+that direction. Cook fire over there. Loads here."
+
+The men who had been standing, the burdens still on their heads, moved
+forward. The tent porter--who, by the way, was the strongest and most
+reliable of the men, so that always, even on a straggling march, the tent
+would arrive first--threw it down at the place selected and at once began
+to undo the cords. The bearers of the kitchen, who were also reliable
+travellers, set about the cook camp.
+
+A big Monumwezi unstrapped a canvas chair, unfolded it, and placed it near
+his master. The other loads were arranged here, in a certain long-ordained
+order; the meat piled there. Several men then went to the assistance of
+Mali-ya-bwana, the tent bearer; and the others methodically took up
+various tasks. Some began with their _pangas_ to hew a way to the water
+through the dense thicket that had kept it sweet; others sought firewood;
+still others began to pitch the tiny drill tents--each to accommodate six
+men--in a wide circle of which the pile of loads was the centre. As the
+men fell into the ordered and habitual routine their sullenness and
+weariness vanished.
+
+Kingozi dropped into the canvas chair, fumbled for a pipe, filled and
+lighted it. With a sigh of relief he laid aside his cork helmet. The day
+had not only been a hard one, but an anxious one, for this country was new
+to every member of the little expedition, native guides had been
+impossible to procure, and the chances of water had been those of an arid
+region.
+
+The removal of the helmet for the first tune revealed the man's features.
+A fine brow, upstanding thick and wavy hair, and the clearest of gray eyes
+suddenly took twenty years from the age at first made probable by the
+heavy beard. With the helmet pulled low this was late middle age; now
+bareheaded it was only bearded youth. Nevertheless at the corners of the
+eyes were certain wrinkles, and in the eyes themselves a direct competent
+steadiness that was something apart from the usual acquisition of youth,
+something the result of experience not given to most.
+
+He smoked quietly, his eye wandering from one point to another of the new-
+born camp's activities. One after another the men came to report the
+completion of their tasks.
+
+"_Pita ya maji tayiari_," said Sanguiki coming from the new-made water
+trail.
+
+"_I zuru_," approved Kingozi.
+
+"_Hema tayiari_," reported Simba, reaching his hand for the light rifle.
+
+Kingozi glanced toward the tent and nodded. A licking little fire
+flickered in the cook camp. The tiny porter's tents had completed their
+circle, and in front of each new smoke was beginning to rise. Cazi Moto
+glided up and handed him the _kiboko_, the rhinoceros-hide whip, the
+symbol of authority. Everything was in order.
+
+The white man rose a little stiffly and walked over to the pile of meat.
+For a moment he examined it contemplatively, aroused himself with an
+apparent effort, and began to separate it into four piles. He did not
+handle the meat himself, but silently indicated each portion with his
+_kiboko_, and Simba or Cazi Moto swiftly laid it aside.
+
+"This for the gun-bearer camp," commanded Kingozi, touching with his foot
+the heavy "backstraps" and the liver--the next choicest bits after
+tenderloin. He raised his voice.
+
+"Kavirondo!" he called.
+
+Several tall, well-formed black savages of this tribe arose from one of
+the little fires and approached. The white man indicated one of the piles
+of meat.
+
+"Wakamba!" he summoned; then "Monumwezi"; and finally "Baganda!"
+
+Thus the four tribes represented in his caravan were supplied. The men
+returned to their fires, and began the preparation of their evening meal.
+
+Kingozi turned to his own tent with a sigh of relief. Within it a cot had
+been erected, blankets spread. An officer's tin box stood open at one end.
+On the floor was a portable canvas bath. While the white man was divesting
+himself of his accoutrements, Cazi Moto entered bearing a galvanized pail
+full of hot water which he poured into the tub. He disappeared only to
+return with a pail of cold water to temper the first.
+
+"Bath is ready, _bwana_," said he, and retired, carefully tying the tent
+flaps behind him.
+
+Fifteen minutes later Kingozi emerged. He wore now a suit of pajamas
+tucked into canvas "mosquito boots," with very thin soles. He looked
+scrubbed and clean, the sheen of water still glistening on his thick wavy
+hair.
+
+The canvas camp chair had been placed before two chop boxes piled one atop
+the other to form a crude table on which were laid eating utensils. As
+soon as Cazi Moto saw that his master was ready, he brought the meal. It
+consisted simply of a platter of curry composed of rice and the fresh meat
+that had been so recently killed that it had not time to get tough. This
+was supplemented by bread and tea in a tall enamelware vessel known as a
+_balauri_. From the simplicity of this meal one experienced would have
+deduced--even had he not done so from a dozen other equally significant
+nothings--that this was no sporting excursion, but an expedition grimly in
+earnest about something.
+
+The sun had set, and almost immediately the darkness descended, as though
+the light had been turned off at a switch. The earth shrunk to a pool of
+blackness, and the heavens expanded to a glory of tropical stars. All
+visible nature contracted to the light thrown by the flickering fires
+before the tiny white tents. The tatterdemalion crew had, after the
+curious habit of Africans, cast aside its garments, and sat forth in a
+bronze and savage nakedness. All day long under the blistering sun your
+safari man will wear all that he hath, even unto the heavy overcoat
+discarded by the latest arrival from England's winter; but when the chill
+of evening descends, then he strips happily. The men were fed now, and
+were content. A busy chatter, the crooning of songs, laughter, an
+occasional shout testified to this. A general relaxation took the camp.
+
+The white man finished his meal and lighted his pipe. Even yet his day's
+work was not quite done, and he was unwilling to yield himself to rest
+until all tasks were cleared away.
+
+"Cazi Moto!" he called.
+
+Instantly, it seemed, the headman stood at his elbow.
+
+"To-morrow," said Kingozi deliberately, and paused in decision so long
+that Cazi Moto ventured a "Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"To-morrow we rest here. It will be your _cazi_ (duty) to find news of the
+next water, or to find the water. See if there are people in this country.
+Take one man with you. Let the men rest and eat."
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"Are there sick?"
+
+"Two men."
+
+"Let them come."
+
+Cazi Moto raised his voice.
+
+"_N'gonjwa!_" he summoned them.
+
+Kingozi looked at them in silence for a moment.
+
+"What is the matter with you?" he asked of the first, a hulking, stupid-
+looking Kavirondo with the muscles of a Hercules.
+
+The man replied, addressing Cazi Moto, as is etiquette; and although
+Kingozi understood perfectly, he awaited his headman's repetition of the
+speech as though the Kavirondo had spoken a strange language.
+
+"Fever, eh?" commented Kingozi aloud to himself, for the first time
+speaking his own tongue. "We'll soon see. Cazi Moto," he instructed in
+Swahili, "the medicine."
+
+He thrust a clinical thermometer beneath the Kavirondo's tongue, glancing
+at a wrist watch as he did so.
+
+"Cazi Moto," he said calmly after three minutes, "this man is a liar. He
+is not sick; he merely wants to get out of carrying a load."
+
+The Kavirondo, his eyes rolling, shot forth a torrent of language.
+
+"He says," Cazi Moto summarized all this, "that he was very sick, but that
+this medicine"--indicating the thermometer--"cured him."
+
+"He lies again," said Kingozi. "This is not medicine, but magic that tells
+me when a man has uttered lies. This man must beware or he will get
+_kiboko_."
+
+The Kavirondo scuttled away, and Kingozi gave his attention to the second
+patient. This man had an infected leg that required some minor surgery.
+When the job was over and Kingozi had washed his hands, he relighted his
+pipe and sat back in his chair with a sigh of content. The immediate
+foreground sank below his consciousness. He stared across the flickering
+fires at the velvet blackness; listened across the intimate, idle noise of
+the camp to the voice of the veldt.
+
+For with the fall of darkness and the larger silence of darkness, the
+veldt awoke. Animals that had dozed through the hot hours and grazed
+through the cooler hours in somnolent content now quivered alert. There
+were runnings here and there, the stamp of hoofs, sharp snortings as taut
+nerves stretched. Zebras uttered the absurd small-dog barks peculiar to
+them; ostriches boomed; jackals yapped; unknown birds uttered hasty wild
+calls. Numerous hyenas, near and far away, moaned like lost souls. Kingozi
+listened as to the voice of an old acquaintance telling familiar things;
+the men chattered on, their whole attention within the globe of light from
+their fires.
+
+But suddenly the noise stopped as though it had been cut by a knife. Total
+silence fell on the little encampment. The men, their various actions
+suspended, listened intently. From far away, apparently, a low, vibrating
+rumble stole out of the night's immensity. It rose and seemed to draw
+near, growing hollow and great, until the very ground seemed to tremble as
+though a heavy train were passing, or the lower notes of a great organ had
+been played in a little church. And then it died down, and receded to the
+great distance again, and was ended by three low, grunting coughs.
+
+The veldt was silent. The zebra barkings were still; the night birds had
+hushed; the hyenas and jackals and all the other night creatures down--it
+almost seemed--to the very insects had ceased their calls and cries and
+chirpings. One might imagine every living creature rigid, alert,
+listening, as were these men about the little fires.
+
+The tension relaxed. The men dropped more fuel on the fires, coaxing the
+flame brighter. A whispering comment rose from group to group.
+
+"_Simba! simba! simba!_" they hissed one to the other.
+
+A lion had roared!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+THE RHINOCEROS
+
+In the first gray dusk Simba and Cazi Moto slipped away on the errands
+appointed for them--to find people and to find water, if possible. The
+cook camp, too, was afoot, dark figures passing and repassing before a
+fire. But the rest of the men slept heavily, seizing the unwonted chance.
+
+When the first rays of the sun struck the fly of the small green master's-
+tent Kingozi appeared, demanding water wherewith to wash. At the sound of
+his voice men stirred sleepily, sat up, poked the remains of their tiny
+fires. As though through an open tap the freshness of night-time drained
+away. The hot, searching, stifling African day took possession of the
+world.
+
+After breakfast Kingozi looked about him for shelter. A gorgeous, red-
+flowering vine had smothered one of the flat-topped thorn trees in its
+luxuriance. The growths of successive years had overlaid each other.
+Kingozi called two men with _pangas_ who speedily cut out the centre,
+leaving a little round green room in the heart of the shadow. Thither
+Kingozi caused to be conveyed his chop-box table, his canvas chair, and
+his tin box; and there he spent the entire morning writing in a blank book
+and carefully drawing from field notes in a pocketbook a sketch map of the
+country he had traversed. At noon he ate a light meal of bread, plain rice
+with sugar, and a _balauri_ of tea. Then for a time he slept beneath the
+mosquito bar in his tent.
+
+At this hour of fiercest sun the whole world slept with him. From the
+baked earth rose heat waves almost as tangible as gauze veils. Objects at
+a greater distance than a hundred yards took on strange distortions. The
+thorn trees shot up to great heights; animals stood on stilts; the tops of
+the hills were flattened, and from their summits often reached out into
+space long streamers. Sometimes these latter joined across wide intervals,
+creating an illusion of natural bridges or lofty flat-topped cliffs with
+holes clear through them to the open sky beyond. All these things
+shimmered and flickered and wavered in the mirage of noon. Only the sun
+itself stared clear and unchanging.
+
+At about two o'clock Kingozi awoke and raised his voice. Mali-ya-bwana,
+next in command after Cazi Moto and Simba, answered.
+
+"Get the big gun," he was told, "and the water bottles."
+
+Mali-ya-bwana was not a professed gun bearer, but he could load, and
+Kingozi believed him staunch. Therefore, often, in absence of Simba, the
+big Baganda had been pressed into this service.
+
+The blasting heat was fiercest at this hour. The air was saturated by it
+just as water may hold a chemical in solution. Every little while a wave
+would beat against the cheek as though a furnace door had been opened.
+Nevertheless Kingozi knew that this was also the hour when the sun's power
+begins to decline; when the vertical rays begin to give place. For it is
+not heat that kills, but the actinic power of rays unfiltered by a long
+slant through the earth's atmosphere.
+
+The two men tramped methodically along, paying little attention to their
+surroundings. Game dozed everywhere beneath the scanty shade, sometimes
+singly, sometimes in twos or threes, sometimes in herds. Motionless they
+stood; and often, were it not for the switch of a tail, they would have
+remained unobserved. Even the sentinel hartebeestes, posted atop high ant
+hills on the outskirts of the herds, seemed half asleep. Nevertheless they
+were awake enough for the job, as was evidenced when the two human figures
+came too near. Then a snort brought every creature to its feet, staring.
+
+The objective of the men seemed to be a rise of land which the lessening
+mirage now permitted to appear as a small kopje, a solitary hill with
+rocky outcrops. Toward this they plodded methodically: Kingozi slouching
+ahead, Mali-ya-bwana close at his heels, very proud of his temporary
+promotion from the ranks. Suddenly he snapped his fingers. At the signal
+Kingozi stopped and looked back inquiringly over his shoulder.
+
+Mali-ya-bwana was pointing cautiously to a low red clay ant hill
+immediately in their path and about thirty yards ahead. To the casual
+glance it looked no different from any of the hundreds of others of like
+size and colour everywhere to be seen. Kingozi's attention, however, now
+narrowed to a smaller circle than the casual. It did not need Mali-ya-
+bwana's whispered "_faru_" (rhinoceros) to identify the mound.
+
+Cautiously the two men began to back away. When they had receded some
+twenty yards, however, the huge beast leaped to its feet. The rapidity of
+its movements was extraordinary. There intervened none of the slow and
+clumsy upheaval one would naturally expect from an animal of so massive a
+body and such short, thick legs. One moment it slumbered, the next it was
+afoot, warned by some slight sound or jar of the earth or--as some
+maintain--by a telepathic sense of danger. Certainly, as far as they knew,
+neither Kingozi nor Mali-ya-bwana had disturbed a pebble or broken a twig.
+
+The rhinoceros faced them, snorting loudly. The sound was exactly that of
+steam roaring from a locomotive's safety valve. Strangely enough, in spite
+of the massive structure and the loose, thick skin of the beast, it
+conveyed an impression of taut, nervous muscles. Though it faced directly
+toward them, the men knew that they were as yet unseen. The rhinoceros'
+eyesight is very short, or very circumscribed, or both; and only objects
+in motion and comparatively close enter its range of vision. Kingozi and
+his man held themselves rigidly immovable, waiting for what would happen.
+The rhinoceros, too, held himself rigidly immovable, his nostrils dilating
+between snorts, his ears turning; for his senses of smell and hearing made
+up in their keenness for the defects of his eyes.
+
+Suddenly, without the slightest warning, he stuck his tail perpendicular
+and plunged forward at a clumsy-looking but exceedingly swift gallop.
+
+An inexperienced man would have considered himself the object of a
+deliberate "charge"; but an old African traveller, such as Kingozi, knew
+this for a blind rush in the direction toward which the animal happened to
+be headed. The rhinoceros, alarmed by the first intimation of danger,
+unable to get further news from its keener senses, had been seized by a
+panic. Were nothing to deflect him from the straight line, he would
+continue ahead on it until the panic had run out.
+
+But the two men were exactly in that line!
+
+Kingozi hitched his light rifle forward imperceptibly. Although this was
+at present only a blind rush, should the rhinoceros catch sight of them he
+would fight; and within twenty-five yards or so his eyesight would be
+quite good enough. As the beast did not slow up in the first ten yards,
+but rather settled into its stride, Kingozi took rapid aim and fired.
+
+His intention was neither to kill nor to cripple his antagonist. If that
+had been the case, he would have used the heavy double rifle that Mali-ya-
+bwana held ready near his elbow. The bullet inflicted a slight flesh wound
+in the outer surface of the beast's left shoulder. Kingozi instantly
+passed the light rifle back with his right hand, at the same motion
+seizing the double rifle with his left.
+
+But at the _spat_ of the bullet the rhino veered toward the direction from
+which it seemed to his stupid brain the hurt had come. Tail erect, he
+thundered away down the slope.
+
+For a hundred yards he careered full speed, then slowed to a trot, finally
+stopped, whirled, and faced to a new direction. The sound of his blowing
+came clearly across the intervening distance.
+
+A low bush grew near. The rhino attacked this savagely, horning it,
+trampling it down. The dust arose in clouds. Then the huge brute trotted
+slowly away, still snorting angrily, pausing to butt violently the larger
+trees, or to tear into shreds some bush or ant hill that loomed
+dangerously in the primeval fogs of his brain.
+
+"Sorry, old chap," commented Kingozi in his own language, "but you're none
+the worse. Only I'm afraid your naturally sweet temper is spoiled for to-
+day, at least."
+
+He turned to exchange guns with Mali-ya-bwana.
+
+"_N'dio, bwana_," assented the latter to a speech of which he understood
+not one word. Mali-ya-bwana was secretly a little proud of himself for
+having stuck like a gun bearer, instead of shinning up a thorn tree like a
+porter.
+
+Kingozi slipped a cartridge into the rifle, and the two resumed their walk
+toward the kopje.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+THE STRANGER
+
+By the time the two men had gained the top of the hill the worst heat of
+the day had passed. Kingozi seated himself on a flat rock and at once
+began to take sights through a prismatic compass, entering the
+observations in a pocketbook. Mali-ya-bwana, bolt upright, stared out over
+the thinly wooded plain below. He reported the result of his scouting in a
+low voice, to which the white man paid no attention whatever.
+
+"_Twiga[2] bwana_," he said, and then, as his eye caught the flash of many
+sing-sing horns, "_kuru, mingi_." Thus he named over the different
+animals--the topi, the red hartebeeste, the eland, zebra, some warthogs,
+and many others. The beasts were anticipating the cool of the afternoon,
+and were grazing slowly out from beneath the trees, scattering abroad over
+the landscape.
+
+[Footnote 2: Giraffe.]
+
+From even this slight elevation the outlook extended. Isolated mountain
+ranges showed loftier; the tops of unguessed hills peeped above the curve
+of the earth; the clear line of the horizon had receded to the outer
+confines of terrestrial space, but even then not far enough to touch the
+cup of the sky. Elsewhere the heavens meet the horizon: in Africa they lie
+beyond it, so that when the round, fleecy clouds of the Little Rains sail
+down the wind there is always a fleet of them beyond the earth
+disappearing into the immensities of the infinite. There is space in
+African skies beyond the experience of those who have dwelt only in other
+lands. They dwarf the earth; and the plains and mountains, lying in weeks'
+journeys spread before the eye, dwarf all living things, so that at the
+last the man of imagination here becomes a humble creature.
+
+For an hour the two remained on top the kopje. The details of the unknown
+country ahead, toward which Kingozi gave his attention, were simple. From
+the green line of the watercourse, near which the camp showed white and
+tiny, the veldt swept away for miles almost unbroken. Here and there were
+tiny parklike openings of clear grass; here and there more kopjes standing
+isolated and alone, like fortresses. Far down over the edge of the world
+showed dim and blue the tops of a short range of mountains. Vainly did
+Kingozi sweep his glasses over the landscape in hope of another line of
+green. No watercourse was visible. On the other hand, the scattered growth
+of thorn trees showed no signs of thickening to the dense spiky jungle
+that is one of the terrors of African travel. There might be a watercourse
+hidden in the folds of the earth; there might be a rainwater "tank," or a
+spring, on any of the kopjes. Simba and Cazi Moto were both experienced,
+and capable of a long round trip. The problem of days' journeys was not
+pressing at this moment. Kingozi noted the compass bearings of all the
+kopjes; took back sights in the direction from which he had come; closed
+his compass; and began idly to sweep the country with his glasses. In an
+unwonted mood of expansion he turned to Mali-ya-bwana.
+
+"We go there," he told the porter, indicating the blue mountain-tops.
+
+"It is far," Mali-ya-bwana replied.
+
+Kingozi continued to look through his glasses. Suddenly he stopped them on
+an open plain three or four miles back in the direction from which he had
+come the day before. Mali-ya-bwana followed his gaze.
+
+"A safari, _bwana_," he observed, unmoved. "A very large safari," he
+amended, after a moment.
+
+Through his prismatic glasses Kingozi could see every detail plainly.
+After his fashion of talking aloud, he reported what he saw, partly to the
+black man at his side, but mostly to himself.
+
+"_Askaris_,"[3] he said, "six of them. The man rides in a _machele_[4]--he
+is either a German or a Portuguese; only those people use _macheles_--
+unless he is sick! Many porters--four are no more white men. More
+_askaris!_" He smiled a little contemptuously under his beard. "This is a
+great safari, Mali-ya-bwana. Four tin boxes and twelve _askaris_ to guard
+them; and eighty or more porters; and sixteen men just to carry the
+_machele!_ This must be a _Bwana M' Kubwa_."
+
+[Footnote 3: Native troops, armed with Snider muskets.]
+
+[Footnote 4: A hammock slung on a long pole, and carried by four men at
+each end.]
+
+"That is what Kavirondos might think," replied Mali-ya-bwana calmly.
+
+Kingozi looked up at him with a new curiosity.
+
+"But not yourself?"
+
+"A man who is a _Bwana M'kubwa_ does not have to be carried. He does not
+need _askaris_ to guard him in this country. And where can he get _potio_
+for so many?"
+
+"Hullo!" cried Kingozi, surprised. "This is not porter's talk; this is
+headman's talk!"
+
+"In my own country I am headman of many people," replied Mali-ya-bwana
+with a flash of pride.
+
+"Yet you carry my tent load."
+
+But Mali-ya-bwana made no reply, fixing his fierce eyes on the distant
+crawling safari.
+
+"It must be a sportsman's safari," said Kingozi, this time to himself,
+"though what a sportsman wants in this back-of-beyond is a fair conundrum.
+Probably one of these chappies with more money than sense: wants to go
+somewhere nobody else has been, and can't go there without his caviare and
+his changes of clothes, and about eight guns--not to speak of a Complete
+Sportsman's Outfit as advertised exclusively by some Cockney Tom Fool on
+Haymarket."
+
+He contemplated a problem frowningly. "Whoever it is will be a nuisance--a
+_damn_ nuisance!" he concluded.
+
+"_N'dio, bwana_," came Mali-ya-bwana's cheerful response to this speech in
+a language strange to him.
+
+"You have asked a true question," Kingozi shifted to Swahili. "Where is
+_potio_ to be had for so large a safari? Trouble--much trouble!" He arose
+from the flat stone. "We will go and talk with this safari."
+
+At an angle calculated to intercept the caravan, Kingozi set off down the
+hill.
+
+After twenty minutes' brisk walk it became evident that they were
+approaching the route of march. Animals fled past them in increasing
+numbers, some headlong, others at a dignified and leisurely gait, as
+though performing a duty. The confused noise of many people became audible
+and the tapping of safari sticks against the loads.
+
+At the edge of a tiny opening Kingozi, concealed behind a bush, reviewed
+the new arrivals at close range, estimating each element on which a
+judgment could be based. As usual, he thought aloud, muttering his
+speculations sometimes in his own language, sometimes in the equally
+familiar Swahili.
+
+"_Askaris_ not _pukha[5] askaris_ of the government. Those are not Sniders
+they carry--don't know that kind of musket. Those boxes are not the usual
+type--wonder where they were bought!"
+
+[Footnote 5: Genuine--regular.]
+
+The hammock came into view, swinging on the long pole. It was borne by
+four men at each end--experienced _machele_ carriers who would keep step
+with a gentle gliding. Eight more walked alongside as relay. They would
+change places so skilfully that the occupant of the hammock could not have
+told when the shift took place. Alongside walked a tall, bareheaded, very
+black man. Kingozi's experienced eye was caught by differences.
+
+"Of what tribe is that man?" he asked.
+
+But Mali-ya-bwana was also puzzled.
+
+"I do not know, bwana. He is a _shenzi_[6]."
+
+[Footnote 6: Wild Man.]
+
+The unknown was very tall, very straight, most well formed. But his face
+was extraordinarily ugly. His flat, wide nose, thick lips, and small
+yellow eyes were set off by an upstanding mop of hair. His expression was
+of extraordinary fierceness. He walked with a free and independent stride,
+and carried a rifle.
+
+"He is not of this country. He is from the west coast, or perhaps Nubia or
+the Sudan," was Kingozi's conclusion.
+
+"Many of these people are _shenzis_," Mali-ya-bwana pursued his own
+thought.
+
+"That is true," Kingozi acknowledged. "If this is a sportsman, from what
+part did he hail to have got together this lot! We will see."
+
+As the swinging hammock came opposite his concealment, Kingozi stepped
+forward.
+
+Every one in sight looked in his direction, but none showed any
+astonishment at this apparition out of the wilderness. The sophisticated
+African has ceased to be surprised at anything a white man may do. If he
+can make fire by rubbing a tiny stick _once_, why should he not do
+anything under heaven he wants to? A locomotive, an automobile, a flying
+machine are miracles, but no less--and no greater--than ordinary matches.
+Once admit the ability to transcend natural laws, once admit the
+possibility of miracles, why be surprised at anything? If a white man
+chose to appear thus in an unknown country, why not? If he chose again to
+vanish into thin air, again why not? Only the fierce-looking savage
+carrying the rifle rolled his eyes uneasily.
+
+But at this precise moment a diversion on the opposite side of the line
+attracted attention enough. A galvanic shiver ran down the string of
+porters, succeeded at once by a crashing of loads cast hastily to the
+ground. With unanimity the bearers swarmed across the little open space
+toward and to either side of Kingozi and his attendant. Reaching the
+fringe of flat-topped trees they sprang into the low branches, heedless of
+the long thorns, and scrambled aloft until at least partially concealed. A
+few of the bolder members lurked behind the trunks, but held themselves
+ready for an instant ascent. From a hundred throats arose a confused cry
+of "_Faru! Faru!_"
+
+Not joining this first flight remained only the _askaris_, the eight men
+bearing the hammock, and the tall Nubian. Of these the _askaris_ were far
+ahead and to the rear; the hammock bearers were decidedly panicky; only
+the Nubian seemed cool and self-possessed. The occupant of the hammock
+thrust out a foot to descend.
+
+But before this could be accomplished a rhinoceros burst fully into view
+across the open space. His tail was up, he was snorting loudly, and he
+headed straight for the hammock. That was large, moving, and directly in
+his line of vision. The sight was too much for the bearers. With a howl
+they dropped the pole and streaked it to join their brothers in the thorn
+trees. The pole and the canopy of the hammock tangled inextricably its
+occupant.
+
+A ragged volley from the muskets of the _askaris_ merely seemed to add to
+the confusion. With great coolness the Nubian discharged first one barrel
+then the other of the heavy rifle he carried. The recoil, catching him in
+a bad posture, knocked him backward. The bullets kicked up a tremendous
+dust part way between himself and the charging beast. He was now without
+defence. Nevertheless he stepped in front of the entangled struggling
+figure on the ground.
+
+Before the appearance of the rhinoceros into the open Kingozi had
+exchanged rifles, and stood at the ready. He was a good hundred yards from
+the hammock. Even in the rush of events he, characteristically, found time
+for comments, although they did not in the least interfere with his rapid
+movements.
+
+"Hope they don't wing one another," he remarked of the _askaris'_ volley.
+"Rotten shooting! rotten!" as the Nubian stood his ground. At the same
+time he pushed forward the safety catch and threw the heavy rifle to his
+shoulder.
+
+A charging rhinoceros--or one rushing near enough a man's direction to be
+dangerous--is not a difficult problem. Given nerve enough, and barring
+accidents--which might happen in a London flat--a man is in no danger. If
+he opens fire too soon, indeed, he is likely to empty his weapon without
+inflicting a stopping wound, but if he will wait until the beast is within
+twenty yards or so, the affair is certain. For this reason: just before a
+rhinoceros closes, he drops his head low in order to bring his long horn
+into action. If the hunter fires then, over the horn, he will strike the
+beast's backbone. The shot can hardly be missed, for the range is very
+close and the outstanding flanges of the vertebrae make a large mark. The
+formidable animal goes down like a stone. In country open enough to
+preclude the deadly close-at-hand surprise rush, where one has no chance
+to use his weapon at all, the rhinoceros is not dangerous to one who knows
+his business.
+
+But in this case Kingozi was nearer a hundred and twenty than twenty yards
+from the animal. The mark to be hit was now very small; and it was moving.
+In addition the heavy double rifle, while accurate enough at that range,
+was not, owing to its weight and terrific recoil, as certain as a lighter
+rifle. These things Kingozi knew perfectly. The muscles under his beard
+tightened; his gray eyes widened into a glare like that of Simba in sight
+of game.
+
+Just before the rhinoceros dropped his head for the toss, the Nubian
+stepped directly into the line of fire.
+
+"_Lala!_--lie down!" Kingozi shouted.
+
+Somehow the whip-snap of authority in his voice reached the Nubian's
+consciousness. He dropped flat, and almost instantly the white man fired.
+
+At the roar of the great gun the rhinoceros collapsed in mid career, going
+down, as an animal always does under a successful spine shot, completely,
+without a struggle or even a quiver.
+
+"That was well shot, master," said Mali-ya-bwana.
+
+Kingozi reloaded the rifle and started forward. At the same time the
+occupant of the hammock finally emerged from the tangle and came erect.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+THE ENCOUNTER
+
+Kingozi saw a tall figure without a coat, dressed in brown shirt, riding
+breeches, and puttees. The Nubian had retrieved a spilled sun helmet even
+before the stranger had scrambled erect, so the head and face were
+invisible. Kingozi's countenance did not change, but a faint contempt
+appeared in his eyes. The first impression conveyed by the numbers of the
+tin boxes and their bearers and escort had been deepened. Why? Because the
+riding breeches were of that exaggerated cut sometimes actually to be seen
+outside tailor's advertisements. They were gathered trimly around an
+effeminately slender waist, and then ballooned out to an absurd width,
+only to contract again skin tight around the knees.
+
+"_M'buzi!_" grunted Kingozi, applying to the stranger the superlative of
+Swahili contempt. He did not know he spoke aloud; for it is not well for
+one white man to criticise another to a native. But Mali-ya-bwana replied.
+
+"_Bibi_," he corrected.
+
+Kingozi stared. "By Jove, you're right!" he exclaimed in English. "It _is_
+a woman!" He burst into an unexpected laugh. "It isn't balloon breeches;
+it's _hips!_" he cried. This correction seemed to him singularly humorous.
+He approached her, laughing.
+
+It was evidently an angry woman, to judge by her gestures and the
+deprecating attitude of the Nubian. Kingozi surmised that she probably did
+not fancy being dumped down incontinently before an angry rhinoceros.
+After a moment, however, her attitude lost its rigidity, she gestured
+toward the dead monster, evidently commending the savage. He shook his
+head and motioned in Kingozi's direction. The woman turned, showing an
+astonished face.
+
+Kingozi was now close up. He saw before him a personality. Physically she
+was beautiful or not, according as one accepted conventional standards.
+The dress she wore revealed fully the fact that she had a tall, well-knit
+figure of long, full curves; a thoroughly feminine figure in conformation,
+and yet one that looked competent to transcend the usual feminine
+incompetencies. So far she measured to a high but customary standard. But
+her face was as exotic as an orchid. It was long, narrow, and pale with
+three accents to redeem it from what that ordinarily implies--lips of a
+brilliant carmine, eyes of a deep sea-green, and eyebrows high, arched,
+clean cut, narrow as though drawn by a camel's-hair brush. Indeed, in
+civilization no one would have believed them to have been otherwise
+produced. In spite of the awkward sun helmet she carried her head
+imperiously.
+
+"If you _will_ ride in a hammock, you ought to teach your men to shoot,"
+was Kingozi's greeting. "It's absurd to go barging through a rhino country
+like this. You look strong and healthy. Why don't you walk?"
+
+Her crest reared and her nostrils expanded haughtily. For a half-minute
+she stared at him, her sea-green eyes darkening to greater depths. This
+did not disturb Kingozi in the least: indeed he did not see it. His eyes
+were taking in the surroundings.
+
+The dead rhinoceros lay a scant fifteen paces distant; loads were
+scattered everywhere; the _askaris_, their ancient muskets reloaded, had
+drawn near in curiosity. From the thorn trees across the tiny grass
+opening porters were descending, very gingerly, and with lamentations. It
+is comparatively easy to ascend a thorn tree with the fear of death
+snapping at your heels: to descend in cold blood is another matter.
+
+"Why don't you do your work!" he addressed the soldiers. "Do you want to
+catch _kiboko_?"
+
+The startled _askaris_ scuttled away about their business, which was, at
+this moment, to herd and hustle the reluctant porters back to their job.
+Kingozi, his head and jaw thrust forward, stared after them, his eyes--
+indeed, his whole personality--projecting aggressive force. The men
+hurried to their positions, their loud laughter stilled, glancing
+fearfully and furtively over their shoulders, whipped by the baleful glare
+with which Kingozi silently battered them.
+
+[Illustration: "'If you _will_ ride in a hammock, you ought to teach your
+men to shoot,' was Kingozi's greeting"]
+
+Only when the last man had picked up his load did Kingozi turn again to
+the woman. Although her bosom still heaved with emotion, it was a
+suppressed emotion. He met a face slightly and inscrutably smiling.
+
+"You take it upon yourself to manage my safari?" she said. "You think I
+cannot manage my men? It is kind of you."
+
+Her English was faultless, but some slight unusual spacing of the words,
+some ultra-clarity of pronunciation, rather than a recognizable accent,
+made evident that the language was not her own.
+
+"Your _askaris_ are slack," said Kingozi briefly.
+
+"And how of these?" she demanded imperiously, sweeping with an almost
+theatrical gesture the miserable-looking group of hammock bearers.
+
+"They are at fault," replied Kingozi indifferently, "but after all they
+are common porters. You can't expect gun-bearer service or _askari_
+service from common porters, now can you?"
+
+He looked at her directly, his clear, steady eyes conveying nothing but a
+mild interest in the obvious. In contrast to his detached almost
+indifferent calm, the woman was an embodiment of emotions. Head erect, red
+lips compressed, breast heaving, she surveyed him through narrowed lids.
+
+"So?" she contented herself with saying.
+
+"It's the nature of the beast to run crazy," pursued Kingozi tranquilly.
+"You really can't blame them."
+
+"Then am I to be thrown down, like a sack, when it pleases them to run?"
+she demanded tensely. "Really, you are incredible."
+
+"I should expect it. The real point is that you have no business to ride
+in a hammock through a rhino country."
+
+The woman's control slipped a very little.
+
+"Who are you to teach me my business?"
+
+For the first time Kingozi's careless, candid stare narrowed to a focus.
+
+"You have not told me what your business is," he replied with an edge of
+intention in his tones. Their glances crossed like rapiers for the flash
+of an instant.
+
+She turned to the hammock bearers.
+
+"Lie down!" she commanded. Then to the impassive Nubian, "The _kiboko!_ I
+suppose," she observed politely to Kingozi, "that you will admit these men
+should be punished, and that you will permit me to do so?"
+
+"Surely they should be punished; that goes without saying."
+
+"Give them thirty apiece," she ordered the Nubian.
+
+"That is too many," interposed Kingozi. "Six is a great plenty for such
+people. It is their nature to run away."
+
+"Thirty," she repeated to the Nubian, without a glance in the white man's
+direction.
+
+The huge negro produced the rhinoceros-hide whip, and went to his task. To
+lay thirty lashes on sixteen backs and to do justice to the occasion is a
+great task. The Nubian's face streamed sweat when he had finished. The
+bearers, who had taken the punishment in silence, arose, saluted, and
+begun to skylark among themselves, which was their way of working off
+emotion.
+
+"_Askaris!_" summoned the woman.
+
+They came trotting.
+
+"Lay down your guns! Lie down!"
+
+A mild wonder appeared in Kingozi's gray eyes.
+
+"Do you _kiboko_ your _askaris?_" he asked.
+
+She jerked her head in his direction.
+
+"Do you presume to question my actions?"
+
+"By no means; I am interested in methods."
+
+She paid him no more attention. Kingozi waited patiently until this second
+bout of punishment was over. The _askaris_ lay quietly face down until
+their mistress gave the word, then leaped to their feet, saluted smartly,
+seized their guns, and marched jauntily to their appointed positions. The
+woman watched them for a moment, and turned back to Kingozi.
+
+Her mood had completely changed. The orgy of punishment had cleared away
+the nervous effects of the fright she had undergone.
+
+"So; that is done," she said. "I have travelled much in Africa. I what you
+call know my way about. See how my men fall into line. It will be so at
+camp. _Presto!_ Quick! The tents will be up, the fires made."
+
+Her lips smiled at him, but her sea-green eyes remained steady and
+inscrutable.
+
+"They seem smart enough," acknowledged Kingozi without interest. "Have you
+ever tried them out?"
+
+"Tried them out?" she repeated. "I do not understand."
+
+"You never know what hold you really have until you get in a tight place."
+
+"And if I get in a 'tight place,'" she rejoined haughtily, "I shall get
+out again--without help from negroes--or anybody."
+
+"Quite so," conceded Kingozi equably. His attitude and the tone of his
+voice were indifferent, but the merest flicker of the tail of his eye
+touched the dead rhino. His expression remained quite bland. She saw this.
+The pallor of her cheek did not warm, but her strangely expressive eyes
+changed.
+
+"_Bandika!_" she cried sharply. The men began to take up their loads.
+
+"I will wish you a good afternoon," observed Kingozi as though taking his
+leave from an afternoon tea. "By the way, do you happen to care for
+information about the next water, or do you know all that?" "Thank you, I
+know all that," she replied curtly.
+
+The _askaris_ began to shout the order for the advance, "_Nenda! nenda!_"
+the men to swing forward. Kingozi stared after them, watching with a
+professional eye the way they walked, the make-up of their loads, the
+nature of their equipment; marking the lame ones, or the weak ones, or the
+ones recently sick. His eye fell on the figure of the strange woman. She
+was striding along easily, the hammock deserted, with a free swing of the
+hips, an easy, slouch of the relaxed knees that indicated the accustomed
+walker. Kingozi smiled.
+
+"'I know all that,'" he repeated. "Now I wonder if you do, or if some idea
+of silly pride makes you say so." He was talking aloud, in English. Mali-
+ya-bwana stood attentive, waiting for something he could understand.
+Kingozi's eye fell on the dead rhinoceros.
+
+"There is good meat; tell the men they can come out to get what they wish
+of it. There will be lions here to-night."
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"If she 'knew all that,'" observed Kingozi, "she knew more than I did.
+Small chance. Still, if she has information or guides, she may know the
+next water. But how? Why?"
+
+He shifted his rifle to the crook of his arm.
+
+"That _bibi_ is a great _memsahib_," he told Mali-ya-bwana. "And this
+evening we will go to see her. Be you ready to go also."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+THE LEOPARD WOMAN
+
+In the early darkness of equatorial Africa Kingozi, accompanied by Mali-
+ya-bwana with a lantern, crossed over to the other camp. Simba and Cazi
+Moto had come in almost at dusk; but they were very tired, and Kingozi
+considered it advisable to let them rest. They had covered probably
+thirty-five miles. Cazi Moto had found no water, and no traces of water.
+Furthermore, the game had thinned and disappeared. Only old tracks, old
+trails, old signs indicated that after the Big Rains the country might be
+habitable for the beasts. But Simba had discovered a concealed "tank" in a
+kopje. He had worked his way to it by "lining" the straight swift flight
+of green pigeons, as a bee hunter on the plains used to line the flight of
+bees. The tank proved to be a deep, hidden recess far back under
+overhanging rocks, at once concealed and protected from the sun and
+animals. Its water was sweet and abundant.
+
+"No one has used that water. It is an unknown water," concluded Simba.
+
+"How far?"
+
+"Four hours."
+
+"_Vema_." Kingozi bestowed on him the word of highest praise.
+
+The stranger woman's camp was not far away; in fact, but just across the
+little dry stream-bed. Her safari was using the same pool with Kingozi's.
+
+At the edge of the camp he paused to take in its disposition. From one
+detail to another his eye wandered, and in it dawned a growing approval.
+Your native, left to his own devices, pitches his little tents haphazard
+here, there, and everywhere, according as his fancy turns to this or that
+bush, thicket, or clump of grass. Such a camp straggles abominably. But
+here was no such confusion. Back from the water-hole a hundred yards, atop
+a slight rise, and under the thickest of the trees, stood a large green
+tent with a projecting fly. A huge pile of firewood had been dumped down
+in front of it, and at that very moment one of the _askaris_, kneeling,
+was kindling a fire. Behind the big tent, and at some remove, gleamed the
+circle of porters' tents each with its little blaze. Loads were piled
+neatly, covered with a tarpaulin, and the pile guarded by an _askari_.
+
+Kingozi strode across the intervening space.
+
+Before the big tent a table had been placed, and beside the table a
+reclining canvas chair of the folding variety. On a spread of figured blue
+cloth stood a bottle of lime juice, a sparklets, and an enamelware bowl
+containing flowers. The strange woman was stretched luxuriously in the
+chair smoking a cigarette.
+
+She wore a short-sleeved lilac tea gown of thin silk, lilac silk
+stockings, and high-heeled slippers. Her hair fell in two long braids over
+her shoulders and between her breasts, which the thin silk defined. Her
+figure in the long chair fell into sinuous, graceful, relaxed lines. As he
+approached she looked at him over the glowing cigarette; and her eyes
+seemed to nicker with a strange restlessness. This contrast--of the
+restless eyes and the relaxed, graceful body--reminded Kingozi of
+something. His mind groped for a moment; then he had it.
+
+"_Bibi ya chui!_" he said, half to himself, half to his companion, "The
+Leopard Woman!"
+
+And, parenthetically, from that moment _Bibi-ya-chui_--the Leopard Woman--
+was the name by which she was known among the children of the sun.
+
+She did not greet him in any way, but turned her head to address commands.
+
+"Bring a chair for the _bwana_; bring cigarettes; bring _balauri--
+lime juice_----"
+
+Kingozi found himself established comfortably.
+
+She moved her whole body slightly sidewise, the better to face him. The
+soft silk fell in new lines about her, defining new curves. Her red lips
+smiled softly, and her eyes were dark and inscrutable.
+
+"I was what you call horrid to-day," she said. "It was not me: it was the
+frightenedness from the rhinoceros. I was very much frightened, so I had
+the porters beaten. That was horrid, was it not? Do you understand it? I
+suppose not. Men have no nerves, like women. They are brave always. I have
+not said what I feel. I have heard of you--the most wonderful shot in
+Central Africa. I believe it--now."
+
+Kingozi's eyes were lingering on her silk-clad form, the peep of ankles
+below her robe. She observed him with slanted eyes, and a little breath of
+satisfaction raised her bosom. Abruptly he spoke.
+
+"Aren't you afraid of fever mosquitoes in that rig?" said he.
+
+Her body stirred convulsively, and her finely pencilled eyebrows, with
+their perpetual air of surprise, moved with impatience; but her voice
+answered him equably:
+
+"My friend, at the close of the hard day I must have my comfort. There can
+be no fever here, for there are no people here. When in the fever country
+I have my 'rig'"--subtly she shaded the word--"just the same. But I have a
+net--a big net--like a tent beneath which I sit. Does that satisfy you?"
+
+She spoke with the obvious painstaking patience that one uses to instruct
+a child, but with a veiled irony meant for an older intelligence.
+
+Kingozi laughed.
+
+"I do appear to catechize you, don't I? But I am interested. It is
+difficult to realize that a woman alone can understand this kind of
+travel."
+
+He had thrown off his guarded abstraction, and smiled across at her as
+frankly as a boy. The gravity of his face broke into wrinkles of laughter;
+his steady eyes twinkled; his smile showed strong white teeth. In spite of
+his bushy beard he looked a boy. The woman stared at him, her cigarette
+suspended.
+
+"You have instructed me about my camp; you have instructed me about my
+men; you have instructed me about my marching; you have even instructed me
+about my clothes." She tallied the counts on her slender fingers. "Now I
+must instruct you."
+
+"Guilty, I am afraid," he smiled; "but ready to take punishment."
+
+"Very well." With a sinuous movement she turned on her elbow to face him.
+"Listen! It is this: you should not wear that beard."
+
+She fell back, and raised the cigarette to her lips.
+
+For a moment Kingozi stared at her speechless with surprise; but
+immediately recovered.
+
+"I shall give to your advice the same respectful consideration you accord
+mine," he assured her gravely.
+
+She laughed in genuine amusement.
+
+"Only I have more excuse," continued Kingozi. "A woman--alone--so far
+away----"
+
+"You said that before," she interrupted. "In other words, what in--what-
+you-call? Oh, yes! what in hell am I doing up here? Is that it?"
+
+She turned on him a wide-eyed stare. Kingozi chuckled.
+
+"That's it. What in--in hell _are_ you doing up here?"
+
+"Listen, my friend. In this world I do what I please--always. And when I
+find that which people tell me cannot be done, that I do--at once. My life
+is full of those things which could not be done, but which I have done."
+
+"I believe you," said Kingozi, but he said it to himself.
+
+"I have done them at home--where I live. I have done them in the cities
+and courts. Whatever the people tell me is impossible--'Oh, it cannot be
+done!'--with the uplifted hand and eye--you understand--that I do. Four
+years ago I came to Africa, and in Africa I have done what they tell me
+women have never done. I have travelled in the Kameroons, in Nyassaland,
+in Somaliland, in Abyssinia. Then they tell me--'yes, that is very well,
+but you follow a track. It is a dim track; but it is there. You go alone--
+yes; but you have us at your back.' And I ask them: 'What then? where is
+this place where there is no track?' And they wave their hands, and say
+'Over yonder'; so I come!"
+
+She recited all this dramatically, using her hands much in gesticulation,
+her eyes flashing. In proportion as she became animated Kingozi withdrew
+into his customary stolid calm.
+
+"Quite so," he commented, "spirit of adventure, and all that sort of
+thing. Where did you get this lot?"
+
+"What?"
+
+He waved his hand.
+
+"Your men."
+
+She considered him a barely appreciable instant.
+
+"Why--the usual way--from the coast."
+
+"They are strange to me--I do not recognize their tribes," Kingozi replied
+blandly. "So you are pushing out into the Unknown. How far do you consider
+going?"
+
+"Until it pleases me to stop."
+
+Kingozi produced his pipe.
+
+"If you do not mind?" he requested. He deliberately filled and lighted it.
+After a few strong puffs he resumed:
+
+"The country, you say, is unknown to you."
+
+"Of course."
+
+"I imagined you told me this afternoon that you knew of this water. I must
+have been mistaken."
+
+He blew a cloud, gazing straight ahead of him in obviously assumed
+innocence. She examined him with a narrow, sidelong glance.
+
+"No," she said at last, "you were not mistaken. I did tell you so."
+
+"Well?" Kingozi turned to her.
+
+"I was very angry, so I lied," she replied naively. "Women always lie when
+they get very angry."
+
+"Or tell the truth--uncomfortably," grinned Kingozi.
+
+"Brava!" she applauded. "He does know something about women!" With one of
+her sudden smooth movements she again raised herself on her elbow. "How
+much?" she challenged.
+
+"Enough," he replied enigmatically.
+
+They both laughed.
+
+Across the accustomed night noises came a long rumbling snarl ending
+sharply with a snoring gasp. It was succeeded by another on a different
+key. The two took up a kind of antiphony, one against the other, now
+rising in volume, now dying down to a low grumble, again suddenly bursting
+like an explosion.
+
+"The lions have found that rhino," remarked Kingozi indifferently.
+
+For a moment or so they listened to the distant thunders.
+
+"I have not sufficiently thanked you even yet for this afternoon," she
+said. "You saved my life--you know that."
+
+"Happened to be there; and let off a rifle."
+
+"I know shooting. It was a wonderful shot at that distance and in those
+circumstances."
+
+"Chancy shot. Had good luck," replied Kingozi shortly.
+
+Undeterred by his tone, she persisted.
+
+"But you are said by many to be the best shot in Africa."
+
+He glanced at her.
+
+"Indeed! I think that a mistake. For whom do you take me?"
+
+"You are Culbertson," she told him. She pronounced the name slowly,
+syllable by syllable, as though English proper names were difficult to
+her.
+
+He laughed.
+
+"Whoever he may be. I am known as Kingozi hereabouts."
+
+"You are not Cul-bert-son?"
+
+"I am anything it pleases you to have me. And who are you?"
+
+She had become the spoiled darling, pouting at him in half-pretended
+vexation.
+
+"You are playing with me. For that I shall not tell you who I am."
+
+"It does not matter; I know."
+
+"You know! But how?"
+
+"I know many things."
+
+"What is it then? Tell me!"
+
+He hesitated, smiling at her inscrutably. The flames from the fire were
+leaping high now, throwing the lantern-light into eclipse. An _askari_,
+wearing on his head an individual fancy in marabout feathers, leaned on
+his musket, his strong bronze face cast into the wistful lines of the
+savage countenance in repose. The lions had evidently compounded their
+quarrel. Only an occasional rasping cough testified to their presence. But
+in the direction of the dead rhinoceros the air was hideous with the
+plaints of the waiting hyenas. Their peculiarly weird moans came in
+chorus; and every once in a while arose the shrill, prolonged titter that
+has earned them the name of "laughing hyena."
+
+"_Bibi-ya-chui_," he told her at length.
+
+She considered this, her red lower lip caught between her teeth.
+
+"The Leopard Woman," she repeated, "and it is thus that I am known! You,
+Kingozi--the Bearded One; I, Bibi-ya-chui--the Leopard Woman!" She
+laughed. "I think I like it," she decided.
+
+"Now we know all about each other," he mocked.
+
+"But no: you have asked many questions, which is your habit, but I have
+asked few. What do you do in this strange land? Is it--what-you-call--
+'spirit of adventure' also?"
+
+"Not I! I am an ivory hunter."
+
+"You expect to find the elephant here?"
+
+"Who knows--or ivory to trade."
+
+"And then you get your ivory and make the magic pass, and presto! it is in
+Mombasa," she said, with a faint sarcasm.
+
+"You mean I have not men enough to carry out ivory. Well, that is true.
+But you see my habit is to get my ivory first and then to get _shenzis_
+from the people roundabout to act as porters," he explained to her
+gravely.
+
+Apparently she hesitated, in two minds as to what next to say. Kingozi
+perceived a dancing temptation sternly repressed, and smiled beneath his
+beard.
+
+"I see," she said finally in a meek voice.
+
+But Kingozi knew of what she was thinking. "She is a keen one," he
+reflected admiringly. "Caught the weak point in that yarn straight off!"
+
+He arose to his feet, knocking the ashes from his pipe.
+
+"You travel to-morrow?" he asked politely.
+
+"That I have not decided."
+
+"This is a dry country," Kingozi suggested blandly. "Of course you will
+not risk a blind push with so many men. You will probably send out scouts
+to find the next water."
+
+"That is possible," she replied gravely; but Kingozi thought to catch a
+twinkle in her eye.
+
+He raised his voice:
+
+"Boy!"
+
+Mali-ya-bwana glided from one of the small porters' tents.
+
+"_Qua heri_." Kingozi abruptly wished her farewell in Swahili.
+
+"_Qua heri_," she replied without moving.
+
+He turned into the darkness. The tropical stars blazed above him like
+candles. Kingozi lapsed into half-forgotten slang.
+
+"Downy bird!" he reflected, which was probably not exactly the impression
+the Leopard Woman either intended or thought she had made.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+THE WATER-HOLE
+
+A seasoned African traveller in ordinary circumstances sleeps very
+soundly, his ear attuned only to certain things. So Kingozi hardly stirred
+on his cork mattress, although the lions roared full-voiced satisfaction
+when they left the rhinoceros, and the yells of the hyenas rose to a
+pandemonium when at last they were permitted to join the feast. Likewise
+the nearer familiar noises of men rising to their daily tasks at four
+o'clock--the yawning, stretching, cracking of firewood, crackling of fire,
+low-voiced chatter--did not disturb him. Yet, so strangely is the human
+mind organized, had during the night a soft whisper of padded feet, even
+the deep breathing of a beast, sounded within the precincts of the camp,
+he would instantly have been broad awake, the rifle that stood loaded
+nearby clasped in his hand. Thus he lay quietly through the noises of men
+working, but came awake at the sound of men marching. He arose on his
+elbow and drew aside the flap of his tent.
+
+At the same instant Cazi Moto stopped outside. The usual formula ensued.
+
+"_Hodie!_" called Cazi Moto.
+
+"_Karibu_," replied Kingozi.
+
+Thus Cazi Moto at once awakened and greeted his master, and Kingozi
+acknowledged.
+
+Cazi Moto entered the tent and lighted the tiny lantern, for it was still
+an hour and a half until daylight.
+
+"I hear men marching," said Kingozi.
+
+Cazi Moto stopped.
+
+"It is the safari of Bibi-ya-chui." Already Kingozi's nickname for her
+had been adopted.
+
+Cazi Moto disappeared, and a moment later was heard outside pouring water
+into the canvas basin.
+
+Instead of arising immediately, as was his ordinary custom, Kingozi lay
+still. The Leopard Woman was already travelling! What could that mean?
+She was certainly taking some chances hiking around thus in the dark.
+Perhaps some aged or weak lion had not been permitted a share of that
+rhinoceros. And again she was taking chances pushing out blindly with
+over a hundred men into the aridity of the desert. Kingozi contemplated
+this thought for some time. Then, making up his mind, he arose and began
+to dress.
+
+As he was drying his face Simba came for the guns, and a half-dozen of the
+porters prepared to strike and furl the tent. Already the canvas
+washstand had disappeared.
+
+"Simba," observed Kingozi in English, of which language Simba knew but
+three words, "she is no fool. She knows where there is water out yonder;
+but it is water at least forty miles away. She's got to push and push hard
+to make it, and that's why she's making so early a start. I had a notion
+this 'country of the great Unknown' wasn't quite so 'unknown' as it might
+be."
+
+He finished this speech coincidentally with the drying of his hands. The
+impatient Cazi Moto snatched the towel deftly but respectfully and packed
+it away. Simba, who had listened with deference until his _bwana_ should
+finish this jargon, grinned.
+
+"Yes, suh!" he used two of his English words at a bang.
+
+Kingozi ate his breakfast by firelight. With the exception of his camp
+chair and the eating service, the camp was by now all packed, and the men
+were squatting before their fires waiting.
+
+But there was a hitch. Kingozi called up Simba and began to question him.
+
+"You say the water is four hours' march?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"Four hours for you, or four hours for laden men?"
+
+"The safari can go in four hours, _bwana_."
+
+"Is there game there?"
+
+"No, _bwana_. It is a guarded water, and there is no game."
+
+Kingozi considered.
+
+"Very well. I want six men. Before the march we must get meat."
+
+Some time since the flames of the African sunrise had spread to the
+zenith, glowing and terrible as a furnace. Although the sky was thus
+brilliantly illuminated, the earth, strangely enough, was still gray with
+twilight. Objects fifty yards distant were indeterminate. Objects
+farther away were lost. The light was daylight, but it was inadequate, as
+though charged with mist.
+
+And then suddenly the daylight was clear.
+
+It was like the turning on by a switch. The dim shapes defined clearly,
+becoming trees, rocks, distant hills. And almost immediately the rim of
+the sun showed above the horizon.
+
+Kingozi had already decided on the best direction in which to hunt.
+Neither the direction taken by the Leopard Woman's safari nor the
+immediate surroundings of the night's orgy over the rhino carcass was
+desirable. The fact that the big water-hole below camp had not only
+remained unvisited, but apparently even desired, led him to deduce the
+existence of another, alternative, drinking place. He had yesterday
+explored some distance downstream; therefore he now turned up.
+
+Simba with the big rifle followed close at his heels. The six porters
+stole along fifty yards in the rear. They were quite as anxious for meat
+--promptly--as anybody, and were as unobtrusive as shadows.
+
+For upward of a mile the hunters encountered nothing but a few dik-dik and
+steinbuck--tiny grass antelope, too small for the purpose. Then a shift
+of wind brought to them a medley of sound--a great persistent barking of
+zebras supplying the main volume. At the same time they saw, over a
+distant slight rise, a cloud of dust.
+
+Simba's eyes were gleaming.
+
+"Game! Much game there, _bwana!_" he cried.
+
+"I see," replied Kingozi quietly.
+
+The porters accompanied them to within a few rods of the top of the rise.
+There they squatted, and the other two crawled up alone.
+
+Below them, probably three hundred yards away, was a larger replica of the
+other water-hole. At its edge and in its shallows stood a few beasts. But
+the sun was now well above the horizon, the drinking time was practically
+over.
+
+Three long strings of game animals were walking leisurely away in three
+different directions. They were proceeding soberly, in single file, nose
+to tail. The ranks ran with scarcely a break, to disappear over the low
+swells of the plain. Alongside the plodders skipped and ran, rushed back
+and forth the younger, frivolous characters, kicking up their heels,
+biting at one another, or lowering their horns in short mimic charges--
+gay, animated flankers to the main army. There were several sorts, each
+in its little companies or bands, many times repeated, of from two or
+three to several score; although occasionally strange assortments and
+companionships were to be seen, as a black, shaggy-looking wildebeeste
+with a troop of kongoni. Kingozi saw, besides these two, also the bigger
+and smaller gazelles, many zebra, topi, the lordly eland; and, apart, a
+dozen giraffes, two rhinoceros, and some warthogs. There were probably two
+thousand wild animals in sight.
+
+The hunters lay flat, watching. This multiplicity afforded them a
+wonderful spectacle, but that was about all. If they should crawl three
+yards farther they would indubitably be espied by some one. It was
+impossible to single out a beast as the object of a stalk: all the others
+must be considered, too. There was no cover.
+
+Kingozi was too old at the business to hurry. He considered the elements
+of his problem soberly before coming back to his first and most obvious
+conclusion. Then he raised himself slowly to his favourite sitting
+position and threw off the safety.
+
+The distance was a fair three hundred yards, which is a long shot--when it
+_is_ three hundred yards. The fireside and sporting magazine hunters of
+big game are constantly hitting 'em through the heart at even greater
+distances--estimated. It is actually a fact, proven many times, that those
+estimates should be divided by two in order to get near the measured
+truth! The "four hundred yards if it's an inch!" becomes two hundred--and
+even two hundred yards at living game in natural surroundings is a long
+and creditable shot.
+
+In taking his aim Kingozi modified his usual custom because of the
+distance. When one can get his beast broadside on, the most immediately
+fatal shot is one high in the shoulder, about three-quarters of the way
+up. That drops an animal dead in his tracks. The next best is a bullet
+low in the shoulder. Third is a really accurate heart shot. This latter
+is always fatal, of course; but ordinarily the quarry will run at racing
+speed for some little distance before falling dead. In certain types of
+country this means considerable tracking, may even mean the loss of the
+animal. Next comes anywhere in the barrel forward of the short ribs--a
+chancy proceeding, and one leading to long chases. After that the
+likelihood of a cripple is too great.
+
+Now it is evident that one must aim at what he can be sure of hitting.
+The high shoulder shot is all right if the distance is so short that one
+can be absolutely certain of placing his bullet within a six-inch circle.
+Otherwise the chance of over-shooting--always great--becomes prohibitive.
+The low shoulder shot increases the circle to from eight to twelve inches,
+with the chance outside that of merely breaking a foreleg, grazing
+brisket, or missing entirely under the neck. The heart shot--or rather an
+attempt at it--is safer for a longer range, not because the mark is
+larger, but because even if one misses the heart, he is apt to land either
+the shoulder or the ribs well forward. The only miss is beneath, and that
+is clear, as the heart is low in the body. And at extreme ranges, the
+forward one-third of the barrel is the point of aim. It should only
+rarely be attempted. Unless a man is certain he can hit that mark, _every
+time_, he is not justified in taking the shot.
+
+This principle applies to every one: as well to the beginner as to the
+expert. The only difference between the two is the range at which this
+certainty exists. The tyro's limit of absolute certainty for the heart
+shot may be--and probably is--a hundred yards; for the high shoulder it
+may be as near as thirty. This takes into consideration his inexperience
+in the presence of game as well as his inaccuracy with the rifle, and it
+keeps in mind that he must hit that mark not merely nine times out of ten,
+but _every time_. If he cannot get within the hundred yards by stalking,
+then he should refuse the chance. As expertness rises in the scale the
+distances increase. Provided there were no such things as nerves, luck,
+faulty judgment, and the estimate of distances one man should be as
+mercifully deadly as another. Naturally the man who had to stalk to within
+a hundred yards would not get as many shots as the one who could take his
+chance at two hundred. This conduct of venery is an ideal that is only
+approximated. Hence misses.
+
+But even if a man lives rigorously up to his principles and knowledge,
+there are other elements that bring in uncertainty. For one thing, he must
+be able to estimate distance with some degree of accuracy. It avails
+little to know that you can hit a given mark at two hundred and fifty
+yards, if you do not know what two hundred and fifty yards is. And here
+enter a thousand deceits: direction of light, slope of ground, nature of
+cover, temperature, mirage, time of day, and the like. An apparent hundred
+yards over water or across a canon would--were, by some dissolving-view-
+change, bush-dotted plain to be substituted--become nearer three hundred
+in the latter circumstances. There is a limit to the best man's
+experience; a margin of error in the best man's judgment. Hence more
+misses.
+
+There is only one method for any man to acquire even this proximate skill;
+and that requires long and patient practice. It is this: he should sight
+over his rifle at a wild animal, noting carefully the apparent relative
+size of the front sight-bead and the animal's body. He should then pace
+the distance between himself and that animal. After he has done this a
+hundred times, he will be able to make a pretty close guess by marking how
+large the beast shows up through the sights. That is, for that one species
+of game! In Central Africa, where in a well-stocked district there are
+from twenty to thirty species, the practice becomes more onerous. This
+same practice--of pacing the distances--however, has also trained a man's
+eye for country. He is able to supplement the front-sight method by the
+usual estimate by eye. Most men do not take this trouble. They practise at
+target range until they can hit the bull's-eye with fair regularity, miss
+with nearly equal regularity in the hunting field, and thenceforth talk
+vaguely of "missed him at five hundred yards." It must have been five
+hundred. The beast looked very small, there was an awful lot of country
+between him and it, and "I wasn't a bit rattled--cool as a cucumber--and I
+_know_ I never miss an object of that size at any reasonable range." He
+was right: he shot as deliberately as he ever did at the butts. He missed,
+not because of the distance, but because he did not know the distance. It
+was exactly the range at which he had done the most of his practice--two
+hundred yards!
+
+All these considerations have taken several pages to tell. Kingozi weighed
+each one of them. Yet so long had been his experience, so habitual had
+become his reactions, that his decision was made almost instantly. A
+glance at the intervening ground, another through his sights. The top of
+the bead covered half a zebra's shoulder. The distance was not far under
+or over three hundred. Kingozi knew that, barring sheer accident, he could
+hit his mark at that distance.
+
+The animals meantime were moving forward slowly along the three diverging
+trails. The last of them had left the water-hole. Kingozi nodded to Simba.
+Simba, understanding from long association just what was required of him,
+rose slowly and evenly to his feet.
+
+The apparition of this strange figure on the skyline brought a score of
+animals to a stand. They turned their heads, staring intently, making up
+their minds, their nostrils wide. Kingozi, who had already picked his
+beast and partially assured his aim, almost immediately squeezed the
+trigger.
+
+Over a second after the flat crack of the rifle a hollow _plunk_ indicated
+that the bullet had told. It was a strange sound, unmistakable to one who
+has once heard it, much as though one brought a drinking glass smartly,
+hollow down, into the surface of water.
+
+[Illustration: "After the flat crack of the rifle a hollow _plunk_
+indicated that the bullet had told"]
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated Simba.
+
+"Where?" asked Kingozi, who knew by long experience that Simba's sharp
+eyes had noted the smallest particular of the beast's behaviour when the
+bullet landed, and thence had already deduced its location.
+
+Without removing his eyes, Simba indicated with his forefinger a shot
+about midway of the ribs.
+
+At the sound the rear guard of the animals raced madly away for about
+seventy yards, whirled in a phalanx, and gazed back. Neither man moved.
+Simba continued to stare, and Kingozi had lifted his prism glasses. A tyro
+would have attempted to draw near for a finishing shot, and so would
+probably have been let in for a long chase. A freshly wounded animal, if
+kept moving, is capable of astonishing endurance. But these two knew
+better than that. In a very few minutes the zebra, without fright, without
+suffering--for a modern bullet benumbs--toppled over dead. Again Simba
+raised his voice exultantly to the waiting porters.
+
+"_Nyama! nyama!_" he shouted.
+
+And they, racing eagerly forward, their faces illuminated with one of the
+strongest joys the native knows, shouted back:
+
+"_Nyama! nyama!_"
+
+For another two days the provisioning was assured.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+THE THIRST
+
+The little safari made the distance to Simba's guarded water in a trifle
+over the four hours. Camp was made high up on the kopje whence the eye
+could carry to immense distances. The wall of mountains was now nearer.
+Through his glasses Kingozi could distinguish rounded foothills. He tried
+to make out whether certain dark patches were groves or patches of bush--
+they might have been either--but was unable to determine. Relative sizes
+did not exist. The mountains might be five thousand feet tall or only a
+fifth of that. And by exactly that proportion they might be a day's or a
+five days' journey distant!
+
+Carefully Kingozi examined the length of the range. At length his
+attention was arrested. A thread of smoke, barely distinguishable against
+the gray of distance, rose within the shadow of the hills.
+
+"Simba!" Kingozi summoned. Then, on the gun bearer's approach: "Look
+through the glasses and tell me whether that smoke is a house or a fire in
+the grass."
+
+Simba accepted the glasses, but first took a good look with the naked eye.
+He caught the location of the smoke almost at once. Then for a full two
+minutes he stared through the lenses.
+
+"It is a house, _bwana_," he decided.
+
+As though the words had been a magic spell the mountains seemed in
+Kingozi's imagination to diminish in size and to move forward. They had
+assured a definite proportion, a definite position. Their distance could
+be estimated.
+
+"And how far?" he asked.
+
+"Very far, _bwana_," replied Simba gravely, "eleven hours; twelve hours."
+
+Kingozi reflected. The safari of the Leopard Woman had passed the kopje
+not over a mile away; indeed Kingozi had left her trail only a short
+distance back. On the supposition that she was well informed, it seemed
+unlikely that she could expect to make the whole distance from the last
+camp to the mountains in one march. Therefore there must be another water
+between. In that case, if Kingozi followed her tracks, he would arrive at
+that water. On the other supposition--that she was striking recklessly
+into the unknown--well, all the more reason for following her tracks!
+
+They commenced their journey before daylight the following morning. Each
+man was instructed to fill his water bottle; and the instructions were
+rigidly enforced. In the darkness they stumbled down the gentle slopes of
+the kopjes, each steering by the man ahead, and Kingozi steering by the
+stars. The veldt was still, as though all the silences, driven from those
+portions inhabited by the beasts, had here made their refuge. The earth
+lay like a black pool becalmed. Overhead the stars blazed clearly, slowly
+faded, and gave way to the dawn. The men spoke rarely, and then in low
+voices.
+
+Kingozi led the way steadily, without hurrying, but without loitering.
+Daylight came: the sun blazed. The country remained the same in character.
+Behind them the kopje dwindled in importance until it took its place with
+insignificant landmarks. The mountains ahead seemed no nearer.
+
+At the end of three hours, by the watch Kingozi carried on his wrist, he
+called the first halt. The men laid down their loads, and sprawled about
+in abandon. Kingozi produced a pipe.
+
+The rest lasted a full half hour. Then two hours more of marching, and
+another rest. By now a normal day's march would be about over. But this
+was different. Kingozi rigidly adhered to the plan for all forced marches
+of this kind: three hours, a half-hour's rest; then two hours, a half-
+hour's rest; and after that march and rest as the men can stand it,
+according to their strength and condition.
+
+This latter is the cruel period. At first the ranks hold together. Then,
+in spite of the efforts of the headman to bring up the rear, the weaker
+begin to fall back. They must rest oftener, they go on with ever-
+increasing difficulty. The strong men ahead become impatient and push on.
+The safari is no longer a coherent organization, but an aggregate of
+units, each with his own problem of weariness, of thirst, finally of
+suffering. More and more stretches the distance between the _bwana_ and
+his headman.
+
+No native of the porter intelligence has the slightest forethought for the
+morrow, and very little for the day. If it is hot and he has started
+early, his water bottle is empty by noon.
+
+This wise program Kingozi entered upon carefully. The three hours' march
+went well; the two hours followed with every one strong and cheerful; then
+two hours more without trouble. Kingozi's men were picked, and hard as
+nails. By now it was one o'clock; coming the hottest part of the day. The
+power of the vertical sun attained its maximum. Kingozi felt as though a
+heavy hand had been laid upon his head and was pressing him down. The
+mirage danced and changed, its illusions succeeding one another momently
+as the successive veils of heat waves shimmered upward. Reflected heat
+scorched his face. His spirit retired far into its fastness, taking with
+it all his energies. From that withdrawn inner remoteness he doled out the
+necessary vitality parsimoniously, drop by drop. Deliberately he withdrew
+his attention from the unessentials. Not a glance did he vouchsafe to the
+prospect far or near; not a thought did he permit himself of speculation
+or of wandering interest. His sole job now was to plod on at an even gait,
+to keep track of time, to follow the spoor of the Leopard Woman's safari,
+to save himself for later. If he had spared any thought at all, it would
+have been self-congratulation that Simba and Cazi Moto were old and tried.
+For Simba relieved him of the necessity of watching for dangerous beasts,
+and Cazi Moto of the responsibility of keeping account of the men.
+
+At the rest periods Kingozi sat down on the ground. Then in the relaxation
+his intelligence emerged. He took stock of the situation.
+
+Mali-ya-bwana and nine others were always directly at his heels. They
+dropped their loads and grinned cheerfully at their _bwana_, their bronze
+faces gleaming as though polished. If only they were all like this! Then
+perhaps five minutes later a smaller group came in, strongly enough. The
+first squad shouted ridiculing little jokes at them; and they shrieked
+back spirited repartee, whacking their loads vigorously with their safari
+sticks. These, too, would cause no anxiety. But then Kingozi sat up and
+began to take notice. The men drifted in by twos and threes. Kingozi
+scrutinized them closely, trying to determine the state of their strength
+and the state of their spirit. And after twenty minutes, or even the full
+half hour allotted to the rest period, Cazi Moto came in driving before
+him seven men.
+
+The wizened little headman was as cheerful and lively and vigorous as
+ever. He, too, grinned, but his eyes held a faint anxiety, and he had
+shifted his closed umbrella to his left hand and held the _kiboko_ in his
+right. At the fifth rest period five of the seven men stumbled wearily in;
+but Cazi Moto and the other two did not appear before Kingozi ordered a
+resumption of the march.
+
+But the mountains had moved near. When this had happened Kingozi could not
+have told. It was between two rest periods. From an immense discouraging
+distance, they towered imminent. It seemed that a half-hour's easy walk
+should take them to the foothills. Yet not a man there but knew that this
+nearness was exactly as deceitful as the distance had been before.
+
+The afternoon wore on. Kingozi's canteen was all but empty, though he had
+drunk sparingly, a swallow at a time. His tongue was slightly swollen. The
+sun had him to a certain extent; so that, although he could rouse himself
+at will, nevertheless, he moved mechanically in a sort of daze.
+
+He heard Simba's voice; and brought himself into focus.
+
+The gun bearer was staring at something on the ground. Kingozi followed
+the direction of his gaze. Before him lay a dead man.
+
+It was one of the common porters--a tall, too slender savage, with armlets
+of polished iron, long, ropy hair--a typical _shenzi_. His load was
+missing: evidently one of the _askaris_ had taken it up.
+
+Kingozi's safari filed by, each man gazing in turn without expression at
+the huddled heap. Only Maulo, the camp jester, hurled a facetious comment
+at the corpse. Thereupon all the rest laughed after the strange, heartless
+custom of the African native. Or is it heartless? We do not know.
+
+The day's march had passed through the phase of coordinated action. It was
+now the duty of each man to get in if he could. It was Kingozi's duty to
+arrive first, and to arrange succour for Cazi Moto and those whom he
+drove.
+
+Twenty minutes beyond the dead man they came upon three porters sitting by
+the wayside. They were men in the last extremity of thirst and exhaustion,
+their eyes wide and vacant, their tongues so swollen that their teeth were
+held apart. Nothing was to be done here, so Kingozi marched by.
+
+Then he came upon a half-dozen bags of _potio_. They were thrown down
+pellmell, anyhow; so that Kingozi concluded they had been surreptitiously
+thrown away, and not temporarily abandoned with intent to return for them.
+
+After that the trail resembled the traces of a rout. Every few yards now
+were the evidences of desperation: loads of _potio_, garments, water
+bottles emptied and cast aside in a gust of passion at their emptiness. At
+intervals also they passed more men, gaunt, incredibly cadaverous,
+considering that only the day before they had been strong and well. They
+sat or lay inert, watching the safari pass, their eyes apathetic. Kingozi
+paid no attention to them, nor to the loads of _potio_, nor to the
+garments and accoutrements; but he caused Simba to gather the water
+bottles. After a time Simba was hung about on all sides, and resembled at
+a short distance some queer conical monster.
+
+Then they topped the bank of a wide shallow dry streambed and saw the
+remnants of other safari below them.
+
+The Leopard Woman sat on a tent load. Even at this distance her erect
+figure expressed determination and defiance. The Nubian squatted beside
+her. Men lay scattered all about in attitudes of abandon and exhaustion;
+yet every face was turned in her direction.
+
+Kingozi descended the bank and approached, his experienced eye registering
+every significant detail.
+
+She turned to him a face lowering like a thundercloud, her eyes flashing
+the lightnings, her lips scarlet and bitten. Kingozi noted the bloodied
+_kiboko_.
+
+"They won't go on!" she cried at him harshly. "I can't make them! It is
+death for them here, but all they will do is to sit down! It is maddening!
+If they must die----"
+
+She leaped to her feet and drew an automatic pistol.
+
+"_Bandika!_" she cried. "Take your loads! Quickly!"
+
+She threatened the man nearest her. He merely stared, his expression dull
+with the infinite remoteness of savage people. Without further parley she
+fired. Although the distance was short, she missed, the bullet throwing up
+a spurt of sand beneath the man's armpit. He did not stir, nor did his
+face change.
+
+Kingozi's bent form had straightened. An authority, heretofore latent,
+flashed from his whole personality.
+
+"Stop!" he commanded.
+
+She turned toward him a look of convulsed rage. Then suddenly her
+resistance to circumstances broke. She hurled the automatic pistol at the
+porter, and flopped down on the tent load, hiding her face in her hands.
+
+Kingozi paid her no further attention.
+
+"Simba!" he called.
+
+"Yes, suh!"
+
+"Take one man. Collect all water bottles. Take a lantern. Go as rapidly
+as you can to find water. Fill all the bottles and bring them back.
+There are people in the hills. There will be people near the water. Get
+them to help you carry back the water bottles."
+
+Simba selected Mali-ya-bwana to accompany him, but this did not meet
+Kingozi's ideas.
+
+"I want that man," said he.
+
+Simba and one of the other leading porters started away. Kingozi gave his
+attention to the members of the other safari.
+
+They sat and sprawled in all attitudes. But one thing was common to all:
+a dead sullenness.
+
+"Why do you not obey the _memsahib?_" Kingozi asked in a reasonable tone.
+
+No one answered for some time. Finally the man who had been shot at
+replied.
+
+"There is no water. We are very tired. We cannot go on without water."
+
+"How can you get water if you do not go on?"
+
+"_Hapana shauri yangu_," replied the man indifferently, uttering the
+fatalistic phrase that rises to the lips of the savage African almost
+automatically, unless his personal loyalty has been won--"that is not my
+affair." He brooded on the ground for a space then looked up. "It is the
+business of porters to carry loads; it is the business of the white man to
+take care of the porters." And in that he voiced the philosophy of this
+human relation. The porters had done their job: not one inch beyond it
+would they go. The white woman had brought them here: it was now her
+_shauri_ to get them out.
+
+"You see!" cried the Leopard Woman bitterly. "What can you do with such
+idiots!"
+
+Kingozi directed toward her his slow smile.
+
+"Yes, I see. Do you remember I asked you once when you were boasting your
+efficiency, whether you had ever tried your men? Your work was done
+smartly and well--better than my work was done. But my men will help me in
+a fix, and yours will not."
+
+"You are quite a preacher," she rejoined. "And you are exasperating. Why
+don't you do something?"
+
+"I am going to," replied Kingozi calmly.
+
+He called Mali-ya-bwana to him.
+
+"Talk to these _shenzis_," said he.
+
+Mali-ya-bwana talked. His speech was not eloquent, nor did it flatter the
+Leopard Woman, but it was to the point.
+
+"My _bwana_ is a great lord," said he. "He is master of all things. He
+fights the lion, he fights the elephant. Nothing causes him to be afraid.
+He is not foolish, like a woman. He knows the water, the sun, the wind.
+When he speaks it is wisdom. Those who do what he says follow wisdom.
+_Bassi!_"
+
+Immediately this admonition was finished Kingozi issued his first command:
+
+"Bring all loads to this place."
+
+Nobody stirred at first.
+
+"My loads, the loads of Bibi-ya-chui--all to this place."
+
+Mali-ya-bwana and the other fourteen of Kingozi's safari who were now
+present brought their loads up and began to pile them under Kingozi's
+direction.
+
+"Quickly!" called Kingozi in brisk, cheerful tones. "The water is not far,
+but the day is nearly gone. We must march quickly, even without loads."
+
+The import of the command began to reach the other porters. This white man
+did not intend to camp here then--where there was no water! He did not
+mean to make them march with loads! He knew! He was a great lord, and
+wise, as Mali-ya-bwana had said! One or two arose wearily and stiffly, and
+dragged their loads to the pile. Others followed. Kingozi's men helped the
+weakest. Kingozi himself worked hard, arranging the loads, covering them
+with tarpaulins, weighting the edges.
+
+His intention reached also the Leopard Woman. She watched proceedings
+without comment for some time. Then she saw something that raised her
+objection.
+
+"I shall want that box," she announced. "Leave that one out. And that is
+my tent being brought up now."
+
+Apparently Kingozi did not hear her. He bestowed the box in a space left
+for it, and piled the two tent loads atop. The Leopard Woman arose and
+glided to his side.
+
+"That box----" she began.
+
+"I heard you," replied Kingozi politely, "but it will really be impossible
+to carry anything at all."
+
+"That box is indispensable to me," she insisted haughtily.
+
+"You have no men strong enough to carry a load: and mine will need all the
+strength they have left before they get in."
+
+He went on arranging the loads under the tarpaulins.
+
+"Those loads are my tent," she said, as Kingozi turned away.
+
+"We cannot take them."
+
+Her eyes flashed. She whirled with the evident intention of issuing her
+commands direct. Kingozi's weary, slow indifference fell from him. In one
+bound he faced her, his chin thrust forward. His blue eyes had focussed
+into a cold, level stare.
+
+"Don't dare interfere!" he ordered. "If you attempt it, I shall order you
+restrained--physically. Understand? I do not know how far you intend to
+travel--or where; but if you value your future authority and prestige with
+your own men, do not make yourself a spectacle before them."
+
+"You would not dare!" she panted.
+
+The tenseness relaxed. Kingozi became again the slow-moving, slouching,
+indifferent figure of his everyday habit.
+
+"Oh, I can dare almost anything--when I have to. You do not seem to
+understand. You have come a cropper--a bad one. Left to yourselves you are
+all going to die here. If I am to help you to your feet, I must do it
+without interference. I think we shall get through: but I am not at all
+certain. Go and sit down and save your strength."
+
+"I hate you!" she flashed. "I'd rather die here than accept your help! I
+command you to leave me!"
+
+"Bless you!" said Kingozi, as though this were a new thought. "I wasn't
+thinking especially of _you_; I am sorry for your boys."
+
+Mali-ya-bwana, under his directions, had undone the loads containing the
+lanterns. Everything seemed now ready for the start. All of Kingozi's
+safari had arrived except Cazi Moto and five men.
+
+"Have you any water left?" Kingozi asked the Leopard Woman.
+
+She stared straight ahead of her, refusing to answer. Unperturbed, Kingozi
+turned to the Nubian.
+
+"Which is _memsahib's_ canteen?"
+
+The Nubian silently indicated two of the three hung on his person. Kingozi
+shook them, and found them empty. His own contained still about a pint,
+and this he poured into one of hers. She appeared not to notice the act.
+
+The march was resumed. Mali-ya-bwana was instructed to lead the way
+following the scraped places on the earth, the twigs bent over, and the
+broken branches by which Simba had marked his route for them. Kingozi
+himself brought up the rear. Reluctantly, apathetically, the Leopard
+Woman's men got to their feet. Kingozi was everywhere, urging,
+encouraging, shaming, joking, threatening, occasionally using the _kiboko_
+he had taken from one of the _askaris_. At last all were under way. The
+Leopard Woman sat still on the load, the Nubian crouched at her back. The
+long, straggling, staggering file of men crawled up the dry bank and
+disappeared one by one over the top. Each figure for a moment was
+silhouetted against the sky, for the sun was low. Kingozi toiled up the
+steep, his head bent forward. In his turn he, too, stood black and massive
+on the brink, the outline of his powerful stooped shoulders gold-rimmed in
+light. She watched him feverishly, awaiting from him some sign that he
+realized her existence, that he cared whether or not she was left behind.
+He did not look back. In a moment he had disappeared. The prospect was
+empty of human life.
+
+She arose. For an instant her face was convulsed with a fairly demoniac
+fury. Then a mask of blankness obliterated all expression. She followed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+ON THE PLATEAU
+
+Two hours into the night Kingozi, following in the rear, saw a cluster of
+lights, and shortly came to a compact group of those who had gone before
+him. They were drinking eagerly from water bottles. Simba, lantern in
+hand, stood nearby. A number of savages carrying crude torches hovered
+around the outskirts. Kingozi could not make out the details of their
+appearance: only their eyeballs shining. He drew Simba to one side.
+
+"There are many _shenzis_?"
+
+"Many, like the leaves of the grass, _bwana_."
+
+"The huts are far?"
+
+"One hour, _bwana_, in the hills."
+
+"These _shenzis_ are good?"--meaning friendly.
+
+"_Bwana_, the _sultani_ of these people is a great lord. He has many
+people, and much riches. He has told, his people to come with me. He
+prepares the guest house for you."
+
+"Tired, Simba?"
+
+"It has been a long path since sunup, _bwana_. But I had water, and the
+people gave me _potio_ and meat. I am strong."
+
+"Cazi Moto is back there--in the Thirst," suggested Kingozi, "and many
+others. And there is no water."
+
+"I will go, _bwana_, and take the _shenzis_ with me."
+
+He set about gathering the water bottles and gourds that had not been
+emptied. Mali-ya-bwana and, unexpectedly, a big Kavirondo of Kingozi's
+safari, volunteered. The rest prepared to continue the journey.
+
+But another delay occurred. The Leopard Woman, who had walked indomitably,
+now collapsed. Her eyes were sunken in her head, her lips had paled; only
+the long white oval of her face recalled her former splendid and exotic
+beauty. When the signal to proceed was given, she stepped forward as
+firmly as ever for perhaps a dozen paces, then her knees crumpled under
+her.
+
+"I'm afraid I'm done," she muttered to Kingozi.
+
+In the latter's eyes, for the first time, shone a real and ungrudging
+admiration. He knelt at her side and felt her pulse. Without hesitation,
+and in the most matter-of-fact way, he unbuttoned her blouse to the waist
+and tore apart the thin chemise beneath.
+
+"Water," he commanded.
+
+With the wetted end of his neck scarf he beat her vigorously below the
+left breast. After a little she opened her eyes.
+
+"That's better," said Kingozi, and began clumsily to rebutton her blouse.
+
+A slow colour rose to her face as she realized in what manner she had been
+exposed, and she snatched her garments together. Kingozi, watching her
+closely, seemed to see in this only a satisfactory symptom.
+
+"That's right; now you're about again. Blood going once more."
+
+They proceeded. A man on either side supported the Leopard Woman's steps.
+
+Shortly the hills closed around them. The dark velvet masses compassed
+them about, and the starry sky seemed suddenly to have been thrust upward
+a million miles. The open plain narrowed to a track along which they
+groped single file. They caught the sound of running water to their left;
+but far below. There seemed no end to it.
+
+But then, unexpectedly, they found themselves on a plateau, with the mass
+of the mountains on one side and the sea of night on the other, as though
+it might be the spacious deck of a ship. A multitude of people swarmed
+about them, shining naked people, who stared; and there seemed to be huts
+with conical roofs, and a number of little winking fires that shifted
+position. The people led the way to a circular hut of good size, with a
+conical thatched roof and wattle walls. Kingozi stooped his head,
+thrusting the lantern inside. The interior had been swept. A huge earthen
+tub full of water stood by the door. The place contained no other
+furnishings.
+
+"Bring the _memsahib_ here," he commanded.
+
+She was half dragged forward. Kingozi took her in his arms to prevent her
+falling.
+
+"Bring grass," he ordered.
+
+The request was repeated outside in Swahili, and turned into a strange
+tongue. Kingozi heard many feet hurrying away.
+
+He stood supporting the half-fainting form of the Leopard Woman. Her head
+rested against his shoulder. Her eyes were closed, her muscles had all
+gone slack, so that her body felt soft and warm. Kingozi, waiting,
+remembered her as she had looked the evening of his call--silk-clad,
+lithe, proud, with blood-red lips, and haughty, fathomless eyes, and the
+single jewel that hung in the middle of her forehead. Somehow at this
+moment she seemed smaller, in her safari costume, and helpless, and
+pathetic. He felt the curve of her breast against him, and the picture of
+her as he had seen her out there in the Thirst arose before his eyes. At
+that time it had not registered: he was too busy about serious things. But
+now, while he waited, the incident claimed, belated, his senses. His
+antagonism, or distrust, or coldness, or suspicion, or indifference, or
+whatever had hardened him, disappeared. He stared straight before him at
+the lantern, allowing these thoughts and sensations to drift through him.
+Subconsciously he noted that the lamp flame showed a halo, or rather two
+halos, one red and one green. By experience he knew that this portended
+one of his stabbing headaches through the eyes. But the thought did not
+hold him. He contemplated unwaveringly the spectacle of this soft, warm,
+helpless but indomitable piece of femininity fronting the African
+wilderness unafraid. Unconsciously his arms tightened around her, drawing
+her to him. She gave no sign. Her form was limp. Apparently she was
+either half asleep or in a stupor. But had Kingozi looked down when he
+tightened his arms, instead of staring at the halo-encircled lantern, he
+would have seen her glance sidewise upward into his face, he would have
+discerned a fleeting smile upon her lips.
+
+Almost immediately the people were back with armfuls of the long grass
+that grows on the edge of mountainous country. Under Kingozi's directions
+they heaped it at one side. He assisted the Leopard Woman to this
+improvised couch and laid her upon it. She seemed to drop instantly
+asleep.
+
+They brought more grass and piled it in another place. Mali-ya-bwana
+superintended these activities zealously. He had drunk his fill, had
+bolted a chunk of goat's flesh one of the savages had handed him, now he
+was ready to fulfil his _bwana's_ commands.
+
+"You will eat?" he asked.
+
+But Kingozi was not hungry. His strong desire was for a tall _balauri_ of
+hot tea, but this could not be. He knew it Was unsafe to drink the water
+unboiled--it is unsafe to drink any African water unboiled--but this time
+it could not be helped. He was not even very tired, though his eyes
+burned. There was nothing more to do. Kingozi knew that Simba and Cazi
+Moto would not attempt to come in.
+
+They now had both food and water, and would camp somewhere out on the
+plain.
+
+"I will sleep," he decided.
+
+Mali-ya-bwana at once thrust the savages outside, without ceremony,
+peremptorily. When the _bwana_ of an African belonging to the safari class
+wants anything, the latter gets it for him. The headman of the author of
+these lines went single handed and stopped in its very inception a royal
+_n'goma_, or dance, to which men had come a day's journey, merely because
+his _bwana_ wanted to sleep! Kingozi was here alone, in a strange country,
+for the moment helpless; but Mali-ya-bwana hustled the tribesmen out as
+brusquely as though a regiment were at his back. Which undoubtedly had its
+effect.
+
+Kingozi sat down on the straw and blew out his lantern. The wattle walls
+were not chinked; so the sweet night wind blew through freely; and
+elusively he saw stars against the night. The Leopard Woman breathed
+heavily in little sighs. He was not sleepy. Then everything went black----
+
+
+When Kingozi awakened it was full daylight. A varied murmur came happily
+from outside, what the Africans call a _kalele_--a compound of chatter,
+the noise of occupation, of movement, the inarticulate voice of human
+existence. He glanced across the hut. The Leopard Woman was gone.
+
+"Boy!" he shouted.
+
+At the sound of his voice the _kalele_ ceased. Almost immediately Cazi
+Moto stooped to enter the doorway. Cazi Moto was dressed in clean khaki,
+and bore in his hand a _balauri_ of steaming tea. Kingozi seized this and
+drained it to the bottom.
+
+"That is good," he commented gratefully. "I did not expect to see you,
+Cazi Moto. Did all the men get in?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"_Vema!_ And the men of the Leopard Woman?"
+
+"Many died, _bwana_; but many are here."
+
+Kingozi arose to his feet.
+
+"I must have food. These _shenzis_ eat what?"
+
+"Food is ready, _bwana_."
+
+"I will eat. Then we must make _shauri_ with these people to get our
+loads. My men must rest to-day."
+
+"Come, _bwana_," said Cazi Moto.
+
+Kingozi stooped to pass through the door. When he straightened outside, he
+paused in amazement. Before him stood his camp, intact. The green tent
+with the fly faced him, the flaps thrown back to show within his cot and
+tin box. White porters' tents had been pitched in the usual circle, and
+before each squatted men cooking over little fires. The loads, covered by
+the tarpaulin, had been arranged in the centre of the circle. At a short
+distance to the rear the cook camp steamed.
+
+Cazi Moto stood at his elbow grinning.
+
+"Hot water ready, _bwana_," said he; and for the first time Kingozi
+noticed that he carried a towel over his arm.
+
+"This is good, very good, Cazi Moto!" said he. "_Backsheeshi m'kubwa_ for
+this; both for you and for Simba."
+
+"Thank you, _bwana_," said Gaza Moto. "Simba brought the water, and it
+saved us; and I thought that my _bwana_ should not sleep on grass a second
+time before these _shenzis_."
+
+"Who carried in the loads? Not our porters?"
+
+"No, _bwana_, the _shenzis_."
+
+Kingozi glanced at his wrist watch. It was only ten o'clock. "When?"
+
+"Last night."
+
+"They went back last night?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_. Mali-ya-bwana considered that it was bad to leave the
+loads. There might be hyenas--or the _shenzis_----"
+
+Kingozi slapped his thigh with satisfaction. This was a man after his own
+heart.
+
+"Call Mali-ya-bwana," he ordered.
+
+The tall Baganda approached.
+
+"Mali-ya-bwana," said Kingozi. "You have done well. For this you shall
+have _backsheeshi_. But more. You need not again carry a load. You will
+be--" he hesitated, trying to invent an office, but reluctant to infringe
+upon the prerogatives of either Simba or Cazi Moto. "You will be headman
+of the porters; and you, Cazi Moto, will be headman of all the safari, and
+my own man besides."
+
+The Baganda drew himself erect, his face shining. Placing his bare heels
+together, he raised his hand in a military salute. Kingozi was about to
+dismiss him, but this arrested his intention.
+
+"Where did you learn to do that?" he asked sharply.
+
+"I was once in the King's African Rifles."[7]
+
+[Footnote 7: Only, of course, Mali-ya-bwana gave the native name for these
+troops.]
+
+"You can shoot, then?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"Good!" commented Kingozi thoughtfully. Then after a moment: "_Bassi_."
+
+Mali-ya-bwana saluted once more and departed. Kingozi turned toward his
+tent.
+
+It had been pitched under a huge tree, with low, massive limbs and a shade
+that covered a diameter of fully sixty yards. Before it the usual table
+had been made of piled-up chop boxes, and to this Cazi Moto was bearing
+steaming dishes. The threatened headache had not materialized, and Kingozi
+was feeling quite fit. He was ravenously hungry, for now his system was
+rested enough to assimilate food. His last meal had been breakfast before
+sunup of the day before. Without paying even casual attention to his
+surroundings he seated himself on a third chop box and began to eat.
+
+Kingozi's methods of eating had in them little of the epicure. He simply
+ate all he wanted of the first things set before him. After this he drank
+all he wanted from the tall _balauri_. Second courses did not exist for
+Kingozi. Then with a sigh of satisfaction, he fumbled for his pipe and
+tobacco, and looked about him.
+
+The guest house had been built, as was the custom, a little apart from the
+main village. The latter was evidently around the bend of the hill, for
+only three or four huts were to be seen, perched among the huge
+outcropping boulders that were, apparently, characteristic of these hills.
+The mountains rose rather abruptly, just beyond the plateau; which, in
+turn, fell away almost as abruptly to the sweep of the plains. The bench
+was of considerable width--probably a mile at this point. It was not
+entirely level; but on the other hand not particularly broken. A number of
+fine, symmetrical trees of unknown species grew at wide intervals,
+overtopping a tangle of hedges, rank bushes, vines, and shrubs that
+appeared to constitute a rough sort of boundary between irregular fields.
+A tiny swift stream of water hurried by between the straight banks of an
+obviously artificial ditch.
+
+But though the village was hidden from view, its inhabitants were not.
+They had invaded the camp. Kingozi examined them keenly, with curiosity.
+Naked little boys and girls wandered gravely about; women clung together
+in groups; men squatted on their heels before anything that struck their
+attention, and stared.
+
+These people, Kingozi noted, were above middle size, of a red bronze, of
+the Semitic rather than the Hamitic type, well developed but not obviously
+muscular, of a bright and lively expression. The women shaved their heads
+quite bare; the men left a sort of skull cap of hair atop the head.
+Earlobes were pierced and stretched to hold ivory ornaments running up to
+the size of a jampot. There were some, but not many, armlets, leglets, and
+necklets of iron wire polished to the appearance of silver. The women wore
+brief skirts of softened skins: the men carried a short shoulder cape, or
+simply nothing at all. Each man bore a long-bladed heavy spear. Before
+squatting down in front of whatever engaged his attention for the moment,
+the savage thrust this upright in the ground. Kingozi, behind his pipe,
+considered them well: and received a favourable impression. An immovable,
+unblinking semicircle crouched at a respectful distance taking in every
+detail of the white man's appearance and belongings, watching his every
+move. Nobody spoke; apparently nobody even winked.
+
+Now appeared across the prospect two men walking. One was an elderly
+savage, with a wrinkled, shrewd countenance. He was almost completely
+enveloped in a robe of softened skins. Followed him a younger man,
+dangling at the end of a thong a small three-legged stool cut entire from
+a single block of wood. The old man swept forward with considerable
+dignity; the younger, one hand held high in the most affected fashion,
+teetered gracefully along as mincingly as any dandy.
+
+The visitor came superbly up to where Kingozi sat, and uttered a greeting
+in Swahili. He proved to possess a grand, deep, thunderous voice.
+
+"_Jambo!_" he rolled.
+
+Kingozi stared up at him coolly for a moment; then, without removing his
+pipe from his teeth, he remarked:
+
+"_Jambo!_"
+
+The old man, smiling, extended his hand.[8]
+
+[Footnote 8: Many African tribes shake hands in one way or another.]
+
+Kingozi, nursing the bowl of his pipe, continued to stare up at him.
+
+"Are you the _sultani?_" he demanded abruptly.
+
+The old man waved his hand in courtly fashion.
+
+"I am not the _sultani_," he answered in very bad Swahili; "I am the
+headman of the _sultani_."
+
+Kingozi continued to stare at him in the most uncompromising manner. In
+the meantime the younger man had loosed the thong from his wrist and had
+placed the stool on a level spot. The prime minister to the _sultani_
+arranged his robe preparatory to sitting down.
+
+Kingozi removed his pipe from his lips, and sat erect.
+
+"Stand up!" he commanded sharply. "If you are not the _sultani_ how dare
+you sit down before me!"
+
+The youth whisked the stool away: the old man covered his discomfiture in
+a flow of talk. Kingozi listened to him in silence. The visitor concluded
+his remarks which--as far as they could be understood--were entirely
+general: and, with a final courtly wave of the hand, turned away. Then
+Kingozi spoke, abruptly, curtly.
+
+"Have your people bring me eggs," he said, "milk, _m'wembe_."[9]
+
+[Footnote 9: A sort of flour ground from rape seeds.]
+
+The old man, somewhat abashed, made the most dignified retreat possible
+through the keenly attentive audience of his own people.
+
+Kingozi gazed after him, his blue eyes wide with their peculiar aggressive
+blank stare. A low hum of conversation swept through the squatting
+warriors. Those who understood Swahili murmured eagerly to those who did
+not. These uttered politely the long drawn "A-a-a-a!" of savage interest.
+
+"Cazi Moto, where is my chair?" Kingozi demanded, abruptly conscious that
+the chop box was not very comfortable.
+
+"Bibi-ya-chui has it."
+
+"Where is she?"
+
+"Right behind you," came that young woman's voice in amused tones. "You
+have been so busy that you have not seen me."
+
+Kingozi turned. The chair had been placed in a bare spot close to the
+trunk of the great tree. He grinned cheerfully.
+
+"I was pretty hungry," he confessed, "and I don't believe I saw a single
+thing but that curry!"
+
+[Footnote 9: A sort of flour ground from rape seeds.]
+
+"Naturally. It is not to be wondered at. Are you all rested?"
+
+"I'm quite fit, thanks. And you?"
+
+She was still in her marching costume; but her hair had been smoothed, her
+face washed. The colour had come back to her lips, the light to her
+expression. Only a faint dark encircling of the eyes, and a certain
+graceful languor of attitude recalled the collapse of yesterday.
+
+"Oh, I am all right; but perishing for a cigarette. Have you one?"
+
+"Sorry, but I don't use them. Are not all your loads up yet?"
+
+"None of them."
+
+"Well, they should be in shortly. Cazi Moto has given you breakfast, of
+course."
+
+"Yes. But nobody has yet gone for my loads."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Kingozi sharply. "Why did you not start men for them
+when you first awakened?"
+
+She smiled at him ruefully.
+
+"I tried. But they said they were very tired from yesterday. They would
+not go."
+
+"Simba!" called Kingozi.
+
+"Suh!"
+
+"Bring the headman of Bibi-ya-chui. Is he that mop-headed blighter?" he
+asked her.
+
+"Who? Oh, the Nubian, Chake. No; he is just a faithful creature near
+myself. I have no headman."
+
+"Who takes your orders, then?"
+
+"The _askaris_."
+
+"Which one?"
+
+"Any of them." She made a mouth. "Don't look at me in that fashion. Is
+that so very dreadful?"
+
+"It's impossible. You can never run a safari in that way. Simba, bring all
+the _askaris_."
+
+Simba departed on his errand. Kingozi turned to her gravely.
+
+"Dear lady," said he gravely, "I am going to offend you again. But this
+won't do. You are a wonderful woman; but you do not know this game well
+enough. I acknowledge you will handle this show ordinarily in tiptop
+style; but in a new country, in contact with new peoples--it's a
+specialist's job, that's all."
+
+"I'm beginning to think so," she replied with unexpected humility.
+
+"Already you've lost control of your organization: you nearly died from
+lack of water--By the way, why didn't you push ahead with your Nubian, and
+find the water?"
+
+"I had to get my men on."
+
+He looked on her with more approval.
+
+"Well, you're safe out of it. And now, I beg of you, don't do it any
+more."
+
+"Is my little scolding all done?" she asked after a pause.
+
+"Forgive me. I did not mean it as a scolding."
+
+She sat upright and rested her elbows on her knees, her chin in her hands.
+Her long sea-green eyes softened.
+
+"Listen: I deserve that what you say. I thought I knew, because always I
+have travelled in a good country. But never the hell of a dry country. I
+want you to know that you are quite right, and I want to tell you that I
+know you saved me and my men: and I would not know what to do now if you
+were not here to help me. There!" she made a pretty outward-flinging
+gesture. "Is that enough?"
+
+Kingozi, like most men whose natural efficiency has been hardened by wide
+experience, while impervious to either open or wily antagonism, melted at
+the first hint of surrender. A wave of kindly feeling overwhelmed the last
+suspicions--absurd suspicions--his analysis had made. He was prevented
+from replying by the approach of Simba at the head of eight of the
+_askaris_. They slouched along at his heels, sullen and careless, but when
+they felt the impact of Kingozi's cold glare, they straightened to
+attention. Kingozi ran his eye over them.
+
+"Where are the other four?" he demanded.
+
+"Three are in the _shenzis'_ village. One says he is very tired."
+
+"Take Mali-ya-bwana and Cazi Moto. Take the leg chains. Bring that one man
+before me with the chains on him. Have him bring also his gun; and his
+cartridges."
+
+Ignoring the waiting eight, Kingozi resumed his conversation with the
+Leopard Woman.
+
+"They are out of hand," said he. "We must impress them."
+
+"_Kiboko?_" she inquired.
+
+"Perhaps--but you have rather overdone that. We shall see."
+
+"I heard you talk with that old man a few moments ago," she said. "And I
+heard also much talk of our men about it. He is a very powerful chief--
+next to the _sultani_. Are not you afraid that your treatment of him will
+make trouble? You were not polite."
+
+"What else have you heard?"
+
+"This _sultani_ has apparently several hundred villages. They keep goats,
+fat-tailed sheep, and some few cattle. They raise _m'wembe_, beans,
+peanuts, and bananas. They have a war caste of young men."
+
+Kingozi listened to her attentively.
+
+"Good girl!" said he. "You use your intelligence. These are all good
+points to know."
+
+"But this old man----"
+
+"No; I have not insulted him. I know the native mind. I have merely
+convinced him that I am every bit as important a person as his _sultani_."
+
+"What do you do next? Call on the _sultani_."
+
+"By no means. Wait until he comes. If he does not come by, say to-morrow,
+send for him."
+
+Simba appeared leading a downcast _askari_ in irons. Kingozi waved his
+hand toward those waiting in the sun; and the new captive made the ninth.
+
+"Now, Simba, go to the village of these _shenzis_. Tell the other three
+_askaris_ to come; and at once. Do not return without them."
+
+Simba, whose fierce soul all this delighted beyond expression, started off
+joyfully, trailed by a posse of his own choosing.
+
+"What are you going to do?" asked the Leopard Woman curiously.
+
+"Get them in line a bit," replied Kingozi carelessly. "I feel rather lazy
+and done up to-day; don't you?"
+
+"That is so natural. And I am keeping your chair----"
+
+"I've been many trips without one. This tree is good to lean against----"
+
+They chatted about trivial matters. A certain ease had crept into their
+relations: a guard had been lowered. To a small extent they ventured to
+question each other, to indulge in those tentative explorations of
+personality so fascinating in the early stages of acquaintanceship. To her
+inquiries Kingozi repeated that he was an ivory hunter and trader; he came
+into this country because new country alone offered profits in ivory these
+days; he had been in Africa for fifteen years. At this last she looked him
+over closely.
+
+"You came out very young," she surmised.
+
+"When my father took me out of the medical school to put me into the
+ministry. I had a knack for doctoring. I ran away."
+
+"Why did you come to Africa?"
+
+"Didn't particularly. Started for Iceland on a whaling ship. Sailed the
+seven seas after the brutes. Landed on the Gold Coast--and got left
+behind."
+
+She looked at him hard, and he laughed.
+
+"'Left' with my kit and about sixty pounds I had hung on to since I left
+home--my own money, mind you! _And_ a harpoon gun! Lord!" he laughed
+again, "think of it--a harpoon gun! You loaded it with about a peck of
+black powder. Normally, of course, it shot a harpoon, but you could very
+near cram a nigger baby down it! And kick! If you were the least bit off
+balance it knocked you flat. It was the most extraordinary cannon ever
+seen in Africa, and it inspired more respect, acquired me more _kudos_
+than even my beard."
+
+"So _that's_ why you wear it!" she murmured.
+
+"What?"
+
+"Nothing; go on."
+
+"Just the sight of that awe-inspiring piece of ordnance took me the length
+of the Congo without the least difficulty."
+
+"Tell me about the Congo."
+
+Apparently, at this direct and comprehensive question, there was nothing
+to tell about the Congo. But adroitly she drew him on. He told of the
+great river and its people, and the white men who administered it. The
+subject of cannibals seemed especially to fascinate her. He had seen
+living human beings issued as a sort of ration on the hoof to native
+cannibal troops.
+
+Simba returned with the other three _askaris_.
+
+Kingozi arose from the ground and stretched himself.
+
+"I'm sorry," said he, "I'm afraid I shall have to ask you for the chair
+now."
+
+She arose, wondering a little. He placed the chair before the waiting line
+of _askaris_, and planted himself squarely in it as in a judgment seat. He
+ran his eye over the men deliberately.
+
+"You!" said he suddenly, pointing his forefinger at the man in irons. "You
+have disobeyed my orders. You are no longer an _askari_. You are a common
+porter, and from now on will carry a load. It is not my custom to use
+_kiboko_ on _askaris_; but a common porter can eat _kiboko_, and Mali-ya-
+bwana, my headman of safari, will give you twenty-five lashes. _Bassi!_"
+
+Mali-ya-bwana, well pleased thus early to exercise the authority of his
+new office, led the man away.
+
+Kingozi dropped his chin in his hand, a movement that pushed out his beard
+in a terrifying manner. One after another of the eleven men felt the
+weight of his stare. At last he spoke.
+
+"I have heard tales of you," said he, "but I who speak know nothing about
+you. You are _askaris_, soldiers with guns, and next to gun bearers are
+the greatest men in the safari. Some have told me that you are not
+_askaris_, that you are common porters--and not good ones--who carry guns.
+I do not know. That we shall see. This is what must be done now, and done
+quickly: the loads of your _memsahib_ must be brought here, and camp made
+properly, according to the custom. Perhaps your men are no longer tired:
+perhaps you will get the _shenzis_. That is not my affair. You
+understand?"
+
+The answer came in an eager chorus.
+
+He ran his eye over them again.
+
+"You," he indicated, "stand forward. Of what tribe are you?"
+
+"Monumwezi, _bwana_."
+
+"Your name?"
+
+The man uttered a mouthful of gutturals.
+
+"Again."
+
+He repeated.
+
+"That is not a good name for me. From now on you are--Jack."
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"Do you know the customs of _askaris?_"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"H'm," Kingozi commented in English, "nobody would guess it. Then
+understand this: You are headman of _askaris_. You take the orders: you
+report to me--or the _memsahib_," he added, almost as an afterthought.
+"To-morrow morning _fall in_, and I will look at your guns. _Bassi!_"
+
+They filed away. Kingozi arose and returned the chair.
+
+"Is that all you will do to them?" she demanded. "I tell you they have
+insulted me; they have refused to move; they should be punished."
+
+"That's all. They understand now what will happen. You will see: they will
+not refuse again."
+
+She appeared to struggle against a flare of her old rebellious spirit.
+
+"I will leave it to you," she managed at last.
+
+The squatting savages had not moved a muscle, but their shining black eyes
+had not missed a single detail.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+THE SULTANI
+
+Six hours later the Leopard Woman's camp had arrived, had been pitched,
+and everything was running again as usual. The new _askari_ headman, Jack,
+had reported pridefully to Kingozi. The latter had nodded a careless
+acknowledgment; and had referred the man to his mistress. She had
+disappeared for a time, but now emerged again, bathed, freshened, dainty
+in her silken tea gown, the braids of hair down her back, the band of
+woven gold encircling her brow, the single strange jewel hanging in the
+middle of her forehead. For a time she sat alone under her own tree; but,
+as Kingozi showed no symptoms of coming to her, and as she was bored and
+growing impatient, she trailed over to him, the Nubian following with her
+chair. Kingozi was absorbed in establishing points on his map. He looked
+up at her and nodded pleasantly, then moved his protractor a few inches.
+
+"Just a moment," he murmured absorbedly.
+
+She lit a cigarette and yawned. The immediate prospect was dull. Savages
+continued to drift in, to squat and stare, then to move on to the porters'
+camps. There a lively bartering was going on. From some unsuspected store
+each porter had drawn forth a few beads, some snuff, a length of wire, or
+similar treasure; and with them was making the best bargain he could for
+the delicacies of the country. The process was noisy. Four _askaris_, with
+their guns, stood on guard. The shadows were lengthening in the hills, and
+the heat waves had ceased to shimmer like veils.
+
+"That's done," said Kingozi at last.
+
+"Thank the Lord!" she ejaculated. "This bores me. Why do we not do
+something? I should like some milk, some eggs--many things. Let us summon
+this king."
+
+But Kingozi shook his head.
+
+"That's all very well where the white man's influence reaches. But not
+here. I doubt if there are three men in this people who have ever even
+seen a white man. Of course they have all heard of us, and know a good
+deal about us. We must stand on our dignity here. Let the _sultani_ come
+to us, all in his own time. Without his goodwill we cannot move a step
+farther, we cannot get a pound of _potio_."
+
+"How long will it take? I want to get on. This does not interest me. I
+have seen many natives."
+
+Kingozi smiled.
+
+"Two days of visit. Then perhaps a week to get _potio_ and guides."
+
+"Impossible! I could not endure it!"
+
+"I am afraid you will have to. I know the untamed savage. He is inclined
+to be friendly, always. If you hurry the process, you must fight. That's
+the trouble with a big mob like yours. It is difficult to feed so many
+peacefully. Even in a rich country they bring in _potio_ slowly--a cupful
+at a time. With the best intentions in the world you may have to use
+coercion to keep from starving. And coercion means trouble. Look at
+Stanley--he left hostilities everywhere, that have lasted up to now. The
+people were well enough disposed when he came among them with his six or
+eight hundred men. But he had to have food and he had to have it quickly.
+He could not wait for slow, diplomatic methods. He had to _take_ it. Even
+when you pay for a thing, that doesn't work. The news travelled ahead of
+him, and the result was he had to fight. And everybody else has had to
+fight ever since."
+
+"That is interesting. I did not know that."
+
+"A small party can negotiate. That's why I say you have too many men."
+
+"But the time wasted!" she cried aghast.
+
+"Time is nothing in Africa." He went on to tell her of the two travellers
+in Rhodesia who came upon a river so wide that they could but just see
+from one bank to the other; and so swift that rafts were of little avail.
+So one man went back for a folding boat while the other camped by the
+stream. Four months later the first man returned with the boat. The
+"river" had dried up completely!
+
+"They didn't mind," said Kingozi, "they thought it a huge joke."
+
+An hour before sundown signs of activity manifested themselves from the
+direction of the invisible village. A thin, high, wailing chant in female
+voices came fitfully to their ears. A compact little group of men rounded
+the bend and approached. Their gait was slow and stately.
+
+"Well," remarked Kingozi, feeling for his pipe, "we are going to be
+honoured by that visit from his majesty."
+
+The Leopard Woman leaned forward and surveyed the approaching men with
+some interest. They were four in number. Three were naked, their bodies
+oiled until they glistened with a high polish. One of them carried a
+battered old canvas steamer chair; one a fan of ostrich plumes; and one a
+long gourd heavily decorated with cowrie shells. The fourth was an
+impressive individual in middle life, hawkfaced, tall and spare, carrying
+himself with great dignity. He wore a number of anklets and armlets of
+polished wire, a broad beaded collar, heavy earrings, and a sumptuous robe
+of softened goatskins embroidered with beads and cowrie shells. As he
+strode his anklets clashed softly. His girt was free, and he walked with
+authority. Altogether an impressive figure.
+
+"The _sultani_ is a fine-looking man," observed Bibi-ya-chui. "I suppose
+the others are slaves."
+
+Kingozi threw a careless glance in the direction of the approaching group.
+
+"Not the _sultani_--some understrapper. Chief Hereditary Guardian of the
+Royal Chair, or something of that sort, I dare say."
+
+The tall man approached, smiling graciously. Kingozi vouchsafed him no
+attention. Visibly impressed, the newcomer rather fussily superintended
+the unfolding and placing of the chair. The slaves with the plumed fan and
+the gourd stationed themselves at either side. The other two men fell
+back.
+
+Now the shrill chanting became more clearly audible. Shortly appeared a
+procession. Women bearing burdens walked two by two. Armed men with spears
+and shields flanked them. As they approached, it could be seen that they
+were very gorgeous indeed; the women hung with strings of cowries, bound
+with glittering brass and iron, bedecked with strings of beads. To one
+familiar with savage peoples there could be no doubt that these were close
+to the purple. Each bead, each shell, each bangle of wire had been passed
+through many, many hands before it reached this remote fastness of
+barbarity; and in each hand, you may be sure, profits had remained. But
+the men were more impressive still. Stark naked of every stitch of cloth
+or of tanned skins, oiled with an unguent carrying a dull red stain, their
+heads shaved bare save for a small crown patch from which single feathers
+floated, they symbolized well the warrior stripped for the fray. A beaded
+broad belt supported a short sword and the _runga_, or war club; an oval
+shield of buffalo hide, brilliantly painted, hung on the left arm; a
+polished long-bladed spear was carried in the right hand. And surrounding
+the face, as a frame, was a queer headdress of black ostrich plumes. Every
+man of them wore about his ankles hollow bangles of considerable size; and
+these he clashed loudly one against the other as he walked.
+
+It made a great uproar this--the clang of the iron, the wild wailing of
+the women's voices.
+
+Kingozi moved his chair four or five paces to the front.
+
+"I'm sorry," he told her, "but I must ask you to stay where you are. This
+is an important occasion."
+
+He surveyed the oncoming procession with interest.
+
+"Swagger old beggar," he observed. "His guard are well turned out. You
+know those markings on the shields are a true heraldry--the patterns mean
+families, and all that sort of thing."
+
+The chanting grew louder as the procession neared. The warriors stared
+fiercely straight ahead. Before Kingozi they parted to right and left,
+forming an aisle leading to his chair. Down this the women came, one by
+one, still singing, and deposited their burdens at the white man's feet.
+There were baskets of _m'wembe_, earthen bowls of eggs, fowls, gourds of
+milk, bundles of faggots and firewood, woven bags of _n'jugu_ nuts,
+vegetables, and two small sheep. Kingozi stared indifferently into the
+distance; but as each gift was added to the others he reached forward to
+touch it as a sign of acceptance. Their burdens deposited, they took their
+places in front of the ranks of the warriors.
+
+"Am I supposed to speak?" asked the Leopard Woman.
+
+"Surely."
+
+"Shouldn't we order out our _askaris_ with their guns to make the parade?"
+
+"No. We could not hope to equal this show, possibly. Our lay is to do the
+supercilious indifferent." He turned to his attentive satellite. "Cazi
+Moto," he ordered, "tell our people, quietly, to go back to their camps.
+They must not stand and stare at these _shenzis_. And tell M'pishi to make
+large _balauris_ of coffee, and put in plenty of sugar."
+
+Cazi Moto grinned understandingly, and glided away. Shortly the safari men
+could be seen sauntering unconcernedly back to their little fires.
+
+Suddenly the warriors cried out in a loud voice, and raised their right
+arms and spears rigidly above their heads. A tall, heavily built man
+appeared around the bend. He was followed by two young women, who flanked
+him by a pace or so to the rear. They were so laden with savage riches as
+to be almost concealed beneath the strings of cowrie shells and bands of
+beads. In contrast the man wore only a long black cotton blanket draped to
+leave one shoulder and arm bare. Not an earring, not a bangle, not even a
+finger ring or a bead strap relieved the sombre simplicity of the black
+robe and the dark skin.
+
+"But this man is an artist!" murmured Bibi-ya-chui. "He understands
+effect! This is stage managed!"
+
+The _sultani_ approached without haste. He stopped squarely before
+Kingozi's chair. The latter did not rise. The two men stared into each
+other's eyes for a full minute, without embarrassment, without contest,
+without defiance. Then the black man spoke.
+
+"_Jambo, bwana_," he rumbled in a deep voice.
+
+"_Jambo, sultani_" replied Kingozi calmly.
+
+They shook hands.
+
+With regal deliberation the visitor arranged his robes and sat down in the
+battered old canvas chair. A silence that lasted nearly five minutes
+ensued.
+
+"I thank you, _sultani_, for the help your men have given. I thank you for
+the houses. I thank you for these gifts."
+
+The _sultani_ waved his hand magnificently.
+
+"It is not the custom of white men to give gifts until their departure,"
+continued Kingozi, "but this knife is yours to make friendship."
+
+He handed over a knife, of Swedish manufacture, the blade of which
+disappeared into the handle in a most curious fashion. The _sultani's_
+eyes lit up with an almost childish delight, but his countenance showed no
+emotion. He passed the knife on to the dignitary who stood behind his
+chair.
+
+"This," said Kingozi, taking one of the steaming _balauris_ from Cazi
+Moto, "is the white man's _tembo_."
+
+The _sultani_ tasted doubtfully. He was pleased. He gave back the
+_balauri_ at last with a final smack of the lips.
+
+"Good!" said he.
+
+Another full five minutes of silence ensued. Then the _sultani_ arose. He
+cast a glance about him, his eye, avid with curiosity, held rigidly in
+restraint. It rested on the Leopard Woman.
+
+"I see you have one of your women with you," he remarked.
+
+He turned, without further ceremony, and stalked off, followed at a few
+paces by the two richly ornamented girls. The warriors again raised their
+spears aloft, holding them thus until their lord had rounded the cliff.
+Then, the women in precedence, they marched away. Kingozi puffed his pipe
+indifferently.
+
+The Leopard Woman was visibly impatient, visibly roused.
+
+"Are you letting him go?" she demanded. "Do not you inquire the country?
+Do not you ask for _potio_, for guides?"
+
+"Not to-day," replied Kingozi. He turned deliberately to face her, his
+eyes serious. "Please realize once for all that we live here only by force
+of _prestige_. My only chance of getting on, our only chance of safety
+rests on my ability to impress this man with the idea that I am a bigger
+lord than he. And, remember, I have lived in savage Africa for fifteen
+years, and I know what I am doing. This is very serious. You must not
+interfere; and you must not suggest."
+
+The Leopard Woman's eyes glittered dangerously, but she controlled
+herself.
+
+"You talk like a sultan yourself," she protested at length. "You should
+not use that tone to me."
+
+Kingozi brushed the point aside with a large gesture.
+
+"I will play the game of courtesy with you, yes," said he, "but only when
+it does not interfere with serious things. In this matter there must be no
+indefiniteness, no chance for misunderstanding. Politeness, between the
+sexes, means both. I will repeat: in this you must leave me free hand no
+interference, no suggestion."
+
+"And if I disobey your commands?" she challenged, with an emphasis on the
+last word.
+
+He surveyed her sombrely.
+
+"I should take measures," he replied finally.
+
+"You are not my master: you are not the master of my men!"
+
+Kingozi permitted himself a slight smile.
+
+"If you believe that last statement, just try to give an order to your men
+counter to an order of mine. You would see. And of course in case of a
+real crisis I should have to make myself master of you, if you seemed
+likely to be troublesome."
+
+"I would kill you! I warn you; I go always armed!"
+
+From the folds of her silken robe she produced a small automatic pistol
+which she displayed. Kingozi glanced at it indifferently.
+
+"In that case you would have to kill yourself, too; and then it would not
+matter to either of us."
+
+"I find you insufferable!" she cried, getting to her feet.
+
+She moved away in the direction of her camp. The faithful Nubian folded
+her chair and followed. At the doorway of her tent she looked back.
+Kingozi, his black pipe in his mouth, was bending absorbedly over his map.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+THE IVORY STOCKADE
+
+The Leopard Woman, emerging from her tent shortly after sunup the next
+morning, saw across the opening her own _askaris_ being drilled by
+Kingozi, Simba, and Cazi Moto. Evidently the instruction was in rifle
+fire. Two were getting individual treatment: Simba and Cazi Moto were
+putting them through a careful course in aiming and pulling the trigger on
+empty guns. Kingozi sat on a chop box in the shade, gripping his eternal
+pipe, and issuing curt orders and criticisms to the baker's dozen, before
+him. When he saw the Leopard Woman he arose and strolled in her direction.
+
+"That's the worst lot of so-called _askaris_ I ever saw," he remarked.
+"Where did you pick them up?"
+
+His manner was entirely unconscious of any discussions or dissentions. He
+looked into her eyes and smiled genially.
+
+"I took them from the recruiting man, as they came," she replied. As
+always the deeps of her eyes were enigmatical; but the surfaces, at least,
+of her mood answered his.
+
+"They know how to load a gun, and that is about all. I don't believe one
+of them ever fired a weapon before this trip. They haven't the most
+rudimentary ideas of aiming. Don't even know what sights are for. My boys
+will soon whip them into some sort of shape. I came over to see how much
+ammunition you have for their muskets. They really ought to fire a few
+rounds--after a week of aiming and snapping. Then they'll be of some use.
+Not much, though."
+
+"I really don't know," she answered his question. "Chake will look and
+see."
+
+"Send him over to report when he finds out," requested Kingozi, preparing
+to return.
+
+"What move does your wisdom contemplate to-day?" she called after him.
+
+"Oh, return his majesty's visit this afternoon. Like to go?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Well, I'll let you know when. And if you go, you must be content to stand
+two or three yards behind me, and to say nothing."
+
+She flushed, but answered steadily enough:
+
+"I'll remember."
+
+It was nearing sundown when Kingozi emerged from his tent and gave the
+signal to move. He had for the first time strapped on a heavy revolver;
+his glasses hung from his neck; his sleeve was turned back to show his
+wrist watch; and, again for the first time, he had assumed a military-
+looking tunic. He carried his double rifle.
+
+"Got on everything I own," he grinned.
+
+Simba and Cazi Moto waited near. From the mysterious sources every native
+African seems to possess they had produced new hats and various trinkets.
+Their khakis had been fresh washed; so they looked neat and trim.
+
+The Leopard Woman wore still one of her silken negligees, and the jewel on
+her forehead; but her hair had been piled high on her head. Kingozi
+surveyed her with some particularity. She noted the fact. Her satisfaction
+would have diminished could she have read his mind. He was thinking that
+her appearance was sufficiently barbaric to impress a barbaric king.
+
+They rounded the point of cliffs, and the village lay before them. It
+rambled up the side of the mountain, hundreds of beehive houses perched
+and clinging, with paths from one to the other. The approach was through a
+narrow straight lane of thorn and aloes, so thick and so spiky that no
+living thing bigger than a mouse could have forced its way through the
+walls. The end of this vista was a heavy palisade of timbers through which
+a door led into a circular enclosure ten feet in diameter, on the other
+side of which another door opened into the village. Above each of these
+doors massive timbers were suspended ready to fall at the cut of a sword.
+Within the little enclosure, or double gate, squatted a man before a great
+drum.
+
+"They're pretty well fixed here," observed Kingozi critically. "Nobody can
+get at them except down that lane. The mountains are impassable because of
+the thorn. They must use arrows."
+
+"Why?" asked the Leopard Woman.
+
+"The form of their defence. They shoot between the logs of the palisade
+down the narrow lane. If they fought only with spears, the lane would be
+shorter, and it would be defended on the flank."
+
+"Why don't they defend it on the flank also, even with arrows?" asked the
+Leopard Woman shrewdly.
+
+"'It is not the custom,'" wearily quoted Kingozi in the vernacular. "Don't
+ask me _why_ a savage does things. I only know he does."
+
+Their conversation was drowned by the sound of the drum.
+
+The guardian did not beat it, but rubbed the head rapidly with the stick,
+modifying the pressure scientifically until the vibrations had well
+started. It roared hollowly, like some great bull.
+
+The visitors passed through the defensive anteroom and entered the village
+enclosure.
+
+On the flat below the hills, heretofore invisible, stood a half-dozen
+large houses. At the end, where the canon began to narrow, a fence gleamed
+dazzlingly white. From this distance the four-foot posts, planted in
+proximity like a stockade, looked to have been whitewashed.
+
+People were appearing everywhere. The crags and points of the hills were
+filling with bold black figures silhouetted against the sky. Men, women,
+children, dogs sprang up, from the soil apparently. As though by magic the
+flat open space became animated. Plumed heads appeared above the white
+fence in the distance, where, undoubtedly, their owners had been loafing
+in the shade. Another drum began to roar somewhere, and with it the echoes
+began to arouse themselves in the hills.
+
+Paying no attention to any of this interesting confusion Kingozi sauntered
+straight ahead. At his command the Leopard Woman had dropped a pace to the
+rear.
+
+"The royal palace is behind the white fence," he volunteered over his
+shoulder.
+
+They approached the sacred precincts. But while yet fifty yards distant,
+Kingozi stopped with an exclamation. He turned to the Leopard Woman, and
+for the first time she saw on his face and in his eyes a genuine and
+unconcealed excitement.
+
+"My Lord!" he cried to her, "saw ever any man the likes of that!"
+
+The white posts of which the fence was made were elephants' tusks!
+
+"Kingdom coming, what a sight!" murmured Kingozi. "Why, there are hundreds
+and hundreds of them--and the smallest worth not less than fifty pounds!"
+
+Her eyes answered him whole-heartedly, for her imagination was afire.
+
+"What magnificence!" she replied. "The thought is great--a palace of
+ivory! This is kingly!"
+
+But the light had died in Kingozi's eyes. "Won't do!" he muttered to her.
+"Compose your face. Come."
+
+Without another glance at the magnificent tusks he marched on through the
+open gate.
+
+Other drums, many drums, were roaring all about. The cliff of the canon
+was filled with sound that buffeted back and forth until it seemed that it
+must rise above the hills and overflow the world. A chattering and
+hurrying of people could be heard as an undertone.
+
+The small enclosure was occupied by a dozen of the plumed warriors who had
+now snatched up emblazoned shield and polished spear; and stood rigidly at
+attention. Women of all ages crouched and squatted against the fence and
+the sides of a large wattle and thatch building.
+
+Kingozi walked deliberately about, looking with detached interest at the
+various people and objects the corral contained. He had very much the air
+of a man sauntering idly about a museum, with all the time in the world on
+his hands, and nowhere much to go. Simba and Cazi Moto remained near the
+gate. The Leopard Woman, not knowing what else to do, trailed after him.
+
+This continued for some time. At last her impatience overcame her.
+
+"I suppose I may talk," said she resentfully. "How much longer must this
+go on? Why do not you make your call and have it over?"
+
+Kingozi laughed.
+
+"You do not know this game. Inside old Stick-in-the mud is waiting in all
+his grandeur. He expects me to go in to him. I am going to wait until he
+comes out to me. _Prestige_ again."
+
+Apparently without a care in the world, he continued his stroll. Small
+naked children ventured from hiding-places and stared. To some of these
+Kingozi spoke pleasantly with the immediate effect of causing them to
+scuttle back to cover. He examined minutely the tusks comprising the
+stockade. They had been arranged somewhat according to size, with the
+curve outward. Kingozi spent some time estimating them.
+
+"Fortune here for some one," he observed.
+
+At the end of an hour the _sultani_ gave up the contest and appeared,
+smiling, unconcerned. The men greeted each other, exchanged a few words.
+Women emerged from the house carrying _tembo_ in gourd bottles, and
+smaller half-gourds from which to drink it. Their eyes were large with
+curiosity as to this man and woman of a new species. Kingozi touched his
+lips to the _tembo_. They exchanged a few words, and shook hands again.
+Then Kingozi turned away, and, followed by the Leopard Woman and his two
+men, walked out through the ivory gateway, down through the open flat,
+under the fortified portal, and so down the lane of spiky walls. The drums
+roared louder and louder. Warriors in spear, shield, and plumed headdress
+stood rigid as they passed. People by the hundreds gazed at them openly,
+peered at them from behind doors, or looked down on them from the crags
+above. They rounded the corner of the cliff. Before them lay their own
+quiet peaceful camp. Only the voice of the drums bellowed as though behind
+them in the cleft of the hills some great and savage beast lay hid.
+
+[Illustration: "Their eyes were large with curiosity as to this man and
+woman of a new species.... Kingozi touched his lips to the _tembo_"]
+
+"That seemed to be all right," suggested the Leopard Woman, ranging
+alongside again.
+
+"They didn't spear us, if that's what you mean. We can tell more about it
+to-morrow."
+
+"What will happen to-morrow?"
+
+"Yesterday and to-day finished the 'side' and ceremony. If to-morrow old
+Stick-in-the-mud drifts around quite on his own, like any other _shenzi_,
+and if the women come into camp freely, why then we're all right."
+
+"And otherwise?"
+
+"Well, if the _sultani_ stays away, and if you don't see any women at all,
+and if the men are painted and carry their shields--they will always carry
+their spears--that won't be so favourable." "In which case we fight?"
+
+"No: I'll alter my diplomacy. There's a vast difference between mere
+unfriendliness and hostility. I think I can handle the former all right. I
+wish I knew a little more of their language. Swahili hardly fills the
+bill. I'll see what I can do with it in the next few days."
+
+"You cannot learn a language in a few days!" she objected incredulously.
+
+"Of course not. But I seem to know the general root idea of this patter.
+It isn't unlike the N'gruimi--same root likely--a bastard combination of
+Bantu-Masai stock."
+
+She looked at him.
+
+"You know," she told him slowly, "I am beginning to believe you _savant_.
+You make not much of it, but your knowledge of natives is extraordinary.
+You better than any other man know these people--their minds--how to
+influence them."
+
+"I have a little knowledge of how to go at them, that's true. That's about
+the only claim I have to being _savant_, as you call it. My book knowledge
+and fact knowledge is equalled by many and exceeded by a great many more.
+But mere knowledge of facts doesn't get far in practice," he laughed.
+"Lord, these scientists! Helpless as children!" He sobered again. "There's
+one man has the science and the psychology both. He's a wonderful person.
+He knows the native objectively as I never will; and subjectively as well
+if not better. It is a rare combination. He's 'way over west of us
+somewhere now--in the Congo headwaters--a Bavarian, name Winkleman."
+
+Had Kingozi been looking at her he would have seen the Leopard Woman's
+frame stiffen at the mention of this name. For a moment she said nothing.
+
+"I know the name--he is great scientist," she managed to say.
+
+"He is more than a scientist; he is a great humanist. No man has more
+insight, more sympathetic insight into the native mind. A man of vast
+influence."
+
+They had reached Kingozi's camp under the great tree. He began to unbuckle
+his equipment.
+
+"I'll just lay all this gorgeousness aside," said he apologetically.
+
+But the Leopard Woman did not proceed to her own camp.
+
+"I am interested," said she. "This Winkleman--he has vast influence? More
+than yourself?"
+
+"That is hard to say," laughed Kingozi. "I should suppose so."
+
+She caught at a hint of reluctant pride in his voice.
+
+"Let us suppose," said she. "Let us suppose that you wanted one thing of
+natives, and Winkleman wanted another thing. Which would succeed?"
+
+"Neither. We'd both be speared," replied Kingozi promptly. "Positive and
+negative poles, and all that sort of thing."
+
+She puzzled over this a moment, trying to cast her question in a new form.
+
+"But suppose this: suppose Winkleman had obtained his wish. Could you
+overcome his influence and what-you-call substitute your own?"
+
+"No more than he could substitute his were the cases reversed. I've
+confidence enough in myself and knowledge enough of Winkleman to guarantee
+that."
+
+"So it would depend on who got there first?" she persisted; "that is your
+opinion?"
+
+"Why, yes. But what does it matter?"
+
+"It amuses me to get knowledge. I admire your handle of these people. You
+must be patient and explain. It is all new to me, although I thought I had
+much experience."
+
+She arose.
+
+"I am tired now. I go to the _siesta_."
+
+Kingozi stared after her retreating figure. The direct form of her
+questions had stirred again suspicions that had become vague.
+
+"What's she driving at?" he asked the uncomprehending Simba in English. He
+considered the question for some moments. "Don't even know her name or
+nationality," he confessed to himself after a while. "She's a queer one. I
+suppose I'll have to give her a man or so to help her back across the
+Thirst." He pondered again, "I might take her _askaris_. Country will feed
+them now. I'll have a business talk with her."
+
+As the tone of voice sounded final to Simba he ventured his usual reply.
+
+"Yes, suh!" said Simba.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+THE PILOCARPIN
+
+The _sultani_ duly appeared the next morning; women brought in firewood
+and products of the country to trade; all was well. The entire day, and
+the succeeding days for over a week, Kingozi sat under his big tree,
+smoking his black pipe. The _sultani_ sat beside him. For long periods at
+a time nothing at all was said. Then for equally long periods a lively
+conversation went on, through an interpreter mostly, though occasionally
+the _sultani_ launched into his bastard Swahili or Kingozi ventured a few
+words in the new tongue. Once in a while some intimate would saunter into
+view, and would be summoned by his king. Then Kingozi patiently did the
+following things:
+
+(a) He performed disappearing tricks with a rupee or other small object;
+causing it to vanish, and then plucking it from unexpected places.
+
+(b) With a pair of scissors--which were magic aplenty in themselves--he
+cut a folded paper in such a manner that when unfolded a row of paper
+dolls was disclosed. This was a very successful trick. The pleased
+warriors dandled them up and down delightedly in an _n'goma_.
+
+(c) He opened and shut an opera hat. The ordinary "plug hat" was known to
+these people, but not an opera hat.
+
+(d) He allowed them to look through his prism glasses.
+
+(e) On rare occasions he lit a match.
+
+This vaudeville entertainment was always a huge success. The newcomers
+squatted around the two chairs, and the conversation continued.
+
+Bibi-ya-chui occasionally stood near and listened. The subjects were
+trivial in themselves, and repeated endlessly.
+
+Ten minutes of this bored her to the point of extinction. She could not
+understand how Kingozi managed to survive ten hours day after day. Only
+once was he absent from his post, and then for only a few hours. He went
+out accompanied by Simba and a dozen _shenzis_, and shot a wildebeeste.
+The tail of this--an object much prized as a fly whisk--he presented to
+his majesty. All the rest of the time he talked and listened.
+
+"It is such childish nonsense!" the Leopard Woman expostulated. "How can
+you do it?"
+
+"Goes with the job. It's a thing you must learn to do if you would get on
+in this business."
+
+And once more she seemed to catch a glimpse of the infinity of savage
+Africa, which has been the same for uncounted ages, impersonal, without
+history, without the values of time!
+
+But had she known it, Kingozi was getting what he required. Information
+came to him a word now, a word then; promises came to him in single
+phrases lost in empty gossip. He collected what he wanted grain by grain
+from bushels of chaff. The whole sum of his new knowledge could have been
+expressed in a paragraph, took him a week to get, but was just what he
+wanted. If he had asked categorical questions, he would have received
+lies. If he had attempted to hurry matters, he would have got nothing at
+all.
+
+About sundown the _sultani_ would depart, followed shortly by the last
+straggler of his people. The succeeding hours were clear of _shenzis_, for
+either the custom of the country or the presence of strangers seemed to
+demand an _n'goma_ every evening. In the night stillness sounds carried
+readily. The drums, no longer rubbed but beaten in rhythm; the shrill
+wailing chants of women; the stamp and shuffle of feet; the cadenced
+clapping of hands rose and fell according to the fervour of the dance. The
+throb of these sounds was as a background to the evening--fierce,
+passionate, barbaric.
+
+After the departure of the _sultani_ Kingozi took a bath and changed his
+clothes. The necessity for this was more mental than physical. Then he
+relaxed luxuriously. It was then that he resumed his relations with the
+Leopard Woman, and that they discussed matters of more or less importance
+to both.
+
+The first evening they talked of the wonder of the ivory stockade. Kingozi
+had not yet had an opportunity to find out whence the tusks had come,
+whether the elephants had been killed in this vicinity, or whether the
+ivory had been traded from the Congo.
+
+"It is very valuable," he said. "I must find out whether old Stick-in-the-
+mud knows what they are worth, or whether he can be traded out of them on
+any reasonable basis."
+
+"You will not be going farther," she suggested one evening, apropos of
+nothing.
+
+"Farther? Why not?" he asked rather blankly.
+
+"You told me you were an ivory hunter," she pointed out.
+
+"Ah--yes. But I have hardly the goods to trade--come back later," he
+stumbled, for once caught off his guard. "I'm really looking for new
+hunting grounds."
+
+She did not pursue the subject; but the enigmatic smile lurked for a
+moment in the depths of her eyes.
+
+Every night after supper Kingozi caused his medicine chest to be brought
+out and opened, and for a half-hour he doctored the sick. On this subject
+he manifested an approach to enthusiasm.
+
+"I know I can't doctor them all," he answered her objection, "and that
+it's foolish to pick out one here and there; but it interests me. I told
+you I was a medical student by training." He fingered over the square
+bottles, each in its socket. "This is not the usual safari drug list," he
+said. "I like to take these queer cases and see what I can do with them. I
+may learn something; at any rate, it interests me. McCloud at Nairobi
+fitted me out; and told me what it would be valuable to observe."
+
+She appeared interested, and shortly he became enough convinced of this to
+show and explain each drug separately. The quinine he carried in the
+hydrochlorate instead of the sulphate, and he waxed eloquent telling her
+why. Crystals of iodine as opposed to permanganate of potash for
+antiseptic he discussed. From that he branched into antisepsis as opposed
+to asepsis as a practical method in the field.
+
+"Theory has nothing to do with it," said he. "It's a matter of which will
+_work!_"
+
+It was all technical; but it interested her for the simple reason that
+Kingozi was really enthusiastic. True enthusiasm, without pose or self-
+consciousness, invariably arouses interest.
+
+"Now here's something you'll never see in another safari kit," said he,
+holding up one of the square bottles filled with small white crystals,
+"and that wouldn't be found in this one except for an accident. It's
+pilocarpin."
+
+"What is pilocarpin?" she asked, making a difficulty of the word.
+
+"It is really a sort of eye dope," he explained. "You know atropin--the
+stuff an oculist uses in your eyes when he wants to examine them--leaves
+your vision blurred for a day or so."
+
+"Yes, I know that."
+
+"The effect of atropin is to expand the pupil. Pilocarpin is just the
+opposite--it contracts the pupil."
+
+"What need could you possibly have of that?"
+
+"There's the joke: I haven't. But when I was outfitting I could not get
+near enough phenacetin. I suppose you know that we use phenacetin to
+induce sweating as first treatment of fever."
+
+"I am not entirely ignorant. I can treat fevers, of course."
+
+"Well, I took all they could spare. Then McCloud suggested pilocarpin.
+Though it is really an eye drug, to be used externally, it also has an
+effect internally to induce sweating. So that's why I have it."
+
+She was examining the bottles.
+
+"But you have atropin also. Why is that?"
+
+"There's a good deal of ophthalmia or trachoma floating around some native
+districts. I thought I might experiment."
+
+"And this"--she picked up a third bottle--"ah, yes, morphia. But how much
+alike they all are."
+
+"In appearance, yes; in effect most radically and fatally different--like
+people," smiled Kingozi.
+
+But though Kingozi's scientific interest was keen in certain directions--
+as ethnology, drugs, and zoology--it had totally blind spots. Thus the
+Leopard Woman kept invariably on her table the bowl of fresh flowers; and
+she manifested an unfailing liking to investigate such strange shrubs,
+trees, flowers, or nondescript growths as flourished thereabouts.
+
+"Do you know how one names these?" she asked him concerning certain
+strange blooms.
+
+"I know nothing whatever about vegetables," he replied with indifferent
+scorn.
+
+Several times after that, forgetting, she proffered the same question and
+received exactly the same reply. Finally it became a joke to her. Slyly,
+at sufficient intervals so that he should not become conscious of the
+repetition, she took delight in eliciting this response, always the same,
+always delivered with the same detached scorn:
+
+"I know nothing whatever about vegetables."
+
+In the meantime Simba, with great enthusiasm, continued his drill of the
+_askaris_. Kingozi gave them an hour early in the day. They developed
+rapidly from wild trigger yanking. An allowance of two cartridges apiece
+proved them no great marksmen, but at least steady on discharge.
+
+The "business conversation" Kingozi projected with the Leopard Woman did
+not take place until late in the week. By that time he had pieced together
+considerable information, as follows:
+
+The mountain ranges at their backs possessed three practicable routes.
+Beyond the ranges were grass plains with much game. Water could be had in
+certain known places. No people dwell on these plains. This was because of
+the tsetse fly that made it impossible to keep domestic cattle. Far--very
+far--perhaps a month, who knows, is the country of the _sultani_ M'tela.
+This is a very great _sultani_--very great indeed--a _sultani_ whose
+spears are like the leaves of grass. His people are fierce, like the
+Masai, like the people of Lobengula, and make war their trade. His people
+are known as the Kabilagani. The way through the mountains is known;
+guides can be had. The way across the plains is known; but for guides one
+must find representatives of a little scattered plains tribe. That can be
+done. _Potio_ for two weeks can be had--and so on.
+
+Kingozi was particularly interested in these Kabilaganis: and pressed for
+as much information as he could. Strangely enough he did not mention the
+ivory stockade, nor did he attempt either to trade or to determine whether
+or not the _sultani_ knew its value.
+
+At the end of eight days he knew what he wished to know.
+
+"I shall leave in two days," he told the Leopard Woman. "I should suggest
+that you go to-morrow. I will send Simba with you to show you the water-
+hole in the kopje. After that you know the country for yourself."
+
+"But I am not going back!" she cried. "I am going on."
+
+"That is impossible." He went on to explain to her what he had learned of
+the country ahead: omitting, however, all reference to M'tela and his
+warrior nation. "More plains: more game. That's all. You have more of that
+than you can use back where we came from. And with every step you are
+farther away. I am going on--very far. I may not come back at all."
+
+She listened to all his arguments, but shook her head obstinately at their
+end.
+
+"Your plan does not please me," said she. "I will go and see these plains
+for myself."
+
+This was final, and Kingozi at last came to see it so.
+
+"I was going to suggest that I relieve you of your _askaris_," said he,
+"but if you persist in this foolish and aimless plan, you will need them
+for yourself."
+
+"Cannot we go together, at least for a distance?"
+
+But to this he was much opposed.
+
+"I shall be travelling faster than your cumbersome safari," he objected.
+"I could not delay."
+
+And in this decision he seemed as firm as had she in her intention to
+proceed. After a light reconnaissance, so to speak, of argument, appeal,
+and charm, she gave over trying to persuade him, and fell back on her
+usual lazily indifferent attitude. Kingozi went ahead with his
+preparations, laying in _potio_, examining kits, preparing in every way
+his compact little caravan for the long journey before it. Then something
+happened. He changed his mind and decided to combine safaris with the
+Leopard Woman.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+THE TROPIC MOON
+
+For several nights the plain below the plateau had been a sea of
+moonlight, white, ethereal, fragile as spun glass. Each evening the shadow
+of the mountains had shortened, drawing close under the skirts of the
+hills. In stately orderly progression the quality of the night world was
+changing. The heavy brooding darkness was being transformed to a fairy
+delicacy of light.
+
+And the life of the world seemed to feel this change, to be stirring, at
+first feebly, then with growing strength. The ebb was passed; the tides
+were rising to the brim. Each night the throb of the drums seemed to beat
+more passionately, the rhythm to become quicker, wilder: the wailing
+chants of the women rose in sudden gusts of frenzy. Dark figures stole
+about in shadows; so that Kingozi, becoming anxious, gave especial
+instructions, and delegated trusty men to see that they were obeyed.
+
+"If our men get to fooling with their women, they'll spear the lot of us!"
+he explained.
+
+And at last, like a queen whose coming has been prepared, a queen in whose
+anticipation life had quickened, the moon herself rose serenely above the
+ranges.
+
+Immediately the familiar objects changed; the familiar shadows vanished.
+The world became a different world, full of enchantment, of soft-singing
+birds, of chirping insects, of romance and recollections of past years, of
+longings and the spells of barbaric Africa.
+
+Kingozi sat with the Leopard Woman "talking business" when this miracle
+took place. When the great rim of the moon materialized at the mountain's
+rim, he abruptly fell silent. The spell had him, as indeed it had all
+living things. From the village the drums pulsed more wildly, shoutings of
+men commenced to mingle with the voices of the women; a confused clashing
+sound began to be heard. In camp the fires appeared suddenly to pale. A
+vague uneasiness swept the squatting men. Their voices fell: they
+exchanged whispered monosyllables, dropping their voices, they knew not
+why.
+
+The Leopard Woman arose and glided to the edge of the tree's shadow, where
+she stood gazing upward at the moon. Kingozi watched her. He, old and
+seasoned traveller as he was, had indeed fallen under the spell. He did
+not consider it extraordinary, nor did it either embarrass or stir his
+senses, that standing as she did before the moon and the little fires her
+body showed in clear silhouette through her silken robe. Apparently this
+was her only garment. It made a pale nimbus about her. She seemed to the
+vague remnant of Kingozi's thinking perceptions like a priestess--her
+slim, beautiful form erect, her small head bound with the golden fillet
+from which, he knew, hung the jewel on her forehead. As though meeting
+this thought she raised both arms toward the moon, standing thus for a
+moment in the conventional attitude of invocation. Then she dropped her
+arms, and came back to Kingozi's side.
+
+Again it was like magic, the sudden blotting out of the slim human figure,
+the substitution of the draped form as she moved from the light into the
+shadow. But on Kingozi's retina remained the vision of her as she was. He
+shifted, caught his breath.
+
+As she came near him his hand closed over hers, bringing her to a halt.
+She did not resist, but stood looking down at him waiting. He struggled
+for an appearance of calm.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked unsteadily. "You have never told me."
+
+"You have named me--Bibi-ya-chui--the Woman of the Leopards."
+
+She was smiling faintly, looking down at him through half-closed eyes.
+
+"But who are you? You are not English."
+
+"My name: you have given it. Let that suffice. Me--I am Hungarian." She
+stooped ever so slightly and touched the upstanding mop of his wavy hair.
+"What does it matter else?" she asked softly.
+
+She was leaning: the moonlight came through the branches where she leaned;
+the little fires--again the silken robes became a nimbus--and the drums of
+the _n'goma_, the drums seemed to be throbbing in his veins----
+
+He leaped to his feet and seized her savagely by the shoulders. The soft
+silk slipped under his fingers. She threw back her head, looking at him
+steadily. Her eyes glowed deep, and the jewel on her forehead. Kingozi was
+panting.
+
+"You are wonderful--maddening!" he muttered. This sudden unexpected
+emotion swept him away, as a pond, quiet behind the dam, becomes a flood.
+
+"I knew we could be such friends!" she said.
+
+And then one of those tiny incidents happened that so often change the
+course of greater events. In the darkness that still lingered the other
+side of the camp an _askari_ challenged sharply some lurking wanderer.
+According to his recent teaching he used the official word.
+
+"_Samama!_" said he.
+
+The metallic rattle of his musket and the brief official challenge
+awakened Kingozi as would a dash of cold water. His instinct to crush to
+his breast this alluring, fascinating, willing goddess of the moon was as
+strong as ever. But across that instinct lay the shadow of a former day. A
+clear picture flashed before his mind. He saw a man in the uniform of a
+high office, and heard that man's words of instruction to himself. The
+words had concluded with a few informal phrases of trust and confidence.
+While these were being spoken, outside a sentry had challenged:
+"_Samama!_" and as he moved, the metal of his accoutrements had clicked.
+
+With a wrench Kingozi turned, dropping her shoulders. He deliberately ran
+away. At the edge of his own camp he looked back. She was still standing
+as he had left her. The moonlight, striking through the opening in the
+branches, fell across her. At this distance she was merely a white figure;
+but Kingozi saw her again as she had stood in invocation to the moon. As
+though she had only awaited his turning, she raised her hand in grave
+salutation and disappeared.
+
+Kingozi was too restless, too stirred, to sit still. After a vain attempt
+to smoke a quiet and ruminative pipe he arose and began to wander about.
+The men looked up at him furtively from their little fires where
+perpetually meat roasted. He strode on through the camp. His feet bore him
+to the narrow lane leading to the village. Down the vista he saw flames
+leaping, and figures leaping wildly, too, and the drums beat against his
+temples. He turned back seeking quiet, and so on through camp again, and
+past the Leopard Woman's tent. His mind was in a turmoil. No perception
+reached him of outside things--once the disturbance of human creatures was
+past. His feet led him unconsciously.
+
+It was the old struggle. He desired this woman mightily. That he had been
+totally indifferent to her before argued nothing. He had been suddenly
+awakened: and he was in the prime of life. But the very strength of his
+desire warned him. If he had really been on a hunt for ivory--well--he
+wrenched his mind savagely from even a contemplation of possibilities.
+Still, it would be a very sweet relation in a lonely life--a women of this
+quality, this desirability, this understanding, able to travel the
+wilderness of Africa, eager for the life, young, beautiful, tingling with
+vitality. In spite of himself Kingozi played with the thought. The fever
+was in his brain, the magic of the tropic moon was flooding his soul.
+
+Some warning instinct brought him back to the world about him. His steps
+had taken him down the canon trail. He stood at the edge of the open
+plain.
+
+Facing him and not twenty yards distant stood a lion.
+
+The sight cleared Kingozi's brain of all its vapours. For the first time
+he realized clearly what he had done. He, a man whose continued existence
+in this dangerous country had depended on his unfailing readiness, his
+ever-present alertness and presence of mind, had committed two of the
+cardinal sins. In savage Africa no man must at any time stir a foot into
+the veldt or jungle unarmed; in savage Africa no man must go at night
+fifty feet from a fire without a torch or lantern.
+
+By day a lion is usually harmless unless annoyed. Game herds manifest no
+alarm at his presence, merely opening through their ranks a lane for his
+indifferent passing. But at night he asserts his dominion.
+
+Kingozi realized his deadly peril. The beast bulked huge and black--a wild
+lion is a third larger than his menagerie relative--looking as big as a
+zebra against the moonlight. His eyes glowed steadily as he contemplated
+this interloper in his domain. After a moment he sank prone, extending his
+head. The next move, Kingozi knew, would be the flail-like thrash of the
+long tail, followed immediately by the rush.
+
+Nothing was to be done. The immediate surroundings were bare of trees, and
+in any case the lightning charge of the beast would have caught his victim
+unless the branches had happened to be fairly overhead.
+
+The glowing eyes lowered. A rasping gurgling began deep in the animal's
+throat, rising and falling in tone with the inhaling and exhaling of the
+breath. This increased in volume. It became terrifying. The long tail
+stiffened, whacked first to one side, then to the other. The moment was at
+hand.
+
+Kingozi stood erect, his hands clenched, every muscle taut. All his senses
+were sharpened. He heard the voices of the veldt, near and far, and all
+the little sounds that were underneath them. His vision seemed to pierce
+the darkness of the shadows, so that he made out the details of the lion's
+mane, and even the muscles stiffening beneath the skin.
+
+And then at the last moment a kongoni, panic stricken, running blind, its
+nose up, broke through the thin bush to the left and dashed across the
+trail directly between the man and the lion.
+
+African animals are subject to these strange, blind panics, especially at
+night. The individual so affected appears to lose all sense of its
+surroundings. It has been known actually to bump into and knock down men
+in plain and open sight. What had so terrified the kongoni it would be
+impossible to say. Perhaps a stray breeze had wafted the scent of this
+very lion; perhaps some other unseen danger actually threatened, or
+perhaps the poor beast merely awakened from the horror of a too vivid
+dream.
+
+The diversion occurred at the moment of the lion's greatest tension. His
+body was poised for the attack, as a bow is bent to drive forth the arrow.
+Probably without conscious thought on his part, instinctively, he changed
+his objective. The huge body sprang; but instead of the man the kongoni
+was struck down!
+
+Kingozi stooped low and ran hard to the left. When at a safe distance he
+straightened his back, and set his footsteps rapidly campward.
+
+The incident had thoroughly awakened him. His brain was working clearly
+now, and under forced draught. The magic of moonlight had lost its power.
+Habits of years reasserted themselves. His usual iron common sense
+regained its ascendency; though, strangely enough, there persisted in his
+mind a mystic feeling for the symbolism of this missed danger.
+
+"Settles it!" he said, in his usual fashion of talking aloud. "I'm on a
+job, and I must do it. Came near being a messy ass!"
+
+He saw plainly enough that a mission such as his had no place in it for
+women--even such women as Bibi-ya-chui. She must go back--or stay here--
+didn't matter much which. The call of duty sounded very clear. By the time
+he had reached the level of the upper plateau his mind was fully made up.
+As far as he was concerned the Leopard Woman had definitely lost all
+chance of going alone.
+
+The frosted moonlight still lay across the world. It meant nothing but
+illumination to Kingozi. By its light he discerned a paper lying against a
+bush; and since paper of any sort is scarce, he picked it up.
+
+At camp he lighted his lantern and spread out his find on the table. It
+proved to be a map.
+
+A glance proved to Kingozi that it was not his property. He remembered a
+sudden wind squall early in the afternoon. Evidently it had swept the
+Leopard Woman's table.
+
+The map was in manuscript, very well drawn, and the text was German. From
+long habit Kingozi glanced first at the scale of miles, then raised his
+eyes to determine what country was represented. After a moment he arose,
+took his lantern into his tent, and there spread his find on his cot.
+
+For it was a map of this very locality!
+
+Kingozi examined it with great attention, finally getting out for
+comparison his own sketch maps. The German map was a more finished
+product; otherwise they were practically the same. Kingozi searched for
+and found records of the various waters along his back track. Each was
+annotated in ink in a language strange to him--probably Hungarian, he
+reflected. At the dry _donga_ where he had overtaken and rescued the
+Leopard Woman's water-starved safari he found the legend _wasser_ also.
+
+"Explorations for this map made after the rains," he concluded.
+
+Here the Leopard Woman had written the German word _nein!_ underscored
+several times.
+
+So far Kingozi's sketches and the German map were the same. But the German
+map furnished all details for some distance in advance. This village was
+indicated, and the mountains, and plains beyond. The three practical
+routes were plotted by means of red lines. These lines converged at the
+far side of the ranges, united in one, and proceeded out across the
+plains. Kingozi counted days' journeys by the indicated water-holes up to
+eleven. Then the map ceased; but an arrow at the end of the red line was
+explained by a compass bearing, and the name M'tela. And, as far as
+Kingozi could see, the sole purport of the whole affair was not topography
+but a route to the country of M'tela!
+
+Here was a facer! As far as any one knew, the country he had just
+traversed was unexplored. Yet here was a good detailed map of just that
+route. Furthermore, a copy was in the hands of this woman who claimed she
+was out for sport merely, and had no knowledge of the country. Yes--she
+had made just that statement. Of course she might be out merely for
+adventure, just as she said. If she were of prominence and influence, she
+might easily enough have obtained a copy of a private map. But then why
+did she pretend ignorance? She seemed never to have heard of the name of
+M'tela; yet this map's sole reason for being was that it indicated at
+least the beginning of a route to M'tela's country.
+
+Could she be on the same errand as himself?
+
+That sounded fantastic. Kingozi reviewed the circumstances. M'tela was a
+formidable myth, gradually taking shape as a reality. He was reported as a
+mighty chief of distant borders. Tales of ten thousand spears drifted back
+to official attention. Allowing the usual discount, M'tela still loomed as
+a powerful figure. Nobody had paid very much attention to him until this
+time, but now his distant border had become important. Through it a new
+road from the north was projected. The following year the route was to be
+explored. The friendship of M'tela and his umpty-thousand spears became
+important. His hostility could cause endless trouble and delay. Kingozi's
+present job was to lay the foundations for this friendship.
+
+"You have a free hand, Culbertson," the very high official had said to
+him. "We are not going to suggest or advise. Choose your own men; take as
+many or as few as you please. Take your own time and your own methods. But
+get the results."
+
+"I appreciate your confidence, sir," Kingozi had replied.
+
+"You and that man Winkleman are the best hands on earth with natives, and
+we know it. Requisition what you want."
+
+This woman was a Hungarian: she possessed a German official map. Could she
+be on official business? It did not seem likely. Women are not much good
+at that sort of thing in Africa. What official business could she be on?
+The same as his own? That seemed still more unlikely; but if so, why
+should they not work together? Germany and England had an equal stake in
+the opening of this new route. An amical Boundary Commission had just
+completed a satisfactory survey between the German and British East
+African Protectorates. But she had lied to him, and she had acted lies of
+apparent ignorance! Why that?
+
+Having examined the subject from all sides, and having discovered it as
+yet incapable of solution, Kingozi, characteristically, decided to go
+slow. If she were on the same mission as himself, that fact would develop
+in due time, and then they could work together. If she were still on some
+mission, but a mission other than his own, that fact, too, would in due
+time develop. If she were merely travelling in idle curiosity--well, she
+ought not to lie!
+
+For Kingozi had changed his mind. No longer was he determined that she
+must turn back at this point. Now he was equally determined that she must
+accompany him.
+
+"I'll keep an eye on you, young woman," said he. "You pretend to be very
+eager to go on with me. We'll see! But now you'll find it difficult to
+quit this game. You may get more of it than you bargained for. If you are
+really out just for sport and curiosity, I'm sorry for you. But you
+shouldn't lie!"
+
+He copied the map roughly; then returned it to the spot under the bushes
+where he had found it.
+
+Next morning he announced to the Leopard Woman his changed decision. He
+was self-contained and direct. She smiled secretly to herself. She thought
+she understood both the change of decision and the brusqueness. One was
+the magic of the tropic moon; the other was the shy, half-ashamed reaction
+of the strong man whose emotions have controlled him. The proof--that she
+was going with him.
+
+She was wrong!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+OVER THE RANGES
+
+When the day came for departure the Leopard Woman was indisposed, and
+could not travel. At the end of that period eight bags of _potio_
+disappeared. They had to be replaced. Kingozi occupied the time on the
+details of his preparations. Then three men deserted, and all loads had to
+be redistributed. At last they were off.
+
+A horde of savages accompanied them at first. These dropped off one by one
+until there remained only the guides appointed. The trail led steeply
+upward. It soon shook free of the thorn tangle and debouched on grassy
+rolling shoulders from which a wide, maplike view could be seen of the
+country through which they had passed. Shortly they skirted a deep deft
+canon in which sang a brook; and at its head came to a forest. The trees
+were tall, their cover dense; long, ropelike vines hung in festoons. It
+was very still. A colobus barked somewhere in the tops; the small green
+monkeys swung from limb to limb, or scampered along the rope vines,
+chattering. Silent, gaudy birds swooped across dusky spaces. The dripping
+of water reached the ear; the smell of dampness the nostrils.
+
+This was as far as they went the first day. The climb had been severe; and
+at the end of three and a half hours the woman announced that she was done
+up. Nothing remained but to make camp. This was done, therefore; and all
+the afternoon Kingozi lay flat on the cot he had caused to be brought into
+the open air, and blew smoke upward, and stared at the maze of limbs in
+the forest roof. The Leopard Woman kept her tent; but he did not offer to
+disturb her. He was thinking.
+
+Next day they marched for hours through the forest, and at last came out
+on more rolling grass shoulders. Evidently this side of the mountains was
+not abrupt, but slanted off in a gentle slope to unknown distances. There
+the game began to reappear; and Kingozi dropped two hartebeeste for the
+safari. Here Cazi Moto came up in great perturbation to announce that two
+of the _memsahib's_ porters were missing. The little headman did not
+understand how it happened, as he had zealously brought up the rear.
+Unless, of course, it was a case of desertion.
+
+Kingozi looked thoughtful, then ordered camp to be pitched. Accompanied by
+Simba, Mali-ya-bwana, and three _askaris_ he took the back track. At the
+end of an hour and a half of brisk walking he met the two missing porters.
+Their explanation was voluble. They had fallen out for a few moments, and
+when they had resumed their loads, the safari was ahead. Then they had
+hastened, but the road had divided. They had taken the wrong fork.
+
+"Show me where the road divided," ordered Kingozi.
+
+The loads were deposited by the side of the trail, and the delinquents,
+with every appearance of confidence, led the way back another hour's march
+to a veritable fork. Kingozi examined the earth for tracks.
+
+"Could you not see that the safari had gone this way and not that way?" he
+asked.
+
+"Yes, _bwana_," they said together; "we saw it after a little. That is why
+we came back."
+
+Kingozi grunted, but said nothing. The nine men retraced their steps. Both
+porters were on a broad grin, laughing and talking in subdued tones to the
+_askaris_. The _bwana_ strode on rapidly ahead. They followed at a little
+dogtrot, carrying their loads easily.
+
+At camp Kingozi ordered them to place the loads in place beneath the
+tarpaulin.
+
+"Simba," said he in a casual voice, "these men get _kiboko_."
+
+"Yes, _bwana_. How many?"
+
+"Fifty."
+
+The bystanders gasped, and the shining countenances of the culprits turned
+a sickly gray. Fifty lashes is a maximum punishment, inflicted only for
+the gravest crimes. More cannot be administered without fear of grave
+consequences. The offence of straggling is generally considered not
+serious. Even Simba was not certain he had heard aright.
+
+"How many, _bwana_?" he asked again.
+
+"Fifty," repeated Kingozi tonelessly, and turned his blank, baleful glare
+in their direction.
+
+The punishment was administered. When it was finished the porters, shaking
+like leaves, blankets drawn over their bleeding flanks, were brought to
+face the white man seated in his chair.
+
+"_Bassi_," he pronounced. The word went out into a dead silence, so that
+it was heard to the farthest confines of the hushed camp. "Let no man
+hereafter miss the trail."
+
+He arose and entered his tent. Cazi Moto was there, unfolding the canvas
+bath tub, laying out the clean clothes. He looked up from his occupation,
+his wizened face contorted in a shrewd smile.
+
+"No more will we make camp when the sun is only a few hours high," he
+surmised.
+
+Kingozi looked at him.
+
+"You and I have handled many safaris, Cazi Moto," he replied.
+
+Delays from these causes ceased, but other delays supervened. Never were
+the reasons for them attributable to accident; but they were more numerous
+than ordinarily. Kingozi said nothing.
+
+All the day's march he walked fifty yards ahead of the long procession.
+The Leopard Woman walked part of the time; part of the time she rode a
+donkey procured from the _sultani_. The two necessarily held little
+converse during the day. At camp Kingozi had many tasks--camp to arrange,
+meat to procure, sick to doctor, guides to interrogate. Only at the
+evening meal, which now they shared, did he and his travelling companion
+resume their intimacies.
+
+The relation had developed into a curious one. For one thing, it was more
+expansive. They discussed many subjects of what might be called general
+interest, talking interestedly on books, world politics, colonial
+policies, even the larger problems of life. In these discussions they
+explored each other's intelligence, came to a mental approachment, a cold,
+clear respect for each other's capacity and experience. Never did they
+approach the personal. At no time in their acquaintance had they talked so
+unrestrainedly, so freely, with so much genuine pleasure; at no time did
+they touch so little the mysteries of personality.
+
+If the Leopard Woman felt this, or wondered at the cloaked withdrawal, she
+gave no sign. Apparently she was all candour. She seemed to throw herself
+frankly and with pleasure into this relationship of the head, to have
+forgotten the possibilities so richly though so momentarily disclosed by
+the magic of the moon. She lounged in her canvas chair, twisting her lithe
+body within her silks; she smoked her cigarettes; the jewel of changing
+lights glowed on her forehead; she talked in her modulated voice and
+quaint, precise English. The man's pulses remained calm. His eyes did not
+miss the beauty of her form, as frankly defined beneath the silk as the
+forms of the naked _bibis_ of the village; nor the alluring paleness of
+her face in contrast to the red lips; nor the drowning passion of her wide
+eyes. But they did not reach his senses. Were the insulation of his plain
+duty--which to Kingozi meant quite sincerely his whole excuse for
+existence in this puzzling life--were this to be withdrawn--he never even
+contemplated the thought. Reminders from that night of the moon prevented
+him from doing so.
+
+After this fashion they came to the grass plains of the uplands. Here
+ensued more delays. These did not spring from delinquencies in the safari:
+the exemplary punishment assured that. But things broke, and things were
+forgotten, and things had to be done differently. The guides, procured
+with difficulty from the little hunting peoples of the plain, disappeared
+at the end of the second day. They professed themselves afraid of Chake,
+the Nubian. The latter vehemently denied having spoken a word to them.
+Day's marches were shortened because the woman could not stand long ones.
+Kingozi found it a great bother to travel with a woman.
+
+Nevertheless, he made no attempts to separate the safaris. He had been
+watching closely. These difficulties, the delays, breakages, and
+abbreviations of day's journeys had, nine times out of ten, their origin
+in the camp of the Leopard Woman. In ordinary circumstances he would have
+put this down to inferior organization. But there was the mysterious,
+unmentioned map, whose accuracy, by the way, he found exact. Gradually he
+came to the conclusion that the delays were not entirely accidental. The
+conclusion became a conviction that the Leopard Woman was making as much
+of a drag and as big a nuisance of herself as possible.
+
+Why?
+
+She wanted to become such a burden that Kingozi would go on without her.
+Again, why? At the village she had vehemently refused to go back, and had
+pleaded to join forces with Kingozi. This puzzled him for some time. Then
+he saw. Of course she did not want to turn back. If, as he surmised, she
+had some errand with M'tela, like his own, she would not want to turn
+back, but she would like a plausible excuse to separate from him once the
+ranges of mountains were crossed. Why did she not drop off then on the
+excuse, say, of the wonderful new hunting grounds? That would be simple.
+Kingozi concluded that she wished the initiative to come from him. And the
+more convinced he was that she wanted to get rid of him, the more firmly
+he resolved that she must remain.
+
+But it did make for slow travel.
+
+What of it? There was no haste. There was plenty of game, the days passed
+pleasantly, the evenings were delightful. A moonbeam flashed in his brain
+showing him vistas----He firmly shut the window!
+
+Certainly if Bibi-ya-chui harboured any active desire to drive Kingozi
+into leaving her to her own devices, she concealed it well. Occasionally
+in the evening, when he stared into the distance, she twisted herself to
+look at him. Then her eyes widened, no one could have told with what
+emotion. In her fixed stare could have been many things--or nothing. Did
+she desire this man, as she had seemed to the night of the full moon, and
+did she but bide her time, knowing this was not the moment? Did she desire
+this man, and hate him because he had touched her only to turn away? Did
+the very simplicity and directness of his nature baffle her? Did she hate
+him for his mastering of circumstances but not herself? Any or all of
+these emotions might have lain beneath the smoulder in her eyes. One thing
+Kingozi would not have seen, had he turned his head suddenly enough, and
+that was indifference. But he continued to stare out into the veldt, and
+she continued to stare at him; while around them the chatter of men, the
+wail of hyenas, the thunder of lions, the shrill, thin cries of night
+birds, and the mighty brooding silence that took no account of them all
+attended the African night.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+THE SHARPENING OF THE SPEAR
+
+Thus passed six weeks. By the end of this time the combined safaris had
+progressed out into the unknown country about a normal three weeks'
+journey. The rest was delay.
+
+They had ventured out into the plain as into an enchanted sea. The
+mountains had dropped below the horizon behind them; none had as yet
+arisen before. The veldt ran in long, low undulations, so that always they
+walked up or down gentle slopes. It was as though a ground swell had set
+in toward distant, invisible shores. Here the short grass was still green
+from the rains. Water lay in pools at the bottom of _dongas_. By this good
+fortune travel was independent of the permanent water, and hence safe and
+easy. Game was everywhere. Not for a single hour in all that six weeks
+were they out of sight of it. Scattered over the sward like deer in a pack
+the beasts grazed placidly in twos or threes, or in great bands. Without
+haste, almost imperceptibly, they drew aside to allow the safari to pass,
+and closed in again behind it. Thus the travellers were always the centre
+of a little moving oasis of clear space five hundred yards in diameter.
+Occasionally some unusual and unexpected crease in the earth or density of
+brush in the _dongas_ brought them in surprise fairly atop an unsuspecting
+herd. Then ensued a wild stampede. This communicated itself visually to
+all the animals in sight. They moved off swiftly. And then still other
+remote beasts, unaware of the cause of disturbance, quite out of sight of
+the safari, but signalled by twinkle of stripe or flash of rump, also took
+flight. So that far over the veldt, at last, the game hordes shifted
+uneasily until the impulse died.
+
+In this country were many lions. Most of the requisites of a lion were
+here present--abundant game, water, the cover of the low brush in the
+_dongas_. Only lacked a few rocky kopje fastnesses to make it ideal; but
+that lack could be, and was, overlooked. The members of the safari often
+saw the great beasts sunning themselves atop ant hills; walking with
+dignity across the open country; sitting on their haunches to stare with
+great yellow eyes at these strangers passing by. Here they had never been
+annoyed or hunted; so here they had not become as strictly nocturnal as
+nearer settlement. In all their magnificence they stalked abroad, lords of
+the veldt. Kingozi's finger itched for the trigger. There is no more
+exciting sport than that of lion shooting afoot. It is a case of kill or
+be killed; for a lion, once the issue is joined, never gives up. He fights
+literally to the death; and when he is so crippled that he can no longer
+keep his feet, he drags himself forward, and dies facing his opponent
+dauntlessly. No other beast furnishes the same danger, the same thrill.
+His mere appearance stirs the most sluggish spirit.
+
+"_Simba! Simba! Simba!_" the exclamation ran back the line of the safari,
+the sibilant hissed excitedly. Kingozi's heart bounded, and his knuckles
+whitened as he gripped his rifle.
+
+"_Bwana hapana piga?_" Simba implored. "Is not _bwana_ going to shoot?"
+
+But Kingozi shook his head. The temptation was strong, but he resisted it.
+He refrained from shooting at the lions for exactly the same reason that
+he had insulated himself against the Leopard Woman's charms.
+
+In all this wide country were no settled habitations. Your African native
+requires hills or forests; he will not dwell on open plains at any great
+distance from his natural protection. A few people there were, hunters and
+nomads, living on wild honey and game. They were solitaries and lived
+where night found them, a little race, shyer than the game. For days and
+days they flanked the safari before venturing to approach. Then one would
+appear a hundred yards away and open shouted negotiations with the
+porters. Perhaps after a few hours he would venture into camp. Invariably
+Kingozi interrogated these people. They stood before him palpitating like
+birds, poised, tense for flight. He asked them of water, of people, of
+routes. By means of kind treatment and little presents he tried to gain
+their confidence. Sometimes thus he induced them to talk freely, but never
+did he succeed in persuading them to guide him. The mere fact of
+interrogation rendered them uneasy. Probably they could not themselves
+have understood that uneasiness; but invariably at nightfall they
+disappeared. They made fire by the rubbing of sticks, shot poisoned arrows
+at game.
+
+From them Kingozi gained little but chatter. They knew accurately every
+permanent water, to be sure. This information, in view of the abundance of
+rain pools, was not at present valuable; nevertheless Kingozi questioned
+them minutely, and made many marks on the map he was preparing. Always he
+mentioned M'tela. At first he introduced the name at any time in the
+course of the interview; but soon he found that this dried up all
+information. So then he reserved that subject for the last. They were
+afraid of the very syllables. They spoke them under their breaths, with
+side glances. M'tela was a great lord; a lord of terror, to be feared.
+
+At first the information was most vague. M'tela was over yonder--a long
+distance--who knows how far? He possessed more or less mythical
+characteristics, ranging from a height of forty or fifty feet down to the
+mere possession of a charm by which he could kill at a distance. Then, as
+the journey went on, the vagueness began to define. M'tela took form as a
+big man with a voice like the lion at night. His surroundings began to be
+described. He lived in the edge of a forest; his people were many; he had
+forty wives, and the like. Still it was far, very far. Kingozi concluded
+that none of these people had in person visited the Kabilagani, but were
+talking at second hand.
+
+And finally direct information came to him--in the form of fear. M'tela
+was a great lord, a lord of many spears, his hand was heavy, he took what
+he desired, his warriors were fierce and cruel and could not be gainsaid.
+Told under the breath, with furtive glances to right and to left. And not
+far: a three days' journey. Kingozi translated this into terms of safari
+travel and made it about eight days. And, indeed, though no mountains as
+yet raised their peaks above the horizon, fleets of clouds setting sail
+from the distant ranges winged their way joyously down a growing wind.
+
+The Leopard Woman fell ill and kept her tent. Kingozi waited two days,
+then sought her out. His patience over delay was about gone. The headaches
+to which physical exhaustions always made him subject had annoyed him
+greatly of late, had rendered him irritable. His eyes bothered him--a
+reflex from his run-down condition, he thought, combined with a slight
+inflammation due to the glare of sun or yellowing grass. Boracic acid
+helped very little. The halo he had noticed around the light that evening
+when they had first arrived at the _sultani's_ village returned. He saw it
+about every campfire, every lantern flame, even around the, brightest of
+the stars. Altogether he approached the interview in a strongly impatient
+mood.
+
+The Leopard Woman lay abed beneath silken sheets. This was the first time
+Kingozi had ever seen sheets of any kind on any kind of a safari. In
+reality the Leopard Woman was an enticing, luring vision, but Kingozi,
+through the lenses of his mood, saw only the silkiness and "sheetiness" of
+those covers. He began to comprehend the numerous tin boxes.
+
+"I'm going to leave you here and push on," he began abruptly. "You will be
+all right with the men I shall leave you. When you feel able to do so,
+follow on. I'll leave a plain trail."
+
+She objected feebly; but immediately, seeing that this would not touch his
+mood, she asked him the reason of his haste.
+
+"I'll tell you," he replied, "about a week distant is a chief named
+M'tela. Did you ever hear of him?"
+
+"M'tela?" she repeated the name thoughtfully. "No--but I don't know much
+about native tribes."
+
+Remembering her map Kingozi's lips compressed under his beard. What
+earthly object could she have in lying?--unless her errand was as secret
+as his own.
+
+"Well, he is described as being very powerful. And of course he will hear
+of us. It is well to make friends with him before he has had a chance to
+think us over too long. I'll just go on and see him."
+
+"When will you start?" she asked, conceding the point without discussion.
+
+"To-morrow morning. I shall make the distance in about five days,
+probably: you should be able to do so in eight or ten. How are you feeling
+to-day?"
+
+"Better. I wondered would you ask."
+
+He picked up her wrist.
+
+"Pulse seems steady. Any fever?"
+
+"A little early and late."
+
+"Well, keep on with the hydrochlorate. You'll pull out in a day or so."
+
+But the Leopard Woman pulled out in a second or so after Kingozi's
+departure. As soon as he was safe away, she threw back the covers and
+swung to the edge of the cot. At her call Chake, the Nubian, appeared. To
+him she immediately began to give emphatic directions, repeating some of
+them over and over vehemently. He bent his fuzzy head listening, his
+yellow eyeballs showing, his fang-like teeth exposed in a grin of
+comprehension. When she had finished he nodded, said a few words in his
+own tongue, and glided from the tent.
+
+At his own camp he stooped and picked up a weapon. This was a spear, and
+belonged to him personally. He had brought it all the way from Nubia. It
+differed from any of the native spears of East Africa both in form and in
+weight. Its blade was broad and shaped like a leaf; its haft was of wood;
+and its heel was shod with only the briefest length of iron. Chake kept
+this spear in a high state of polish, so that its metal shone like silver.
+He lifted it, poised it, made as though to throw it, to thrust with it.
+Then with a sigh of renunciation he laid it aside. From behind one of the
+porters' tents he took another spear, one typical of this country that had
+been traded for only a day or two before. This Chake considered clumsy and
+unnecessarily heavy. Nevertheless he bore it out into the long grass where
+he squatted in concealment; and, producing a stone, began painstakingly to
+sharpen the point and edges. As the slow labour went on he seemed to work
+himself gradually to a pitch of excitement. A little crooning song began
+to rise and fall, to flow and ebb. His eyes flashed, his back bent to a
+tense crouch. Every few moments he dashed the spear against an imaginary
+shield, poised it, thrust with it strongly, the chant rising. Then
+abruptly his voice fell, his muscles relaxed, he resumed the rythmical
+whetting with the stone.
+
+All afternoon he squatted, passing the stone over the steel; polishing
+long after the point and edges were as sharp as they could be made. When
+the sun grew large at the world's edge he threw himself flat on his belly
+and wormed his way to a position a few yards from Kingozi's tent. There he
+left the spear. When he had gained a spot a hundred yards away, he arose
+to his feet and walked quietly into camp. A moment later he was sitting on
+his heels before his fire, eating his evening meal.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+THE MURDER
+
+That night Kingozi was restless and could not sleep. His vision had been
+blurring badly during the day, and now his eyeballs ached as though they
+had been seared. After his solitary evening meal he wandered about
+restlessly, gripping his pipe strongly between his teeth. Shortly after
+dark he entered his tent with the idea of turning in early; but the pain
+drove him out again. He remained only long enough to substitute his
+mosquito boots for his day boots. The Nubian, lying in the long grass
+beside the newly sharpened spear, settled himself to wait.
+
+Kingozi's figure lost itself among the men of the camp. The strong, clean
+wind that blew every day from distant ranges, was falling with the night.
+A breath of coolness came with it. Chake shivered and wished he had
+brought his blanket. The time was very long; but back of Chake were
+generations of men who had lain patiently in wait. He gripped the haft of
+the heavy spear.
+
+Black night descended in earnest. The little fires were dying down. Still
+Kingozi, tortured by his headache, wandered about. Upward of two hours
+passed. Then at last the crouching Nubian saw dimly the silhouette of the
+white man returning, caught in the glimmer of coals the colour of the
+khaki coat he wore. The moment was at hand. Chake arose to his knees, his
+spear in his right hand. As soon as his victim should lie down on the cot,
+it was his intention to thrust him through the canvas. It must be
+remembered that the cot was placed close to the wall, and that the body of
+the sleeper was defined against it.
+
+But unexpectedly the wearer of the khaki coat passed the tent door and
+proceeded to the rear where he reached upward to the rear guy rope where
+hung a towel, or some such matter. This brought him to within four feet of
+the kneeling Nubian, the broad of his back exposed, both arms upraised.
+Without hesitation Chake drove the spear into his back. The sharp long
+blade slipped through the flesh as easily as a hot knife into butter. The
+murdered man choked once and pitched forward headlong on his face. Chake,
+leaving the weapon, glided swiftly away.
+
+Once well beyond the chance of a fire glimmer he arose to his feet and
+quickly regained his own camp. This was exactly on the opposite side of
+the circle. The four men with whom he shared his tiny cotton tent,
+_askaris_ all as beseemed his dignity, were sound asleep. He squatted on
+his heels, pushed together the embers of his fire, staring into the coals.
+His ugly face was as though carved from ebony. Only his wild savage eyes
+glowed and flashed with a brooding lambent flame; and his wide nostrils
+slowly expanded and contracted as though with some inner heaving emotion.
+
+Thus he sat for perhaps ten minutes. Then on the opposite side of the
+circle a commotion began. Some one cried out, figures ran to and fro,
+commands were given, brands were snatched from dying fires, torches were
+lit. Elsewhere, all about camp, sleepers were sitting up, were asking one
+another what was the matter. The _askaris_ in Chake's tent grumbled, and
+turned over, and asked what it was all about. Chake shook his mop of hair,
+staring into the fire.
+
+From the Leopard Woman's tent came a sharp summons. The Nubian arose and
+stalked boldly across the open space. At the closed tent he scratched his
+fingernail respectfully against the canvas.
+
+"_Karibu, karibu!_" summoned his mistress impatiently. He slipped between
+the flaps and stood inside.
+
+The Leopard Woman was seated upright in her cot. On the tin box near the
+head of the bed burned a candle in a mica lantern. By its dim light her
+face looked paler than ever, and deep black circles seemed to have defined
+themselves under her eyes. The Nubian and the white woman stared at each
+other for a moment.
+
+"It is done?" she asked finally, in a hoarse whisper.
+
+"It is done, _memsahib_," he replied calmly.
+
+For another pause she stared at him, her eyes widening. "You have done
+well. _Bassi!_" she enunciated at last.
+
+The tent flaps still quivered behind the Nubian's exit, when she threw
+herself face downward on the cot. Her body shook with convulsive dry sobs.
+After a moment she twisted on her side. Both hands clutched her throat, as
+though she strangled for air. Her eyes were round and rolling. It was as
+if some mighty pent force were struggling for release. Suddenly the
+release came. She began to weep, the tears streaming down her face.
+Shortly she commenced to mutter little short disjointed phrases in her own
+language. She wrung her hands.
+
+"I had to do it!" she gasped in German. "I had to do it! It was the only
+way! Tell me it was the only way!" she seemed to appeal to some one
+invisible. And then she resumed her lament in the Hungarian.
+
+But all at once something dried this emotion as the sear of a flame would
+dry water over which it passed. The tears ceased, her eyes flashed, she
+jerked her body upright, listening. The commotion of pursuit and
+investigation was sweeping past her tent.
+
+Distinctly she heard the voice of Kingozi giving commands.
+
+An instant later Chake darted into the tent and fell to the ground. His
+face was the sickly gray of a negro in terror, his eyes rolled in his
+head, his teeth chattered, his every muscle trembled.
+
+"_Memsahib! Memsahib!_" he gasped.
+
+Her eyes were blazing with an anger the more fierce in that some of it was
+reaction.
+
+"Fool!" she spat at him.
+
+"I killed him, _memsahib!_ I drove the _shenzi_ spear through his back! I
+left him lying there! He is a god! He has come back from the dead!"
+
+"Fool!" she repeated, and swung her feet to the floor. "Stay here! Do not
+go out!" she commanded, when she had assumed her mosquito boots. She
+slipped out between the tent flaps.
+
+Torches were everywhere flickering about. She stopped one of the men as he
+passed.
+
+"A _shenzi_ has killed Mavrouki with a spear," the man answered her
+question.
+
+She stood for some time watching the torches. Then she saw Kingozi himself
+take his place by the pile of loads.
+
+"Fall in!" he commanded sharply.
+
+She returned to her tent.
+
+"Here!" she addressed the crouching Nubian. "It is as I said. You have
+been a fool. You have killed a porter by mistake. Now the _bwana_ has
+ordered to _fall in_. He wishes to see if any are missing. Go take your
+place, and answer to your name."
+
+"Oh, _memsahib!_ Oh, _memsahib!_" the man was groaning.
+
+"Go, I say!" she cried. "And hold up your head. If this is suspected of
+you, you will surely die."
+
+Kingozi called the roll by the light of a replenished fire.
+
+As each man was named, he was required to step forward to undergo
+Kingozi's scrutiny.
+
+Most were uneasy, many were excited. Kingozi passed them rapidly in
+review. But when Chake came forward, he paused in the machine-like
+regularity of his inspection.
+
+"Hullo, my bold buccaneer," said he in English, "what ails you?"
+
+The Leopard Woman had drawn near. Kingozi glanced at her over his
+shoulder.
+
+"I know these Fuzzy-Wuzzies pretty well," he remarked. "This man has the
+blood look in his eye."
+
+"He's been sick all day," she ventured.
+
+"Sick, eh? Have you had him about you all evening?"
+
+The Leopard Woman hesitated the least appreciable portion of a second.
+
+"No," she answered, "he was sick; I let him sleep in his own camp."
+
+She withdrew a pace, almost as though washing her hands of the affair.
+Kingozi whirled and levelled his forefinger at the Nubian.
+
+"Why did you use a _shenzi_ spear?" he demanded.
+
+Over Chake's face had come the blank, lifeless expression of the obstinate
+savage. Kingozi recognized it, and knew that further interrogation was a
+matter of much time and patience. His eyes and head ached cruelly.
+
+"Very well," he answered the Nubian's unspoken opposition. "You'll keep.
+Simba, get me the hand irons and the leg irons. Guard this man. To-morrow
+we will look into it." He turned away without waiting to see his commands
+carried out. "I've got a beastly headache," he remarked to Bibi-ya-chui.
+"This affair--this whole affair--will keep. Cazi Moto, I want two men with
+guns--my men--to stand by my tent, one in front, one in the rear."
+
+The Leopard Woman watched his drooping, wearied form making its way to his
+tent. He walked shuffling, almost stumbling. The habitual masking stare of
+her eyes changed. Something softer, almost yearning, crept into them. When
+the tent flaps had fallen behind him she threw both arms aloft in a
+splendid tragic gesture, careless of the staring men. Her face was
+convulsed by strong emotion. She turned and fled to her own tent, where
+she threw herself face down on her cot.
+
+"It must be done! It must be done!" she groaned to her pillow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+THE DARKNESS
+
+Kingozi retired again to his cot; but for a long time he could not get to
+sleep. Little things annoyed him. A fever owl in a thorn tree somewhere
+nearby called over and over again monotonously, hurriedly, without pause,
+without a break in rhythm. Kingozi knew that the bird would thus continue
+all night long, and he tried to adjust his mind to the fact, but failed.
+It seemed beyond human comprehension that any living creature could keep
+up steadily so breathless a performance. Some of the men were chatting in
+low voices. Ordinarily he would not have heard them at all; now they
+annoyed him. He stood it as long as he could, then shouted "_Kalele!_" at
+them in so fierce a tone that the human silence was dead and immediate.
+But this made prominent other lesser noises. Kingozi's headache was worse.
+He tossed and turned, but at last fell into a half-waking stupor.
+
+He was brought to full consciousness by the entrance of Cazi Moto. He
+opened his eyes. It was still night--a very black night, evidently, for
+not a ray of light entered the tent.
+
+"What time is it, Cazi Moto?" he asked.
+
+"Five o'clock, _bwana_."
+
+It was time to rise if a march was to be undertaken. Kingozi waited a
+moment impatiently.
+
+"Why do you not light the candle?" he demanded.
+
+"The candle is lighted, _bwana_" replied Cazi Moto, with a slight tone of
+surprise.
+
+Kingozi reached his outspread hand across to his tin box. His fingers
+encountered a flame, and were slightly scorched. He lay back and closed
+his eyes.
+
+"The men have struck their tents?" he asked Cazi Moto after a moment.
+
+"Yes, _bwana_, all is prepared."
+
+Then there must be a dozen little fires, and the tent must be filled with
+flickering reflections. Kingozi lay for some time, thinking. He could hear
+Cazi Moto moving about, arranging clothes and equipment. When by the
+sounds Kingozi knew that the task was finished and Cazi Moto about to
+depart, he spoke.
+
+"We shall not make safari to-day," he said. Cazi Moto stopped.
+
+"_Bwana?_"
+
+"We shall not make safari to-day."
+
+Cazi Moto's mind adjusted itself to this new decision. Then, without
+comment, he glided out to reverse all his arrangements.
+
+Left alone Kingozi lay on his back and bent his will power to getting
+control of the situation.
+
+He was blind.
+
+At first the mere thought sent so numbing a chill through all his
+faculties that he needed the utmost of his fortitude to prevent an
+insensate and aimless panic. Gradually he gained control of this.
+
+Then he groped for the candle. By experiment he found that at a distance
+of a foot or so the illumination registered. Then there was no paralysis
+of the nerve itself. Desperately he marshalled his unruly thoughts,
+striving to look back into the remote past of his student days. Fragments
+of knowledge came to him, but nothing on which to build a theory of what
+was wrong.
+
+"It's mechanical; it's mechanical," he muttered over and over to himself,
+but could not seem to progress beyond this point. All he could conclude
+was that it was _not_ ophthalmia or trachoma. He had seen a good deal of
+these two plagues of Egypt, and their symptoms were absent here. He
+concentrated until his mind was weary, and his will slipped. At last in
+despair he relaxed and in an unconscious gesture rubbed his eyes with his
+forefingers and thumbs. The contact brought him to with a jerk.
+
+The eyeballs, instead of feeling soft and velvety under the lids, were as
+hard as marbles.
+
+The shock of this phenomenon rang a bell in his memory. A distinct picture
+came to him of his classroom and old Doctor Stokes. He could fairly hear
+the slow, impressive voice.
+
+"There is one symptom," the past was saying to him, "one symptom, young
+gentlemen, that is not always present; but when present establishes the
+diagnosis beyond any doubt. I refer to a peculiar hardening of the eyeball
+itself----"
+
+"Glaucoma!" cried Kingozi aloud.
+
+His thoughts, like hounds on a trail, raced off after this new scent.
+Desperately he tried to recollect. In snatches he captured knowledge. Of
+its accuracy he was sometimes in doubt; but little by little that doubt
+grew less. To change the figure, the latent images of his past science
+developed slowly, like the images on a photographic plate.
+
+Glaucoma--a hardening, an enlarging of the pupil, a change in the shape
+and consistency of the iris--yes, he had it fairly well. Treatment? Let's
+see--an operation on the iris, delicate. That was it. Impossible, of
+course. But there was something else, a temporary expedient, until the
+surgeon could be reached--an undue expansion of the pupil----
+
+"Why," shouted Kingozi aloud, sitting up in bed. "Pilocarpin, of course!"
+
+What luck! He fervently blessed the shortage of phenacetin that had forced
+him to take pilocarpin as a sweating substitute for fever.
+
+"Cazi Moto!" he called. Then, as the headman hurried up: "Get me the box
+of medicines, quick!"
+
+He waited until he heard the little man reenter the tent.
+
+"Place it here," he commanded. "Now go."
+
+He groped for the case, opened it----
+
+The bottles it contained were all of the same shape. He remembered that
+the pilocarpin was at the right-hand end--or was it the left? Hastily he
+uncorked the left-hand bottle, and was immediately reassured. It contained
+tablets. The right-hand bottle, on the contrary, held the typical small
+crystals. But a doubt assailed him. At the same end of the case were the
+receptacles also of the atropin and the morphia. He remembered the Leopard
+Woman's remarking how much alike they all were. Kingozi seemed to see
+plainly in his mind's eye the precise arrangement, to visualize even the
+exact appearance of the labels on the bottles--first the morphia, next to
+it the pilocarpin, and last the atropin. But while he contemplated this
+mental image, it shifted. The pilocarpin and atropin changed places. And
+this latter recollection seemed as distinct to him as the first had been.
+
+He fingered the three bottles, his brows bent. And across his mental
+travail floated another thought that brought him up all standing.
+
+Pilocarpin and atropin had exactly the opposite effect.
+
+"Here, this won't do!" he said aloud. "If I get the wrong stuff in my eyes
+it will destroy them permanently."
+
+He raised his voice for Cazi Moto.
+
+"When Bibi-ya-chui is awake," he told the headman, "I want to see her.
+Tell her to come."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+THE LEOPARD WOMAN CHANGES HER SPOTS
+
+Kingozi washed, dressed, had his breakfast, and sat quietly in his chair.
+In the open he found that he had a dim consciousness of light, but that
+was all. There was no pain.
+
+After a while Cazi Moto came to report that the Leopard Woman was out and
+about. Kingozi's message had been delivered.
+
+"She says you shall come to her tent," concluded Cazi Moto. Kingozi
+considered. To insist that she should come to him might lead to a
+downright refusal, unless he sent her word of his condition. This he did
+not wish to do. His recollections of the classroom were now distinct. He
+knew that the pilocarpin would restore his vision within a few hours; and
+while the alleviation would be temporary, it might last some months, or
+until he could get the proper surgical aid. Therefore it would be as well
+not to let the men know anything was even temporarily the matter.
+
+"Take my chair," he ordered Cazi Moto. Then when the latter started off,
+he followed, touching lightly the folded seat. As he felt the shade of the
+tree under which the Leopard Woman's tent had been pitched, he chanced a
+"good morning." Her reply gave him her direction, and he seated himself
+facing her.
+
+"I am stupid this morning," he said. "Had a bad night. I wanted you to do
+something for me--read a label, as a matter of fact--and it never occurred
+to me that I might bring the label to you. Cazi Moto, go get my box of
+medicines."
+
+"I do not quite understand," replied the Leopard Woman. "What is it you
+would have me do?"
+
+"Read a label--on a bottle."
+
+"Why is it you do not read it yourself?"
+
+"My eyes do not focus well this morning."
+
+"I see," she said slowly. "And you would have me indicate for you the
+remedy. That is it?"
+
+"Yes, that is it. I've stupidly forgotten which the bottle is I want."
+
+He heard her moving slightly here and there. He strained his ears to
+understand what she was about.
+
+"You are blind!" she cried suddenly.
+
+"Temporarily--until I get my remedy. How did you know?"
+
+"The look of you; and just this moment I thrust suddenly at your face."
+
+Cazi Moto arrived with the medicine chest which he placed at his master's
+feet, and opened. Kingozi extracted the three bottles.
+
+"The table is directly in front of you," came the Leopard Woman's voice.
+
+He reached out, and after a moment deposited the vials on the table.
+
+"It's one of these," he said, "but I don't know which. Just read them for
+me."
+
+"This remedy will cure you?"
+
+"It will give me my sight. I have what is known as glaucoma. It is an
+undue expansion of the pupil. This remedy contracts it again. The only
+real cure is an operation."
+
+A silence ensued.
+
+"Well?" asked Kingozi at length.
+
+"It interests me," came her voice. "Suppose you had not this remedy?"
+
+"I should remain blind," replied Kingozi simply.
+
+"Until you obtained the remedy?"
+
+"Probably for always. One must not let glaucoma run or it becomes chronic.
+It's God's own luck that I have this stuff with me--it's the pilocarpin I
+told you of. The other stuff--atropin--would blind me for sure!"
+
+He thrust forward the three bottles.
+
+"Here," he urged.
+
+"If you had not the remedy--this what-you-call--pilocarpin, what would you
+do?" An edge of eagerness had crept into her tones.
+
+"Do?" said Kingozi, a little impatiently. "I'd streak it for a surgeon. I
+have no desire to lose my sight."
+
+Another pause.
+
+"I shall not read your labels," she decided. Her voice now was low and
+decided.
+
+"What!" cried Kingozi.
+
+He could hear the rustle of her clothes as she leaned forward.
+
+"Listen," she said. "Why should I do this for you? You have treated me as
+a man treats his dog, his horse, his servant, his child--not as a man
+treats a woman. Do you think because I have been the meek one, the quiet
+one, that I have not cared?"
+
+"But this--my sight----"
+
+"Your sight is safe. You tell me so yourself. Go back to your surgeon. And
+if you suffer inconvenience on the way--or pain--or humiliation--or anger
+--why that is what you have made me suffer."
+
+"I----?"
+
+"You! You have treated me with scorn, with contempt, like a little child,
+as though I did not exist! You have--what-you-call--ridden over--
+overridden what I propose, what I try to do. You and your lordly way! You
+are not a man--you are a fish of cold blood; a statue of iron! You have
+nothing but the head! You 'know nothing whatever about vegetables'--nor
+women! Bah! Shall I read your labels and give you your sight? Ah, no! ah,
+_non!_"
+
+Kingozi was stunned. Idly his hand slid forward across the table. It
+encountered and closed upon her wrist. Instantly she struggled to be free,
+whereupon mechanically he tightened his clasp. She made a desperate effort
+to do something. His other hand sought hers. It grasped one of the three
+bottles, and even as he determined this fact, she tried again to hurl it
+to the ground. Frustrated, she relaxed her grip, and he released her.
+
+He could hear the fling of her body as she stood upright; could catch the
+indrawing of her breath.
+
+"Read them for yourself!" was her parting shot as she withdrew.
+
+Kingozi sat very still for a long time. Then he arose abruptly and
+commanded Cazi Moto to return with him to his own camp. There he caused
+his chair to be placed in the shade.
+
+"Cazi Moto," said he, "listen well. You are my other hands; now you must
+be something else. I am sick in the eyes; I can see nothing. In one of
+these bottles is the medicine that will cure me, and in one of them is the
+medicine that will make me blind forever. I do not know which it is; and I
+cannot read the _barua_ because I cannot see it. And Bibi-ya-chui cannot
+read it. So you must be my eyes. Take a stick, and make on the ground
+marks exactly like those on the _barua_. Make them deep, so that I may
+feel them with my hands."
+
+[Illustration: "'Cazi Moto, take a stick and make on the ground marks
+exactly like those on the _barua_. Make them deep, so that I may feel them
+with my hands'"]
+
+Cazi Moto sharpened a stick, smoothed out a piece of earth, and squatted
+beside it.
+
+The Central African native is untrained either to express himself or to
+see pictorially. We have been so trained since the building blocks of our
+infancy, so that a photograph of a scene is to us an exact replica of that
+scene in miniature. As a matter of fact, it is only an arbitrary and
+conventional arrangement of black and white. A raw native sees nothing
+more than that even in a portrait of him self.
+
+So Cazi Moto went at this task absolutely unequipped both of brain and of
+hand. In addition the label was rather difficult. The printed body of it
+contained the firm name of the chemists and their address; the drug itself
+was written, Kingozi remembered with exasperation, in his own not very
+legible script.
+
+"Dashed fool!" he told himself aloud in his usual habit. "Deserve what
+you've got. Ought to have segregated the drugs--ought to have printed the
+labels--no use thinking of that now."
+
+Cazi Moto worked painstakingly, his shrewd and wizened face puckered in
+absorption. He accomplished a legible _Borroughs & Wellcome_ after many
+trials. Then he proceeded with the script. It seemed impossible to make a
+start; he did not even begin at the beginning, but was inclined to view
+the work as an entity and to begin drawing it at the top of the middle.
+Kingozi corrected that. At last the white man's fingers made out
+distinctly a capital M. He erased it with a sweep of the hand.
+
+"That part of the _barua_ again," he ordered.
+
+After a time Cazi Moto repeated the feat.
+
+"Once more."
+
+This was quicker.
+
+Kingozi dropped that bottle into his side pocket with a sigh of relief.
+
+"Evidently the morphine," he said. "We'll try it again later to be sure.
+Wish I didn't scribble such a rotten hand. My capital As and Ps are
+something alike."
+
+He had a new idea. For fifteen minutes he tried to get from Cazi Moto at
+first the number of letters on each label; and later, when the flowing
+script proved this impractical, an idea of the relative lengths of the
+words. Neither method was certain enough; another argument for printing
+your labels, thought Kingozi.
+
+"We'll get it, old sportsman!" he cried aloud in English. "We'll try for
+the first letter."
+
+He bent forward, but the lesson went no further.
+
+For an hour the Leopard Woman had been watching, curious as to what these
+two were doing so quietly in the shade of the tree. At last she evidently
+made up her mind she must find out. Quietly she drew near them unnoticed,
+so that at last she was standing only a few feet to one side. There she
+witnessed the final triumph as to the morphine, and heard Kingozi's last
+confident speech. As he leaned forward to place another bottle for Cazi
+Moto to copy from, she gathered her forces, rushed forward between them,
+snatched the vial, and dashed it violently against a rock, where it
+naturally broke into innumerable pieces. Cazi Moto stared up at her,
+astounded into immobility. Kingozi, without a trace of emotion, leaned
+back in his chair.
+
+"I think I am losing my wits," he remarked. "I have been criminally stupid
+through this whole affair. I might have foreseen something of the kind."
+
+She stood there panting excitedly, her hands clinched at her sides.
+
+"I will read your label for you now--the bottle you hold in your hand! It
+is atropin--atropin--" She laughed wildly.
+
+"I thank you, madam," he said ironically.
+
+"Now you must go back!"
+
+"Yes. Now I must go back. I thank you."
+
+"You may well thank me. I have saved your life!" she cried hysterically,
+and was gone.
+
+Kingozi did not examine the meaning of this; indeed, it hardly registered
+at all as it was to him evidently the product of excitement.
+
+He forgot even the scandalized Cazi Moto squatting at his feet. For a long
+time he stared sightlessly straight ahead. He could not explain this
+woman. The whole outburst, the complete about-face in what had been their
+apparent relations, overwhelmed him. He had had no idea of the slow
+damming back of resentments; in fact, he really had no idea that there
+were causes for resentment at all! He had done the direct, obvious,
+efficient thing in a number of instances when naturally her powers or
+abilities were inadequate. Characteristically, he forgot utterly the night
+of the full moon!
+
+First of all, it was evident that he must turn back if he was to save his
+eyesight. As he remembered glaucoma, it ought to be surgically treated
+within two months, at most.
+
+The second point was whether he could turn back. His mission was a simple
+one. Would it wait? He could not see why not. He had been sent to gain the
+friendship and active alliance of M'tela and his spears; and had been
+given _carte blanche_ in the matters of equipment, methods, and time.
+Inside a year or so the International Boundary Commission would be running
+boundary lines through that country. Until then the Kabilagani could very
+well go on as they probably had gone on for the last five hundred years.
+
+Very well; as far as his job was concerned, he could go back; as far as
+his eyes were concerned, he must go back.
+
+Remained the problem of Bibi-ya-chui.
+
+Why was she in the country? For the same purpose as himself? It seemed
+unlikely; she appeared to have slight qualifications for such a task.
+Indeed, in the candour of his own inner communings Kingozi acknowledged
+that he and the German, Winkleman, alone could be held really fitted for
+that sort of negotiation. But if she were? Why did she not say so? Their
+object would be the same. It was as much to Germany's interest to pacify,
+to make friendly this hinterland before the advent of the Boundary
+Commission. All this was a puzzle. But there was the indubitable secret
+map, and the indubitable concealment of purpose; and--to Kingozi's mind--
+the indubitable attempt to make travelling so tedious that he would split
+safaris and permit her to go alone.
+
+This led to another conclusion. He could not see the reason for it all,
+but one thing was clear: she must not even now be allowed to take her own
+course. Whatever she was up to, she did not intend to let him know about
+it; ergo it was something inimical to him, either personally or
+officially. Probably personally, Kingozi thought with a grim smile. He was
+no fool about women when his mind was sufficiently disengaged from other
+things; and now he remembered the inhibited promise of the tropic moon.
+Still he could take no chances. He could turn back; he must turn back; and
+as a corollary the Leopard Woman must turn back with him!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+THE TRIAL
+
+He remembered Cazi Moto squatting, undoubtedly horrified to the core.
+
+"Cazi Moto, are you there?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"Where has the _memsahib_ gone?"
+
+"Into her tent, _bwana_."
+
+"Listen well to me. She has destroyed the medicine. Now we must go back to
+where _Bwana_ Marefu can come to fix my eyes. We shall go with all the men
+as far as the people of the _sultani_. There we will leave many porters
+and many loads. With a few men we will go to Bwana Marefu. When he has
+fixed my eyes, then we will come back. I will fix a _barua_ for _Bwana_.
+This must be sent on ahead of us so he can come to meet us. Pick two good
+men for messengers. Is all that understood?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"Tell me, then, what is to be done?"
+
+Cazi Moto repeated the gist of what had been said. Kingozi nodded.
+
+"That is it."
+
+"_Bwana?_" Cazi Moto hesitated.
+
+"Yes. Speak."
+
+"That woman. Shall she be _kibokoed_ or killed?"
+
+Kingozi caught back a chuckle.
+
+"No," he said gravely. "That will wait for later. But see that she is
+watched; do not permit her to talk to her men; take all her guns and
+pistols, and bring them to me."
+
+"And this Chake?"
+
+"Of course." Kingozi had really forgotten the man in the concentrations of
+the past few hours. "Let him be brought before me an hour before sundown."
+
+He found himself all at once overcome with sleep. Hardly was he able to
+stagger to his cot before he fell into a deep, refreshing slumber.
+
+At the appointed hour Cazi Moto scratched on his tent door. Kingozi arose
+and walked confidently into the opening. Cazi Moto deftly indicated the
+location of the chair. Kingozi sat down.
+
+Although he could not see, he visualized the scene well enough.
+Immediately in front of him, and ten feet away, stood the manacled Nubian,
+with an armed man at either elbow. Behind them, in turn, were grouped
+silently all the combined safaris. At his own elbows stood Cazi Moto and
+Simba--possibly Mali-ya-bwana.
+
+He allowed an impressive wait to ensue. Then abruptly he began his
+interrogation. He had been thinking over the circumstances, off and on,
+since last night, and had determined on his line. Ordinarily he would have
+called for witnesses of various sorts, but this would have been not at all
+for the purpose of piling up evidence against the accused. That is the
+civilized fashion; and is superfluous among savages. Kingozi's witnesses
+would have been called solely for the purpose of furnishing information to
+himself. He needed only one piece of information here, and that only one
+witness could furnish him--the man before him.
+
+"Why did you kill Mavrouki?" he demanded.
+
+"I did not kill Mavrouki, _bwana_."
+
+"That is a lie," rejoined Kingozi calmly.
+
+Chake became voluble.
+
+"All night I sat by my fire cooking _potio_ and meat," he protested. "This
+the _askaris_ will tell you. And my spear lay in the tent with the
+_askaris_," he went on at great length, repeating these two points,
+babbling, protesting, pleading. Kingozi listened to him in dead silence
+until he had quite run down.
+
+"Listen," said he impressively, "all these words are lies. This is what
+happened: from one of the _shenzis_ you traded a spear, or a spear was
+given you. Your own spear you left in the tent. All day you sat in the
+grass and sharpened the _shenzi_ spear." This was a wild guess, based on
+probabilities, but by the uneasy stir in the throng Kingozi knew he had
+scored. "Then at night you waited, and you speared Mavrouki with the
+_shenzi_ spear, and you left it in his back, for you said to yourself,
+'men will think a _shenzi_ has done this thing.' Then you went quietly to
+your fire, and cooked _potio_, and your own spear was all the time where
+the _askaris_ were lying."
+
+Kingozi paused. He knew without Cazi Moto's whispered assurance that every
+shot had told. It was a simple bit of deduction, but to these simpler
+minds it seemed miraculous.
+
+"Why did you wish to kill me?" he demanded.
+
+The Nubian, taken completely by surprise, began to chatter with fright.
+
+"I did not wish to kill you, _bwana_. I wished to kill Mavrouki."
+
+"That is a lie," said Kingozi equably. "Why should you wait for Mavrouki
+near my tent? Was Mavrouki my gun bearer, or even my cook, that he should
+come to my tent? Mavrouki was a porter, and if you wished to kill Mavrouki
+you would wait by the porters' camp."
+
+He said these words slowly, without emphasis, in almost a detached manner.
+By the murmur he knew that this amazing reasoning had, as usual, struck
+the men with deep astonishment. The African native is a simple creature.
+He waited a full minute.
+
+"Mavrouki wore a khaki coat. He and I were the only people of all the
+safari who had khaki coats. That is why in the darkness you mistook
+Mavrouki for me. That is why you killed Mavrouki."
+
+He said this in a firm voice, as though making an indisputable statement.
+The buzz of low-voiced comment increased. This time he did not pause.
+
+"Why did you wish to kill me?" he repeated.
+
+But again he sensed the fact that Chake had taken refuge in the dull
+stupidity that is an acknowledgment of defeat. He knew that he would get
+no more replies. After waiting a few moments he went on. His voice had
+become weighty with authority and measured with doom.
+
+"You will not tell. Let it be so. And now listen; and you other safari men
+listen also. Because you have wished to kill me, you shall have two
+hundred lashes with the _kiboko_; and then you shall be hanged."
+
+A moment of horror was followed by a low murmur of comment. Not a man
+there but realized that the unfortunate Nubian would never live to be
+hanged. A punishment of twenty-five is as much as the most stoical can
+stand in silence; fifty as much as can be absorbed without permanent
+injury; seventy-five an extreme resorted to on a very few desperately rare
+occasions. Beyond that no experience taught the result. Kingozi's sentence
+was equivalent to death by torture.
+
+He leaned forward in his chair, listening intently. He heard his victim's
+gasp, the mutter of the crowd. They passed him by. Then he sank back, a
+half smile on his lips. He had caught the rustle of silks, the indignant
+breathing of a woman. He knew that Bibi-ya-chui stood before him.
+
+"But this is atrocious!" she cried. "This cannot go on!"
+
+"It shall go on," he replied steadily. "Why not?"
+
+"He is my man. I forbid it!"
+
+"He is my man to punish when he attempts my life."
+
+"I shall prevent this--this--oh, this outrage!"
+
+"How?" he asked calmly.
+
+She turned to the men and began to talk to them in Swahili, repeating
+emphatically what she had just said to Kingozi in English, uttering her
+commands. They were received in a dead silence.
+
+"You have heard the _memsahib_ speak, you men of the _memsahib's_ safari,"
+remarked Kingozi; then: "You, Jack, whom I made chief of _askaris_, you
+speak."
+
+"What does the _bwana_ say of this?" came Jack's deep voice after a
+moment.
+
+"You have heard."
+
+"What the _bwana_ says is law."
+
+"Does any man of you think differently? Speak!"
+
+No voice answered. Kingozi turned to where, he knew, the Leopard Woman
+stood.
+
+"You see?"
+
+He heard only a choked sob of rage and impotence. After waiting a minute
+he resumed:
+
+"Do my command. Let three men, in turn, give the _kiboko_. You, Simba, see
+that they strike hard."
+
+A faint clink of manacles indicated that the guards had laid hands on
+their victim.
+
+"Wait!" cried the Leopard Woman in a strangled voice.
+
+Kingozi raised his hand.
+
+"You--you brute!" she cried. "You shall not do this! Chake is not to
+blame! It is I--I, who speak. I did this. I ordered him to kill you. I
+alone should be punished!"
+
+He drew a deep breath.
+
+"I thought so," he said softly; then in Swahili: "These are my orders. Let
+this man be well guarded. Let him be treated well, and given _potio_ and
+meat. He shall be punished later. And now," he turned to Bibi-ya-chui in
+English again, "let us drop the excitement and the hysterics. Let us sit
+down calmly and discuss the matter. Perhaps you are now ready to tell me
+why you have lied to me; why you have concealed your possession of a
+secret map and other information; why you have deliberately delayed my
+march; and, above all, why you have refused to aid my blindness and have
+attempted to kill me."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+KINGOZI'S ULTIMATUM
+
+But she did not immediately answer this. She was on fire with a new
+thought.
+
+"This is another of your--what you call--traps!" she cried. "You never
+intended to kill this man with the _kiboko!_ You intended to make me
+speak--as I did!"
+
+"That's as may be," he rejoined. "At least I should have tried how far he
+would have been faithful to you before telling what he knew--if you had
+not spoken."
+
+"He is faithful--to the death," she asseverated with passion.
+
+"I am inclined to believe you are right. But that is neither here nor
+there. I am waiting answers to my questions."
+
+"And you shall wait," she took him up superbly. "I shall not answer!"
+
+He shrugged his shoulders wearily.
+
+"That is your affair. I must confess that I am curious to know, however,
+why you did not shoot me. You have a pistol."
+
+"Your men took that pistol."
+
+"But not until late this morning. You had plenty of chance."
+
+"I could not," she said, her voice taking on a curious intonation; "there
+was no need."
+
+"You mean since I went blind there was no need," he interjected quickly.
+
+She hesitated whether to reply. Then:
+
+"Yes, that is it," she assented.
+
+Kingozi leaned forward, gripping the arms of his chair.
+
+"I must tell you that my blindness is not going to help you in the way you
+believe," he said.
+
+"What do I believe?" The animation of curiosity crept into her voice.
+
+"For one thing, you believe I am no ivory hunter; and you know perfectly
+why I am in this country."
+
+"Do I?"
+
+"Do you not?"
+
+"Well--yes."
+
+"Why is it, tell me."
+
+She pondered this, then made up her mind
+
+"I do not know why not. The time for fencing is over. I know perfectly
+that you are sent by your government to make treaty with M'tela. And I
+know," she added with the graciousness of one who has got back to sure
+ground, "that no one could do it better; and no one as well."
+
+"Except Winkleman," said Kingozi simply.
+
+"Except Winkleman--perhaps."
+
+"As you say, the time for fencing is over," pursued Kingozi. "That is
+true. And it is true also that you are not merely travelling for pleasure.
+You are yourself on a mission. You are Hungarian, but you are in the
+employ of the German Government."
+
+She laughed musically.
+
+"_Bravo!_" she cried. "That is true. But go on--how do you make the
+guess?"
+
+"Your maps, your--pardon me--equivocations, and a few other matters of the
+sort. Now it is perfectly evident that you are trying to forestall me in
+some manner."
+
+"Point number two," she agreed mockingly.
+
+"I am free to confess I do not know why; and at present I do not care.
+That's why I tell you. You are so anxious to forestall me--for this
+unknown reason--that when smaller things fail----"
+
+"You are of an interest--what smaller things?"
+
+"Various wiles--some of them feminine. Delays, for example. Do you suppose
+I believed for a moment those delays were not inspired? That is why my
+punishments were so severe--and other wiles," he concluded vaguely.
+
+She did not press the point.
+
+"When smaller things failed," he repeated, "you would have resorted even
+to murder. Your necessity must have been great."
+
+"Believe me--it was!" she answered.
+
+He brought up short at the unexpected feeling that vibrated in her voice.
+His face expressed a faint surprise, and he returned to his subject with
+fresh interest.
+
+"And when my eyes failed me, and you could have given me my sight by the
+mere reading of a label, you refused; you condemned me to the darkness.
+And, further, when I had a chance to learn my remedy for myself, you
+destroyed it. I wonder whether that cost you anything, too?"
+
+He sat apparently staring out into the distance, his sightless eyes wide
+with the peculiar blank pathos of the blind. The Leopard Woman's own eyes
+were suffused with tears!
+
+"I remember now something you said when you broke the bottle of
+pilocarpin," he said slowly. "I did not notice it at the time; now it
+comes to me. 'I have saved your life,' you said. I get the meaning of that
+now. You would have killed me rather than not have forestalled me; but the
+blindness saved you that necessity. You know, I am a little glad to learn
+that you did not _want_ to kill me."
+
+"Want!" she cried. "How could I want?"
+
+Kingozi chuckled.
+
+"You told me enough times just what you thought of me."
+
+Her crest reared, but drooped again.
+
+"No women likes to be treated so. And if you had your eyes, so I would
+hate you again!"
+
+"I don't know why you want to prevent me from reaching M'tela, nor why you
+want to reach him first, nor why in its wisdom your government sent you at
+all. I'd like to know, just as a matter of curiosity. But it doesn't
+really matter, because it does not affect the essential situation in the
+least."
+
+"You are going to M'tela just the same?" she inquired anxiously.
+
+"Bless you, no. I have no desire to go blind. It's the beastliest
+affliction can come to an active man. And glaucoma is a tricky thing. I'd
+like to get to McCloud tomorrow. But still you are not going to get to
+M'tela before me."
+
+"No?"
+
+"I am sorry; but you will have to go with me."
+
+"You have the force," she acknowledged after a moment. Somewhat surprised
+at her lack of protest--or was it resignation to the inevitable?--Kingozi
+checked himself. After a moment he went on.
+
+"Somehow," he mused, "in spite of your amiable activities, I have a
+certain confidence in you. It would be much more comfortable for both of
+us if you would give me your word not to try to escape, or to go back, or
+to leave my camp, or cause your men to leave my camp, or anything like
+that."
+
+"Would you trust my word?"
+
+"If you would give it solemnly--yes."
+
+"But to do what I wished to do--as you say just now yourself--I am ready
+to use all means--even to killing. Why do you not think I would also
+break, my word to do my ends?"
+
+"I think you would not."
+
+"But do you think I would, what you call--consider your trust in me more
+great than my government's trust in me?"
+
+"No. I do not think that either."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I do not think you will give your word to me unless you mean to keep it.
+If you do give it, I am willing to rely upon it."
+
+The Leopard Woman moved impulsively to his side.
+
+"Very well. I give it," she said with a choke.
+
+"That you go with my safari, without subterfuge, without sending word
+anywhere--in other words, a fair start afresh!"
+
+"Just that," she replied.
+
+"That is your word of honour?"
+
+"My word of honour."
+
+"Give me your hand on it."
+
+She laid her palm in his. His hand closed over hers, gripping it tightly.
+Her eyes were swimming, her breast heaved. Slowly she swayed toward him,
+leaned over him. Her lips touched his. Suddenly she was seized hungrily.
+She abandoned herself to the kiss.
+
+But after a moment she tore herself away from him, panting.
+
+"This must not be!" she cried tragically. "I know not what I do! This is
+not good! I am a woman of honour!"
+
+Kingozi, his blind face alight, held out his arms to her.
+
+"Your honour is safe with me," he said.
+
+But he had mistaken her meaning. Step by step she recoiled from him until
+she stood at the distance of some paces, her hands pressed against her
+cheeks, her eyes fixed on him with a strange mixture of tenderness, pity,
+and sternness.
+
+"What is it?" he begged, getting uncertainly to his feet. "Where are you?"
+
+But she did not answer him. After a moment she slipped away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+THE MESSENGERS
+
+The return trip began promptly the following morning, and progressed
+uninterruptedly for two weeks. One by one they picked up the water-holes
+found on the journey out.
+
+A few details had to be adjusted to compensate for Kingozi's lack of eyes.
+The matter of meat supplies, for example.
+
+"Good luck I gave some attention to your shooting, old sportsman," he
+remarked to Simba in English, then in Swahili: "Here are five cartridges.
+Go get me a zebra and a kongoni."
+
+Simba was no shot, but Kingozi knew he would stalk, with infinite patience
+and skill, fairly atop his quarry before letting off one of the precious
+cartridges.
+
+In the matter of rhinoceros and similar dangers, they simply took a
+chance.
+
+Kingozi marched at the end of a stick held by Simba. He gave his whole
+energies to getting over the day's difficulties of all sorts. His
+relations with the Leopard Woman swung back. Perhaps vaguely, in the back
+of his mind, he looked forward to the interpretation of that
+unpremeditated kiss; but just now a mixed feeling of responsibility and
+delicacy prevented his going forward from the point attained. During the
+march they walked apart most of the time. The weariness of forced travel
+abridged their evenings.
+
+Chake walked guarded, and slept in chains.
+
+Whenever the location of water-holes permitted, the safari made long
+jumps. The two messengers sent out with a scrawled letter to Doctor
+McCloud--whom they knew as Bwana Marefu--were of course far ahead. With
+any luck Kingozi hoped to meet the surgeon not far from the mountains
+where dwelt the _sultani_ of the ivory stockade.
+
+Thus the march went through a fortnight. The close of the fourteenth day
+found them camped near water in a _donga_. The dim blue of mountains had
+raised itself above the horizon ahead. This rejoiced the men. They were
+running low of _potio_, and they knew that from the _sultani's_ subjects
+in these mountains a further supply could be had. As a consequence, an
+unwonted _kalele_ was smiting the air. Each man chatted to his next-door
+neighbour at the top of his lungs, laughing loudly, squealing with
+delight. Kingozi sat enjoying it. He had been so long in Africa that this
+happy rumpus always pleased him. Suddenly it fell to silence. He cocked
+his ear, trying to understand the reason.
+
+Across the open veldt two figures had been descried. They were coming
+toward the camp at a slow dogtrot; and as they approached it could be seen
+that save for a turban apiece they were stark naked; and save for a spear
+and a water gourd apiece they were without equipment. One held something
+straight upright before him, as medieval priests carried a cross. The
+turbans were formed from their blankets; mid-blade of each spear was wound
+with a strip of red cloth; the object one carried was a letter held in the
+cleft of a stick.
+
+By these tokens the safari men knew the strangers to be messengers.
+
+The mail service of Central Africa is slow but very certain. You give your
+letter to two reliable men and inform them that it is for _Bwana_ So-and-
+so. Sooner or later _Bwana_ So-and-so will get that letter. He is found by
+a process of elimination. In the bazaars the messengers inquire whether he
+has gone north, south, east, or west. Some native is certain to have known
+some of his men. So your messengers start west. Their progress
+thenceforward is a series of village visits. The gossip of the country
+directs them. Gradually, but with increasing certainty, their course
+defines itself, until at last--months later--they come trotting into camp.
+
+These two jogged in broadly agrin. Cazi Moto and Simba led them at once to
+Kingozi's chair.
+
+"These men bring a _barua_ for you, _bwana_," said Cazi Moto.
+
+Kingozi took the split wand with the letter thrust crosswise in the cleft.
+
+"Who sent them?" he asked.
+
+"The _Bwana_ M'Kubwa[10], _bwana_."
+
+[10: _Bwana M'Kubwa_--the great lord, i.e., the chief officer of any
+district.]
+
+"Have they no message?"
+
+"They say no message, _bwana_."
+
+"Take them and give them food, and see that they have a place in one of
+the tents."
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"And send Bibi-ya-chui to me."
+
+The Leopard Woman sent word that she was bathing, but would come shortly.
+Kingozi sat fingering the letter, which he could not read. It was long and
+thick. He could feel the embossed frank of the Government Office. The
+situation was puzzling. It might contain secret orders, in which case it
+would be inadvisable to allow the Leopard Woman a sight of its contents.
+But Kingozi shook off this thought. At about the time he felt the cool
+shadow of the earth rise across his face as the sun slipped below the
+horizon, he became aware also by the faint perfume that the Leopard Woman
+had come.
+
+"I am in a fix," he said abruptly. "Runners have just come in with this
+letter. It is official, and may be secret. I am morally certain you ought
+not to know its contents; but I don't see how I am to know them unless you
+do. Will you read it to me, and will you give me your word not to use its
+contents for your own or your government's purposes?"
+
+She hesitated.
+
+"I cannot promise that."
+
+"Well," he amended after a moment, "you will stick to the terms of your
+other promise--that you will not attempt to leave my safari or send
+messages until we arrive."
+
+"The fresh, even start," she supplied. "That promise is given."
+
+He handed her the envelope.
+
+A crackle of paper, then a long wait.
+
+"I shall not read you this," she said finally in a strangled, suppressed
+voice.
+
+"Why not?" he demanded sharply.
+
+"It contains things I would not have you know."
+
+He felt the paper thrust into his hands, reached for her wrists, and
+pinioned them. For once his self-control had broken. His face was suffused
+with blood and dark with anger.
+
+But his speech was cut short by an uproar from the camp. Cries, shrieks,
+shouts, yells, and the sound of running to and fro steadily increased in
+volume. It was a riot.
+
+In vain Kingozi called for Cazi Moto and Simba. Finally he grasped his
+_kiboko_ and started in the direction of the disturbance. The Leopard
+Woman sprang to his side, and guided him. He laid about him blindly with
+the _kiboko_, and in time succeeded in getting some semblance of order.
+
+"Cazi Moto! Simba!" he shouted angrily.
+
+"Bwana?" "Sah?" two panting voices answered.
+
+"What is this?"
+
+They both began to speak at once.
+
+"You, Cazi Moto," commanded Kingozi.
+
+"These men are liars," began Cazi Moto.
+
+"What men?"
+
+"These men who brought the _barua_. They tell lies, bad lies, and we beat
+them for it."
+
+"Since when have you beaten liars? And since when have I ceased to deal
+punishment? And since when has it been permitted that such a _kalele_ be
+raised in my camp?" pronounced Kingozi coldly. "For attending to such
+things you are my man; and Simba is my man; and Mali-ya-bwana is my man;
+and Jack is my man. Because you have done these things I fine you six
+rupees each one."
+
+"Yes, _bwana_," said Cazi Moto submissively.
+
+"These other men--what manner of 'lie' do they tell? Bring them here."
+
+The messengers were produced.
+
+"What is it you tell that my men beat you for telling lies? They must be
+bad lies, for it is not the custom of men to beat men for telling lies."
+
+"We tell no lies, _bwana_" said one of the messengers earnestly. "We tell
+the truth."
+
+"What is it you tell?"
+
+"We said what has happened: that across the Serengetti came white men from
+the country of Taveta, and that these white men were many, and had many
+_askaris_ with them, and our white men from Nairobi met them, and fought
+so that those from Taveta were driven back and some were killed. And down
+the N'Gouramani River many of our white men with _Mahindi_[11] fought with
+strange white men on a hill below Ol Sambu, but were driven off. And many
+_Mahindi_ are coming in to Mombasa, all with guns, and all the _askaris_
+are brought into Nairobi. And we told these safari men that the white men
+were making war on the white men, so they cried out at this, and beat us."
+
+[Footnote 11: Mahindi--East Indians.]
+
+Kingozi had listened attentively.
+
+"Well, Cazi Moto?" he demanded.
+
+"But this is a lie; a bad lie," said Cazi Moto, "to say that white men
+make war on white men!"
+
+"Nevertheless it is true," rejoined Kingozi quietly. "These other white
+men are the _Duyches_[12], and they make war."
+
+[Footnote 12: Duyches--Germans.]
+
+He turned and walked back to his camp unassisted. He groped for his chair
+and sat down. His hand encountered the letter.
+
+"You do not need to read this to me now," he told the Leopard Woman
+quietly. "I know what it tells." He thought a moment. "It is clear to me
+now. You knew, this war was to be declared."
+
+She did not reply.
+
+"You know about _when_ this war was to be declared," he pursued his
+thought. "Yes, it fits."
+
+Her silence continued.
+
+"You should have killed me," he thought aloud. "That alone could have
+accomplished your mission properly. You might have known I would make you
+go back, too. Or perhaps you thought you could command your own men in
+spite of me?"
+
+"Perhaps," she said unexpectedly.
+
+He raised his voice:
+
+"Cazi Moto!"
+
+The chastened headman came running.
+
+"To-morrow," Kingozi told him, "the men go on half _potio_. There will be
+plenty of meat but only half _potio_."
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"And if any man grumbles, or if any man objects even one word to what I do
+or where I go, bring him to me at once. Understand?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"_Bassi_."
+
+"What is it you intend to do now?" asked the Leopard Woman curiously.
+
+"Go back, of course."
+
+"Back--where?"
+
+"To M'tela."
+
+She gasped.
+
+"But you cannot do that! You have not considered; you have not thought."
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"But it means blindness; blindness for always!"
+
+"I know my duty."
+
+"But to be blind, to be blind always; never to see the sun, the wide
+veldt, the beasts, and the birds! Never to read a book, to see a man's
+face, a woman's form; to sit always in darkness waiting--you cannot do
+that!"
+
+He winced at her words but did not reply. Her hands fluttered to his
+shoulders.
+
+"Please do not do this foolishness," she pleaded softly; "it is not worth
+it! See, I have given my word! If you had thought I would go ahead of you
+to M'tela, all that danger is past. A fresh start, you said it yourself.
+Do you think I would deceive you?"
+
+She was hovering very close to him; he could feel her breath on his cheek.
+Firmly but gently he took her two wrists and thrust her away from him.
+
+"Listen, my dear," he said gently, "this is a time for clear thinking. My
+country is at war with Germany; and my whole duty is to her. You are an
+Austrian."
+
+"My country, too, is at war," she said unexpectedly.
+
+"Ah, you knew that would happen, too," he said after a startled pause. "I
+know only this: that if in times of peace it was important to my
+government that M'tela's friendship be gained, it is ten times as
+important in time of war. I must go back and do my best."
+
+"But why?" she interjected eagerly. "This savage tribe--it is in the
+remote hinterland; it knows nothing of the white man or the white man's
+quarrels. What difference can it make?"
+
+"That is not my affair. For one thing, he is on the border."
+
+"But what difference of that? The border means nothing. The fate of their
+colonies will be fought in Europe, not here. What happens to this country
+depends on who wins there below."
+
+"Can you state positively of your own knowledge that no invasion or
+movement of German troops is planned across M'tela's country? On your
+sacred word of honour?" propounded Kingozi suddenly.
+
+"On my word of honour," she repeated slowly, "no such movement."
+
+"Do you know what you are talking about?"
+
+She was silent.
+
+"It doesn't sound reasonable--an invasion from that quarter--what could
+they gain either on that side or on this?" Kingozi ruminated. A sudden
+thought struck him. "And that there is no reason whatever, from my point
+of view as a loyal British subject, against my going out at this time? On
+your word?"
+
+"Oh!" she cried distressedly, "you ask such questions! How can I
+answer----"
+
+He stopped her with grave finality.
+
+"That is sufficient. I go back."
+
+She did not attempt to combat him.
+
+"I have done my duty, too," she said dully. "Mine is not the Viennese
+conscience. My parole; I must take that back. From to-morrow I take it
+back."
+
+"I understand. I am sorry. To-morrow I place my guard."
+
+"Oh, why cannot you have the sense?" she cried passionately. "I cannot
+bear it! That you must be blind! That I must kill you if I can, once
+more!"
+
+Kingozi smiled quietly to himself at this confession.
+
+"So you would even kill me?" he queried curiously.
+
+"I must! I must! If it is necessary, I must! I have sworn!"
+
+"Don't you suppose I shall take precautions?"
+
+"Oh, I hope so! I do hope so!" she cried.
+
+Her distress was so genuine, her unconsciousness of the anomaly of her
+attitude so naive that Kingozi forbore even to smile.
+
+"I must go on," he concluded simply.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+
+THE SECOND MESSENGERS
+
+The return journey began. A remarkable tribute to Kingozi's influence, not
+only over his own men, but over those of the new safari, might have been
+read from the fact that there was brought for correction not one grumble,
+either over the halving of the _potio_ or the apparently endless counter-
+marching. As far as the white members were concerned the journey was one
+of doggedness and gloom. Kingozi's strong will managed to keep to the
+foreground the details of his immediate duty; but to do so he had to sink
+all other considerations whatever. The same effort required to submerge
+all thought of the darkened years to come carried down also every
+recollection of the past. The Leopard Woman ceased to exist, not because
+she had lost importance, but because Kingozi's mind was focussed on a
+single point.
+
+And she. Perhaps she understood this; perhaps the tearing antagonism of
+her own purposes, duties, and desires stunned or occupied her--who knows?
+The outward result was the same as in the case of her companion. They
+walked apart, ate apart, lived each in his superb isolation, going forward
+like sleep-walkers to what the future might hold.
+
+Thus they travelled for ten days. In mid-march, then, Cazi Moto came to
+tell Kingozi that two more messengers had arrived.
+
+"They are not people of our country," he added. "They are _shenzis_ such
+as no man here ever saw before."
+
+"What sort of _shenzis?_"
+
+"Short, square men. Very black. Hair that is long and stands out like a
+little tree."
+
+"What do they say?"
+
+"_Bwana_, they speak a language that no man here understands. And this is
+strange: that they do not come from the direction of Nairobi."
+
+"Perhaps they are men from M'tela."
+
+"No, _bwana_, that cannot be, for they carry a _barua_. They came from a
+white man."
+
+"That is strange, very strange," said Kingozi quickly. "I do not
+understand. Is there water near where we stand?"
+
+"There is the water of the place we called _Campi ya Korungu_ when we
+passed before."
+
+"Make camp there."
+
+"The sun is at four hours[13], _bwana_."
+
+[Footnote 13: 10:00 o'clock.]
+
+"It makes no difference."
+
+When camp had been pitched Kingozi caused the new messengers to be brought
+before him. A few moments' questioning elicited two facts: one, that there
+existed no medium of communication known to both parties; two, that the
+strangers were from some part of the Congo basin. The latter conclusion
+Kingozi gained from catching a few words of a language root known to him.
+He stretched his hand for the letter.
+
+It was in a long linen envelope, unsealed, and unembossed.
+
+Not from the government. He unfolded the sheets of paper and ran his
+fingers over the pages. Written in pencil; he could feel the indentations
+where the writer had borne down. Some private individual writing him from
+camp on the Congo side. Who could it be? Kingozi's Central African
+acquaintance was wide; he knew most of the gentlemen adventurers roaming
+through that land of fascination. A good many were not averse to ivory
+poaching; and the happy hunting ground of ivory poaching was at that time
+the French Congo. It might be any of them. But how could they know of his
+whereabouts in this unknown country? And how could they know he was in
+this country at all? These last two points seemed to him important.
+Suddenly he threw his head back and laughed aloud.
+
+"Self-centred egotist!" he addressed himself. "Cazi Moto, tell Bibi-ya-
+chui I wish to see her."
+
+Cazi Moto departed to return immediately with the Leopard Woman who, at
+this hour, was still in her marching clothes. If she felt any surprise at
+this early abandonment of the day's march she did not show it. Two
+_askaris_, confided with the task of guarding her, followed a few paces to
+the rear. She glanced curiously at the bushy savages.
+
+"Here," said Kingozi, holding out the letter, "is a _barua_ for you--from
+your friend Winkleman in the Congo."
+
+The shock of surprise held her speechless for a moment.
+
+"Your blindness is well! You can see!" she cried then.
+
+Kingozi raised his head sharply, for there was a lilt of relief and
+gladness in her voice.
+
+"No," he answered, "just ordinary deduction. Am I right?"
+
+He heard her slowly unfolding the paper.
+
+"Yes, you are right," she said in sober tones, after a moment. She uttered
+a happy exclamation, then another; then ran to his side and threw her arms
+around his neck in an impulsive hug. Kingozi remembered the waiting men
+and motioned them away. She was talking rapidly, almost hysterically, as
+people talk when relieved of a pressure.
+
+"Yes, it is from Winkleman. He has come in from the Congo side. When this
+letter was written he was only ten days' march from M'tela."
+
+"How do you know that?" interjected Kingozi sharply.
+
+"Native information, he says. Oh, I am so glad! so glad! so glad!"
+
+"That was the plan from the start, was it?" said Kingozi. "I don't know
+whether it was a good plan or that I have been thick. My head is in rather
+a whirl. It was Winkleman right along, was it?"
+
+She laughed excitedly.
+
+"Oh, such a game! Of course it was Winkleman. Did you think me one to be
+sent to savage kings?"
+
+"It didn't seem credible," muttered Kingozi. "It is a humiliating
+question, but seems inevitable--were you actually sent out by your
+officials merely to delay _me?_"
+
+"So that Winkleman might arrive first--surely."
+
+"I see." Kingozi's accent was getting to be more formally polite. "But why
+you? Why did not your most efficient employers dispatch an ordinary
+assassin? I do not err in assuming that you all knew that this war was to
+be declared at this time."
+
+"That is true." Her voice still sang, her high spirits unsubdued by his
+veiled sarcasm.
+
+"Then since it is war, why not have me shot and done with it? Why send a
+woman?"
+
+"That was arranged, truly. A man of the Germans was following you. He was
+as a sportsman, for it would not do to rouse suspicion. Then he had an
+accident. I was in Nairobi. I heard of it. I did not know you, and this
+German did not know you. It seemed to us very simple. I was to follow
+until I came up with you. Then I was to delay you until I had word that
+Winkleman had crossed the _n'yika_."
+
+"All very simple and easy," murmured Kingozi.
+
+"It was not simple! It was not easy!" she cried in a sudden flash of
+resentment. "You are a strange man. When you go toward a thing, you see
+down a narrow lane. What is either side does not exist." Her voice
+gradually raised to vehemence. "I am a woman. I am weak and helpless. Do
+you assist me, comfort me, sustain me in dreadful situation? No! You march
+on, leaving me to follow! I think to myself that you are a pig, a brute,
+that you have no chivalry, that you know not the word gentleman; and I
+hate you! Then I see that I am wrong. You have chivalry, you are a true
+gentleman; but before you is an object and you cannot turn your eyes away.
+And I think so to myself that when this object is removed, is placed one
+side for a time, then you will come to yourself. Then will be my chance.
+For I study you. I look at your eyes and the fire in them, and the lips,
+and the wide, proud nostril; and I see that here is no cold fish creature,
+but a strong man. So I wait my time. And the moon rises, and the savage
+drums throb, throb like hearts of passion, and the bul-buls sing in the
+bush--and I know I am beautiful, and I know men, and almost I think you
+look one side, and that I win!"
+
+"So all that was a game!" commented Kingozi.
+
+"A game? But yes--then!"
+
+"For the sake of winning your point--would you--would you----"
+
+"For the sake of winning my point did I not command to kill you--you--my
+friend?" she commented, her manner falling from vehemence to sadness. "If
+I could do that, what else would matter!" She paused; then went on in a
+subdued voice: "But even then your glance but wavered. You are a strong
+man; and you are a victim of your strength. When an idea grips hold of
+you, you know nothing but that. And so I saw the delaying of you was not
+so simple, so easy. It was not as a man to a woman, but as a man to a man.
+It was war. I did my best," she concluded wearily.
+
+Kingozi was staring in her direction almost as though he could see.
+
+"Why do you tell me all this?" he asked at length.
+
+"I want you to know. And I am so glad!" The lilt had crept back into her
+voice.
+
+"I congratulate you," he replied drily.
+
+"Stupid! Oh, stupid!" she cried. "Do you not see why I am glad? It is you!
+Now you shall not sit forever in the darkness. You shall go back to your
+doctor, who will arrange your eyes."
+
+"Why?" asked Kingozi.
+
+"Why!" she repeated, astonished. "But it is 'why not!' Listen! Have you
+thought? Winkleman is now but a week's march from M'tela. And here, where
+we stand, it is perhaps twenty days, perhaps more. Winkleman would arrive
+nearly two weeks ahead of you. Tell me, how long would it take you to win
+M'tela's friendship so it would not be shaken?"
+
+Kingozi's face lit with a grim smile.
+
+"A week," he promised confidently.
+
+"You see! And Herr Winkleman is equal to you; you have said so yourself.
+Is not it so?"
+
+"It's so, all right."
+
+"Then--you see?"
+
+"I see."
+
+"Then we shall go back to the doctor. Oh, do you not see it is for that I
+am glad--truly, truly! You must believe me that!"
+
+"I believe you," said Kingozi. "Nevertheless, I do not think I shall go
+back."
+
+"But that is madness. You cannot arrive in time. And it is to lose your
+eyes all for nothing, for a foolish idea that you do your duty!"
+
+Kingozi shook his head. She wrung her hands in despair.
+
+"Oh, I know that look of you!" she cried. "You see only down your narrow
+lane!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+
+THE COUNCIL OF WAR
+
+That evening Kingozi called to him Cazi Moto, Simba, and Mali-ya-bwana. He
+commanded them to build a little fire, and when the light from the leaping
+flames had penetrated his dull vision, he told them to sit down before
+him. Thus they knew that a serious council was intended. They squatted on
+their heels below the white man in his chair, and looked up at him with
+bright, devoted eyes.
+
+"Listen," he said. "The matter is this: the _Inglishee_ are at war with
+the _Duyche_. Over from the Congo comes a _Duyche_ known as _Bwana_
+Nyele.[14] It is his business to reach this _shenzi_ king, M'tela, and
+persuade M'tela to fight on the side of the _Duyche_. It is our business
+to reach M'tela and persuade him to fight on the side of the _Inglishee_.
+Is that understood?"
+
+[Footnote 14: _Bwana_ Nyele--the master with the mane, i.e., beard or
+hair.]
+
+"It is understood, _bwana_" said they.
+
+"But this _Duyche, Bwana_ Nyele, is only one week's march from M'tela; and
+he undoubtedly has many gifts for M'tela and the Kabilagani. And we are
+many days' safari distant, and I am blind and cannot hurry." he three
+uttered little clucks of sympathy and interest.
+
+"But for all that we may win. You three men are my eyes and my right hand.
+I have a plan, and this is what you must do: Cazi Moto must stay with me
+to be headman of safari, and to be my eyes when we come to M'tela's land.
+You Simba, and you Mali-ya-bwana, must go with six of the best men to
+where _Bwana_ Nyele is marching. These two strange _shenzis_ will guide
+you. Then when you are near the safari of _Bwana_ Nyele you must arrange
+so that these _shenzis_ can have no talk with any of the safari of _Bwana_
+Nyele. That is understood?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_," said Simba. "Do we kill these _shenzis?_"
+
+"No, do not kill them. Tie them fast."
+
+"Yes, _bwana_, and then?"
+
+"This is the most difficult. You must get hold of _Bwana_ Nyele, and you
+must tie him fast also, and keep him from his safari. He is a
+_m'zungu_[15], yes--but he is a _Duyche_, and my enemy, and these things
+are right, because I command it."
+
+[Footnote 15: _M'zungu_--white man.]
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"Then you must keep _Bwana_ Nyele and these two _shenzis_ close in camp,
+hidden where their safari cannot find them. And after two weeks you must
+send two men to M'tela's to find me, and to tell me where you are hidden.
+Now is all that understood? You, Simba, tell me what you are to do."
+
+"Mali-ya-bwana, myself, six men and these _shenzis_ travel to where the
+safari of _Bwana_ Nyele marches. When we are near that safari we tie up
+the two _shenzis_. Then we get _Bwana_ Nyele and tie him up in a secret
+camp. Then after two weeks we send two men to tell the _bwana_ where we
+are. But, _bwana_, how do we get _Bwana_ Nyele?"
+
+"That I will tell you soon. One thing you forgot: you must reach the
+_Duyche_ before he gets into M'tela's country. This means travel night and
+day--fast travel. Can this be done?"
+
+"We shall pick good men, _bwana_, runners of the Wakamba. We shall do our
+best."
+
+"Good. Each man four days' _potio_, and what biltong he can use. Simba,
+take my small rifle and fifty cartridges. Take some snuff, beads, and
+wire--only a little--to trade for _potio_ if you meet with other people.
+Understood?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"Cazi Moto," he directed, "bring me the small box of wood from my
+_sandoko_."
+
+He slid the cover off this box when it was delivered into his hands,
+fumbled a moment, and held up an object.
+
+"What is this?" he asked.
+
+"It is a bone, _bwana_."
+
+"Yes, it is a bone; but it is more. It is a magic. With this you will take
+_Bwana_ Nyele."
+
+He could sense the stir of interest in the three men before him.
+
+"Listen carefully. This is what you must do. When you have come near to
+this safari, you must follow it until it has put down its loads and is
+just about to make camp. Not a rest period on the road; not after camp is
+made--just at the moment when the men begin to untie the loads, when they
+begin to pitch the tents. That is the magic time. Understand?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_," they chorused breathlessly.
+
+"Simba must be ready. He must take off his clothes, and he must oil his
+body and paint it, and put on the ornaments of a _shenzi_ of this country.
+For that purpose he must take with him the necklace, the armlets, anklets,
+and belt that I traded for with the _shenzis_, and which Cazi Moto will
+get from my tent. Do you know the style of painting of these _shenzis_ of
+the plains, Simba?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"It is important that you make yourself a _shenzi_. This magic is a bad
+magic otherwise. Then at the moment I have named, Simba as a _shenzi_ will
+take this magic bone and hold it out to _Bwana_ Nyele saying nothing.
+_Bwana_ Nyele will say words, perhaps in Swahili which Simba will
+understand; perhaps in some other language which he will not understand.
+Simba must point thus; and then must start in that direction. _Bwana_
+Nyele will follow a few steps. Then Simba will say: 'Many more, _bwana_,
+over there only a little distance.'" Kingozi uttered this last sentence in
+atrocious Swahili. "You must say it in just that way, like a _shenzi_. Say
+it."
+
+Simba repeated the words and accent.
+
+"Yes, that is it. Then say nothing more, no matter what he asks; and do
+not let him touch the magic bone. Point. He will follow you; and when he
+has followed out of sight of the safari you will all seize him and tie him
+fast. The rest is as I have commanded."
+
+"How does _bwana_ know how these things will happen thus?" breathed Simba
+in awestricken tones.
+
+"It is a magic," replied Kingozi gravely.
+
+Over and over he drilled them until the details were thoroughly
+understood. Then he dismissed them and leaned back with a sigh. The plan
+was simple, but ought to work. At the moment of making camp Winkleman
+would be less apt than at any other time to take with him an escort--
+especially if his interest or cupidity were aroused--for every one would
+be exceedingly busy. And no fear about the interest and cupidity! The
+"magic" bone Kingozi had confided to Simba was a fragment of a Pleistocene
+fossil. Kingozi himself valued it highly, but he hoped and expected to get
+it back. It made excellent bait, which no scientist could resist. Of
+course there might be a second white man with Winkleman, but from the
+reported size of the latter's safari he thought not. All in all, Kingozi
+had great reliance in his magic.
+
+At the end of fifteen minutes Simba came to report.
+
+"All is ready, _bwana_," he said, "and we start now. But if _bwana_ could
+let me take a lantern, which I have in my hand, we could travel also at
+night."
+
+The lantern, as Kingozi well knew, was not for the purpose of casting
+light in the path, but as some slight measure of protection against lions.
+
+"Let me have it," he ordered. It was passed into his hands, and proved to
+be one of the two oil lanterns kept for emergencies.
+
+But Kingozi sent the headman for one of the candle lanterns in everyday
+use, and a half-dozen short candles.
+
+"These are better," he said; "and _qua heri_, Simba. If you do these
+things well, large _backsheeshi_ for you all."
+
+"_Qua heri, bwana_" said Simba, and was gone.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+
+M'TELA'S COUNTRY
+
+To the bewilderment of the Leopard Woman the pace of the safari now
+slackened. Heretofore the marches had been stretched to the limit of
+endurance; now the day's journey was as leisurely as that of a sportsman's
+caravan. It started at daybreak, to be sure, but it ended at noon, unless
+exigencies of water required an hour or two additional. As a matter of
+fact, Kingozi knew that he had done everything possible. If Simba & Co.
+succeeded, then there was no immediate hurry; if they failed, hurry would
+be useless.
+
+Bibi-ya-chui noticed the absence of two such prominent members of the
+safari as Simba and Mali-ya-bwana, of course, but readily accepted
+Kingozi's explanation that he had sent them "as messengers."
+
+The little safari for the third time crawled its antlike way across the
+immensities of the veldt. Cazi Moto managed to keep them supplied with
+meat, but at an excessive expenditure of cartridges. As he used the
+Leopard Woman's rifle, this did not so much matter, for she was abundantly
+supplied. At last the blue ranges rose before them; each day's journey
+defined their outlines better. The foothills began to sketch themselves,
+to separate from the ranges, finally to surround the travellers with the
+low swells of broken country. Running water replaced the still water-
+holes. Cazi Moto reported herds of goats in the distance. One evening
+several of the goatherds ventured into camp. They spoke no Swahili, but at
+the name M'tela they nodded vigorously, and at the mention of Kabilagani
+they pointed at their own breasts.
+
+"I wish I had eyes!" cried Kingozi petulantly. "What kind of people are
+they?"
+
+The Leopard Woman told him as best she could--tall, well-formed, copper in
+hue, of a pleasing expression, clad scantily in goat skins.
+
+"Their ornaments, their arms?" cried Kingozi with impatience.
+
+"They are poor people," replied Bibi-ya-chui. "They have armlets of iron
+beaten out, and necklaces of shell fragments or bone. They carry spears
+with a short blade, broad like a leaf."
+
+"Their armlets are not of wire? They have no cowrie shells?"
+
+"No, it is beaten iron----"
+
+"Good!" cried Kingozi. "There has been little or no trading here!"
+
+One of the goatherds went with them as guide to M'tela.
+
+"Without doubt," Kingozi surmised, "others have run on to warn M'tela of
+our coming."
+
+Their way led on a gentle, steady up grade without steep climbs. The
+hills, at first only scattered, low hummocks, became higher, more
+numerous, closed in on them; until, before they knew it, they found
+themselves walking up the flat bed of a canon between veritable mountains.
+The end of the view, the Leopard Woman said, was shut by a frowning,
+unbroken rampart many thousands of feet high.
+
+"Then we are due for a climb," sighed Kingozi. "These native tracks never
+hunt for a grade! When they want to go up, why up they go!"
+
+But the head of the canon, instead of stopping against the wall, bent
+sharply to the left. A "saddle" was disclosed.
+
+Toward this the hard-beaten track led. Shortly it began to mount steeply,
+and shortly after it entered a high forest growing on the abrupt slopes.
+Here it was cool and mysterious, with green shadows, and the swing of rope
+vines, and the sudden remoteness of glimpsed skies. The earth was soft and
+moist under foot; so the dampness of it rose to the nostrils. Vines and
+head-high bracken and feather growths covered the ground. In every shallow
+ravine were groves of tree ferns forty feet tall. A silence dwelt there, a
+different silence from that of the veldt at night; compounded of a few
+simple elements, such as the faint, incessant drip of hidden waters and
+occasional loud, hollowly echoing noises such as the bark of a colobus or
+the scream of a hyrax. There were birds, rare, flashing, brilliant,
+furtive birds, but they said nothing.
+
+Through this forest on edge the path led steeply upward. Sometimes it was
+almost perpendicular; sometimes it took an angle; sometimes--but rarely--
+it paused at a little ledge wide enough to rest nearly the whole safari at
+once.
+
+For an hour and a half they climbed, then topped the rim of the escarpment
+and emerged from the forest at the same time.
+
+Immediately they were a thousand leagues from the Africa they knew. A
+gently rolling country stretched out before them with sweeps of green
+grass shoulder high, and compact groves of trees as though planted. For
+miles it undulated away until the very multitude of its low, peaceful
+hills shut in the horizon. Cattle grazed in the wide-flung hollows, and
+little herds of game; goats and sheep dotted the hills. The groves of
+trees were very green. Everything breathed of peace and plenty. Almost
+would one with proper childhood recollections listen for a church-going
+bell, search for spires and cottage roofs among the trees. Slim columns of
+smoke rose straight into the motionless air. The very sun seemed to have
+abated its African fierceness, and to have become mild.
+
+Some of these things Kingozi learned from Cazi Moto; some from the Leopard
+Woman; each after his kind.
+
+About a half-mile away a number of warriors in single file walked across
+the wide valley and disappeared in the forest to the left. They carried
+heavy spears and oval shields painted in various designs. A fillet bound
+long ostrich plumes that slanted backward on either side the head; and as
+they walked forward in the rather teetery fashion of the savage dandy
+these plumes waved up and down in rhythm.
+
+"M'tela," said the _shenzi_ goatherd waving his hand abroad.
+
+They camped at the edge of a pleasant grove near running water. The donkey
+that the Leopard Woman rode fell to the tall lush grasses with a
+thankfulness beyond all expression. All the safari was in high spirits.
+They saw _potio_ in sight again; and, immediately, long grass for beds.
+
+Visitors came in shortly--a dozen armed men, like the warriors seen
+earlier in the day, and a dignified older man who spoke a sufficient
+Swahili. Kingozi received these in a friendly fashion, did not permit them
+to sit, but at once began to cross-question them. The Leopard Woman
+emerged from her tent.
+
+"Stay where you are," Kingozi called to her in decided tones. "You must in
+this permit me to judge of expediencies. I forbid you to hold any
+communication with these people. I hope you will not make it necessary for
+me to take measures to see that my wishes are carried out."
+
+She showed no irritation, not even at the "forbid," but smiled quietly,
+and without reply returned to her tent.
+
+"Yes," said the old man, "this was M'tela's country, these were M'tela's
+people." He disclaimed having been sent by M'tela.
+
+At this point Kingozi, apparently losing all interest, dismissed them into
+the hands of Cazi Moto. The latter, previously instructed, took his guests
+to his own camp. There he distributed roast meat, one _balauri_ of coffee
+to the old man, and many tales, some of them true. These people had never
+before laid eyes on a white man, but naturally, at this late date in
+African history, all had heard more or less of the phenomenon. Cazi Moto
+found that the distinction between _Inglishee_ and _Duyche_ was known. He
+left a general impression that Kingozi was the favourite son of the King,
+come from sheer friendship and curiosity to see M'tela, whose fame was
+universal. For two hours the warriors squatted, or walked about camp
+examining with carefully concealed curiosity its various activities and
+strange belongings. Then all disappeared. No more people appeared that
+day.
+
+Kingozi knew well enough that this was a spying party sent directly from
+M'tela's court; and that, pending its report, nothing more was to be done.
+Cazi Moto's detailed description of what had been said and done cheered
+his master wonderfully. By all the signs the simplest of the white man's
+wonders were brand new to the visitors; _ergo_ Winkleman could not have
+arrived. If he were not yet at M'tela's court, the chances seemed good
+that Simba and the magic bone had succeeded.
+
+Nothing at present could be done. Kingozi sent Cazi Moto out to kill an
+abundance of game. The little headman returned later to report the
+extraordinary luck of two zebra to two cartridges (at thirty yards to be
+sure!) and that after each kill very many _shenzis_ gathered to examine
+the bullet wound, the gun, and the distance. They were immensely excited,
+not at all awestricken, entirely friendly. There was no indication of any
+desire to rob the hunters. Evidently, Kingozi reflected, they were
+familiar with firearms by hearsay, and were deeply interested at this
+first hand experience.
+
+The safari remained encamped at this spot all the next day, and the day
+succeeding. Natives came into camp, at first only the men, hesitatingly;
+then the women. A brisk little trade sprang up for yams, bananas,
+_m'wembe_ meal, eggs, and milk. No shrewder bargainer exists than your
+African safari man, and these soon discovered that beads and wire
+possessed great purchasing power in this unsophisticated country. The
+bartering had to be done in sign language, as Swahili seemed to be
+unknown; and no man in the safari understood this unknown tongue. Kingozi
+sat in state before his tent, smoking his pipe--which he still enjoyed in
+spite of his blindness--and awaiting events in that vast patience so
+necessary to the successful African traveller. Occasionally a group of the
+chatting natives would drift toward his throne, would fall into
+awestricken silence, would stare, would drift away again; but none
+addressed him. The Leopard Woman, obeying rules that Kingozi had managed
+to convey as very strict, held apart. Only in the evening, after the lion-
+fearing visitors had all departed, did they sit together sociably by the
+fire. The nights at this elevation were cool--cold they seemed to the
+heat-seasoned travellers.
+
+There was not much conversation. Kingozi was lost in a deep brooding,
+which she respected. The occasion was serious, and both knew it. During
+the moment of decision the man's duty and principle had been the most
+important matters in the world. Once the decision was irrevocably made,
+however, these things fell below the horizon. There loomed only the
+thought of perpetual blindness. Kingozi faced it bravely; but such a fact
+requires adjustment, and in these hours of waiting the adjustments were
+being made.
+
+Only once or twice did Bibi-ya-chui utter the thoughts that continually
+possessed her.
+
+"It seems so foolish!" she complained to him. "You are making yourself
+blind for always; and you are going to be a prisoner for long! If you
+would go back, you would not be captured and held by Winkleman when you
+reach M'tela!"
+
+But such expostulations she knew to be vain, even as she uttered them.
+
+At about nine o'clock of the third day Cazi Moto reported a file of
+warriors, many warriors--"like the leaves of grass!" armed with spears and
+shields, wearing black ostrich plumes, debouching from the grove a mile
+across the way. At the same instant the Leopard Woman, her alarm causing
+her to violate her instructions, came to Kingozi's camp.
+
+"They attack us!" she cried. "They come in thousands! How can we resist so
+many--and you blind! Tell me what I shall do!"
+
+"There is no danger," Kingozi reassured her. "This is undoubtedly an
+escort. No natives ever attack at this hour of the day. Their time is just
+at first dawn."
+
+She sighed with relief. Then a new thought struck her.
+
+"But if they had wished to attack--at dawn--we have had no extra guards--
+we have not fortified! What would prevent their killing us all?"
+
+"Not a thing," replied Kingozi calmly. "We are too weak for resistance.
+That is a chance we had to take. Now please go back to your tent. Cazi
+Moto, strike camp, and get ready to safari."
+
+The warriors of M'tela debouched on the open plain, seemingly without end.
+The sun glinted from their upraised, polished spears; their ostrich plumes
+swayed gently as though a wind ruffled a field of sombre grain tassels;
+the anklets and leg bracelets clashed softly together to produce in the
+aggregate a rhythmic marching cadence. Their front was nearly a quarter of
+a mile in width. Rank after rank in succession appeared: literally
+thousands. Drums roared and throbbed; and the blowing of innumerable
+trumpets, fashioned mostly from the horns of oryx and sing-sing, added to
+the martial ensemble.
+
+The members of the safari were gathered in little knots, staring, wide
+eyed with apprehension. Upon them descended zealous Cazi Moto. Even his
+_kiboko_ had difficulty in breaking up the groups, in setting the men at
+the commonplace occupations of breaking camp. Yet that must be done, in
+all decent dignity; and at length it was done.
+
+The first ranks were now fairly at the outskirts of camp; the last had but
+just left the woods. The plains were literally covered with spearmen. A
+magnificent sight! They came to a halt, raised their spears horizontally
+above their heads; the horns and drums redoubled their din; a mighty,
+concerted shout rent the air. Then abruptly fell dead silence.
+
+From the front rank a tall, impressive savage stepped forward, pacing with
+dignified stride. He walked directly to Kingozi's chair.
+
+"_Jambo, bwana!_" He uttered his greeting in deep chest tones that rumbled
+like distant thunder.
+
+"_Jambo, n'ympara_," responded Kingozi in a mild tone. By his use of the
+word _n'ympara_--headman--he indicated his perfect understanding of the
+fact that this man, for all his magnificence, for all the strength of his
+escort, was not M'tela himself, but only one of M'tela's ministers.
+
+"_Jambo, bwana m'kubwa!_" rolled the latter.
+
+"_Jambo_" replied Kingozi.
+
+"_Jambo, bwana m'kubwa-sana!_"
+
+"_Jambo_."
+
+"_Jambo, bwana m'kubwa-sana!_"
+
+"_Jambo_."
+
+Having thus climbed by easy steps to the superlative greeting, the
+minister uttered his real message. As befitted his undoubted position in
+court, he spoke excellent Swahili.
+
+"I am come to take you to the _manyatta_ of M'tela," he announced.
+
+"That is well," replied Kingozi calmly. "In one hour we shall go."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+
+M'TELA
+
+They set off through the beautiful country in their usual order of march.
+The warriors of M'tela accompanied them, walking ahead, behind, and on
+either flank. The drums roared incessantly, the trumpets of horn sounded.
+It was a triumphal procession, but rather awe-inspiring. The safari men
+did their best to imitate Kingozi's attitude of indifference; and
+succeeded fairly well, but their eyes rolled in their heads.
+
+The Leopard Woman sat her donkey, and surveyed it all with appreciative
+eyes. In spite of Kingozi's reassuring words, the impression of savage
+power as the warriors debouched from the wood had been vivid enough to
+give emphasis to a strong feeling of relief when their intentions proved
+peaceful. The revulsion accentuated her enjoyment of the picturesque
+aspects of the scene. The shining, naked bodies, the waving ostrich
+plumes, the glitter of spears, the glint of polished iron, the wild,
+savage expression of the men, the throb of barbaric music appealed to her
+artistic sense. In a way her mind was at rest. At least the striving was
+over. Kingozi had made his decision; it was no use to struggle against it
+longer. She had no doubt that now they were virtually prisoners, that they
+were being conducted in this impressive manner to a chieftain already won
+over by Winkleman. The latter had had more than the time necessary to
+carry out his purpose. Kingozi's persistence was maddeningly futile; but
+it was part of the man, and she could not but acquiesce.
+
+They marched across the open grassy plain, and into the woods beyond. A
+wide, beaten track took them through, as though they walked in a lofty
+tunnel with green walls through which one could look, but beyond which one
+might not pass. Then out into the sunlight again, skirting a swamp of
+plumed papyrus with many waterfowl, and swarms of insects, and birds
+wheeling swiftly catching the insects, and other larger birds soaring
+grandly above on the watch-out for what might chance. This swamp was like
+a green river flowing bank high between the hills. It twisted out of sight
+around wooded promontories. And the hills, constantly rising in height,
+crowned with ever-thickening forests, extended as far as the eye could
+reach.
+
+At the end of the straight vista they turned sharp to the right and
+climbed a tongue of land--what would be called a "hog's-back" in the West.
+It was grown sparsely with trees, and commanded a wide outlook. Now the
+sinuous course of the papyrus swamp could be followed for miles in its
+vivid green; and the tops of the forest trees lay spread like a mantle.
+The top of the "hog's-back" had been flattened, and on it stood M'tela's
+palace.
+
+The Leopard Woman stared curiously. There was not much to be seen. A high
+stockade of posts and wattle shut off the view, but over it could be
+distinguished a thatched roof. It was rectangular instead of circular and
+appeared to be at least forty feet long--a true, royal palace. Smaller
+roofs surrounded it. Outside the gate stood several more of the gorgeous
+spearmen, rigidly at attention. Not another soul was in sight.
+
+But whatever seemed to lack either in the cordiality or curiosity of the
+inhabitants was more than made up for by the escort. With admirable
+military precision, a precision that Kingozi would have appreciated could
+he have seen it, they deployed across the wide open space at the front of
+the plateau. The drums lined up before them. In the echoing enclosure of
+the forest walls the noise was prodigious. And then abruptly, as before,
+it fell. In the silence the voice of the old headman was heard:
+
+"Here will be found the way to the guest houses," he urged gently.
+
+The ragged safari, carrying its loads, plunged again into a forest path,
+walking single file, a tatterdemalion crew. And yet a philosophic observer
+might have caught a certain nonchalance, a faint superiority of bearing on
+the part of these scarecrows; ridiculous when considered against the
+overwhelming numbers, the military spruceness, the savage formidability of
+the wild hordes that surrounded them. And if he had been an experienced as
+well as a philosophic observer he could have named the quality that
+informed them. Even in these truly terrifying, untried conditions it
+persisted--the white man's _prestige_.
+
+The forest path, wide and well-trodden, led them a scant quarter mile to a
+cleared wide space on the very edge of the hill, which here fell abruptly
+away. A large circular guest house occupied the centre point, and other
+smaller houses surrounded it at a respectful distance. To the right hand
+were the tops of trees on a lower elevation; to the left and at the rear
+the solid wall of forest; immediately in front a wide outlook over the
+papyrus swamp and the partly clothed hills beyond.
+
+Their guides--for there were several--indicated the guest houses, and
+silently disappeared. The safari was alone with its own devices.
+
+Kingozi's practical voice broke the slight awe that all this savage
+magnificence had imposed.
+
+"Cazi Moto!" he commanded, "tell me what is here."
+
+He listened attentively while the wizen-faced little headman gave a
+detailed account, not only of the present dispositions, but also of what
+had been seen during the short march to M'tela's stronghold. At the
+conclusion of this recital he called to the Leopard Woman.
+
+"I am here, near you," she answered.
+
+"You must be my eyes for this," he told her. "Look into the large guest
+house. Is it clean? Is it fairly new?"
+
+She reported favourably as to these points.
+
+"I am sorry, but I must take it over for myself," he said. "Matter not of
+comfort, but of prestige. You would do best to pitch your tent somewhere
+near. Cazi Moto, let the men make camp as usual."
+
+"Very well," she agreed to her part of this program. Her manner was very
+gentle; and she looked on him, could he have known it, with eyes of a
+tender compassion. His was a brave heart, but Winkleman must long since
+have arrived----
+
+She moved slowly away to superintend the placing of her tent, reflecting
+on these matters. It was decent of Winkleman to keep himself in the
+background just at first. Time enough to convince poor blind Kingozi that
+the game was up when he had to some extent recovered from the strain and
+fatigue of the long journey. But Winkleman was a good sort. She knew him:
+a big, hearty, bearded Bavarian, polyglot, intensely scientific, with a
+rolling deep voice. He must have had ten days--a week anyway--to use his
+acknowledged arts and influence on the savage king. Kingozi had said a
+week would be enough--and Kingozi knew! She sighed deeply as she thought
+of the doom to which his own obstinacy had condemned that remarkable man.
+Her eyes wandered to where he sat in his canvas chair, superintending
+through the ever-efficient Cazi Moto the details of the camp. His
+shoulders were sagging forward wearily, and his face in repose fell into
+lines of infinite sadness. Her heart melted within her; and in a sudden
+revulsion she flamed against Winkleman and all his diabolical efficiency.
+After all, this little corner of an unknown land could not mean so much to
+the general result, and it would be so glorious a consolation to a brave
+man's blindness! Then she became ashamed of herself as a traitor. Her tent
+was now ready; so she entered it, bathed, clad herself in her silks, and
+hung the jewel on her forehead. Once more the serene mistress of herself,
+she came forth to view the sights.
+
+It was by now near the setting of the sun. The forest shadows were rising.
+Colobus were calling, and birds. Up a steep trail from the swamp came a
+long procession of women and little girls. They were all stark naked, and
+each carried on her head an earthen vessel or a greater or lesser gourd
+according to her strength. They passed near the large guest house, and
+there poured the water from their vessels into a series of big jars. Thus
+every drop of water had to be transported up the hill, not only for the
+guest camp, but for all M'tela's thousands somewhere back in the
+mysterious forest. These women were of every age and degree of
+attractiveness; but all were slender, and each possessed a fine-textured
+skin of red bronze. Except the very old, whose breasts had fallen, they
+were finely shaped. The rays of the sun outlined them. They seemed quite
+unaware of their nakedness. Their faces were good-humoured; and some of
+them even smiled shyly at the white woman standing by her tent. Having
+poured out the water, they disappeared down the forest path.
+
+Thence shortly appeared other women with huge burdens of firewood carried
+by means of a strap, after the fashion of the Canadian tump-line; and
+still others with _m'wembe_, bananas, yams, eggs, _n'jugu_ nuts, and
+gourds of smoked milk. Evidently M'tela did not do things by halves.
+
+The customary routine of the camp went on. Supper was served as usual; and
+as usual the Leopard Woman joined Kingozi for the meal. The occasion was
+constrained on her side, easy on his. He asked her various questions as to
+details of the surroundings which she answered accurately but a little
+absently. She spoke from the surface of her mind. Within herself she was
+listening and waiting--listening for the first sound of shod feet, wailing
+for the moment when Winkleman should see fit to declare himself and end
+the suspense.
+
+So high was this inner tension that she fairly jumped from her chair as a
+demoniac shrieking wail burst from the forest near at hand. It was
+answered farther away. Other voices took up the cry. It was as though a
+thousand devils in shuddering pain were giving tongue.
+
+"Tree hyraxes," Kingozi reassured her.
+
+"Those tiny beasts!" she cried incredulously.
+
+"Just so. Sweet voices, haven't they? Some of these people must be wearing
+hyrax robes."
+
+And indeed she remembered seeing some of the soft, beautiful karosses.
+
+But now from the direction of M'tela's palaces arose a confused murmur
+that swelled as a multitude drew near. The drums began again. Soon, the
+Leopard Woman described, torches began to flash through the trees. At the
+same moment Cazi Moto came to report.
+
+"Build up a big fire," commanded Kingozi. He turned to the Leopard Woman.
+
+"This is likely to be an all-night session," he said resignedly. "If you
+want to get out of it, I advise you to go now. Not that you'll be able to
+get any sleep. But if you stay, you must stick it out. It would never do
+to leave in the middle of the performance. Some of it you won't like."
+
+"What is it to be?"
+
+"Ceremonial dances, I fancy."
+
+"I think I shall stay," she said slowly.
+
+In her heart she thought it extremely unlikely that the performance would
+last all night. Indeed her own opinion was that Kingozi would be a
+prisoner within an hour.
+
+Kingozi settled himself stolidly in his chair before the fire that was now
+beginning to eat its way through an immense pile of fuel, where, during
+all subsequent events, he remained in the same attitude.
+
+The Leopard Woman, on the contrary looked with all her eyes. The torches
+came nearer. People began to pour out from the woods. There were warriors
+in full panoply; lithe, naked men carrying only wands peeled fresh to the
+white; women hung heavily with cowries; other women with neither garment
+nor ornament, their bodies oiled and glistening. A deep, rolling chant
+arose from hundreds of throats, punctuated and carried by a sort of
+shrill, intermittent ululation. The drums were there, but for the moment
+they were not being beaten in cadence, only rubbed until they roared in
+undertone to the men's chanting.
+
+All these people divided to right and left in the clearing of the guest
+camp, and took their stations. More and more appeared. The space filled,
+filled solidly, until at last there was no break in the mass of humanity
+except for a circle forty feet in diameter about the fire.
+
+Suddenly a group of fifteen or twenty men detached themselves from the
+main body and leaped into this cleared space. The great chant still rolled
+on; but now a varied theme was introduced by a chorus of the nearby women.
+The dancers were oiled to a high state of polish, naked except for a
+single plume apiece and a sort of tasselled tail hung to a string belt.
+They clustered in a close group near the fire, facing a common centre. In
+deep chest tones they pronounced the word _goom_, at the same time half
+crouching; then in sharp staccato head tones the word _zup_, at the same
+time rising swiftly up and toward their common centre. It was like the ebb
+and surge of a wave, the alternate smooth crouch and spring over and over
+again--_goom, zup! goom, zup! goom, zup!_--and behind it the twinkle of
+torches, the gleam of eyes, the roll of the deep-voiced chanting.
+
+Endlessly they repeated this performance. The Leopard Woman, watching, at
+last had to close her eyes in order to escape the hypnotic quality of it.
+In spite of herself her senses swam in the rhythmic monotony. All outside
+the focus of the dancers turned gray--_goom, zup! goom, zup!_--was it
+never to end? And then it seemed to her that it never would end, that thus
+it would go on forever, and that so it was just and right. The men were
+tireless. The sweat glistened on their bodies, but their eyes gleamed
+fanatically. She floated off on a tide of irrelevant thoughts.
+
+Hours later, as it seemed to her, she came to herself suddenly. Kingozi
+still sat stolidly in his chair. The dancers were retiring step by step,
+still with unabated vigour, continuing their performance. They melted into
+the crowd.
+
+Now a pellmell of bizarre figures broke out. They were bedecked
+fantastically: some of them were painted with white clay; one was clad in
+the skins of beasts. There was no rhythm or order to their entrance; but
+immediately they began to dash here and there shouting.
+
+"It is the Lion Dance, _memsahib_," Cazi Moto told her in a low voice.
+"That one is the lion; and they hunt him with spears in the long grass."
+
+The chase went forward with some verisimilitude, and yet with a symbolic
+syncopation that indicated the Lion Dance was a very ancient and
+conventional ceremony. These dancers gave way to a chorus of singers. For
+interminable hours, so it seemed, they chanted a high, shrill recitative,
+carried in fugue by deeper voices. The burden of the song was evidently an
+impromptu. Occasionally some peculiarly apt or pleasing phrase was caught
+up for endless repetition. And in the background, against the farther
+background of the undistinguished masses, those who had formerly carried
+on their performances in the full glare of front-row publicity and the
+campfire, now continued their efforts almost unabated. The impressive
+utterers of the _goom-zup_ shibboleth, the slayers of the symbolical lion,
+carried on still. Indeed as the night wore on, and one group of dancers
+succeeded another, the homogeneous crowd began to break into varied
+activity. Each took his turn as principal, then fell back to form part of
+the variegated background. Each dance was different. Warriors fully armed
+clashed shield and spear; witch doctors crouched and sprang; women stamped
+in rhythm; the elephant was hunted, the crops sown and gathered, all the
+activities of community and individual life were danced, the frankness of
+some saved from obscenity only by the unconscious earnestness of their
+exposition and the evidence of their symbolism that they were not the
+expression of the moment but very ancient customs.
+
+The Leopard Woman watched it all with shining eyes. The emotion of the
+picturesque, the call of savage wildness, the contagion of a mounting
+community excitement caused the blood to race through her veins. The drums
+throbbed against her heart as the pulse throbbed against her temples. She
+resisted an actual impulse to rise from her chair, to throw herself with
+abandon into an orgy of rhythm and motion. Perfectly she understood those
+who, having reached the breaking point, dashed madly through the fire
+scattering embers and coals, or who darted forward to kiss ecstatically
+the white man's feet, or who reached a wild paroxysm of nerves to collapse
+the next instant into exhaustion. She was brought to herself by Kingozi's
+calm voice.
+
+"Sweet riot, isn't it?" he remarked. "They're working themselves up to a
+high pitch. It's always that way. You would think they'd drop from sheer
+weariness."
+
+"How long will they keep it up?" she asked, drawing a deep breath, and
+trying to speak naturally.
+
+"So it got you, too, a little, did it?" he said curiously.
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"The excitement. It's contagious unless you are accustomed to it. I've
+seen safe and sane youngsters go quite off their heads at these shows, and
+dash down and caper around like the maddest _shenzi_ of them all. Felt it
+myself at first. It draws you; like wanting to jump off when you look down
+from a high place." He was talking evenly and carelessly. "Enough of this
+sort of thing will make a crowd see anything. Devil-worshippers for
+instance, they see red devils, after they work up to it, not a doubt of
+it."
+
+"Thank you," she answered his evident purpose of bringing her to herself.
+
+"All right now, eh?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, to answer your question; I've known dances to last two days."
+
+"Heaven!" she cried, dismayed.
+
+"But this is to prepare a suitable entrance for his majesty. We'll hear
+from him along toward daylight." He held out his wrist watch toward her.
+"What time now?"
+
+Somehow the simple action seemed to her pathetic. Her eyes filled, and she
+stooped as though to kiss the outstretched hand. Never again would the
+worn old wrist watch serve its owner, except thus, vicariously!
+
+"It is ten minutes past the twelve," she answered in a stifled voice.
+
+"We must settle down to it. If you want tea or something to eat, tell Cazi
+Moto."
+
+He resumed his stolid demeanour.
+
+The dancing continued. Every once in a while women threw armfuls of fuel
+on the blaze. The tree hyraxes, out-screeched and outnumbered, fell into
+silence or withdrew. Above the stars shone serenely; and all about stood
+the trees of the ancient forest. Outside the hot, leaping red light they
+drew back aloof and still. They had seen many dances, many ebbs and flows
+of men's passions; for they were very old.
+
+The Leopard Woman's vision blurred after a time. She was getting drowsy.
+Her thoughts strayed. But always they circled back to the same point. She
+found herself wondering whether Winkleman would appear to-night.
+
+A few hours earlier than Kingozi had predicted, in fact not far after two
+o'clock, the wild dancing died to absolute immobility and absolute
+silence, and M'tela arrived.
+
+He appeared walking casually as though out for a stroll, emerging from the
+end of the wide forest path. Central African natives are never obese--
+comic papers to the contrary notwithstanding. Nevertheless, M'tela was a
+large man, amply built, his muscles overlaid by smoother, softer flesh. He
+possessed dignity without aloofness, a rare combination, and one that
+invariably indicates a true feeling of superiority. As he moved forward he
+glanced lazily and good-humouredly to right and left at his people, in the
+manner of a genial grown-up among small children. He wore a piece of
+cotton cloth dyed black, so draped as to leave one arm and shoulder bare,
+a polished bone armlet, and a tarboush that must have been traded through
+many hands.
+
+"The _sultani, bwana_," murmured the ever-alert Cazi Moto.
+
+M'tela wandered to where Kingozi sat. The white man did not move, but
+appeared to stare absently straight before him. At ten paces M'tela
+stopped and deliberately inspected his visitor for a full half-minute.
+Then he advanced and dropped to the stool an obsequious and zealous slave
+placed for him.
+
+"_Jambo_, papa," he said casually.
+
+His manner was perfect. The thousand or so human beings who crowded the
+clearing might not have existed. Himself and Kingozi, two equals, were
+settling themselves for an informal little chat in the midst of solitudes.
+His large intelligent eye passed over the Leopard Woman, but if her
+appearance aroused in him any curiosity or other interest no flicker of
+expression betrayed the fact.
+
+As he heard the form of address a brief gleam of satisfaction crossed
+Kingozi's face. Whether it has been transferred from the English, or has
+been adopted more directly from the babbling of infants, "papa" is
+perfectly good Swahili. When M'tela addressed Kingozi as "papa" he not
+only acknowledged him as a guest, but he admitted the white man to the
+intimacy that exists between equals in rank.
+
+M'tela was friendly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+
+WAITING
+
+Two days passed. By the end of that time it had been borne in on the
+Leopard Woman that Winkleman had not yet arrived. Kingozi and M'tela
+circled each other warily, like two strange dogs, though all the time with
+an appearance of easy and intimate cordiality. As yet Kingozi had neither
+confided to the savage the fact of his blindness nor visited the royal
+palace. The latter ceremony he had evaded under one plea or another; and
+the infliction he had managed to conceal by the simple expedient of
+remaining in his canvas chair. Later would be time enough to acknowledge
+so great a weakness; later when the subtle and specialized diplomacy he so
+assiduously applied would have had time to do its work.
+
+For M'tela was initially friendly. This was a great satisfaction to
+Kingozi, though none knew better than he how any chance gust of influence
+or passion could veer the wind. Still it was something to start on; and
+something more or less unexpected and unhoped for. M'tela himself supplied
+the reason in the course of one of their interminable conversations.
+
+"I am pleased to see the white man," he said. "Never has the white man
+come to my country before; but always I knew he would come. One time long
+ago my brother who is king of the people near the Great Water said these
+words to me: 'My brother, some day white men will come to you. They will
+be few, and they will come with a small safari, and their wealth will look
+small to you. But make no mistake. Where these few white men who look poor
+come from are many more--like the leaves of the grass--and their wealth is
+great and their wonders many; and for each white man that is speared ten
+more come, without end, like water flowing down a hill. I know this to be
+so, for I am an old man, and I have fought, and of all those who fought
+the white man in my youth only I remain.' So I remembered these words of
+my brother always."
+
+"You are a wise man, oh, King," said Kingozi, "for those words are true."
+
+Hourly Kingozi cursed his eyes. With this man so well-disposed a day--a
+single hour--of the white man's miracles would have cemented his
+friendship. But Kingozi was deprived at a stroke of the great advantages
+to be gained by cutting out paper dolls, making coins disappear and appear
+again, and all the rest of the bag of tricks. He had not even the
+alternative advantage of a store of rich gifts with which to buy the
+chief's favour. This crude alternative to subtle diplomacy he had scorned
+when making out a small safari for a long journey.
+
+To be sure he was not doing badly. A box of matches and instructions in
+the use thereof went far as an evidence of munificence. Sparingly he doled
+out his few treasures--the gaudy blankets; coils of brass, copper, and
+iron wires; beads; snuff; knives, and the like. They were received with
+every mark of appreciation. In return firewood, water, and food of all
+sorts came in abundantly. But these, Kingozi well knew, were only
+temporizing evidences of good feeling. Time would come when M'tela would
+ceremoniously bring in his real present--assuredly magnificent as
+beseeming his power. Then, Kingozi knew, he should be able to reciprocate
+in degree. He could not do so; he could not use his accustomed methods; he
+could not even exhibit his trump card--the deadly wonder of the weapon
+that could kill at a distance.
+
+Nevertheless he would have awaited the outcome with serene indifference
+could he have been certain of a dear field. The arrival of Winkleman
+would, he secretly admitted, upset him completely. Winkleman--another
+white man, possessed of powers he did not possess, of wonders he did not
+own, of knowledge equal to his--would have no difficulty in taking the
+lead from him. Certainly Winkleman had not yet arrived, and he was long
+overdue. On the other hand, neither had Simba nor Mali-ya-bwana reported;
+and they were equally overdue. These were ticklish times; and Kingozi had
+great difficulty in sitting calmly in his canvas chair listening to the
+endless inconsequences of a savage.
+
+The Leopard Woman could not understand how he did it. Her inner nervous
+tension, due as much to a conflict as to suspense, drove her nearly
+frantic. She knew that Winkleman's appearance spelled defeat for Kingozi;
+she knew that she should hope for that appearance--and deep in her heart
+she knew that she dreaded it! But as time went on without tangible
+results, she began to long for it as a relief. At least it would be over
+then. And Kingozi--oh, brave heart! oh, pathetic figure--if anything could
+make it up to him----!
+
+The morning of the third day came. Usual camp activities carried them on
+until nine o'clock. Kingozi was settled in his chair awaiting what the day
+would bring forth. The Leopard Woman coming across from her tent to the
+guest house stopped short at what she saw.
+
+Across the way, a half or three-quarters of a mile distant, beyond the
+green papyrus swamp, on the slope from the edge of the forest, appeared a
+long file of men bearing burdens on their heads. Even at this distance she
+made out the colour of occasional garments of khaki cloth, or the green of
+canvas on the packs.
+
+She arrived at Kingozi's side simultaneously with Cazi Moto.
+
+"A safari comes, _bwana_," said the latter. "It is across the swamp."
+
+Kingozi's figure stiffened.
+
+"What kind of a safari?" he asked quietly.
+
+The Leopard Woman answered him. There was no note of jubilation in her
+voice.
+
+"It is a white man's safari," she told him. "I can see khaki--and they are
+marching as a white man's safari marches."
+
+"Get my glasses," he told Cazi Moto. Then to her, his voice vibrating with
+emotion too long controlled: "Look and tell me, fairly. I must know.
+Whatever the outcome you must tell me truth. It will not matter. I can do
+nothing."
+
+"I will tell you the truth," she promised, raising the glasses.
+
+For some moments she looked intently.
+
+"It is Winkleman's safari," she announced sadly. "I have been able to see.
+It is a very large safari with many loads," she added.
+
+Kingozi's face turned gray. He dropped his face into his hands. Gently she
+laid her hand on his bowed head. Thus they waited, while the safari,
+evidently under local guidance, plunged into some hidden path through the
+papyrus, and so disappeared.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+
+THE MAGIC BONE
+
+Let us now follow Simba, Mali-ya-bwana, and their six men and the two
+strange _shenzis_ who were to act as guides.
+
+They started off across the veldt at about four o'clock of the afternoon
+and travelled rapidly until dark. The gait they took was not a run, but it
+got them over the ground at four and a half to five miles an hour. Shortly
+after sundown they stopped for an hour, ate, drank, and lay flat on their
+backs. Then they arose, lighted a candle end in the mica lantern, and
+resumed their journey. Thus they travelled day and night for three days.
+There seemed to be neither plan nor regularity to their journeying.
+Whenever they became tired enough to sleep, they lay down and slept for a
+little while; whenever they became hungry, they ate; and whenever they
+thirsted, they drank, paying no attention whatever to the time of day, the
+state of their larder, or the distance to more water. No ideas of
+conservation hampered them in the least. If the water gave out, they
+argued, they would be thirsty; but it was as well to be thirsty later from
+lack of water than to be thirsty now from some silly idea of abstention.
+No white man could have travelled successfully under that system.
+Nevertheless, the little band held together and arrived in the fringe of
+hills fit and comparatively fresh.
+
+Here they encountered people belonging to M'tela's tribes; but their
+guides seemed to vouch for them, and they passed without trouble. Indeed
+they were here enabled to get more food, and to waste no time hunting. At
+noon of another day, surmounting a ridge, they looked down on a marching
+safari. The two _shenzi_ guides pointed and grinned, much pleased with
+themselves. Their pleasure was short lived; for they were promptly seized,
+disarmed, and tied together. The grieved astonishment of their expressions
+almost immediately faded into fatalistic stolidity. So many things happen
+in Africa!
+
+Mali-ya-bwana and one of the other men proceeded rapidly ahead on the
+general line of march. The rest paralleled the safari below. After an hour
+the scouts returned with news of a water-hole where, undoubtedly, the
+strange safari would camp. All then hurried on.
+
+Concealed in a thicket Simba proceeded with great zest to make himself
+over into a _shenzi_. In every savage is a good deal of the small boy; so
+this disguising himself pleased him immensely. Taking the spear in one
+hand and the "sacred bone" reverently in the other, he set out to
+intercept the safari.
+
+It came within the hour. Simba almost unremarked regarded it curiously.
+There were over a hundred men, all of tribes unknown to him with the
+exception of a dozen who evidently performed the higher offices. The
+common porters were indeed _shenzis_--wild men--picked up from jungle and
+veldt as they were needed; and not at all of the professional porter class
+to be had at Mombasa; Nairobi, Dar-es-salaam, or Zanzibar. Simba's eyes
+passed over them contemptuously, but rested with more interest on the
+smaller body of _askaris_, headmen, and gun bearers. These also were of
+tribes strange to him; but of East African types with which he was
+familiar. They were all dressed in a sort of uniform of khaki, wore caps
+with a curtain hanging behind, and arm bands gayly emblazoned with
+imperial eagles. All this was very impressive. Simba conceived a respect
+for this white man's importance. Evidently he was a _bwana m'kubwa_. The
+supposed savage experienced a growing excitement over the task he had
+undertaken. All his training had taught him to respect the white man, as
+such; and now he was called upon to abduct forcibly one of the sacred
+breed--and such a specimen! Only Simba's undoubted force of character, and
+the veneration his long association with Kingozi had inculcated, sustained
+him.
+
+For Winkleman was a big man in every way: tall, broad, thick, with a
+massive head, large features, and such a tremendous black beard! Well had
+he deserved his native name of _Bwana_ Nyele--the master with the mane.
+
+Simba awaited the moment of greatest confusion in the placing and pitching
+of the camp, and then advanced timidly, holding out the bone Kingozi had
+given him. His courage and faith were very low. They revived instantly as
+he saw the immediate effect. It was just as Kingozi had told him it would
+be; and as there was nothing on earth in a bit of dry bone that could
+accomplish such an effect except magic, Simba thenceforward went on with
+his adventure in completed confidence.
+
+For at sight of the bone _Bwana_ Nyele's eyes lit up, he uttered an
+astonishing bellow of delight, and sprang forward with such agility for so
+large a man that he almost succeeded in snatching the talisman from
+Simba's hands. Acting precisely on his instructions the latter backed
+away, pointing over the hill.
+
+"Where did you get that?" Winkleman demanded.
+
+Simba continued to point.
+
+"Give it me."
+
+Simba started away, still pointing. Winkleman followed a few steps.
+
+"There is more?" he asked. "Do you speak Swahili?"
+
+"Many more, _bwana_," Simba replied in the atrocious Swahili Kingozi had
+ordered. "Over there only a little distance."
+
+Everything turned out as Kingozi had promised. Bwana Nyele asked several
+more questions, received no replies, finally bellowed:
+
+"But lead me there, _m'buzi!_ I would see!"
+
+Simba guided him up the hill. At the appointed spot they fell upon him and
+bore him to the earth in spite of his strength, and bound his hands behind
+his back. Then Simba wrapped the magic bone reverently in its cloth.
+Certainly it was wonderful magic.
+
+Winkleman put up a good fight, but once he felt himself definitely
+overpowered he ceased his struggles. He was helped to his feet. A glance
+at his captors taught him that these were safari men and not savages of
+the country; and, with full knowledge of the general situation, he was not
+long in guessing out his present plight. But now was not the time for
+talk.
+
+A half-hour's walk took the party to a second water-hole, the indications
+for which Simba had already noted on his little scouting tour. There they
+proceeded to make camp. The six porters began with their swordlike
+_pangas_ to cut poles and wattles, to peel off long strips of inner bark
+from the thorn trees which would serve as withes. Then they began the
+construction of a _banda_, one of the quickly built little thatched sheds,
+open at both ends. At sight of this Winkleman swore deeply. He was fairly
+trapped, and knew it; but the _banda_ indicated that he was to be held
+prisoner in this one spot for at least some days. However, wise man in
+native ways, he said nothing and made no objection. But his keen wide
+eyes took in every detail.
+
+When the _banda_ was finished and a big pile of the dried hay had been
+spread as a couch Simba approached respectfully but firmly, took _Bwana_
+Nyele's helmet from his head, his spine-pad from his back, and his shoes
+from his feet. In this strategy Winkleman with reluctance admired the
+white man's hands. Without head and spine covering of some sort he could
+not travel a mile under the tropic sun; without foot covering or a light
+he would be helpless at night. Of course these things could be improvised;
+but not easily. He stretched himself on the hay and awaited events.
+
+The men built a fire and gathered around it. They were cooking, but at the
+same time the two whom Winkleman recognized as leaders conferred earnestly
+and at great length. Had he been at their elbows he would have heard the
+following:
+
+"The magic of this bone is a very great magic," Simba was saying. "All
+happened exactly as _Bwana_ Kingozi told us. Now is the fifth day. There
+remain now nine days to wait until we must bring this _m'zungu_ to _Bwana_
+Kingozi at the _manyatta_ of M'tela."
+
+"It is indeed great magic," agreed Mali-ya-bwana. "How many days is the
+_manyatta?_"
+
+"I do not know. These _shenzis_ should know; but they talk only monkey
+talk. Here, let us try." He drew one of the prisoners one side. "M'tela,"
+he enunciated slowly.
+
+The savage nodded, and pointed the direction with his protruded lower lip.
+
+Simba indicated the sun, and swept his hand across the arc of the heavens.
+Then he looked inquiringly at the other and held up in rapid success first
+one, then two, then three fingers. The savage was puzzled. Simba went
+through the movements of a man walking, pronounced the name of M'tela,
+pointed out the direction, and then repeated his previous pantomime.
+A light broke on the _shenzi_. He held up four fingers.
+
+Simba next called to Mali-ya-bwana to interrogate the other prisoner
+apart. As the latter also reported M'tela four days distant--when he
+understood--this was accepted as the truth.
+
+"Then we remain in camp five days," they concluded, after working out the
+subtraction.
+
+"But," intervened one of the porters, "we have no more _potio_."
+
+"I have the _bwana's_ gun," Simba pointed out, "and also the gun of this
+_m'zungu_. There is here plenty of game."
+
+"To eat meat always is not well," grumbled the porter.
+
+"To eat _kiboko_ (whip) is always possible," replied Simba grimly.
+
+"Nevertheless," said Mali-ya-bwana, who as co-leader was privileged to
+more open speech, "_potio_ and meat are better than meat only."
+
+Simba looked at him inquiringly.
+
+"You have a thought?"
+
+Mali-ya-bwana leaned forward.
+
+"It is this: If the bone has such great magic that thus we can take
+prisoner a mighty _bwana_ like this, surely it is powerful enough to fight
+also against safari men."
+
+Simba pondered this.
+
+"Every one knows that a white man is a great Lord," urged Mali-ya-bwana,
+"and that it is useless for the black man to fight against him. This is
+true always. Every man knows this."
+
+"Black men have killed white men," Simba objected.
+
+"Only when the numbers were many. Even then many more black men also have
+died, so that the painting for mourning went through many tribes. Never
+before have men like us taken a white man thus easily."
+
+"That is true."
+
+"Then since this magic bone can subdue for us a great lord of a _m'zungu_,
+surely it will also subdue for us a safari of black men like ourselves, a
+safari that the _m'zungu_ has held in his hand."
+
+"That is true."
+
+"And that safari must have much _potio_"
+
+"That also is true."
+
+"Let you--or me, it does not matter--take the magic bone, and with it take
+also this safari and its _potio_."
+
+"I will do it," assented Simba after a moment. "You will stay here to
+carry out the _bwana's_ orders."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+
+SIMBA'S ADVENTURE
+
+In the course of the evening Winkleman, conceiving that the right moment
+had come, set himself seriously to establishing a dominance over these
+members of an inferior race. He was a skilled man at this, none more so;
+nevertheless he failed. For in the persons of Simba and Mali-ya-bwana he
+was dealing not with natives, but with another white man as shrewd and
+experienced as himself. Kingozi had from the abundance of his knowledge
+foreseen exactly what methods and arguments the Bavarian would use, and in
+his final instructions he had dramatized almost exactly the scene that was
+now taking place. Simba had his replies ready made for him. When an
+unexpected argument caught him unaware, he merely fingered surreptitiously
+his magic bone, and remained serenely silent. Winkleman might as well have
+talked at a stone wall. He soon recognized this, as also that the man had
+been coached minutely.
+
+"Who is your _bwana?_" he asked at length.
+
+"He is a very great _bwana_," Simba replied.
+
+"His name?"
+
+"He has many names among many people."
+
+"What name do you call him?"
+
+"I call him _bwana m'kubwa_ (great master)," replied Simba blandly.
+
+Winkleman gave up this tack and tried another.
+
+"What is his business? What does he do here?"
+
+"His business is to fight."
+
+"Ah!" ejaculated Winkleman. "To fight!"
+
+"Yes. His business is to fight the elephant."
+
+Winkleman swore. He could get at nothing this way. He must give his mind
+to escape.
+
+Early the next morning Simba started. He took with him, of course, his
+magic bone; but, like a canny general, he carried also the rifle. Mali-ya-
+bwana was left sufficiently armed by Winkleman's weapon and the sixteen
+cartridges captured on his person.
+
+By the water-hole Simba found the safari encamped. At sight of his khaki-
+clad figure several men ran to meet him. Their countenances were of a cast
+unfamiliar to Simba. He looked at them calmly.
+
+"Does some one speak Swahili?" he inquired.
+
+"_N'dio!_" they assented in chorus.
+
+Simba looked about him. This was indeed a great safari, and a rich
+_bwana_. The tent, of green canvas, was what is known as a "four-man
+tent"; that is, it took four men to carry it. The pile of loads in the
+centre of the cleared space was high. There were three tin boxes and many
+chop boxes among them.
+
+The group moved slowly across the open space, stared at by curious eyes,
+and came to a halt before a drill tent slightly larger than the little
+kennels assigned to the ordinary porters. Here over a fire bubbled a
+_sufuria_, the African cooking pot, tended by a naked small boy. A clean
+mat woven in bright colours carpeted the ground; on this all seated
+themselves.
+
+It would be tedious to relate each step of the ensuing negotiations. These
+simple Africans would have needed no instruction from civilization to
+carry on the most long-winded submarine controversy in the most approved
+and circuitous manner. At the end of one solid hour of grave and polite
+exchange it developed that the white man was not at present in camp.
+Somewhat later Simba permitted it to be understood that his own white man
+was not in the immediate neighbourhood. These gems of knowledge were
+separated by much leisurely chatter, and occasional and liberal dippings
+into the _sufuria_. And thus was the beginning and the end of the first
+day.
+
+At noon of the second day, after a refreshing night's sleep, Simba moved
+up his forces.
+
+"Your white man is known to me," said he.
+
+Some one remarked appropriately.
+
+"He is a prisoner in my camp."
+
+"In the camp of your white man."
+
+"In my camp. I myself have taken him prisoner," insisted Simba.
+
+"You are telling lies," said the headman of the safari.
+
+Simba took this calmly. In Africa to call a man a liar is no insult.
+
+"It is the truth," said he. "With my own hands I took him; and he lies
+bound in my camp."
+
+"These are lies," persisted the headman. "How can such things be? That you
+took a white man, a great _bwana?_ That is foolishness. That has never
+been and could never be. How could you accomplish such a feat?"
+
+"I have a magic."
+
+"Ho!" cried the headman derisively. "Everybody knows that a magic is not
+good against the white man. That has been tried many times!"
+
+"This is a white man's magic."
+
+The statement made a visible impression.
+
+"Let us see it," they demanded.
+
+But Simba refused. He was entirely at ease. In his ordinary habit he would
+have become excited over being doubted, he would have wrangled, have
+shouted--in short, would have been but one unit among many equals. But the
+possession of the magic bone gave him a confidence from outside himself.
+For the time being he slipped genuinely into the attitude of the white
+man; became a super-Simba, as it were. This dignity and sureness commenced
+to have its effect. Almost they began to believe that Simba's words might
+be true!
+
+At three o'clock the battle closed in.
+
+"My men need _potio_" said Simba. "Let ten loads be put aside, and let ten
+of these _shenzis_ be told to carry them where I shall say."
+
+But the headman leaped to his feet.
+
+"Who are you to give orders?" he cried. "These things belong to my white
+man."
+
+"Your white man is my property," replied Simba superbly; and with no
+further parley he shot the headman dead.
+
+Here indeed showed the super-Simba. The dispute might in the ordinary
+course of events have come to shooting; but only after hours of excited
+wrangling, and as a climax worked up to in a crescendo of emotion. This
+expeditious nipping in the bud was a thoroughly white-manly proceeding.
+
+The headman whirled about under the impact of the high-power bullet at so
+close a range, and collapsed face down. Simba sat calmly in his place. He
+did not even trouble to place himself in a better defensive attitude
+against possible attack. His confidence in his magic bone was growing to
+sublimity as he noted how efficiently it carried him through every crisis.
+All over the camp the porters, startled, leaped to their feet. But at the
+headmen's fire no one moved. They would ordinarily have been afraid
+neither of Simba nor Simba's weapons. Firearms were familiar to them. The
+usual sequence to Simba's deed would have been an immediately defunct
+Simba. But his serene confidence in his magic caught their credulity.
+
+The white man's _prestige_ and privileges were invested in him.
+
+"Yours is undoubtedly a great magic," said Winkleman's gun bearer
+politely. "Let us talk."
+
+They talked at great length, without bothering to remove the dead headman.
+The result was finally a continued respect for Simba, his magic bone, and
+his ready rifle; but a lingering though polite incredulity as to the
+matter of Winkleman--_Bwana_ Nyele. It was possible that Simba had killed
+the latter, of course. But to have taken him alive--and to be holding him
+prisoner----
+
+It was suggested that the various upper men of this safari accompany Simba
+to the place of incarceration. Declined for obvious reasons. Proposition
+modified to exclude all visitors but one. Still declined.
+
+The debate summarized in the above short paragraph consumed six hours.
+What is time in the face of an African eternity? And in Africa, as every
+one knows, the feeling of eternity is an accompaniment of every-day life.
+
+After some refreshments the sitting rose. Simba did not spend the night in
+camp. That did not seem to him wise. Instead he withdrew to a place he had
+already marked, deftly built himself a withe platform in the spread of an
+acacia, and slept soundly above the danger line.
+
+Next morning the discussion was resumed. It was all on an amicable basis.
+A bystander would have seen merely a group of lazy native servants
+gossiping idly. And, indeed, for one word of relevance were a dozen of
+sheer chatter. That is the African way.
+
+Since it was impossible to visit _Bwana_ Nyele, why could not _Bwana_
+Nyele be brought to within sight? Simba considered this; but finally
+rejected it. The risk was too great, magic bone or no magic bone.
+
+"It is probable you speak lies," said the gun bearer at last. "You say you
+want _potio_ and that you hold _Bwana_ Nyele prisoner. But you do not
+bring us orders from _Bwana_ Nyele for _potio_. Nor do you give us proof.
+We must have proof before we believe or before we obey."
+
+"I will bring you _Bwana_ Nyele's gun; or his coat; or anything that is
+his that you may see that I hold him prisoner."
+
+"Those things prove nothing," the gun bearer pointed out. "They might have
+been taken from a dead man."
+
+They negotiated further. One gifted with the power of seeing only
+essential things would have found here a strange parallel. For these two
+men, talking cautiously, clinging with tenacity to single points, yielding
+grudgingly, would have been the same to him as two shrewd business men
+coming together on the phrases of a contract, or two diplomats framing the
+terms of a treaty.
+
+Thus well into the third day. By that time an agreement had been reached.
+It was very simple and direct and practical, when one thinks of it;
+covered the situation fully; involved few compromises; and gained each man
+his point.
+
+Simba demanded _potio_ and obedience because he held the mighty _m'zungu_
+prisoner. The gun bearer wanted indubitable proof not only that Simba held
+the white man, but that he held him alive.
+
+It was agreed that Simba was to return to his own camp, was to procure the
+proof agreed upon, and was promptly to return. The said proof was to be
+one of _Bwana_ Nyele's fingers, which all agreed would be easily
+recognizable both as to identity and freshness!
+
+The divulgence of this simple little plan by a Simba quite in earnest
+dissipated Winkleman's last hope of doing anything by means of persuasion.
+He knew his African well enough to realize that this fantastic method of
+identification seemed quite a matter of course. In fact, Simba was at the
+moment sharpening his hunting knife in preparation. Winkleman swore
+heartily and fluently, then grinned. He was at heart a good soul,
+Winkleman, with a sense of amusement if not of humour, and a philosophy of
+life denied most of his inexperienced and theoretical countrymen. And also
+he realized that he had his work cut out to prevent the program being
+carried through. The African is slow to come to a definite conclusion, but
+once it is arrived at it is apt to look to him like a permanent structure.
+It was a wonderful tribute to Winkleman that it took him only four hours
+to persuade Simba that there might be another way; and two hours more to
+convince him that there might even be a better way. When Simba reluctantly
+and a little doubtfully sheathed his knife, the big Bavarian wiped his
+brow with genuine thankfulness.
+
+The reader need not be wearied by a detailed report of the interminable
+conferences that led up to the substitute plan. It would be a picture of a
+big bearded man smoking slowly--for until affairs were decided he could
+get no more of his own tobacco--leaning on his elbow beneath the roof of
+the _banda_. Before him squatted on their heels in the posture white men
+find so trying Mali-ya-bwana and Simba, entirely respectful, their shining
+black eyes fixed on the white man. The open ends of the _banda_ gave out
+on a dry boulder-strewn wash and the parched side of a hill. All else was
+sky. Morning coolness was succeeded by the blaze of midday, when the very
+surface of the ground danced in the shimmer; then slowly the shadows crept
+out, the veils of mirage sank to earth, a coolness wandered in from some
+blessed region; darkness came suddenly; over the parched hill--now looming
+mysterious in black garments--the tropic stars blazed out. Then outside
+some one lighted a fire. The flames cast lights and shadows within the
+_banda_ where still the white man leaned on his elbow, the black men
+squatted on their heels, and the murmur of talk went on and on.
+
+But Winkleman got his way. At an appointed hour and at an appointed place
+Winkleman, Mali-ya-bwana, and two of the carriers met Simba conducting the
+gun bearer from the other camp. The interview was very short. Indeed it
+had all been carefully rehearsed. Winkleman said only what he had agreed
+to say; and thereby earned his finger.
+
+"This man holds me prisoner," he told the gun bearer. "What he says is
+true. Do what he asks you to do. It is my command."
+
+"Yes, _bwana_," agreed the gun bearer.
+
+Then they parted. The immediate result was five loads of _potio_ brought
+by safari men to "somewhere in Africa," and thence transported by Simba's
+men to Simba's camp. As game was thereabout abundant and undisturbed
+everybody was happy.
+
+Thus passed a week, which brought time forward to the moment when Simba,
+following his instructions, was to report to Kingozi at the village of
+M'tela. Therefore Simba set forth, taking with him, according to African
+custom, one of the porters as companion. He carried Kingozi's rifle, but
+left that belonging to Winkleman with Mali-ya-bwana.
+
+Winkleman watched Simba go with considerable satisfaction. Mali-ya-bwana
+was a man much above average African intelligence, but he had not the
+experience, the initiative, the _flaire_ of Simba. Nor had he Simba's
+magic bone. Simba took that with him. Winkleman knew nothing of the
+supposed virtues of that property; and in consequence entertained a
+respect for qualities of Simba that were not entirely inherent in that
+individual. He began to flatter Mali-ya-bwana; to fraternize just enough;
+to assume complete resignation to his plight--in short, to use just those
+tactics a clever man would use to lull the alertness of any bright child.
+Naturally he succeeded. At sundown of the second day he began to complain
+of the irksomeness of his bonds.
+
+"This is foolishness, so to treat a _m'zungu_," said he. "Nothing is
+gained. I cannot sleep; and the skin of my wrists is sore. He who watches
+has only to keep the fire bright. I cannot go like smoke."
+
+To Mali-ya-bwana, in his flattered and unsuspicious mood, this seemed
+reasonable. He was no such fool as to turn Winkleman loose to his own
+devices; but he compromised by untying the Bavarian's wrists, and doubling
+the thongs by which the latter's ankles were hitched to the larger timbers
+of the _banda_. Also he instructed the sentinel to keep the fire bright,
+to watch _Bwana_ Nyele, and to stop instantly any and all movements of the
+hands toward the feet.
+
+The early watches passed quietly. A second sentinel replaced the first. Up
+to this time Winkleman had slept quietly. Now he began to shift position
+often, to twist and turn, finally to groan softly. The sentinel came to
+the end of the _banda_ and looked in. To him _Bwana_ Nyele raised a face
+so ghastly that even the half-savage porter was startled. The man's eyes
+seemed to have sunk into his head, deep seams to have creased his brow and
+jaws. Apparently Winkleman was on the point of dissolution.
+
+"_Magi! nataka magi!_"[16] he gasped.
+
+[Footnote 16: Water! I want water!]
+
+The sentinel took the canteen from the peg where it hung and bent over the
+dying man. Instantly his throat was clasped by a pair of heavy and
+powerful hands.
+
+Two minutes later Winkleman rose to his feet free. The porter's knife in
+his hand, he looked down on that unfortunate securely bound and gagged.
+Treading softly Winkleman stepped through the sleeping camp into the
+clear. He drew a deep breath. Then unconsciously wiping from his face the
+mixture of grease and ashes that had constituted his "make-up," he strode
+grimly away toward his own safari.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+
+WINKLEMAN'S SAFARI ARRIVES
+
+The Leopard Woman watched the safari file down the distant hill and lose
+itself beneath the green plumes of the papyrus swamp. By all right she
+should have rejoiced. Against every probability she had succeeded. The
+stars had worked for her. Though the prearranged plan had not carried in
+any of its details, nevertheless the sought-for result had been gained.
+She had herself done little to detain Kingozi; yet he had been detained;
+and here was Winkleman, belated but in time, to carry out triumphantly the
+wishes of the Imperial Government. But her heart was like lead.
+
+After the first droop Kingozi had straightened beneath the blow, and now
+sat bolt upright, staring straight before him, as a king might have sat
+alone on his throne. Whatever was coming, he would front it serenely.
+
+The head of the safari appeared at the foot of the slope. It seemed a
+trifle uncertain as to where to go next, but catching sight of Kingozi's
+tents, it turned up the hill. Cazi Moto's keen eyes were searching out
+every detail; those of the Leopard Woman had suddenly become suffused with
+tears.
+
+"It is a rich safari, _bwana_," Cazi Moto reported; "many loads." His
+voice sharpened with surprise, but he did not raise his tones. "Simba is
+there," said he.
+
+"Simba! So they caught him," muttered Kingozi. "Well, that play failed. Do
+you see the white man?" he asked.
+
+"No, _bwana_. The white man has not yet come. But Simba now sees us, and
+is coming."
+
+"He is guarded?"
+
+"No, _bwana_; he is alone."
+
+"_Jambo, bwana_," said Simba's voice a moment later.
+
+Something in his tone caught Kingozi's ear.
+
+"Yes, Simba?" was all he replied.
+
+"All has been done as you ordered, _bwana_. This is the fourteenth day,
+and I am here to tell you."
+
+Kingozi caught his breath sharply.
+
+"_Bwana_ Nyele was captured?"
+
+"Mali-ya-bwana holds him prisoner at a certain water."
+
+"There was no trouble?"
+
+"None, _bwana_. All happened as you told. This magic is a very great
+magic," said Simba piously.
+
+Kingozi paused.
+
+"The safari," he suggested at last. "I am told of a safari; indeed, I can
+hear it. What of that? No orders were given as to a safari."
+
+"That is true, _bwana_," explained Simba earnestly, "but this is a very
+great safari. It has tents and _potio_, and _chakula_[17], and blankets
+and beads and wire and many other things to a quantity impossible to say.
+And it came to my mind that _shenzis_ like these things, as do all men,
+and that in this _shenzi_ country my _bwana_ might make use of them; so I
+brought them with me for your use, _bwana_."
+
+[Footnote 17: _Chakula_--white man's food.]
+
+"You had no trouble bringing this great safari?" asked Kingozi.
+
+"I used again the magic bone," replied Simba.
+
+"Simba, you jewel!" cried Kingozi in English, "you've saved the day! I
+should think _shenzis_ did like these things! And oh, haven't I needed
+them! You old tar-baby, you!"
+
+And Simba replied as usual to this incomprehensible gibberish with his own
+full stock of English:
+
+"Yes, suh!"
+
+"You have done well, very well," Kingozi shifted to Swahili. "I am pleased
+with you. For this work you shall have much _backsheeshi_--a month's wages
+extra, and twenty goats for your farm, and any other thing that you want
+most. What is it?"
+
+Simba appeared to hesitate and boggle.
+
+"Speak up! I am Very pleased."
+
+"This is a very great thing I would ask," said Simba in a low voice.
+
+"It is a great thing you have done."
+
+"_Bwana_," cried Simba earnestly. "It is this: I would have the magic bone
+for my own. For it is a very great magic," he added wistfully.
+
+Kingozi choked back an impulse to shout aloud.
+
+"It is yours," he said gravely.
+
+"Oh, _bwana! bwana!_" choked Simba. "_Assanti! assanti sana!_"
+
+His sob was echoed at Kingozi's elbow.
+
+"Oh," cried the Leopard Woman, "I know I should be sorry that this has
+come this way! But I'm not; I am glad!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+
+WINKLEMAN APPEARS
+
+With the riches thus unexpectedly placed at his disposal, and legitimately
+his by the fortunes of war, Kingozi was enabled to proceed to the final
+grand exchange of gifts that assured his friendship with M'tela and sealed
+the alliance. He was spurred to his best efforts in this by the news,
+brought in by an alarmed Mali-ya-bwana, that Winkleman had escaped.
+However, by dint of rich presents, supplementing the careful diplomatic
+negotiations that had gone before, he arrived at an understanding.
+
+"And now, oh, King, I must tell you this," he said boldly. "Of white men
+there is not merely one but many kinds, just as among the African peoples.
+There are strong men and weak men, good men and bad men, and men of
+different tribes. Of the tribes are the _Inglishee_ to which I belong,
+which is the most powerful of all--like your own people of the Kabilagani
+in this land--and also another tribe called the _Duyche_, only a little
+less powerful. These two tribes are now at war."
+
+"A-a-a-a," observed M'tela interestedly.
+
+"One of the _Duyche_ is in your country, oh, King. I have met him and
+defeated him by my magic. Some of these people you see here were his
+people; and of his goods I have everything."
+
+"But it may be," suggested M'tela with a slight cooling of cordiality,
+"that many more _Duyche_ will follow this one."
+
+"They cannot prevail against my magic. Talk with Simba, with my men, and
+know what virtue is in my magic. But beyond that, oh, King, have you not
+heard of the wars of the Wakamba? of Lobengula? of the Matabele and the
+Basuto? has not news come to you from the north of the battles of the
+Sudan? Have you not heard of Lenani, the king of all Masai, and of his
+advice to his people? All these wars were won by _Inglishee_; Lenani's
+words of wisdom spoke of _Inglishee_. Have you ever heard of the victories
+of the _Duyche?_ No. There were no such victories!"[18]
+
+[Footnote 18: Kingozi here took shrewd advantage of the fact that German
+East Africa was peacefully occupied without necessity of the spectacular
+tribal wars of Matabeland, Zululand, Basutoland, and the Wakamba district
+of British East Africa. Lenani's advice to his people was given at the
+close of the Wakamba war. Said he: "There is no doubt that the Masai are a
+greater people than the Wakamba, and in case of war we could fight the
+white man harder than the Wakamba fought him. Undoubtedly, too, my people
+could kill a great many of the English. But this I have noticed: that when
+a Wakamba is dead, he remains dead; but when a white man is dead ten more
+come to take his place." In consequence of this advice the Masai--one of
+the most warlike of all the tribes--negotiated with the English, and today
+remain both at peace and unconquered.]
+
+After an hour's elaboration of this theme Kingozi judged the moment
+propitious to return to the original subject. M'tela offered the
+opportunity.
+
+"This _Duyche_ whom you have conquered--you killed him?"
+
+"He escaped."
+
+"A-a-a-a."
+
+"He is still alive and in your land. Let order be given to search him
+out."
+
+"That shall be done," said M'tela after a moment's thought.
+
+Mali-ya-bwana and Simba set out with a posse of M'tela's men. They had no
+great difficulty in getting track of the missing Bavarian. Winkleman had
+arrived to find the camping site deserted. He had, indomitably, set out on
+the track of his safari. To eat he was forced at last to beg of the wild
+herdsmen. M'tela's dread name elicited from these last definite
+information. The search party found Winkleman, very dirty, quite hungry,
+profoundly chagrined, but still good humoured, seated in a smoky hut
+eating soured smoky milk. He wore sandals improvised from goatskin, a hat
+and spine-pad made from banana leaves ingeniously woven.
+
+[Illustration: "The search party found Winkleman, very dirty, quite
+hungry, profoundly chagrined"]
+
+"_Ach!_" he cried, recognizing Kingozi's two men. "So it is you! What have
+you done with my safari?"
+
+"I led it to my _bwana_," replied Simba.
+
+"Where you may now lead me," said Winkleman resignedly. "By what means
+have you thought of these things, N'ympara?" "By the magic of this,"
+replied Simba with becoming modesty, producing the precious bone.
+
+"_Ach_ the _saurian!_" cried Winkleman. "I remember. It had gone from my
+mind. It is a curious type; I do not quite recognize. Let me see it."
+
+But Simba was replacing carefully the talisman in its wrappings. He had no
+mind to deliver the magic into other hands--perhaps to be used against
+himself!
+
+They led Winkleman directly to Kingozi's camp. Winkleman followed, looking
+always curiously about him. His was the true scientific mind. He was quite
+capable of forgetting his plight--and did so--in the interest of new fauna
+and flora, or of ethnological eccentricities. Once or twice he insisted on
+a halt for examination of something that caught his notice, and insisted
+so peremptorily when the savages would have forced him on, that they
+yielded to his wish.
+
+It was early in the morning. Kingozi, as ever, sat in his canvas chair
+atop the hill. He was alone, for the Leopard Woman, always on the alert
+and always staring through her glasses, had caught sight of the little
+group before it plunged into the papyrus; and had retired to her tent.
+Winkleman plowed up the hill blowing out his cheeks in a full-blooded
+hearty fashion.
+
+"Oho!" he cried in his great voice when he had drawn near. "This is not so
+bad! It is Culbertson!"
+
+"I am sorry about this," said Kingozi briefly--"a man of your eminence--
+very disagreeable."
+
+Winkleman dropped heavily to the ground.
+
+"That is nothing," he waved aside the half-apology, "though it would not
+be bad to have the bath and change these clothes. But fortunes of war--it
+is but the fortunes of war--I would have done worse to you. How long is it
+that you have arrived?"
+
+"Long enough," replied Kingozi briefly. "Oh, Cazi Moto, bring tea! I have
+had your tent pitched, Doctor Winkleman; and you must bathe and change and
+rest. But before you go we must understand each other. This is war time,
+and you are my prisoner. You must give me your parole neither to try to
+escape nor to tamper with my men, with M'tela, or any of his people. If
+you feel you cannot do this I shall be compelled to hold you closely
+guarded."
+
+Winkleman laughed one of his great gusty laughs.
+
+"I give it willingly. What foolishness otherwise. What foolishness anyway,
+all this. War is nonsense. It destroys. It interferes. Consider, my dear
+Culbertson, here was I safely in the Congo forests, and for two, three
+months I have lived there, like a native quietly; and of all the world
+there is to amuse me only the fauna and the flora--which I know like my
+hand. But I discover a new species--a _papilio_. But all the time I live
+quiet, and I wait. And at last the people, the little forest people,
+little by little they get confidence; they come to the edge of the forest,
+they venture to camp, slow. Suppose I wave my hand like that--pouf! They
+have run away. But I wait; and they come forth. So I camp by myself in the
+forest--for I leave my safari away that it may not frighten this people.
+And by and by we talk. I am beginning to learn their language. Culbertson,
+I find these people speak the true click language, but also I find it true
+sex-denoting language most resembling in that respect the ancient Fula!"
+
+"Where was this? Impossible!" cried Kingozi, interested and excited.
+
+"Ah!" roared Winkleman with satisfaction. "I thought I would your interest
+catch! But it is true; and in the central Congo."
+
+"But that would throw the prehistoric Libyan and Hamitic migrations
+farther to the west than----"
+
+"Pre-cisely!" interrupted Winkleman.
+
+"What sort of people were they? Did they show Hamitic characteristics
+particularly? or did they incline to the typical prognathous, short-
+legged, stealopygous type of the Bushmen?"
+
+But Winkleman reverted abruptly to his narrative.
+
+"That is a long discussion to make. It will wait. But just as I get these
+people where I can put them beneath my observation, so, there comes an
+ober-lieutenant with foolishness in the way of guns and uniform and
+_askaris_ and that nonsense; and my little people run into the forest and
+are no more to be seen."
+
+"Hard luck!" commented Kingozi feelingly.
+
+"Is it not so? This ober-lieutenant is a fool. He knows nothing.
+_Dumkopf!_ All he knows is to give me a letter from the _Kaiserliche
+dumkopf_ at Dar-es-salaam. I read it. It tells me I must come here, to
+this place, with speed, and get the military aid of this M'tela and so
+forth with many details. It was another foolishness. I know this type of
+people well. There is nothing new to be learned. They are of the usual
+types. It is foolishness to come here. But it is an order, so I come, and
+I do my best. But now I am a prisoner, while I might be with the little
+people in the Congo. I talk much."
+
+"I fancy we are going to have a good deal to talk about," interjected
+Kingozi.
+
+"_Ach!_ that is true! That is what I said--that I am glad this is
+Culbertson who catches me. Yes! We must talk!"
+
+Cazi Moto glided to them.
+
+"Bath is ready, _bwana_," said he.
+
+Winkleman puffed out his chest and protruded his great beard.
+
+"This war--foolishness!" he mumbled.
+
+"Yes, we have much to talk about. Nevertheless," said Kingozi with slight
+embarrassment, "it is necessary that I do my duty according to my orders.
+And my orders were much like yours--to get the alliance of this M'tela.
+But I have told him that you are my enemy; and he sent his men with mine
+to find you; and now, as you can well comprehend, I must----"
+
+But Winkleman's quick comprehension leaped ahead of Kingozi's speech.
+
+"I must play the prisoner, is it not?" he cried with one of his big
+laughs. "But so! Of course! That is comprehend. How could it be otherwise?
+I know my native! I know what he expects. I shall be humble, the slave,
+your foot upon my neck. Of course! Do you suppose I do not know?"
+
+"That is well," said Kingozi, much relieved, "I shall tell him that you
+are a man of much wisdom and great magic; and that I have saved your life
+to serve me."
+
+"So!" cried Winkleman delightedly; and departed to his tent and the
+waiting bath. A few moments later he could be heard robustly splashing in
+the tent. A roar summoned Cazi Moto.
+
+"Tell your _bwana_ I want _n'dowa_--medicine--understand? Need some boric
+acid," he yelled at Kingozi. "Eyes in bad shape."
+
+Kingozi ordered Cazi Moto to take over the entire medicine chest; then
+sent a messenger for M'tela, who shortly appeared.
+
+"This enemy of mine is taken, thanks to your men, oh, King. I have him
+here in the tent, well guarded."
+
+"How shall we kill him, papa?" inquired M'tela.
+
+"That has not yet been decided," replied Kingozi carelessly. "He must, of
+course, be taken to the great King of all _Inglishee_."
+
+M'tela looked disappointed.
+
+"In the meantime," pursued Kingozi, "as he has much knowledge, and great
+magic, I shall talk much with him, and get that magic for the benefit of
+us both, oh, King. He cannot escape, for my magic is greater than his."
+
+This M'tela well believed, for the reports industriously circulated by
+Simba anent his magic bone had reached the King, and had not lost in
+transit.
+
+So when Winkleman came swashbuckling up the hill M'tela was prepared. The
+blue-black beard and hearty, deep-chested carriage of the Bavarian
+impressed him greatly.
+
+"But this is a great _bwana_, papa," he said to Kingozi. "Like you and
+me."
+
+"This is the prisoner of which I spoke to you," said Kingozi in a loud
+voice.
+
+Winkleman, a twinkle in his wide eyes, but with his countenance composed
+to gravity, stepped forward, salaamed, and placed his forehead beneath
+Kingozi's hand in token of submission. Thus proper relations were
+established. Winkleman seated himself humbly on the sod, and kept silence,
+while high converse went forward. At length M'tela departed. Winkleman
+immediately plunged into the conversational gap around which, mentally, he
+had been, impatiently hovering for an hour.
+
+"But this articulation of the _saurus_" he broke out. "What of it?"
+
+"The magic bone," chuckled Kingozi.
+
+"Pouf! Pouf! It resembled much the _cinoliosaurus_, but that could not
+be."
+
+"Why not?" demanded Kingozi quickly.
+
+"It has been found only in the lias formations of the Jurassic," stated
+Winkleman dogmatically, "and that type of Jurassic is not here. It is of
+England, yes; of Germany, yes; of the Americas, yes. Of central Africa,
+no!"
+
+"Nevertheless----" interposed Kingozi.
+
+"But the _cryptoclidus_--that greatly resembles the _cinoliosaurus_--
+perhaps. Or even a subspecies of the _plesiosaurus_----"
+
+"Simba," called Kingozi.
+
+"Suh!"
+
+"Bring here the magic bone. The _bwana_ wishes to look at it. No; it is
+all right. I myself tell you; no harm can come."
+
+Reluctantly Simba produced the bone, now fittingly wrapped in clean
+_mericani_ cloth, and still more reluctantly undid it and handed it to
+Winkleman. The latter seized it and began minutely to examine it,
+muttering short, disconnected sentences to himself in German.
+
+"Now here is what I have said," he spoke aloud. "See. By this curve----"
+
+He broke off, staring curiously into Kingozi's face. The latter sat
+apparently looking out across the hills, paying no attention to the fact
+that Winkleman had thrust the bone fairly under his nose. The pause that
+ensued became noticeable. Kingozi stirred uneasily, turning his eyes in
+the direction of the scientist.
+
+"Glaucoma!" ejaculated Winkleman.
+
+Kingozi smiled wearily.
+
+"Yes. I wondered when you would find it out."
+
+"You are all blind?"
+
+"I can distinguish light." Kingozi straightened his back, and his voice
+became incisive. "But I can still see through eyes that are faithful to
+me! Make no mistakes there."
+
+"My dear friend; have I not given my parole?" gently asked the Bavarian.
+
+"Beg your pardon. Of course."
+
+"It is serious. You should have a surgeon. But why have you not used the
+temporary remedy? Of course you know the effect of drugs?"
+
+"I know that atropin is ruin, right enough," said Kingozi grimly.
+
+"But the pilocarpin----"
+
+"Of course. I only wish I had some."
+
+"But you have!" came Winkleman's astonished voice. "There is of it a large
+vial!"
+
+Kingozi gripped the arm of his chair for a full minute. Then he spoke to
+Cazi Moto in a vibrating voice.
+
+"Bring me the chest of medicines. Now," he went on to Winkleman, when this
+command had been executed, "kindly read to me the labels on all these
+bottles; begin at the left. All, please."
+
+He listened attentively while Winkleman obeyed. The pilocarpin was
+present; the atropin was gone.
+
+"You have not deceived me?" he cried sharply. "No--why should
+you--wait----"
+
+He thought for some moments. When he raised his face it was gray.
+
+"One of the bottles was broken. I had reason to believe it the
+pilocarpin," he said quietly. "Can I trespass on your good nature to make
+the proper solution for my eyes?"
+
+"It is but a temporary expedient," warned Winkleman. "It is surgery here
+demanded. I know the operation, but I cannot perform. One makes a
+transverse incision above the cornea----"
+
+"I know, I know," interrupted Kingozi. "But the pilocarpin will give me my
+sight. Let us get at it."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+
+LIGHT AGAIN
+
+Three hours later Kingozi stepped into the open, his vision cleared. Such
+is often the marvellous--though temporary--effect of the proper remedies
+in this disease. He looked about him with a thankfulness not to be
+understood save by one whose sight has been thus unexpectedly restored.
+Winkleman followed him full of deep sympathy.
+
+"But I understand," he repeated over and over, "but it is like water on a
+weary march, _nicht wahr_. But this is bad, very bad! You say it has been
+going on for a month? And a month back! Too late. _Ach, schrecklich!_ It
+is so much a pity! You have, the youth, the strength, the knowledge! You
+could so far go! But you must learn the dictation; the great book, the
+_magnum opus_, it is there. Cheer up, my boy! Work, much work! That is
+what will cure your sick courage even if it cannot cure your sick eyes.
+Now, while we have the sight--see--the bone--this curve clearly indicates
+to me----"
+
+Winkleman produced the saurian bone. And for the first time Kingozi
+noticed Simba hovering anxiously near. Request and blandishments had
+proved of no avail in getting the magic bone from _Bwana_ Nyele.
+
+"It is all right," Kingozi reassured him. "We but use the magic for a
+little while. See; it has given me back my eyes."
+
+"A-a-a-a!" ejaculated Simba, deeply astonished.
+
+"We will use it but a little while longer," Kingozi concluded. "Then you
+shall have it again."
+
+"But to give this specimen to a gun bearer!" cried Winkleman in English.
+"That is craziness! It is a museum piece."
+
+"It belongs to him; and I have promised," said Kingozi.
+
+Winkleman subsided with deep rumblings. After a moment he renewed his
+discussion.
+
+Kingozi only half heard him. His mind was occupied by another, more human
+problem. The discovery that the atropin and not the pilocarpin had been
+destroyed agitated him profoundly; not, as might be believed, because it
+enabled him at a critical time to regain the use of his sight, but because
+it threw before him an insistent question. Did, or did not, Bibi-ya-chui
+know? He recalled the incident in all its little details--himself in his
+chair and Cazi Moto squatting before the three bottles set up before them,
+carefully tracing in the sand with a stick the characters on the labels;
+the Leopard Woman's sudden dash forward; the tinkle of smashed glass, and
+her voice panting with excitement: "I will read your labels for you now--
+the bottle you hold in your hand! It is atropin, atropin"--and her wild
+laugh.
+
+Did she know, or was she guessing or bluffing?
+
+It hurt him, hurt him inconceivably to think that she might have deceived
+him thus; might have broken the wrong bottle, and then deliberately have
+kept him in darkness with the very remedy at hand. That would seem the
+refinement of cruelty.
+
+But he must be fair. She was then fighting, fighting with all her power
+against odds, for her sworn duty. Deceit was her natural weapon. And at
+that time such deceit seemed very likely to win for her her point. No, he
+could not blame her there; he could not consistently even feel hurt. The
+few moments' reasoning brought him to the point where he did not feel
+hurt. After a little he even admired the quickness of wit.
+
+The instinctive depression vanished before this reasoning. He suddenly
+became light-hearted.
+
+But immediately the dark mood returned. Granted all this; how about the
+last two days? Before that it might well be that her sense of duty to her
+country, her firmness of spirit, her honour itself would impel her to
+cling to the last hope of gaining her end. Until his influence over M'tela
+was quite assured, Winkleman's arrival would probably turn the scale. She
+had not prevented Kingozi's arriving before the Bavarian; but she might
+hold the Englishman comparatively powerless. That was understandable.
+Kingozi felt he might even love her the more for this evidence of a
+faithful spirit. But the last few days! It must have become evident to her
+that her cause was lost; that M'tela's friendship had been gained for the
+English. If she had cared for him the least in the world would not she
+have hastened to produce the pilocarpin for his relief? What could she
+hope to gain by concealing it? And then the other words insisted on his
+recollection, bitter words--when, first blinded, he had asked her to read
+the labels on the bottle that would have given him sight. "Why should I do
+this for you? You have treated me as a man treats his dog, his horse, his
+servant, his child--not as a man treats a woman!" What real reason--
+besides his hopes--had he for thinking she did not still hate him, or at
+least remain indifferent to him? So indifferent that even after her chance
+had passed she still neglected to inform him that the pilocarpin was not
+destroyed after all.
+
+Winkleman talked on and on about his saurian. Would he never stop and go
+away?
+
+"I agree with you; you are probably right," said Kingozi at last, driven
+by sheer desperation to the endorsement of he knew not what scientific
+heresy. Winkleman snorted heavily in triumph, and returned the bone to a
+vastly relieved Simba. Kingozi interposed in haste before the introduction
+of a new topic.
+
+"Undoubtedly you will wish to see the palace of M'tela," said he with deep
+wile. "Of course you are supposed to be my prisoner, so I must send you
+under guard. You might take a small present to M'tela from me. I have not
+yet visited his place of course. This might be considered a preliminary to
+my first visit. Does it appeal to you?"
+
+"But yes! And I shall behave. I have given my parole. I shall be the good
+boy!"
+
+"Of course. I understand that. Do you eat at noon? No? Well, good luck.
+Cazi Moto, take Mali-ya-bwana and two _askari_ guns, and go with _Bwana_
+Nyele to the palace of M'tela."
+
+Scarcely had the group disappeared down the forest path when Kingozi was
+at the tent door of the Leopard Woman.
+
+"_Hodie?_" he pronounced the native word of one desiring entrance.
+
+"Who is there?" she asked in Swahili.
+
+"I--Culbertson."
+
+A slight pause; then her voice:
+
+"Come."
+
+He drew aside the tent flaps and entered. She was half reclining on the
+cot, her back raised by pillows stuffed with sweet grass. Her silk
+garment, carelessly arranged, had fallen partly open, so that the gleam of
+her flesh showed tantalizingly here and there. The blood leaped to
+Kingozi's forehead. She did not alter her pose. Suddenly he realized: of
+course, she thought him blind!
+
+The embarrassment met his sterner mood in a head-on collision, so that for
+a moment the impulsive speech failed him. She spoke first.
+
+"That was Winkleman, I suppose," she said. "I did not want to appear. What
+is decided?"
+
+"Decided?" he stammered, not knowing where to look, but unable to keep his
+eyes from straying.
+
+"Yes. Is it too late? Can he prevail with this M'tela after all?"
+
+"He is my prisoner; he has given his parole."
+
+"Oh!" she exclaimed, raising herself on her elbow in excitement. The
+abrupt movement dropped the robe from her shoulder. "You can see!" she
+cried; and huddled the garment about her in a panic. "You can see!" she
+repeated amazedly. "How is that? What has happened?"
+
+The words brought him to himself and to his need for definite knowledge.
+
+"Winkleman read the labels on my bottles," he said sternly. "I have simply
+used the pilocarpin."
+
+"The pilocarpin! But that was destroyed!"
+
+So unmistakably genuine was her cry of amazement that Kingozi's heart
+leaped with joy. She had not known! He took a step toward the couch.
+
+But at this moment a wild hullabaloo broke out in the camp. Men yelled and
+shouted. Some one began to blow a horn. There came the sound of many
+running to and fro. "Damn!" ejaculated Kingozi fervently; and ran out of
+the tent.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+
+THE COLOURS
+
+The whole camp was gathered about a number of M'tela's people, who were
+all talking at once. The din was something prodigious. Kingozi pushed his
+way rather angrily to the centre of disturbance.
+
+"Here, what is this?" he demanded to know.
+
+But a dead, astonished silence fell upon them all. They stared at him
+gaping.
+
+"What is it?" repeated Kingozi impatiently.
+
+"But _bwana!_" cried Cazi Moto. "You see!"
+
+"That is a magic," replied Kingozi curtly. "Now what is all this _kalele_
+about?"
+
+"Bwana, these people say that messengers have come in telling of many
+white men and _askaris_ marching in this direction."
+
+"From where? But that does not matter--are they _Inglishee_ or _Duyche?_"
+
+"These _shenzis_ do not know the difference."
+
+"That is true. How far away are they?"
+
+"Very near, _bwana_."
+
+"Get my gun. Have Simba follow me. Here, you lead the way." They marched
+rapidly through the forest path and past the palace of M'tela, which
+Kingozi had never seen. The savage king came out, and Winkleman and his
+bodyguard soon followed.
+
+"Oh, King," said Kingozi. "Now is the time to show to me that your
+friendship is true. As you know, other white men are coming, with
+warriors. I do not know yet whether these are _Inglishee_, who are my
+friends--and yours--or _Duyche_, who are my enemies. If they are _Duyche_
+they must be attacked and killed or captured, for we are at war."
+
+He watched M'tela carefully while he spoke, and felt satisfaction at what
+he saw.
+
+"Have no fear, papa," replied M'tela easily. "I will cause the great drums
+to be beaten. My warriors are as the leaves of the grass; and these are
+few."
+
+"Nevertheless they will kill many of yours," said Kingozi with great
+earnestness; "for they have guns that kill many times and at a long
+distance. When your warriors hear the great noise they make, and see the
+dead men, they will run." "You do not know the warriors of M'tela,"
+replied the king with dignity. "Should the half of them fall, the other
+half will give these to the hyenas. Yes, even if they had the thunder
+itself as weapon!"
+
+"How many are there, oh, King?" asked Kingozi, greatly relieved.
+
+"My men report thirty-one white men and many black men."
+
+"I go now," advised Kingozi, "to look upon these men. Give me guides, and
+a messenger to send back with news of what I find."
+
+M'tela issued the orders. A moment later Kingozi started on. Winkleman,
+who had spoken no word, waved him a friendly good-bye. Before they had
+reached the forest edge the great war drums began to roar.
+
+The guides took them swiftly down the forest path and across the rolling
+country with the groves. Kingozi looked at it all with curiosity and
+delight. It seemed to him that never in all his wanderings had he seen so
+beautiful and variegated a prospect. His blindness had overtaken him, it
+must be remembered, out on the open dry veldt, between the Great and the
+Little Rains. It was as though he had awakened from a sleep to find
+himself in this watered, green, and wooded paradise.
+
+At the top of a hill the guide stopped and pointed. Kingozi gathered that
+through the distant cleft he indicated the strangers must come. All sat
+down and waited.
+
+[Illustration: "At the top of the hill the guide stopped and pointed.
+Kingozi gathered that through the distant cleft he indicated the strangers
+must come"]
+
+An hour passed. Simba uttered an exclamation. Kingozi raised his glasses.
+Tiny figures on foot were debouching from the forest. They spread in all
+directions, advancing in fan-formation. Evidently the scouts. Then more
+tiny figures, figures on horseback. Kingozi counted them. There were, as
+M'tela had said, just thirty-one; a gallant little band, but at this
+distance indistinguishable. They rode out some distance. And at last the
+first files of the black troops appeared. Kingozi dropped his glasses to
+the end of its thong with a cheer. Drooping in the still air the colours
+were nevertheless easily recognized. The flag was of England.
+
+"_Inglishee! Inglishee!_" he repeated to M'tela's messengers, and made a
+motion back toward the palace. The men departed at a lope. Kingozi and
+Simba took the other direction.
+
+They met the newcomers halfway across the long, shallow dish between the
+wooded hills. On catching sight of them the mounted white men spurred
+forward. A confusion of greetings stormed them.
+
+"It's Culbertson!" "Where did _you_ rain down from?" "We've been looking
+for you without end! Isn't this a lark, old man!"
+
+In the meantime, in the personal attendants of these white men, Simba had
+discovered acquaintances; among them the two messengers Kingozi had
+despatched back in quest of Doctor McCloud.
+
+Kingozi stood in the middle of the group, his heart overflowing. It was
+good to see so many white faces again; it was good to see the faces of
+friends; it was good to know that his labours had not been in vain, and
+that the border was assured. And underneath it was a great exaltation. He
+walked on air. For she had not known! The blank astonishment of her face
+had proved that to him beyond a doubt. She really thought that she had
+destroyed the pilocarpin; she had not deliberately held from him the light
+of day!
+
+His high spirits expressed themselves in an animation and volubility so
+unlike the taciturn Culbertson that many of his acquaintances stared.
+
+"Seems quite bucked up," commented one to another. "Must have had a deuce
+of a time back here."
+
+"What is this arm of His Majesty's Service, anyway?" Kingozi was asking in
+general. "I mean the mounted and disreputable portion, not the decent
+infantry."
+
+"This, my son, is the Settlers' Own Irregulars; and we've come out for to
+hunt the shy and elusive German."
+
+"Good heads scarce up this way," rejoined Kingozi. "I've caught one
+specimen myself, however."
+
+"Specimen of what?"
+
+"German. Ever hear of Winkleman?"
+
+"Rather! The native _fundi?_[19] You don't mean to say you've got him!"
+
+[Footnote 19: Fundi--expert.]
+
+"I've got him. He's the only specimen in these parts. But I can show you
+several thousand of the best fighting men in Africa--all loyal British
+allies."
+
+"Good man!" cried a grizzled old settler. "I told 'em you'd do it!"
+
+"But the war?" demanded Kingozi eagerly. "What of the war? Tell me? I know
+nothing whatever."
+
+One of the younger men dismounted and insisted on delivering his animal to
+Kingozi.
+
+"Do me good to stretch my legs," said he. "And you've walked your share."
+
+Riding in a little group of the officers Kingozi listened attentively to
+an account of affairs as far as they were known. The Marne, and the
+Retreat from Mons straightened him in his saddle. It was worth it; he had
+done his bit! Whatever the price, it was worth it!
+
+The account finished, Captain Walsh began questioning in his turn.
+
+"Excellent!" he greeted Kingozi's account. "Couldn't be better! We have
+reasons to believe that the water-holes on this route are mapped by the
+Germans."
+
+"They are," interrupted Kingozi.
+
+"And that the plan contemplated coming through here, gathering the tribes
+as they advanced, and finally cutting in on us with a big force from the
+rear."
+
+"They'll run against a stone wall hereabouts," said Kingozi with
+satisfaction.
+
+"Lucky for us. I've only four companies--and these settlers. We are really
+only a reconnaissance."
+
+"How did you happen to follow my route?"
+
+"Ran against the messengers you sent back to get Doctor McCloud. They
+guided us. By the way, what is it? Must have been serious. You're not a
+man to run to panics. You look fit enough now."
+
+"Eyes," explained Kingozi. His heart sank, for the failure of his
+messengers to go on after McCloud took away the last small hope of saving
+his eyesight.
+
+"Fancy it will be all right," said Captain Walsh vaguely. He was thinking,
+quite properly, of ways and means and dispositions. "About this sultan,
+now; what do you advise----"
+
+They rode forward slowly through the high, aromatic grasses, discussing
+earnestly every angle of policy to be assumed in regard to M'tela. At its
+close all the white men were called together and given instructions. Even
+the youngest and most flippant knew natives well enough to realize the
+value of the structure Kingozi had built, and to listen attentively.
+
+These alternate marches and halts had permitted the foot troops to close
+up. Kingozi turned in his saddle to look at them. Fine, upstanding black
+men they were, marching straight and soldierly, neat in their uniforms of
+khaki, with the dull red tarboush, the blue leggings, the bare knees and
+feet. They were picked troops from the Sudan, these, fighting men by
+birth, whose chief tradition was that in case his colonel was killed no
+man must come back to his woman short of wiping out the last of the enemy.
+In spite of a long march they walked jauntily. Two mounted white men
+brought up the rear.
+
+Now they entered the cool forest trail. The sound of distant drums became
+audible. Men straightened in their saddles. Captain Walsh gave crisp
+orders. They entered the cleared space before M'tela's palace with colours
+flying and snare drums tapping briskly.
+
+The full force of M'tela's power seemed to have been gathered, gorgeous in
+the panoply of war. The forest threw back the roar of drums, of horns, of
+people chanting or shouting. Straight to the middle of the square marched
+the Sudanese, wheeled smartly into line. At a command they raised their
+rifles and fired a volley, the first gunfire ever heard in this ancient
+forest.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+
+CURTAIN
+
+The sun was setting. In a few minutes more the swift darkness would fall.
+After delivering the astonishing volley the troops wheeled and under
+Kingozi's guidance proceeded down the forest path to the great clearing.
+It was the close of a long, hard day, but under the scrutinizing eyes of
+these thousands of proud _shenzis_ the Sudanese stepped forth jauntily.
+Camping places were designated. All was activity as the tents were raised.
+
+But now rode in the two white men who had closed the rear of the column,
+not only of the fighting men, but of the burden bearers as well. They were
+covered with dust and apparently very glad to arrive. One of them rode
+directly to the group of officers and dismounted stiffly.
+
+"McCloud!" cried Kingozi.
+
+"The same," replied that efficient surgeon. "And now let's see the eyes. I
+have your scrawl." He stumped forward, looking keenly for what he wanted.
+"Sit here in this chair. Boy!" he bawled. "_Lete taa_--bring the lantern.
+And my case of knives. No, my lad, I'm not going to operate on you
+instanter, but I do want my reflector. Hold the light just here. Now,
+don't any of you move. Tip your head back a bit, that's a good chap." He
+went methodically forward with his examination as though he were at home
+in his white office. "H'm. How long this been going on? Five weeks, eh!
+Been blind? Oh--why didn't you use that pilocarpin I gave you--I see."
+The officers and other white men stood about in a compact and silent
+group. A sudden grave realization of the situation had descended upon
+them, sobering their careless or laughing countenances. No one knew
+exactly what it was all about, but some had caught the word "blindness"
+and repeated it to others. Some one yelled "_kalale_" savagely at the
+chattering men. Almost a dead stillness fell on the clearing, so that in
+the falling twilight the tree hyraxes took heart and began to utter their
+demoniac screams. The darkness came down softly. Soon the group in the
+centre turned to silhouettes against the light of the two lanterns held
+head high on either side the patient.
+
+Absorbedly Doctor McCloud proceeded. Kingozi sat quietly, turning his head
+to either side, raising or lowering his chin as he was requested to do so.
+At last McCloud straightened his back.
+
+"It is glaucoma right enough," said he; "fairly advanced. The pilocarpin
+has been a palliative. An operation is called for--iridectomy."
+
+He paused, wiping his mirror. Nobody dared ask the question that Kingozi
+himself at last propounded.
+
+"Can you do it--have you the necessary instruments?'"
+
+"Fine spade scalpel, small tweezers, scissors--_and_ a lot of experience.
+I've got all the former."
+
+"And the latter?"
+
+"I've done the operation before," said McCloud dryly.
+
+"Will it restore my sight permanently."
+
+"If successful the job will be permanent."
+
+"What chance of success?"
+
+"Fair--fair," rejoined McCloud with a touch of impatience. "How can I
+tell? But I'll just inform you of this, my lad, without the operation
+you're stone blind for the rest of your days, and it must be done now or
+not at all. So there's your Hobson's choice; and we'll get at it
+comfortably in the morning."
+
+He turned away and stopped with a frank stare of astonishment. The other
+men followed his gaze, and also stared.
+
+The Leopard Woman stood just within the circle of illumination. So intent
+was she on the examination and on Kingozi that she seemed utterly
+unconscious of the men standing over opposite. Her soft silk robe fell
+about her body in classic folds; the single jewel on its chain fillet
+blazed on her forehead; her hair fell in its braid to her hips, and her
+wide, gray-green eyes were fixed on the seated man. A more startlingly
+exotic figure for the wilds of Central Africa could not be imagined. The
+expressions on the faces of the newcomers were varied enough, to be sure,
+but all had a common groundwork of fair imbecility.
+
+[Illustration: "So intent was the Leopard Woman on the examination that
+she seemed utterly unconscious of the men standing over opposite."]
+
+She seemed to be unaware of even their presence. When. McCloud had
+pronounced his opinion, she glided forward and laid her hand on Kingozi's
+shoulder.
+
+"I am glad--but I am afraid," she said softly. Kingozi covered her hand
+with one of his own. His eyes twinkled with quiet amusement as he looked
+about him at the stricken faces of his friends. She whirled on the gaping
+McCloud. "But you must have a care!" she cried at him vehemently. "You
+must save his eyes. I wish it!"
+
+McCloud, recovering himself, bowed.
+
+"Madam," said he with a faint, amused irony. "It shall be my pleasure to
+do my best in fulfilling your commands."
+
+"It must be," she repeated; and turned to face the rest. "He is a great
+man; he must be saved. All this is folly. I have fought him to my best,
+for long, and I have used all means--good and bad. He conquered me as one
+who--what you call--subdues a child. And he is generous, and brave, and
+when the darkness comes to him he does not sit and weep. He is a great
+soul, and all things must be done!"
+
+She was superb, her head thrown back. Captain Walsh was the first to
+recover from the stunned condition in which all found themselves. He
+bowed.
+
+"Madam," said he, "in what you say we heartily concur. We add our urgence
+to yours. You must forgive our stupidity to the surprise of your
+appearance. Even yet my astonishment has not abated." He turned easily to
+Kingozi: "I hope you will afford me the pleasure of naming me to madam."
+
+Kingozi arose to his feet.
+
+"I do not know your name," he muttered to her.
+
+"I am the Leopard Woman," she smiled back on him enigmatically.
+
+Kingozi paused, embarrassed as to what to do. He could not use that name
+in an introduction to these men. She was looking at him mischievously.
+
+"Captain Walsh--and gentlemen," said Kingozi suddenly, "I want the
+pleasure of presenting you to--my future wife!"
+
+Her gasp of astonishment was lost in the chorus of congratulatory cries.
+It was all mysterious, profoundly astonishing. Much was to be explained.
+But for the moment each man was ready to believe the evidences of his own
+senses--that no matter how incongruous the fact of her presence might be,
+there she was, beautiful as the night. And every man facing her had seen
+the glory that shone from within when Kingozi had pronounced his
+introduction. Captain Walsh was speaking.
+
+"This is an occasion," he said, "and the King's African Rifles cannot have
+it otherwise than that you become their guests. I see our camp is in
+preparation. We have nothing beyond the ordinary stores, but you must all
+dine with us." He paused, considering. "Say in an hour," he continued. "It
+must be early, for I do not doubt we must receive his royal highness this
+evening."
+
+"You're right," said Kingozi, "and unless I miss my guess it will be an
+all-night job."
+
+The travel-wearied men groaned.
+
+"No help for it," said Captain Walsh cheerfully.
+
+They pressed forward to shake the hands of this strange couple. The
+Leopard Woman carried herself with the ease and poise of one accustomed to
+receiving homage. She had drawn near Kingozi again, and managed to reach
+out and press his arm.
+
+"Ye'll be married soon, I'm thinking," surmised McCloud.
+
+"Depends," replied Kingozi, his brow darkening. "Part of it's up to you,
+you know," he added briefly. "A blind man is a poor man."
+
+"We shall be married soon--now, if there is a priest among you!" cried the
+Leopard Woman vehemently, "As for poor man--pouf!" She turned to Walsh
+with an engaging smile. "And you, where you came, did you pass the people
+who live in the mountains back there, with a _sultani_ who dressed in
+black----"
+
+"I know," supplemented Captain Walsh, "very well."
+
+"The _sultani_ whose place has a fortified gate."
+
+"Really? We did not get to his village; too much of a hurry."
+
+The Leopard Woman shot a glance at Kingozi. He saw the triumph in it, and
+understood. The ivory stockade was unknown to any but themselves; still
+remained there in all its wealth awaiting the first trader. And that
+trader should be himself!
+
+"Poor, indeed!" she whispered to him.
+
+At this moment a roar of astonishment came up to them from down the slope.
+All turned to see Winkleman, the forgotten Winkleman, standing at the door
+of his tent. He was in pajamas, and his thick hair was tousled about.
+
+"But how I have slept!" he cried, "and the English, they have come! Well,
+well!" He came out, stretching his great arms lazily over his head. They
+stiffened in surprise as he caught sight of the Leopard Woman. For a
+second he stared; then dropped his arms with one of his big, gusty laughs.
+
+"_Kolossal!_" he roared. "The Countess Miklos! I was wondering! So he has
+captured you, too, has he!"
+
+With a simple and unembarrassed gesture she laid her arm across Kingozi's
+shoulders.
+
+"But yes," she repeated softly. "He has captured me, too."
+
+At the tiny fire burning before the tent reserved for the headmen of the
+camp sat Simba, Cazi Moto, and Mali-ya-bwana. The bone of the _saurian_
+lay before Simba, who was bragging.
+
+"Great is the magic of this bone, which is mine. It has brought us a long
+journey; it has won us the friendship of the great chief; it has revealed
+to us much riches in the teeth of _tembo_, the elephant, though that must
+not be spoken aside from us three; it has restored the light to _Bwana_
+Kingozi, our master; it has captured for us a great _bwana_ and a rich
+safari; it has brought to us _Bwana_ Bunduki[20] and many _bwanas_ and
+_askaris_; it has brought to our master a woman for his own--though to be
+sure there are many women. Great is this magic; and it is mine. With it I
+shall be lucky always."
+
+[Footnote 20: The Master of the Rifle--Captain Walsh.]
+
+"A-a-a-a!" agreed Cazi Moto and Mali-ya-bwana respectfully.
+
+From the darkened mysterious forest the tree hyraxes, excited by the
+numerous fires and the voices of so large an encampment, were wailing and
+shrieking.
+
+"The dead are restless tonight," said Simba, poking the fire.
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE LEOPARD WOMAN ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Leopard Woman, by Stewart Edward White et al
+
+Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the
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+*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
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+Title: The Leopard Woman
+
+Author: Stewart Edward White et al
+
+Release Date: December, 2005  [EBook #9401]
+[This file was first posted on September 29, 2003]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: iso-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE LEOPARD WOMAN ***
+
+
+
+
+E-text prepared by Suzanne Shell, Richard Prairie, Tonya Allen, and Project
+Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LEOPARD WOMAN
+
+BY
+
+STEWART EDWARD WHITE
+
+Illustrated by W. H. D. Koerner
+
+1916
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS
+
+
+CHAPTER
+
+     I. The March
+    II. The Camp
+   III. The Rhinoceros
+    IV. The Stranger
+     V. The Encounter
+    VI. The Leopard Woman
+   VII. The Water Hole
+  VIII. The Thirst
+    IX. On the Plateau
+     X. The _Suliani_
+    XI. The Ivory Stockade
+   XII. The Pilocarpin
+  XIII. The Tropic Moon
+   XIV. Over the Ranges
+    XV. The Sharpening of the Spear
+   XVI. The Murder
+  XVII. The Darkness
+ XVIII. The Leopard Woman Changes Her Spots
+   XIX. The Trial
+    XX. Kingozi's Ultimatum
+   XXI. The Messengers
+  XXII. The Second Messengers
+ XXIII. The Council of War
+  XXIV. M'tela's Country
+   XXV. M'tela
+  XXVI. Waiting
+ XXVII. The Magic Bone
+XXVIII. Simba's Adventure
+  XXIX. Winkleman's Safari Arrives
+   XXX. Winkleman Appears
+  XXXI. Light Again
+ XXXII. The Colours
+XXXIII. Curtain
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+"'Go, I say!' cried the Leopard Woman. 'And hold up your head. If this is
+suspected of you, you will surely die'" ... _Frontispiece_
+
+"'If you _will_ ride in a hammock, you ought to teach your men to shoot,'
+was Kingozi's greeting"
+
+"After the flat crack of the rifle a hollow _plunk_ indicated that the
+bullet had told"
+
+"Their eyes were large with curiosity as to this man and woman of a new
+species ... Kingozi touched his lips to the _tembo_"
+
+"'Cazi Moto, take this stick and make on the ground marks exactly like
+those on the _barua_. Make them deep, so that I may feel them with my
+hands'"
+
+"The search party found Winkleman, very dirty, quite hungry, profoundly
+chagrined"
+
+"At the top of the hill the guide stopped and pointed. Kingozi gathered
+that through the distant cleft he indicated the strangers must come"
+
+"So intent was the Leopard Woman on the examination and on Kingozi that
+she seemed utterly unconscious of the men standing over opposite ... A
+more startlingly exotic figure for the wilds of Central Africa could not
+be imagined"
+
+
+
+
+
+THE LEOPARD WOMAN
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+
+THE MARCH
+
+It was the close of the day. Over the baked veldt of Equatorial Africa a
+safari marched. The men, in single file, were reduced to the unimportance
+of moving black dots by the tremendous sweep of the dry country stretching
+away to a horizon infinitely remote, beyond which lay single mountains,
+like ships becalmed hull-down at sea. The immensities filled the world--
+the simple immensities of sky and land. Only by an effort, a wrench of the
+mind, would a bystander on the advantage, say, of one of the little rocky,
+outcropping hills have been able to narrow his vision to details.
+
+And yet details were interesting. The vast shallow cup to the horizon
+became a plain sparsely grown with flat-topped thorn trees. It was not a
+forest, yet neither was it open country. The eye penetrated the thin
+screen of tree trunks to the distance of half a mile or more, but was
+brought to a stop at last. Underfoot was hard-baked earth, covered by
+irregular patches of shale that tinkled when stepped on. Well-defined
+paths, innumerable, trodden deep and hard, cut into the iron soil. They
+nearly all ran in a northwesterly direction. The few traversing paths took
+a long slant. These paths, so exactly like those crossing a village green,
+had in all probability never been trodden by human foot. They had been
+made by the game animals, the swarming multitudinous game of Central
+Africa.
+
+The safari was using one of the game trails. It was a compact little
+safari, comprising not over thirty men all told. The single white man
+walked fifty yards or so ahead of the main body. He was evidently tired,
+for his shoulders drooped, and his shuffling, slow-swinging gait would
+anywhere have been recognized by children of the wilderness as that which
+gets the greatest result from the least effort. Dressed in the brown cork
+helmet, the brown flannel shirt with spine-pad, the khaki trousers, and
+the light boots of the African traveller little was to be made of either
+his face or figure. The former was fully bearded, the latter powerful
+across the shoulders. His belt was heavy with little leather pockets; a
+pair of prismatic field-glasses, suspended from a strap around his neck,
+swung across his chest; in the crook of his left arm he carried a light
+rifle.
+
+Immediately at his heels followed a native. This man's face was in
+conformation that of the typical negro; but there the resemblance ceased.
+Behind the features glowed a proud, fierce spirit that transformed them.
+His head was high but his eyes roved from right to left restlessly, never
+still save when they paused for a flickering instant to examine some
+gazelle, some distant herd of zebra or wildebeeste standing in the vista
+of the flat-topped trees. His nostrils slowly expanded and contracted with
+his breathing, as do those of a spirited horse. In contrast to the gait of
+the white man he stepped vigorously and proudly as though the long day had
+not touched his strength. He wore a battered old felt hat, a tattered
+flannel shirt, a ragged pair of shorts, and the blue puttees issued by the
+British to their native troops. The straps of two canteens crossed on his
+breast; a full cartridge belt encircled his waist; he carried lightly and
+easily one of those twelve-pound double cordite rifles that constitute the
+only African life insurance.
+
+Fifty yards in the rear marched the carriers. They were a straight, strong
+lot, dressed according to their fancy or opportunity in the cast-off
+garments of the coast; comical in the ensemble, perhaps, but worthy of
+respect in that all day each had carried a seventy-pound load under a
+tropical sun, and that they were coming in strong.
+
+And finally, bringing up the rear, marched a small, lively, wizened little
+fellow, dressed as nearly as possible like the white man, and carrying as
+the badge of his office a bulging cotton umbrella and the _kiboko_--the
+slender, limber, stinging rhinoceros-hide whip.
+
+It was the end of a long march. This could be guessed by the hour, by the
+wearied slouch of the white man, above all by the conduct of the safari.
+The men were walking one on the heels of the other. Their burdens, carried
+on their heads, held them erect. They stepped out freely. But against the
+wooden chop boxes, the bags of cornmeal _potio_, the bundles of canvas
+that made up some of the loads, the long safari sticks went _tap, tap,
+tap_, in rhythm. This tapping was a steady undertone to the volume of
+noise that arose from thirty throats. Every man was singing or shouting at
+the full strength of his lungs. A little file of Wakamba sung in unison
+one of the weird wavering minor chants peculiar to savage peoples
+everywhere; some Kavirondos simply howled in staccato barks like beasts.
+Between the extremes were many variations; but every man contributed to
+the uproar, and tapped his load rhythmically with his long stick. By this
+the experienced traveller would have known that the men were very tired,
+tired to the point of exhaustion; for the more wearied the Central African
+native, or the steeper the hill he, laden, must surmount, the louder he
+sings or yells.
+
+"_Maji hapana m'bale, bwana_," observed the gun bearer to the white man.
+"Water is not far, master."
+
+The white man merely nodded. These two had been together many years, and
+explanations were not necessary between them. He, as well as Simba, had
+noticed the gradual convergence of the game trails, the presence of small
+grass birds that flushed under their feet, the sing-sing buck behind the
+aloes, the increasing numbers of game animals that stared or fled at the
+sight and sound of the safari.
+
+Nothing more was said. The way led to the top of one of those low
+transverse swells that conceal the middle distance without actually
+breaking the surface of the veldt. In the corresponding depression beyond
+now could be discerned a wandering slender line of green.
+
+"_Maji huko!_" murmured Simba. "There is the water."
+
+Suddenly he stooped low, uttering a peculiar hissing sound. The white man,
+too, dropped to the ground, throwing his rifle forward.
+
+"_Nyama, bwana!_" he whispered fiercely, "_karibu sana!_"
+
+He pointed cautiously over the white man's shoulder. The safari, at the
+sight of the two dropping to a crouch, had stopped as though petrified,
+and stood waiting in silence.
+
+"We have no meat," Simba reminded his master in Swahili.
+
+The white man eased himself back to a sitting posture, resting his elbows
+on his knees, as all sensible good rifle shots do when they have the
+chance. Simba, his eyes glowing fiercely, staring with almost hypnotic
+intensity over his master's shoulder, quivered like an eager dog.
+
+"Hah!" he grunted as the loud spat of the bullet followed the rifle's
+crack. "_Na kamata_--he has it!" he added as the wildebeeste plunged into
+full view.
+
+The hunter manipulated the bolt to throw in a new cartridge, but did not
+shift his position. In less remote countries the sportsman, unlimited in
+ammunition but restricted in chances, would probably have pumped in four
+or five shots until the quarry was down. The traveller and Simba watched
+closely, with expert eyes, to determine whether a precious second
+cartridge should be expended.
+
+"Where?" asked the white man briefly.
+
+"Low in the shoulder," replied Simba.
+
+The wildebeeste plunged wildly here and there, kicking, bucking, menacing
+the unseen danger with his horns. For several seconds longer the two
+watched, then rose leisurely to their feet. Simba motioned to the waiting
+safari, who, correctly interpreting the situation, broke into a trot. Both
+Simba and his master knew that had the animal not received a mortal wound
+it would before this have whirled to look back. The fact that it still ran
+proved its extremity. Sure enough, within the hundred yards it suddenly
+plunged forward on its nose, rolled over, and lay still.
+
+The fierce countenance of the gun bearer lit up in triumph. He shifted the
+heavy rifle and reached out to touch the lighter weapon resting again in
+the crook of his master's arm.
+
+"_Nyama Yangu! Nyama Yangu!_" he murmured. That was Simba's name for the
+light rifle that did most of the shooting. The words meant simply "my
+meat." Simba had a name for everything from the sheath knife of his office
+to the white man himself. Indeed Culbertson in the Central countries was
+Culbertson to none. Should you inquire for news of him by that name news
+you could not obtain; but of Bwana Kingozi you might learn from many
+tribes and peoples.
+
+But now the safari, topping the hill, swept down with a rapid fire of
+safari sticks against the loads and a chorus whose single word was
+"_n'yama!_"
+
+Simba was already at the carcass, _Kisu M'kubwa_, his thin-bladed knife,
+in his hand. The men eased their loads to the ground, and stood about with
+eagerly gleaming eyes, as would well-trained dogs in like circumstances.
+Simba briefly indicated the three nearest to act as his assistants. The
+wildebeeste was rapidly skinned and as rapidly dismembered, the meat laid
+aside. Only once did the white man speak or manifest the slightest
+interest.
+
+"_Sarrara indani yangu_--the tenderloin is mine."
+
+The wizened little headman with the umbrella and the _kiboko_, who
+answered to the name of Cazi Moto, stepped forward and took charge of the
+indicated delicacy. Soon all was ready for a resumption of the march.
+Nothing was left of the wildebeeste save the head and the veriest offal.
+The stomach and intestines, even, had been emptied of their contents and
+packed away in the hide.
+
+Already the carrion birds had gathered in incredible numbers. The sky was
+full of them circling; an encompassing ring of them sat a scant fifty
+yards distant, their wings held half out from their bodies, as though they
+felt overheated. And in the low bushes could be discerned the lurking,
+furtive, shadowy jackals.
+
+The men were laughing, their weariness forgotten. Maulo, the camp
+humourist, declaimed loudly at the top of his lungs, mocking the
+marabouts, the buzzards, the vultures great and small, the kites and the
+eagles.
+
+"Go to the lion," he cried, "he kills much, and leaves. Little meat will
+you get here. We keep what we get!"
+
+And the men broke into meaningless but hearty laughter, as though at
+brilliant wit.
+
+But Bwana Kingozi's low voice cut across the merriment.
+
+"_Bandika!_" he commanded.
+
+And immediately Cazi Moto and Simba took up the cry.
+
+"_Bandika! bandika! bandika!_" they vociferated over and over. Cazi Moto
+moved here and there, lively as a cricket, his eyes alert for any
+indication of slackness, his _kiboko_ held threateningly.
+
+But there was no need for the latter. The men willingly enough swung aloft
+their loads, now augmented by the meat, and the little caravan moved on.
+
+Scarcely had Cazi Moto, bringing up the rear, quitted the scene when the
+carrion birds swooped. They fell from the open sky like plummets, their
+wings half folded. When within ten feet of the ground they checked their
+fall with pinion and tail, and the sound of them was like the roar of a
+cataract. Those seated on the ground moved forward in a series of ungainly
+hops, trying for more haste by futile urgings of their wings. Where the
+wildebeeste had fallen was a writhing, flopping, struggling brown mass. In
+an incredibly brief number of seconds it was all over. The birds withdrew.
+Some sat disgruntled and humpbacked in the low trees; some merely hopped
+away a few yards to indulge in gloomy thoughts. A few of the more
+ambitious rose heavily and laboriously with strenuous beating of pinions,
+finally to soar grandly away into the infinities of the African sky. Of
+the wildebeeste remained only a trampled bloody space and bones picked
+clean. The jackals crept forward at last. So brief a time did all this
+occupy that Maulo, looking back, saw them.
+
+"Ho, little dogs!" he cried with one of his great empty laughs; "your
+stomachs will go hollow but you can fill your noses!"
+
+They tramped on steadily toward the low narrow line of green trees, and
+the sun sank toward the hills.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+
+THE CAMP
+
+The game trails converged at a point where the steep, eroded bank had been
+broken down into an approach to a pool. The dust was deep here, and arose
+in a cloud as a little band of zebra scrambled away. The borders of this
+pool were a fascinating palimpsest: the tracks of many sorts of beast had
+been impressed there in the mud. Both Kingozi and Simba examined them with
+an approach to interest, though to an observer the examination would have
+seemed but the most casual of glances. They saw the indications of zebra,
+wildebeeste, hartebeeste, gazelles of various sorts, the deep, round,
+well-like prints of the rhinoceros, and all the other usual inhabitants of
+the veldt. But over these their eyes passed lightly. Only three things
+could here interest these seasoned African travellers. Simba espied one of
+them, and pointed it out, just at the edge of the narrow border of softer
+mud.
+
+"There is the lion," said he. "A big one. He was here this morning. But no
+buffalo, _bwana_; and no elephant."
+
+The water in the pool was muddy and foul. Thousands of animals drank from
+it daily; and after drinking had stood or wallowed in it. The flavour
+would be rich of the barnyard, which even a strong infusion of tea could
+not disguise. _Kingozi_ had often been forced to worse; but here he hoped
+for better.
+
+The safari had dumped down the loads at the top of the bank, and were
+resting in utter relaxation. The march was over, and they waited.
+
+Bwana Kingozi threw off the carefully calculated listless slouch that had
+conserved his strength for an unknown goal. His work was not yet done.
+
+"Simba," he directed, "go that way, down the river[1] and look for another
+pool--of good water. Take the big rifle."
+
+[Footnote 1: Every watercourse with any water at all, even in occasional
+pools, is _m'to_--a river--in Africa.]
+
+"And I to go in the other direction?" asked Cazi Moto.
+
+Bwana Kingozi considered, glancing at the setting sun, and again up the
+dry stream-bed where, as far as the eye could reach, were no more
+indications of water.
+
+"No," he decided. "It is late. Soon the lions will be hunting. I will go."
+
+The men sprawled in abandon. After an interval a shrill whistle sounded
+from the direction in which Bwana Kingozi had disappeared. The men
+stretched and began to rise to their feet slowly. The short rest had
+stiffened them and brought home the weariness to their bones. They
+grumbled and muttered, and only the omnipresence of Cazi Moto and the
+threat of his restless whip roused them to activity. Down the stream they
+limped sullenly.
+
+Kingozi stood waiting near the edge of the bank. The thicket here was very
+dense.
+
+"Water there," he briefly indicated. "The big tent here; the opening in
+that direction. Cook fire over there. Loads here."
+
+The men who had been standing, the burdens still on their heads, moved
+forward. The tent porter--who, by the way, was the strongest and most
+reliable of the men, so that always, even on a straggling march, the tent
+would arrive first--threw it down at the place selected and at once began
+to undo the cords. The bearers of the kitchen, who were also reliable
+travellers, set about the cook camp.
+
+A big Monumwezi unstrapped a canvas chair, unfolded it, and placed it near
+his master. The other loads were arranged here, in a certain long-ordained
+order; the meat piled there. Several men then went to the assistance of
+Mali-ya-bwana, the tent bearer; and the others methodically took up
+various tasks. Some began with their _pangas_ to hew a way to the water
+through the dense thicket that had kept it sweet; others sought firewood;
+still others began to pitch the tiny drill tents--each to accommodate six
+men--in a wide circle of which the pile of loads was the centre. As the
+men fell into the ordered and habitual routine their sullenness and
+weariness vanished.
+
+Kingozi dropped into the canvas chair, fumbled for a pipe, filled and
+lighted it. With a sigh of relief he laid aside his cork helmet. The day
+had not only been a hard one, but an anxious one, for this country was new
+to every member of the little expedition, native guides had been
+impossible to procure, and the chances of water had been those of an arid
+region.
+
+The removal of the helmet for the first tune revealed the man's features.
+A fine brow, upstanding thick and wavy hair, and the clearest of gray eyes
+suddenly took twenty years from the age at first made probable by the
+heavy beard. With the helmet pulled low this was late middle age; now
+bareheaded it was only bearded youth. Nevertheless at the corners of the
+eyes were certain wrinkles, and in the eyes themselves a direct competent
+steadiness that was something apart from the usual acquisition of youth,
+something the result of experience not given to most.
+
+He smoked quietly, his eye wandering from one point to another of the new-
+born camp's activities. One after another the men came to report the
+completion of their tasks.
+
+"_Pita ya maji tayiari_," said Sanguiki coming from the new-made water
+trail.
+
+"_I zuru_," approved Kingozi.
+
+"_Hema tayiari_," reported Simba, reaching his hand for the light rifle.
+
+Kingozi glanced toward the tent and nodded. A licking little fire
+flickered in the cook camp. The tiny porter's tents had completed their
+circle, and in front of each new smoke was beginning to rise. Cazi Moto
+glided up and handed him the _kiboko_, the rhinoceros-hide whip, the
+symbol of authority. Everything was in order.
+
+The white man rose a little stiffly and walked over to the pile of meat.
+For a moment he examined it contemplatively, aroused himself with an
+apparent effort, and began to separate it into four piles. He did not
+handle the meat himself, but silently indicated each portion with his
+_kiboko_, and Simba or Cazi Moto swiftly laid it aside.
+
+"This for the gun-bearer camp," commanded Kingozi, touching with his foot
+the heavy "backstraps" and the liver--the next choicest bits after
+tenderloin. He raised his voice.
+
+"Kavirondo!" he called.
+
+Several tall, well-formed black savages of this tribe arose from one of
+the little fires and approached. The white man indicated one of the piles
+of meat.
+
+"Wakamba!" he summoned; then "Monumwezi"; and finally "Baganda!"
+
+Thus the four tribes represented in his caravan were supplied. The men
+returned to their fires, and began the preparation of their evening meal.
+
+Kingozi turned to his own tent with a sigh of relief. Within it a cot had
+been erected, blankets spread. An officer's tin box stood open at one end.
+On the floor was a portable canvas bath. While the white man was divesting
+himself of his accoutrements, Cazi Moto entered bearing a galvanized pail
+full of hot water which he poured into the tub. He disappeared only to
+return with a pail of cold water to temper the first.
+
+"Bath is ready, _bwana_," said he, and retired, carefully tying the tent
+flaps behind him.
+
+Fifteen minutes later Kingozi emerged. He wore now a suit of pajamas
+tucked into canvas "mosquito boots," with very thin soles. He looked
+scrubbed and clean, the sheen of water still glistening on his thick wavy
+hair.
+
+The canvas camp chair had been placed before two chop boxes piled one atop
+the other to form a crude table on which were laid eating utensils. As
+soon as Cazi Moto saw that his master was ready, he brought the meal. It
+consisted simply of a platter of curry composed of rice and the fresh meat
+that had been so recently killed that it had not time to get tough. This
+was supplemented by bread and tea in a tall enamelware vessel known as a
+_balauri_. From the simplicity of this meal one experienced would have
+deduced--even had he not done so from a dozen other equally significant
+nothings--that this was no sporting excursion, but an expedition grimly in
+earnest about something.
+
+The sun had set, and almost immediately the darkness descended, as though
+the light had been turned off at a switch. The earth shrunk to a pool of
+blackness, and the heavens expanded to a glory of tropical stars. All
+visible nature contracted to the light thrown by the flickering fires
+before the tiny white tents. The tatterdemalion crew had, after the
+curious habit of Africans, cast aside its garments, and sat forth in a
+bronze and savage nakedness. All day long under the blistering sun your
+safari man will wear all that he hath, even unto the heavy overcoat
+discarded by the latest arrival from England's winter; but when the chill
+of evening descends, then he strips happily. The men were fed now, and
+were content. A busy chatter, the crooning of songs, laughter, an
+occasional shout testified to this. A general relaxation took the camp.
+
+The white man finished his meal and lighted his pipe. Even yet his day's
+work was not quite done, and he was unwilling to yield himself to rest
+until all tasks were cleared away.
+
+"Cazi Moto!" he called.
+
+Instantly, it seemed, the headman stood at his elbow.
+
+"To-morrow," said Kingozi deliberately, and paused in decision so long
+that Cazi Moto ventured a "Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"To-morrow we rest here. It will be your _cazi_ (duty) to find news of the
+next water, or to find the water. See if there are people in this country.
+Take one man with you. Let the men rest and eat."
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"Are there sick?"
+
+"Two men."
+
+"Let them come."
+
+Cazi Moto raised his voice.
+
+"_N'gonjwa!_" he summoned them.
+
+Kingozi looked at them in silence for a moment.
+
+"What is the matter with you?" he asked of the first, a hulking, stupid-
+looking Kavirondo with the muscles of a Hercules.
+
+The man replied, addressing Cazi Moto, as is etiquette; and although
+Kingozi understood perfectly, he awaited his headman's repetition of the
+speech as though the Kavirondo had spoken a strange language.
+
+"Fever, eh?" commented Kingozi aloud to himself, for the first time
+speaking his own tongue. "We'll soon see. Cazi Moto," he instructed in
+Swahili, "the medicine."
+
+He thrust a clinical thermometer beneath the Kavirondo's tongue, glancing
+at a wrist watch as he did so.
+
+"Cazi Moto," he said calmly after three minutes, "this man is a liar. He
+is not sick; he merely wants to get out of carrying a load."
+
+The Kavirondo, his eyes rolling, shot forth a torrent of language.
+
+"He says," Cazi Moto summarized all this, "that he was very sick, but that
+this medicine"--indicating the thermometer--"cured him."
+
+"He lies again," said Kingozi. "This is not medicine, but magic that tells
+me when a man has uttered lies. This man must beware or he will get
+_kiboko_."
+
+The Kavirondo scuttled away, and Kingozi gave his attention to the second
+patient. This man had an infected leg that required some minor surgery.
+When the job was over and Kingozi had washed his hands, he relighted his
+pipe and sat back in his chair with a sigh of content. The immediate
+foreground sank below his consciousness. He stared across the flickering
+fires at the velvet blackness; listened across the intimate, idle noise of
+the camp to the voice of the veldt.
+
+For with the fall of darkness and the larger silence of darkness, the
+veldt awoke. Animals that had dozed through the hot hours and grazed
+through the cooler hours in somnolent content now quivered alert. There
+were runnings here and there, the stamp of hoofs, sharp snortings as taut
+nerves stretched. Zebras uttered the absurd small-dog barks peculiar to
+them; ostriches boomed; jackals yapped; unknown birds uttered hasty wild
+calls. Numerous hyenas, near and far away, moaned like lost souls. Kingozi
+listened as to the voice of an old acquaintance telling familiar things;
+the men chattered on, their whole attention within the globe of light from
+their fires.
+
+But suddenly the noise stopped as though it had been cut by a knife. Total
+silence fell on the little encampment. The men, their various actions
+suspended, listened intently. From far away, apparently, a low, vibrating
+rumble stole out of the night's immensity. It rose and seemed to draw
+near, growing hollow and great, until the very ground seemed to tremble as
+though a heavy train were passing, or the lower notes of a great organ had
+been played in a little church. And then it died down, and receded to the
+great distance again, and was ended by three low, grunting coughs.
+
+The veldt was silent. The zebra barkings were still; the night birds had
+hushed; the hyenas and jackals and all the other night creatures down--it
+almost seemed--to the very insects had ceased their calls and cries and
+chirpings. One might imagine every living creature rigid, alert,
+listening, as were these men about the little fires.
+
+The tension relaxed. The men dropped more fuel on the fires, coaxing the
+flame brighter. A whispering comment rose from group to group.
+
+"_Simba! simba! simba!_" they hissed one to the other.
+
+A lion had roared!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+
+THE RHINOCEROS
+
+In the first gray dusk Simba and Cazi Moto slipped away on the errands
+appointed for them--to find people and to find water, if possible. The
+cook camp, too, was afoot, dark figures passing and repassing before a
+fire. But the rest of the men slept heavily, seizing the unwonted chance.
+
+When the first rays of the sun struck the fly of the small green master's-
+tent Kingozi appeared, demanding water wherewith to wash. At the sound of
+his voice men stirred sleepily, sat up, poked the remains of their tiny
+fires. As though through an open tap the freshness of night-time drained
+away. The hot, searching, stifling African day took possession of the
+world.
+
+After breakfast Kingozi looked about him for shelter. A gorgeous, red-
+flowering vine had smothered one of the flat-topped thorn trees in its
+luxuriance. The growths of successive years had overlaid each other.
+Kingozi called two men with _pangas_ who speedily cut out the centre,
+leaving a little round green room in the heart of the shadow. Thither
+Kingozi caused to be conveyed his chop-box table, his canvas chair, and
+his tin box; and there he spent the entire morning writing in a blank book
+and carefully drawing from field notes in a pocketbook a sketch map of the
+country he had traversed. At noon he ate a light meal of bread, plain rice
+with sugar, and a _balauri_ of tea. Then for a time he slept beneath the
+mosquito bar in his tent.
+
+At this hour of fiercest sun the whole world slept with him. From the
+baked earth rose heat waves almost as tangible as gauze veils. Objects at
+a greater distance than a hundred yards took on strange distortions. The
+thorn trees shot up to great heights; animals stood on stilts; the tops of
+the hills were flattened, and from their summits often reached out into
+space long streamers. Sometimes these latter joined across wide intervals,
+creating an illusion of natural bridges or lofty flat-topped cliffs with
+holes clear through them to the open sky beyond. All these things
+shimmered and flickered and wavered in the mirage of noon. Only the sun
+itself stared clear and unchanging.
+
+At about two o'clock Kingozi awoke and raised his voice. Mali-ya-bwana,
+next in command after Cazi Moto and Simba, answered.
+
+"Get the big gun," he was told, "and the water bottles."
+
+Mali-ya-bwana was not a professed gun bearer, but he could load, and
+Kingozi believed him staunch. Therefore, often, in absence of Simba, the
+big Baganda had been pressed into this service.
+
+The blasting heat was fiercest at this hour. The air was saturated by it
+just as water may hold a chemical in solution. Every little while a wave
+would beat against the cheek as though a furnace door had been opened.
+Nevertheless Kingozi knew that this was also the hour when the sun's power
+begins to decline; when the vertical rays begin to give place. For it is
+not heat that kills, but the actinic power of rays unfiltered by a long
+slant through the earth's atmosphere.
+
+The two men tramped methodically along, paying little attention to their
+surroundings. Game dozed everywhere beneath the scanty shade, sometimes
+singly, sometimes in twos or threes, sometimes in herds. Motionless they
+stood; and often, were it not for the switch of a tail, they would have
+remained unobserved. Even the sentinel hartebeestes, posted atop high ant
+hills on the outskirts of the herds, seemed half asleep. Nevertheless they
+were awake enough for the job, as was evidenced when the two human figures
+came too near. Then a snort brought every creature to its feet, staring.
+
+The objective of the men seemed to be a rise of land which the lessening
+mirage now permitted to appear as a small kopje, a solitary hill with
+rocky outcrops. Toward this they plodded methodically: Kingozi slouching
+ahead, Mali-ya-bwana close at his heels, very proud of his temporary
+promotion from the ranks. Suddenly he snapped his fingers. At the signal
+Kingozi stopped and looked back inquiringly over his shoulder.
+
+Mali-ya-bwana was pointing cautiously to a low red clay ant hill
+immediately in their path and about thirty yards ahead. To the casual
+glance it looked no different from any of the hundreds of others of like
+size and colour everywhere to be seen. Kingozi's attention, however, now
+narrowed to a smaller circle than the casual. It did not need Mali-ya-
+bwana's whispered "_faru_" (rhinoceros) to identify the mound.
+
+Cautiously the two men began to back away. When they had receded some
+twenty yards, however, the huge beast leaped to its feet. The rapidity of
+its movements was extraordinary. There intervened none of the slow and
+clumsy upheaval one would naturally expect from an animal of so massive a
+body and such short, thick legs. One moment it slumbered, the next it was
+afoot, warned by some slight sound or jar of the earth or--as some
+maintain--by a telepathic sense of danger. Certainly, as far as they knew,
+neither Kingozi nor Mali-ya-bwana had disturbed a pebble or broken a twig.
+
+The rhinoceros faced them, snorting loudly. The sound was exactly that of
+steam roaring from a locomotive's safety valve. Strangely enough, in spite
+of the massive structure and the loose, thick skin of the beast, it
+conveyed an impression of taut, nervous muscles. Though it faced directly
+toward them, the men knew that they were as yet unseen. The rhinoceros'
+eyesight is very short, or very circumscribed, or both; and only objects
+in motion and comparatively close enter its range of vision. Kingozi and
+his man held themselves rigidly immovable, waiting for what would happen.
+The rhinoceros, too, held himself rigidly immovable, his nostrils dilating
+between snorts, his ears turning; for his senses of smell and hearing made
+up in their keenness for the defects of his eyes.
+
+Suddenly, without the slightest warning, he stuck his tail perpendicular
+and plunged forward at a clumsy-looking but exceedingly swift gallop.
+
+An inexperienced man would have considered himself the object of a
+deliberate "charge"; but an old African traveller, such as Kingozi, knew
+this for a blind rush in the direction toward which the animal happened to
+be headed. The rhinoceros, alarmed by the first intimation of danger,
+unable to get further news from its keener senses, had been seized by a
+panic. Were nothing to deflect him from the straight line, he would
+continue ahead on it until the panic had run out.
+
+But the two men were exactly in that line!
+
+Kingozi hitched his light rifle forward imperceptibly. Although this was
+at present only a blind rush, should the rhinoceros catch sight of them he
+would fight; and within twenty-five yards or so his eyesight would be
+quite good enough. As the beast did not slow up in the first ten yards,
+but rather settled into its stride, Kingozi took rapid aim and fired.
+
+His intention was neither to kill nor to cripple his antagonist. If that
+had been the case, he would have used the heavy double rifle that Mali-ya-
+bwana held ready near his elbow. The bullet inflicted a slight flesh wound
+in the outer surface of the beast's left shoulder. Kingozi instantly
+passed the light rifle back with his right hand, at the same motion
+seizing the double rifle with his left.
+
+But at the _spat_ of the bullet the rhino veered toward the direction from
+which it seemed to his stupid brain the hurt had come. Tail erect, he
+thundered away down the slope.
+
+For a hundred yards he careered full speed, then slowed to a trot, finally
+stopped, whirled, and faced to a new direction. The sound of his blowing
+came clearly across the intervening distance.
+
+A low bush grew near. The rhino attacked this savagely, horning it,
+trampling it down. The dust arose in clouds. Then the huge brute trotted
+slowly away, still snorting angrily, pausing to butt violently the larger
+trees, or to tear into shreds some bush or ant hill that loomed
+dangerously in the primeval fogs of his brain.
+
+"Sorry, old chap," commented Kingozi in his own language, "but you're none
+the worse. Only I'm afraid your naturally sweet temper is spoiled for to-
+day, at least."
+
+He turned to exchange guns with Mali-ya-bwana.
+
+"_N'dio, bwana_," assented the latter to a speech of which he understood
+not one word. Mali-ya-bwana was secretly a little proud of himself for
+having stuck like a gun bearer, instead of shinning up a thorn tree like a
+porter.
+
+Kingozi slipped a cartridge into the rifle, and the two resumed their walk
+toward the kopje.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+
+THE STRANGER
+
+By the time the two men had gained the top of the hill the worst heat of
+the day had passed. Kingozi seated himself on a flat rock and at once
+began to take sights through a prismatic compass, entering the
+observations in a pocketbook. Mali-ya-bwana, bolt upright, stared out over
+the thinly wooded plain below. He reported the result of his scouting in a
+low voice, to which the white man paid no attention whatever.
+
+"_Twiga[2] bwana_," he said, and then, as his eye caught the flash of many
+sing-sing horns, "_kuru, mingi_." Thus he named over the different
+animals--the topi, the red hartebeeste, the eland, zebra, some warthogs,
+and many others. The beasts were anticipating the cool of the afternoon,
+and were grazing slowly out from beneath the trees, scattering abroad over
+the landscape.
+
+[Footnote 2: Giraffe.]
+
+From even this slight elevation the outlook extended. Isolated mountain
+ranges showed loftier; the tops of unguessed hills peeped above the curve
+of the earth; the clear line of the horizon had receded to the outer
+confines of terrestrial space, but even then not far enough to touch the
+cup of the sky. Elsewhere the heavens meet the horizon: in Africa they lie
+beyond it, so that when the round, fleecy clouds of the Little Rains sail
+down the wind there is always a fleet of them beyond the earth
+disappearing into the immensities of the infinite. There is space in
+African skies beyond the experience of those who have dwelt only in other
+lands. They dwarf the earth; and the plains and mountains, lying in weeks'
+journeys spread before the eye, dwarf all living things, so that at the
+last the man of imagination here becomes a humble creature.
+
+For an hour the two remained on top the kopje. The details of the unknown
+country ahead, toward which Kingozi gave his attention, were simple. From
+the green line of the watercourse, near which the camp showed white and
+tiny, the veldt swept away for miles almost unbroken. Here and there were
+tiny parklike openings of clear grass; here and there more kopjes standing
+isolated and alone, like fortresses. Far down over the edge of the world
+showed dim and blue the tops of a short range of mountains. Vainly did
+Kingozi sweep his glasses over the landscape in hope of another line of
+green. No watercourse was visible. On the other hand, the scattered growth
+of thorn trees showed no signs of thickening to the dense spiky jungle
+that is one of the terrors of African travel. There might be a watercourse
+hidden in the folds of the earth; there might be a rainwater "tank," or a
+spring, on any of the kopjes. Simba and Cazi Moto were both experienced,
+and capable of a long round trip. The problem of days' journeys was not
+pressing at this moment. Kingozi noted the compass bearings of all the
+kopjes; took back sights in the direction from which he had come; closed
+his compass; and began idly to sweep the country with his glasses. In an
+unwonted mood of expansion he turned to Mali-ya-bwana.
+
+"We go there," he told the porter, indicating the blue mountain-tops.
+
+"It is far," Mali-ya-bwana replied.
+
+Kingozi continued to look through his glasses. Suddenly he stopped them on
+an open plain three or four miles back in the direction from which he had
+come the day before. Mali-ya-bwana followed his gaze.
+
+"A safari, _bwana_," he observed, unmoved. "A very large safari," he
+amended, after a moment.
+
+Through his prismatic glasses Kingozi could see every detail plainly.
+After his fashion of talking aloud, he reported what he saw, partly to the
+black man at his side, but mostly to himself.
+
+"_Askaris_,"[3] he said, "six of them. The man rides in a _machele_[4]--he
+is either a German or a Portuguese; only those people use _macheles_--
+unless he is sick! Many porters--four are no more white men. More
+_askaris!_" He smiled a little contemptuously under his beard. "This is a
+great safari, Mali-ya-bwana. Four tin boxes and twelve _askaris_ to guard
+them; and eighty or more porters; and sixteen men just to carry the
+_machele!_ This must be a _Bwana M' Kubwa_."
+
+[Footnote 3: Native troops, armed with Snider muskets.]
+
+[Footnote 4: A hammock slung on a long pole, and carried by four men at
+each end.]
+
+"That is what Kavirondos might think," replied Mali-ya-bwana calmly.
+
+Kingozi looked up at him with a new curiosity.
+
+"But not yourself?"
+
+"A man who is a _Bwana M'kubwa_ does not have to be carried. He does not
+need _askaris_ to guard him in this country. And where can he get _potio_
+for so many?"
+
+"Hullo!" cried Kingozi, surprised. "This is not porter's talk; this is
+headman's talk!"
+
+"In my own country I am headman of many people," replied Mali-ya-bwana
+with a flash of pride.
+
+"Yet you carry my tent load."
+
+But Mali-ya-bwana made no reply, fixing his fierce eyes on the distant
+crawling safari.
+
+"It must be a sportsman's safari," said Kingozi, this time to himself,
+"though what a sportsman wants in this back-of-beyond is a fair conundrum.
+Probably one of these chappies with more money than sense: wants to go
+somewhere nobody else has been, and can't go there without his caviare and
+his changes of clothes, and about eight guns--not to speak of a Complete
+Sportsman's Outfit as advertised exclusively by some Cockney Tom Fool on
+Haymarket."
+
+He contemplated a problem frowningly. "Whoever it is will be a nuisance--a
+_damn_ nuisance!" he concluded.
+
+"_N'dio, bwana_," came Mali-ya-bwana's cheerful response to this speech in
+a language strange to him.
+
+"You have asked a true question," Kingozi shifted to Swahili. "Where is
+_potio_ to be had for so large a safari? Trouble--much trouble!" He arose
+from the flat stone. "We will go and talk with this safari."
+
+At an angle calculated to intercept the caravan, Kingozi set off down the
+hill.
+
+After twenty minutes' brisk walk it became evident that they were
+approaching the route of march. Animals fled past them in increasing
+numbers, some headlong, others at a dignified and leisurely gait, as
+though performing a duty. The confused noise of many people became audible
+and the tapping of safari sticks against the loads.
+
+At the edge of a tiny opening Kingozi, concealed behind a bush, reviewed
+the new arrivals at close range, estimating each element on which a
+judgment could be based. As usual, he thought aloud, muttering his
+speculations sometimes in his own language, sometimes in the equally
+familiar Swahili.
+
+"_Askaris_ not _pukha[5] askaris_ of the government. Those are not Sniders
+they carry--don't know that kind of musket. Those boxes are not the usual
+type--wonder where they were bought!"
+
+[Footnote 5: Genuine--regular.]
+
+The hammock came into view, swinging on the long pole. It was borne by
+four men at each end--experienced _machele_ carriers who would keep step
+with a gentle gliding. Eight more walked alongside as relay. They would
+change places so skilfully that the occupant of the hammock could not have
+told when the shift took place. Alongside walked a tall, bareheaded, very
+black man. Kingozi's experienced eye was caught by differences.
+
+"Of what tribe is that man?" he asked.
+
+But Mali-ya-bwana was also puzzled.
+
+"I do not know, bwana. He is a _shenzi_[6]."
+
+[Footnote 6: Wild Man.]
+
+The unknown was very tall, very straight, most well formed. But his face
+was extraordinarily ugly. His flat, wide nose, thick lips, and small
+yellow eyes were set off by an upstanding mop of hair. His expression was
+of extraordinary fierceness. He walked with a free and independent stride,
+and carried a rifle.
+
+"He is not of this country. He is from the west coast, or perhaps Nubia or
+the Sudan," was Kingozi's conclusion.
+
+"Many of these people are _shenzis_," Mali-ya-bwana pursued his own
+thought.
+
+"That is true," Kingozi acknowledged. "If this is a sportsman, from what
+part did he hail to have got together this lot! We will see."
+
+As the swinging hammock came opposite his concealment, Kingozi stepped
+forward.
+
+Every one in sight looked in his direction, but none showed any
+astonishment at this apparition out of the wilderness. The sophisticated
+African has ceased to be surprised at anything a white man may do. If he
+can make fire by rubbing a tiny stick _once_, why should he not do
+anything under heaven he wants to? A locomotive, an automobile, a flying
+machine are miracles, but no less--and no greater--than ordinary matches.
+Once admit the ability to transcend natural laws, once admit the
+possibility of miracles, why be surprised at anything? If a white man
+chose to appear thus in an unknown country, why not? If he chose again to
+vanish into thin air, again why not? Only the fierce-looking savage
+carrying the rifle rolled his eyes uneasily.
+
+But at this precise moment a diversion on the opposite side of the line
+attracted attention enough. A galvanic shiver ran down the string of
+porters, succeeded at once by a crashing of loads cast hastily to the
+ground. With unanimity the bearers swarmed across the little open space
+toward and to either side of Kingozi and his attendant. Reaching the
+fringe of flat-topped trees they sprang into the low branches, heedless of
+the long thorns, and scrambled aloft until at least partially concealed. A
+few of the bolder members lurked behind the trunks, but held themselves
+ready for an instant ascent. From a hundred throats arose a confused cry
+of "_Faru! Faru!_"
+
+Not joining this first flight remained only the _askaris_, the eight men
+bearing the hammock, and the tall Nubian. Of these the _askaris_ were far
+ahead and to the rear; the hammock bearers were decidedly panicky; only
+the Nubian seemed cool and self-possessed. The occupant of the hammock
+thrust out a foot to descend.
+
+But before this could be accomplished a rhinoceros burst fully into view
+across the open space. His tail was up, he was snorting loudly, and he
+headed straight for the hammock. That was large, moving, and directly in
+his line of vision. The sight was too much for the bearers. With a howl
+they dropped the pole and streaked it to join their brothers in the thorn
+trees. The pole and the canopy of the hammock tangled inextricably its
+occupant.
+
+A ragged volley from the muskets of the _askaris_ merely seemed to add to
+the confusion. With great coolness the Nubian discharged first one barrel
+then the other of the heavy rifle he carried. The recoil, catching him in
+a bad posture, knocked him backward. The bullets kicked up a tremendous
+dust part way between himself and the charging beast. He was now without
+defence. Nevertheless he stepped in front of the entangled struggling
+figure on the ground.
+
+Before the appearance of the rhinoceros into the open Kingozi had
+exchanged rifles, and stood at the ready. He was a good hundred yards from
+the hammock. Even in the rush of events he, characteristically, found time
+for comments, although they did not in the least interfere with his rapid
+movements.
+
+"Hope they don't wing one another," he remarked of the _askaris'_ volley.
+"Rotten shooting! rotten!" as the Nubian stood his ground. At the same
+time he pushed forward the safety catch and threw the heavy rifle to his
+shoulder.
+
+A charging rhinoceros--or one rushing near enough a man's direction to be
+dangerous--is not a difficult problem. Given nerve enough, and barring
+accidents--which might happen in a London flat--a man is in no danger. If
+he opens fire too soon, indeed, he is likely to empty his weapon without
+inflicting a stopping wound, but if he will wait until the beast is within
+twenty yards or so, the affair is certain. For this reason: just before a
+rhinoceros closes, he drops his head low in order to bring his long horn
+into action. If the hunter fires then, over the horn, he will strike the
+beast's backbone. The shot can hardly be missed, for the range is very
+close and the outstanding flanges of the vertebrae make a large mark. The
+formidable animal goes down like a stone. In country open enough to
+preclude the deadly close-at-hand surprise rush, where one has no chance
+to use his weapon at all, the rhinoceros is not dangerous to one who knows
+his business.
+
+But in this case Kingozi was nearer a hundred and twenty than twenty yards
+from the animal. The mark to be hit was now very small; and it was moving.
+In addition the heavy double rifle, while accurate enough at that range,
+was not, owing to its weight and terrific recoil, as certain as a lighter
+rifle. These things Kingozi knew perfectly. The muscles under his beard
+tightened; his gray eyes widened into a glare like that of Simba in sight
+of game.
+
+Just before the rhinoceros dropped his head for the toss, the Nubian
+stepped directly into the line of fire.
+
+"_Lala!_--lie down!" Kingozi shouted.
+
+Somehow the whip-snap of authority in his voice reached the Nubian's
+consciousness. He dropped flat, and almost instantly the white man fired.
+
+At the roar of the great gun the rhinoceros collapsed in mid career, going
+down, as an animal always does under a successful spine shot, completely,
+without a struggle or even a quiver.
+
+"That was well shot, master," said Mali-ya-bwana.
+
+Kingozi reloaded the rifle and started forward. At the same time the
+occupant of the hammock finally emerged from the tangle and came erect.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+
+THE ENCOUNTER
+
+Kingozi saw a tall figure without a coat, dressed in brown shirt, riding
+breeches, and puttees. The Nubian had retrieved a spilled sun helmet even
+before the stranger had scrambled erect, so the head and face were
+invisible. Kingozi's countenance did not change, but a faint contempt
+appeared in his eyes. The first impression conveyed by the numbers of the
+tin boxes and their bearers and escort had been deepened. Why? Because the
+riding breeches were of that exaggerated cut sometimes actually to be seen
+outside tailor's advertisements. They were gathered trimly around an
+effeminately slender waist, and then ballooned out to an absurd width,
+only to contract again skin tight around the knees.
+
+"_M'buzi!_" grunted Kingozi, applying to the stranger the superlative of
+Swahili contempt. He did not know he spoke aloud; for it is not well for
+one white man to criticise another to a native. But Mali-ya-bwana replied.
+
+"_Bibi_," he corrected.
+
+Kingozi stared. "By Jove, you're right!" he exclaimed in English. "It _is_
+a woman!" He burst into an unexpected laugh. "It isn't balloon breeches;
+it's _hips!_" he cried. This correction seemed to him singularly humorous.
+He approached her, laughing.
+
+It was evidently an angry woman, to judge by her gestures and the
+deprecating attitude of the Nubian. Kingozi surmised that she probably did
+not fancy being dumped down incontinently before an angry rhinoceros.
+After a moment, however, her attitude lost its rigidity, she gestured
+toward the dead monster, evidently commending the savage. He shook his
+head and motioned in Kingozi's direction. The woman turned, showing an
+astonished face.
+
+Kingozi was now close up. He saw before him a personality. Physically she
+was beautiful or not, according as one accepted conventional standards.
+The dress she wore revealed fully the fact that she had a tall, well-knit
+figure of long, full curves; a thoroughly feminine figure in conformation,
+and yet one that looked competent to transcend the usual feminine
+incompetencies. So far she measured to a high but customary standard. But
+her face was as exotic as an orchid. It was long, narrow, and pale with
+three accents to redeem it from what that ordinarily implies--lips of a
+brilliant carmine, eyes of a deep sea-green, and eyebrows high, arched,
+clean cut, narrow as though drawn by a camel's-hair brush. Indeed, in
+civilization no one would have believed them to have been otherwise
+produced. In spite of the awkward sun helmet she carried her head
+imperiously.
+
+"If you _will_ ride in a hammock, you ought to teach your men to shoot,"
+was Kingozi's greeting. "It's absurd to go barging through a rhino country
+like this. You look strong and healthy. Why don't you walk?"
+
+Her crest reared and her nostrils expanded haughtily. For a half-minute
+she stared at him, her sea-green eyes darkening to greater depths. This
+did not disturb Kingozi in the least: indeed he did not see it. His eyes
+were taking in the surroundings.
+
+The dead rhinoceros lay a scant fifteen paces distant; loads were
+scattered everywhere; the _askaris_, their ancient muskets reloaded, had
+drawn near in curiosity. From the thorn trees across the tiny grass
+opening porters were descending, very gingerly, and with lamentations. It
+is comparatively easy to ascend a thorn tree with the fear of death
+snapping at your heels: to descend in cold blood is another matter.
+
+"Why don't you do your work!" he addressed the soldiers. "Do you want to
+catch _kiboko_?"
+
+The startled _askaris_ scuttled away about their business, which was, at
+this moment, to herd and hustle the reluctant porters back to their job.
+Kingozi, his head and jaw thrust forward, stared after them, his eyes--
+indeed, his whole personality--projecting aggressive force. The men
+hurried to their positions, their loud laughter stilled, glancing
+fearfully and furtively over their shoulders, whipped by the baleful glare
+with which Kingozi silently battered them.
+
+[Illustration: "'If you _will_ ride in a hammock, you ought to teach your
+men to shoot,' was Kingozi's greeting"]
+
+Only when the last man had picked up his load did Kingozi turn again to
+the woman. Although her bosom still heaved with emotion, it was a
+suppressed emotion. He met a face slightly and inscrutably smiling.
+
+"You take it upon yourself to manage my safari?" she said. "You think I
+cannot manage my men? It is kind of you."
+
+Her English was faultless, but some slight unusual spacing of the words,
+some ultra-clarity of pronunciation, rather than a recognizable accent,
+made evident that the language was not her own.
+
+"Your _askaris_ are slack," said Kingozi briefly.
+
+"And how of these?" she demanded imperiously, sweeping with an almost
+theatrical gesture the miserable-looking group of hammock bearers.
+
+"They are at fault," replied Kingozi indifferently, "but after all they
+are common porters. You can't expect gun-bearer service or _askari_
+service from common porters, now can you?"
+
+He looked at her directly, his clear, steady eyes conveying nothing but a
+mild interest in the obvious. In contrast to his detached almost
+indifferent calm, the woman was an embodiment of emotions. Head erect, red
+lips compressed, breast heaving, she surveyed him through narrowed lids.
+
+"So?" she contented herself with saying.
+
+"It's the nature of the beast to run crazy," pursued Kingozi tranquilly.
+"You really can't blame them."
+
+"Then am I to be thrown down, like a sack, when it pleases them to run?"
+she demanded tensely. "Really, you are incredible."
+
+"I should expect it. The real point is that you have no business to ride
+in a hammock through a rhino country."
+
+The woman's control slipped a very little.
+
+"Who are you to teach me my business?"
+
+For the first time Kingozi's careless, candid stare narrowed to a focus.
+
+"You have not told me what your business is," he replied with an edge of
+intention in his tones. Their glances crossed like rapiers for the flash
+of an instant.
+
+She turned to the hammock bearers.
+
+"Lie down!" she commanded. Then to the impassive Nubian, "The _kiboko!_ I
+suppose," she observed politely to Kingozi, "that you will admit these men
+should be punished, and that you will permit me to do so?"
+
+"Surely they should be punished; that goes without saying."
+
+"Give them thirty apiece," she ordered the Nubian.
+
+"That is too many," interposed Kingozi. "Six is a great plenty for such
+people. It is their nature to run away."
+
+"Thirty," she repeated to the Nubian, without a glance in the white man's
+direction.
+
+The huge negro produced the rhinoceros-hide whip, and went to his task. To
+lay thirty lashes on sixteen backs and to do justice to the occasion is a
+great task. The Nubian's face streamed sweat when he had finished. The
+bearers, who had taken the punishment in silence, arose, saluted, and
+begun to skylark among themselves, which was their way of working off
+emotion.
+
+"_Askaris!_" summoned the woman.
+
+They came trotting.
+
+"Lay down your guns! Lie down!"
+
+A mild wonder appeared in Kingozi's gray eyes.
+
+"Do you _kiboko_ your _askaris?_" he asked.
+
+She jerked her head in his direction.
+
+"Do you presume to question my actions?"
+
+"By no means; I am interested in methods."
+
+She paid him no more attention. Kingozi waited patiently until this second
+bout of punishment was over. The _askaris_ lay quietly face down until
+their mistress gave the word, then leaped to their feet, saluted smartly,
+seized their guns, and marched jauntily to their appointed positions. The
+woman watched them for a moment, and turned back to Kingozi.
+
+Her mood had completely changed. The orgy of punishment had cleared away
+the nervous effects of the fright she had undergone.
+
+"So; that is done," she said. "I have travelled much in Africa. I what you
+call know my way about. See how my men fall into line. It will be so at
+camp. _Presto!_ Quick! The tents will be up, the fires made."
+
+Her lips smiled at him, but her sea-green eyes remained steady and
+inscrutable.
+
+"They seem smart enough," acknowledged Kingozi without interest. "Have you
+ever tried them out?"
+
+"Tried them out?" she repeated. "I do not understand."
+
+"You never know what hold you really have until you get in a tight place."
+
+"And if I get in a 'tight place,'" she rejoined haughtily, "I shall get
+out again--without help from negroes--or anybody."
+
+"Quite so," conceded Kingozi equably. His attitude and the tone of his
+voice were indifferent, but the merest flicker of the tail of his eye
+touched the dead rhino. His expression remained quite bland. She saw this.
+The pallor of her cheek did not warm, but her strangely expressive eyes
+changed.
+
+"_Bandika!_" she cried sharply. The men began to take up their loads.
+
+"I will wish you a good afternoon," observed Kingozi as though taking his
+leave from an afternoon tea. "By the way, do you happen to care for
+information about the next water, or do you know all that?" "Thank you, I
+know all that," she replied curtly.
+
+The _askaris_ began to shout the order for the advance, "_Nenda! nenda!_"
+the men to swing forward. Kingozi stared after them, watching with a
+professional eye the way they walked, the make-up of their loads, the
+nature of their equipment; marking the lame ones, or the weak ones, or the
+ones recently sick. His eye fell on the figure of the strange woman. She
+was striding along easily, the hammock deserted, with a free swing of the
+hips, an easy, slouch of the relaxed knees that indicated the accustomed
+walker. Kingozi smiled.
+
+"'I know all that,'" he repeated. "Now I wonder if you do, or if some idea
+of silly pride makes you say so." He was talking aloud, in English. Mali-
+ya-bwana stood attentive, waiting for something he could understand.
+Kingozi's eye fell on the dead rhinoceros.
+
+"There is good meat; tell the men they can come out to get what they wish
+of it. There will be lions here to-night."
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"If she 'knew all that,'" observed Kingozi, "she knew more than I did.
+Small chance. Still, if she has information or guides, she may know the
+next water. But how? Why?"
+
+He shifted his rifle to the crook of his arm.
+
+"That _bibi_ is a great _memsahib_," he told Mali-ya-bwana. "And this
+evening we will go to see her. Be you ready to go also."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+
+THE LEOPARD WOMAN
+
+In the early darkness of equatorial Africa Kingozi, accompanied by Mali-
+ya-bwana with a lantern, crossed over to the other camp. Simba and Cazi
+Moto had come in almost at dusk; but they were very tired, and Kingozi
+considered it advisable to let them rest. They had covered probably
+thirty-five miles. Cazi Moto had found no water, and no traces of water.
+Furthermore, the game had thinned and disappeared. Only old tracks, old
+trails, old signs indicated that after the Big Rains the country might be
+habitable for the beasts. But Simba had discovered a concealed "tank" in a
+kopje. He had worked his way to it by "lining" the straight swift flight
+of green pigeons, as a bee hunter on the plains used to line the flight of
+bees. The tank proved to be a deep, hidden recess far back under
+overhanging rocks, at once concealed and protected from the sun and
+animals. Its water was sweet and abundant.
+
+"No one has used that water. It is an unknown water," concluded Simba.
+
+"How far?"
+
+"Four hours."
+
+"_Vema_." Kingozi bestowed on him the word of highest praise.
+
+The stranger woman's camp was not far away; in fact, but just across the
+little dry stream-bed. Her safari was using the same pool with Kingozi's.
+
+At the edge of the camp he paused to take in its disposition. From one
+detail to another his eye wandered, and in it dawned a growing approval.
+Your native, left to his own devices, pitches his little tents haphazard
+here, there, and everywhere, according as his fancy turns to this or that
+bush, thicket, or clump of grass. Such a camp straggles abominably. But
+here was no such confusion. Back from the water-hole a hundred yards, atop
+a slight rise, and under the thickest of the trees, stood a large green
+tent with a projecting fly. A huge pile of firewood had been dumped down
+in front of it, and at that very moment one of the _askaris_, kneeling,
+was kindling a fire. Behind the big tent, and at some remove, gleamed the
+circle of porters' tents each with its little blaze. Loads were piled
+neatly, covered with a tarpaulin, and the pile guarded by an _askari_.
+
+Kingozi strode across the intervening space.
+
+Before the big tent a table had been placed, and beside the table a
+reclining canvas chair of the folding variety. On a spread of figured blue
+cloth stood a bottle of lime juice, a sparklets, and an enamelware bowl
+containing flowers. The strange woman was stretched luxuriously in the
+chair smoking a cigarette.
+
+She wore a short-sleeved lilac tea gown of thin silk, lilac silk
+stockings, and high-heeled slippers. Her hair fell in two long braids over
+her shoulders and between her breasts, which the thin silk defined. Her
+figure in the long chair fell into sinuous, graceful, relaxed lines. As he
+approached she looked at him over the glowing cigarette; and her eyes
+seemed to nicker with a strange restlessness. This contrast--of the
+restless eyes and the relaxed, graceful body--reminded Kingozi of
+something. His mind groped for a moment; then he had it.
+
+"_Bibi ya chui!_" he said, half to himself, half to his companion, "The
+Leopard Woman!"
+
+And, parenthetically, from that moment _Bibi-ya-chui_--the Leopard Woman--
+was the name by which she was known among the children of the sun.
+
+She did not greet him in any way, but turned her head to address commands.
+
+"Bring a chair for the _bwana_; bring cigarettes; bring _balauri--
+lime juice_----"
+
+Kingozi found himself established comfortably.
+
+She moved her whole body slightly sidewise, the better to face him. The
+soft silk fell in new lines about her, defining new curves. Her red lips
+smiled softly, and her eyes were dark and inscrutable.
+
+"I was what you call horrid to-day," she said. "It was not me: it was the
+frightenedness from the rhinoceros. I was very much frightened, so I had
+the porters beaten. That was horrid, was it not? Do you understand it? I
+suppose not. Men have no nerves, like women. They are brave always. I have
+not said what I feel. I have heard of you--the most wonderful shot in
+Central Africa. I believe it--now."
+
+Kingozi's eyes were lingering on her silk-clad form, the peep of ankles
+below her robe. She observed him with slanted eyes, and a little breath of
+satisfaction raised her bosom. Abruptly he spoke.
+
+"Aren't you afraid of fever mosquitoes in that rig?" said he.
+
+Her body stirred convulsively, and her finely pencilled eyebrows, with
+their perpetual air of surprise, moved with impatience; but her voice
+answered him equably:
+
+"My friend, at the close of the hard day I must have my comfort. There can
+be no fever here, for there are no people here. When in the fever country
+I have my 'rig'"--subtly she shaded the word--"just the same. But I have a
+net--a big net--like a tent beneath which I sit. Does that satisfy you?"
+
+She spoke with the obvious painstaking patience that one uses to instruct
+a child, but with a veiled irony meant for an older intelligence.
+
+Kingozi laughed.
+
+"I do appear to catechize you, don't I? But I am interested. It is
+difficult to realize that a woman alone can understand this kind of
+travel."
+
+He had thrown off his guarded abstraction, and smiled across at her as
+frankly as a boy. The gravity of his face broke into wrinkles of laughter;
+his steady eyes twinkled; his smile showed strong white teeth. In spite of
+his bushy beard he looked a boy. The woman stared at him, her cigarette
+suspended.
+
+"You have instructed me about my camp; you have instructed me about my
+men; you have instructed me about my marching; you have even instructed me
+about my clothes." She tallied the counts on her slender fingers. "Now I
+must instruct you."
+
+"Guilty, I am afraid," he smiled; "but ready to take punishment."
+
+"Very well." With a sinuous movement she turned on her elbow to face him.
+"Listen! It is this: you should not wear that beard."
+
+She fell back, and raised the cigarette to her lips.
+
+For a moment Kingozi stared at her speechless with surprise; but
+immediately recovered.
+
+"I shall give to your advice the same respectful consideration you accord
+mine," he assured her gravely.
+
+She laughed in genuine amusement.
+
+"Only I have more excuse," continued Kingozi. "A woman--alone--so far
+away----"
+
+"You said that before," she interrupted. "In other words, what in--what-
+you-call? Oh, yes! what in hell am I doing up here? Is that it?"
+
+She turned on him a wide-eyed stare. Kingozi chuckled.
+
+"That's it. What in--in hell _are_ you doing up here?"
+
+"Listen, my friend. In this world I do what I please--always. And when I
+find that which people tell me cannot be done, that I do--at once. My life
+is full of those things which could not be done, but which I have done."
+
+"I believe you," said Kingozi, but he said it to himself.
+
+"I have done them at home--where I live. I have done them in the cities
+and courts. Whatever the people tell me is impossible--'Oh, it cannot be
+done!'--with the uplifted hand and eye--you understand--that I do. Four
+years ago I came to Africa, and in Africa I have done what they tell me
+women have never done. I have travelled in the Kameroons, in Nyassaland,
+in Somaliland, in Abyssinia. Then they tell me--'yes, that is very well,
+but you follow a track. It is a dim track; but it is there. You go alone--
+yes; but you have us at your back.' And I ask them: 'What then? where is
+this place where there is no track?' And they wave their hands, and say
+'Over yonder'; so I come!"
+
+She recited all this dramatically, using her hands much in gesticulation,
+her eyes flashing. In proportion as she became animated Kingozi withdrew
+into his customary stolid calm.
+
+"Quite so," he commented, "spirit of adventure, and all that sort of
+thing. Where did you get this lot?"
+
+"What?"
+
+He waved his hand.
+
+"Your men."
+
+She considered him a barely appreciable instant.
+
+"Why--the usual way--from the coast."
+
+"They are strange to me--I do not recognize their tribes," Kingozi replied
+blandly. "So you are pushing out into the Unknown. How far do you consider
+going?"
+
+"Until it pleases me to stop."
+
+Kingozi produced his pipe.
+
+"If you do not mind?" he requested. He deliberately filled and lighted it.
+After a few strong puffs he resumed:
+
+"The country, you say, is unknown to you."
+
+"Of course."
+
+"I imagined you told me this afternoon that you knew of this water. I must
+have been mistaken."
+
+He blew a cloud, gazing straight ahead of him in obviously assumed
+innocence. She examined him with a narrow, sidelong glance.
+
+"No," she said at last, "you were not mistaken. I did tell you so."
+
+"Well?" Kingozi turned to her.
+
+"I was very angry, so I lied," she replied naively. "Women always lie when
+they get very angry."
+
+"Or tell the truth--uncomfortably," grinned Kingozi.
+
+"Brava!" she applauded. "He does know something about women!" With one of
+her sudden smooth movements she again raised herself on her elbow. "How
+much?" she challenged.
+
+"Enough," he replied enigmatically.
+
+They both laughed.
+
+Across the accustomed night noises came a long rumbling snarl ending
+sharply with a snoring gasp. It was succeeded by another on a different
+key. The two took up a kind of antiphony, one against the other, now
+rising in volume, now dying down to a low grumble, again suddenly bursting
+like an explosion.
+
+"The lions have found that rhino," remarked Kingozi indifferently.
+
+For a moment or so they listened to the distant thunders.
+
+"I have not sufficiently thanked you even yet for this afternoon," she
+said. "You saved my life--you know that."
+
+"Happened to be there; and let off a rifle."
+
+"I know shooting. It was a wonderful shot at that distance and in those
+circumstances."
+
+"Chancy shot. Had good luck," replied Kingozi shortly.
+
+Undeterred by his tone, she persisted.
+
+"But you are said by many to be the best shot in Africa."
+
+He glanced at her.
+
+"Indeed! I think that a mistake. For whom do you take me?"
+
+"You are Culbertson," she told him. She pronounced the name slowly,
+syllable by syllable, as though English proper names were difficult to
+her.
+
+He laughed.
+
+"Whoever he may be. I am known as Kingozi hereabouts."
+
+"You are not Cul-bert-son?"
+
+"I am anything it pleases you to have me. And who are you?"
+
+She had become the spoiled darling, pouting at him in half-pretended
+vexation.
+
+"You are playing with me. For that I shall not tell you who I am."
+
+"It does not matter; I know."
+
+"You know! But how?"
+
+"I know many things."
+
+"What is it then? Tell me!"
+
+He hesitated, smiling at her inscrutably. The flames from the fire were
+leaping high now, throwing the lantern-light into eclipse. An _askari_,
+wearing on his head an individual fancy in marabout feathers, leaned on
+his musket, his strong bronze face cast into the wistful lines of the
+savage countenance in repose. The lions had evidently compounded their
+quarrel. Only an occasional rasping cough testified to their presence. But
+in the direction of the dead rhinoceros the air was hideous with the
+plaints of the waiting hyenas. Their peculiarly weird moans came in
+chorus; and every once in a while arose the shrill, prolonged titter that
+has earned them the name of "laughing hyena."
+
+"_Bibi-ya-chui_," he told her at length.
+
+She considered this, her red lower lip caught between her teeth.
+
+"The Leopard Woman," she repeated, "and it is thus that I am known! You,
+Kingozi--the Bearded One; I, Bibi-ya-chui--the Leopard Woman!" She
+laughed. "I think I like it," she decided.
+
+"Now we know all about each other," he mocked.
+
+"But no: you have asked many questions, which is your habit, but I have
+asked few. What do you do in this strange land? Is it--what-you-call--
+'spirit of adventure' also?"
+
+"Not I! I am an ivory hunter."
+
+"You expect to find the elephant here?"
+
+"Who knows--or ivory to trade."
+
+"And then you get your ivory and make the magic pass, and presto! it is in
+Mombasa," she said, with a faint sarcasm.
+
+"You mean I have not men enough to carry out ivory. Well, that is true.
+But you see my habit is to get my ivory first and then to get _shenzis_
+from the people roundabout to act as porters," he explained to her
+gravely.
+
+Apparently she hesitated, in two minds as to what next to say. Kingozi
+perceived a dancing temptation sternly repressed, and smiled beneath his
+beard.
+
+"I see," she said finally in a meek voice.
+
+But Kingozi knew of what she was thinking. "She is a keen one," he
+reflected admiringly. "Caught the weak point in that yarn straight off!"
+
+He arose to his feet, knocking the ashes from his pipe.
+
+"You travel to-morrow?" he asked politely.
+
+"That I have not decided."
+
+"This is a dry country," Kingozi suggested blandly. "Of course you will
+not risk a blind push with so many men. You will probably send out scouts
+to find the next water."
+
+"That is possible," she replied gravely; but Kingozi thought to catch a
+twinkle in her eye.
+
+He raised his voice:
+
+"Boy!"
+
+Mali-ya-bwana glided from one of the small porters' tents.
+
+"_Qua heri_." Kingozi abruptly wished her farewell in Swahili.
+
+"_Qua heri_," she replied without moving.
+
+He turned into the darkness. The tropical stars blazed above him like
+candles. Kingozi lapsed into half-forgotten slang.
+
+"Downy bird!" he reflected, which was probably not exactly the impression
+the Leopard Woman either intended or thought she had made.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+
+THE WATER-HOLE
+
+A seasoned African traveller in ordinary circumstances sleeps very
+soundly, his ear attuned only to certain things. So Kingozi hardly stirred
+on his cork mattress, although the lions roared full-voiced satisfaction
+when they left the rhinoceros, and the yells of the hyenas rose to a
+pandemonium when at last they were permitted to join the feast. Likewise
+the nearer familiar noises of men rising to their daily tasks at four
+o'clock--the yawning, stretching, cracking of firewood, crackling of fire,
+low-voiced chatter--did not disturb him. Yet, so strangely is the human
+mind organized, had during the night a soft whisper of padded feet, even
+the deep breathing of a beast, sounded within the precincts of the camp,
+he would instantly have been broad awake, the rifle that stood loaded
+nearby clasped in his hand. Thus he lay quietly through the noises of men
+working, but came awake at the sound of men marching. He arose on his
+elbow and drew aside the flap of his tent.
+
+At the same instant Cazi Moto stopped outside. The usual formula ensued.
+
+"_Hodie!_" called Cazi Moto.
+
+"_Karibu_," replied Kingozi.
+
+Thus Cazi Moto at once awakened and greeted his master, and Kingozi
+acknowledged.
+
+Cazi Moto entered the tent and lighted the tiny lantern, for it was still
+an hour and a half until daylight.
+
+"I hear men marching," said Kingozi.
+
+Cazi Moto stopped.
+
+"It is the safari of Bibi-ya-chui." Already Kingozi's nickname for her
+had been adopted.
+
+Cazi Moto disappeared, and a moment later was heard outside pouring water
+into the canvas basin.
+
+Instead of arising immediately, as was his ordinary custom, Kingozi lay
+still. The Leopard Woman was already travelling! What could that mean?
+She was certainly taking some chances hiking around thus in the dark.
+Perhaps some aged or weak lion had not been permitted a share of that
+rhinoceros. And again she was taking chances pushing out blindly with
+over a hundred men into the aridity of the desert. Kingozi contemplated
+this thought for some time. Then, making up his mind, he arose and began
+to dress.
+
+As he was drying his face Simba came for the guns, and a half-dozen of the
+porters prepared to strike and furl the tent. Already the canvas
+washstand had disappeared.
+
+"Simba," observed Kingozi in English, of which language Simba knew but
+three words, "she is no fool. She knows where there is water out yonder;
+but it is water at least forty miles away. She's got to push and push hard
+to make it, and that's why she's making so early a start. I had a notion
+this 'country of the great Unknown' wasn't quite so 'unknown' as it might
+be."
+
+He finished this speech coincidentally with the drying of his hands. The
+impatient Cazi Moto snatched the towel deftly but respectfully and packed
+it away. Simba, who had listened with deference until his _bwana_ should
+finish this jargon, grinned.
+
+"Yes, suh!" he used two of his English words at a bang.
+
+Kingozi ate his breakfast by firelight. With the exception of his camp
+chair and the eating service, the camp was by now all packed, and the men
+were squatting before their fires waiting.
+
+But there was a hitch. Kingozi called up Simba and began to question him.
+
+"You say the water is four hours' march?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"Four hours for you, or four hours for laden men?"
+
+"The safari can go in four hours, _bwana_."
+
+"Is there game there?"
+
+"No, _bwana_. It is a guarded water, and there is no game."
+
+Kingozi considered.
+
+"Very well. I want six men. Before the march we must get meat."
+
+Some time since the flames of the African sunrise had spread to the
+zenith, glowing and terrible as a furnace. Although the sky was thus
+brilliantly illuminated, the earth, strangely enough, was still gray with
+twilight. Objects fifty yards distant were indeterminate. Objects
+farther away were lost. The light was daylight, but it was inadequate, as
+though charged with mist.
+
+And then suddenly the daylight was clear.
+
+It was like the turning on by a switch. The dim shapes defined clearly,
+becoming trees, rocks, distant hills. And almost immediately the rim of
+the sun showed above the horizon.
+
+Kingozi had already decided on the best direction in which to hunt.
+Neither the direction taken by the Leopard Woman's safari nor the
+immediate surroundings of the night's orgy over the rhino carcass was
+desirable. The fact that the big water-hole below camp had not only
+remained unvisited, but apparently even desired, led him to deduce the
+existence of another, alternative, drinking place. He had yesterday
+explored some distance downstream; therefore he now turned up.
+
+Simba with the big rifle followed close at his heels. The six porters
+stole along fifty yards in the rear. They were quite as anxious for meat
+--promptly--as anybody, and were as unobtrusive as shadows.
+
+For upward of a mile the hunters encountered nothing but a few dik-dik and
+steinbuck--tiny grass antelope, too small for the purpose. Then a shift
+of wind brought to them a medley of sound--a great persistent barking of
+zebras supplying the main volume. At the same time they saw, over a
+distant slight rise, a cloud of dust.
+
+Simba's eyes were gleaming.
+
+"Game! Much game there, _bwana!_" he cried.
+
+"I see," replied Kingozi quietly.
+
+The porters accompanied them to within a few rods of the top of the rise.
+There they squatted, and the other two crawled up alone.
+
+Below them, probably three hundred yards away, was a larger replica of the
+other water-hole. At its edge and in its shallows stood a few beasts. But
+the sun was now well above the horizon, the drinking time was practically
+over.
+
+Three long strings of game animals were walking leisurely away in three
+different directions. They were proceeding soberly, in single file, nose
+to tail. The ranks ran with scarcely a break, to disappear over the low
+swells of the plain. Alongside the plodders skipped and ran, rushed back
+and forth the younger, frivolous characters, kicking up their heels,
+biting at one another, or lowering their horns in short mimic charges--
+gay, animated flankers to the main army. There were several sorts, each
+in its little companies or bands, many times repeated, of from two or
+three to several score; although occasionally strange assortments and
+companionships were to be seen, as a black, shaggy-looking wildebeeste
+with a troop of kongoni. Kingozi saw, besides these two, also the bigger
+and smaller gazelles, many zebra, topi, the lordly eland; and, apart, a
+dozen giraffes, two rhinoceros, and some warthogs. There were probably two
+thousand wild animals in sight.
+
+The hunters lay flat, watching. This multiplicity afforded them a
+wonderful spectacle, but that was about all. If they should crawl three
+yards farther they would indubitably be espied by some one. It was
+impossible to single out a beast as the object of a stalk: all the others
+must be considered, too. There was no cover.
+
+Kingozi was too old at the business to hurry. He considered the elements
+of his problem soberly before coming back to his first and most obvious
+conclusion. Then he raised himself slowly to his favourite sitting
+position and threw off the safety.
+
+The distance was a fair three hundred yards, which is a long shot--when it
+_is_ three hundred yards. The fireside and sporting magazine hunters of
+big game are constantly hitting 'em through the heart at even greater
+distances--estimated. It is actually a fact, proven many times, that those
+estimates should be divided by two in order to get near the measured
+truth! The "four hundred yards if it's an inch!" becomes two hundred--and
+even two hundred yards at living game in natural surroundings is a long
+and creditable shot.
+
+In taking his aim Kingozi modified his usual custom because of the
+distance. When one can get his beast broadside on, the most immediately
+fatal shot is one high in the shoulder, about three-quarters of the way
+up. That drops an animal dead in his tracks. The next best is a bullet
+low in the shoulder. Third is a really accurate heart shot. This latter
+is always fatal, of course; but ordinarily the quarry will run at racing
+speed for some little distance before falling dead. In certain types of
+country this means considerable tracking, may even mean the loss of the
+animal. Next comes anywhere in the barrel forward of the short ribs--a
+chancy proceeding, and one leading to long chases. After that the
+likelihood of a cripple is too great.
+
+Now it is evident that one must aim at what he can be sure of hitting.
+The high shoulder shot is all right if the distance is so short that one
+can be absolutely certain of placing his bullet within a six-inch circle.
+Otherwise the chance of over-shooting--always great--becomes prohibitive.
+The low shoulder shot increases the circle to from eight to twelve inches,
+with the chance outside that of merely breaking a foreleg, grazing
+brisket, or missing entirely under the neck. The heart shot--or rather an
+attempt at it--is safer for a longer range, not because the mark is
+larger, but because even if one misses the heart, he is apt to land either
+the shoulder or the ribs well forward. The only miss is beneath, and that
+is clear, as the heart is low in the body. And at extreme ranges, the
+forward one-third of the barrel is the point of aim. It should only
+rarely be attempted. Unless a man is certain he can hit that mark, _every
+time_, he is not justified in taking the shot.
+
+This principle applies to every one: as well to the beginner as to the
+expert. The only difference between the two is the range at which this
+certainty exists. The tyro's limit of absolute certainty for the heart
+shot may be--and probably is--a hundred yards; for the high shoulder it
+may be as near as thirty. This takes into consideration his inexperience
+in the presence of game as well as his inaccuracy with the rifle, and it
+keeps in mind that he must hit that mark not merely nine times out of ten,
+but _every time_. If he cannot get within the hundred yards by stalking,
+then he should refuse the chance. As expertness rises in the scale the
+distances increase. Provided there were no such things as nerves, luck,
+faulty judgment, and the estimate of distances one man should be as
+mercifully deadly as another. Naturally the man who had to stalk to within
+a hundred yards would not get as many shots as the one who could take his
+chance at two hundred. This conduct of venery is an ideal that is only
+approximated. Hence misses.
+
+But even if a man lives rigorously up to his principles and knowledge,
+there are other elements that bring in uncertainty. For one thing, he must
+be able to estimate distance with some degree of accuracy. It avails
+little to know that you can hit a given mark at two hundred and fifty
+yards, if you do not know what two hundred and fifty yards is. And here
+enter a thousand deceits: direction of light, slope of ground, nature of
+cover, temperature, mirage, time of day, and the like. An apparent hundred
+yards over water or across a cañon would--were, by some dissolving-view-
+change, bush-dotted plain to be substituted--become nearer three hundred
+in the latter circumstances. There is a limit to the best man's
+experience; a margin of error in the best man's judgment. Hence more
+misses.
+
+There is only one method for any man to acquire even this proximate skill;
+and that requires long and patient practice. It is this: he should sight
+over his rifle at a wild animal, noting carefully the apparent relative
+size of the front sight-bead and the animal's body. He should then pace
+the distance between himself and that animal. After he has done this a
+hundred times, he will be able to make a pretty close guess by marking how
+large the beast shows up through the sights. That is, for that one species
+of game! In Central Africa, where in a well-stocked district there are
+from twenty to thirty species, the practice becomes more onerous. This
+same practice--of pacing the distances--however, has also trained a man's
+eye for country. He is able to supplement the front-sight method by the
+usual estimate by eye. Most men do not take this trouble. They practise at
+target range until they can hit the bull's-eye with fair regularity, miss
+with nearly equal regularity in the hunting field, and thenceforth talk
+vaguely of "missed him at five hundred yards." It must have been five
+hundred. The beast looked very small, there was an awful lot of country
+between him and it, and "I wasn't a bit rattled--cool as a cucumber--and I
+_know_ I never miss an object of that size at any reasonable range." He
+was right: he shot as deliberately as he ever did at the butts. He missed,
+not because of the distance, but because he did not know the distance. It
+was exactly the range at which he had done the most of his practice--two
+hundred yards!
+
+All these considerations have taken several pages to tell. Kingozi weighed
+each one of them. Yet so long had been his experience, so habitual had
+become his reactions, that his decision was made almost instantly. A
+glance at the intervening ground, another through his sights. The top of
+the bead covered half a zebra's shoulder. The distance was not far under
+or over three hundred. Kingozi knew that, barring sheer accident, he could
+hit his mark at that distance.
+
+The animals meantime were moving forward slowly along the three diverging
+trails. The last of them had left the water-hole. Kingozi nodded to Simba.
+Simba, understanding from long association just what was required of him,
+rose slowly and evenly to his feet.
+
+The apparition of this strange figure on the skyline brought a score of
+animals to a stand. They turned their heads, staring intently, making up
+their minds, their nostrils wide. Kingozi, who had already picked his
+beast and partially assured his aim, almost immediately squeezed the
+trigger.
+
+Over a second after the flat crack of the rifle a hollow _plunk_ indicated
+that the bullet had told. It was a strange sound, unmistakable to one who
+has once heard it, much as though one brought a drinking glass smartly,
+hollow down, into the surface of water.
+
+[Illustration: "After the flat crack of the rifle a hollow _plunk_
+indicated that the bullet had told"]
+
+"Hah!" ejaculated Simba.
+
+"Where?" asked Kingozi, who knew by long experience that Simba's sharp
+eyes had noted the smallest particular of the beast's behaviour when the
+bullet landed, and thence had already deduced its location.
+
+Without removing his eyes, Simba indicated with his forefinger a shot
+about midway of the ribs.
+
+At the sound the rear guard of the animals raced madly away for about
+seventy yards, whirled in a phalanx, and gazed back. Neither man moved.
+Simba continued to stare, and Kingozi had lifted his prism glasses. A tyro
+would have attempted to draw near for a finishing shot, and so would
+probably have been let in for a long chase. A freshly wounded animal, if
+kept moving, is capable of astonishing endurance. But these two knew
+better than that. In a very few minutes the zebra, without fright, without
+suffering--for a modern bullet benumbs--toppled over dead. Again Simba
+raised his voice exultantly to the waiting porters.
+
+"_Nyama! nyama!_" he shouted.
+
+And they, racing eagerly forward, their faces illuminated with one of the
+strongest joys the native knows, shouted back:
+
+"_Nyama! nyama!_"
+
+For another two days the provisioning was assured.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+
+THE THIRST
+
+The little safari made the distance to Simba's guarded water in a trifle
+over the four hours. Camp was made high up on the kopje whence the eye
+could carry to immense distances. The wall of mountains was now nearer.
+Through his glasses Kingozi could distinguish rounded foothills. He tried
+to make out whether certain dark patches were groves or patches of bush--
+they might have been either--but was unable to determine. Relative sizes
+did not exist. The mountains might be five thousand feet tall or only a
+fifth of that. And by exactly that proportion they might be a day's or a
+five days' journey distant!
+
+Carefully Kingozi examined the length of the range. At length his
+attention was arrested. A thread of smoke, barely distinguishable against
+the gray of distance, rose within the shadow of the hills.
+
+"Simba!" Kingozi summoned. Then, on the gun bearer's approach: "Look
+through the glasses and tell me whether that smoke is a house or a fire in
+the grass."
+
+Simba accepted the glasses, but first took a good look with the naked eye.
+He caught the location of the smoke almost at once. Then for a full two
+minutes he stared through the lenses.
+
+"It is a house, _bwana_," he decided.
+
+As though the words had been a magic spell the mountains seemed in
+Kingozi's imagination to diminish in size and to move forward. They had
+assured a definite proportion, a definite position. Their distance could
+be estimated.
+
+"And how far?" he asked.
+
+"Very far, _bwana_," replied Simba gravely, "eleven hours; twelve hours."
+
+Kingozi reflected. The safari of the Leopard Woman had passed the kopje
+not over a mile away; indeed Kingozi had left her trail only a short
+distance back. On the supposition that she was well informed, it seemed
+unlikely that she could expect to make the whole distance from the last
+camp to the mountains in one march. Therefore there must be another water
+between. In that case, if Kingozi followed her tracks, he would arrive at
+that water. On the other supposition--that she was striking recklessly
+into the unknown--well, all the more reason for following her tracks!
+
+They commenced their journey before daylight the following morning. Each
+man was instructed to fill his water bottle; and the instructions were
+rigidly enforced. In the darkness they stumbled down the gentle slopes of
+the kopjes, each steering by the man ahead, and Kingozi steering by the
+stars. The veldt was still, as though all the silences, driven from those
+portions inhabited by the beasts, had here made their refuge. The earth
+lay like a black pool becalmed. Overhead the stars blazed clearly, slowly
+faded, and gave way to the dawn. The men spoke rarely, and then in low
+voices.
+
+Kingozi led the way steadily, without hurrying, but without loitering.
+Daylight came: the sun blazed. The country remained the same in character.
+Behind them the kopje dwindled in importance until it took its place with
+insignificant landmarks. The mountains ahead seemed no nearer.
+
+At the end of three hours, by the watch Kingozi carried on his wrist, he
+called the first halt. The men laid down their loads, and sprawled about
+in abandon. Kingozi produced a pipe.
+
+The rest lasted a full half hour. Then two hours more of marching, and
+another rest. By now a normal day's march would be about over. But this
+was different. Kingozi rigidly adhered to the plan for all forced marches
+of this kind: three hours, a half-hour's rest; then two hours, a half-
+hour's rest; and after that march and rest as the men can stand it,
+according to their strength and condition.
+
+This latter is the cruel period. At first the ranks hold together. Then,
+in spite of the efforts of the headman to bring up the rear, the weaker
+begin to fall back. They must rest oftener, they go on with ever-
+increasing difficulty. The strong men ahead become impatient and push on.
+The safari is no longer a coherent organization, but an aggregate of
+units, each with his own problem of weariness, of thirst, finally of
+suffering. More and more stretches the distance between the _bwana_ and
+his headman.
+
+No native of the porter intelligence has the slightest forethought for the
+morrow, and very little for the day. If it is hot and he has started
+early, his water bottle is empty by noon.
+
+This wise program Kingozi entered upon carefully. The three hours' march
+went well; the two hours followed with every one strong and cheerful; then
+two hours more without trouble. Kingozi's men were picked, and hard as
+nails. By now it was one o'clock; coming the hottest part of the day. The
+power of the vertical sun attained its maximum. Kingozi felt as though a
+heavy hand had been laid upon his head and was pressing him down. The
+mirage danced and changed, its illusions succeeding one another momently
+as the successive veils of heat waves shimmered upward. Reflected heat
+scorched his face. His spirit retired far into its fastness, taking with
+it all his energies. From that withdrawn inner remoteness he doled out the
+necessary vitality parsimoniously, drop by drop. Deliberately he withdrew
+his attention from the unessentials. Not a glance did he vouchsafe to the
+prospect far or near; not a thought did he permit himself of speculation
+or of wandering interest. His sole job now was to plod on at an even gait,
+to keep track of time, to follow the spoor of the Leopard Woman's safari,
+to save himself for later. If he had spared any thought at all, it would
+have been self-congratulation that Simba and Cazi Moto were old and tried.
+For Simba relieved him of the necessity of watching for dangerous beasts,
+and Cazi Moto of the responsibility of keeping account of the men.
+
+At the rest periods Kingozi sat down on the ground. Then in the relaxation
+his intelligence emerged. He took stock of the situation.
+
+Mali-ya-bwana and nine others were always directly at his heels. They
+dropped their loads and grinned cheerfully at their _bwana_, their bronze
+faces gleaming as though polished. If only they were all like this! Then
+perhaps five minutes later a smaller group came in, strongly enough. The
+first squad shouted ridiculing little jokes at them; and they shrieked
+back spirited repartee, whacking their loads vigorously with their safari
+sticks. These, too, would cause no anxiety. But then Kingozi sat up and
+began to take notice. The men drifted in by twos and threes. Kingozi
+scrutinized them closely, trying to determine the state of their strength
+and the state of their spirit. And after twenty minutes, or even the full
+half hour allotted to the rest period, Cazi Moto came in driving before
+him seven men.
+
+The wizened little headman was as cheerful and lively and vigorous as
+ever. He, too, grinned, but his eyes held a faint anxiety, and he had
+shifted his closed umbrella to his left hand and held the _kiboko_ in his
+right. At the fifth rest period five of the seven men stumbled wearily in;
+but Cazi Moto and the other two did not appear before Kingozi ordered a
+resumption of the march.
+
+But the mountains had moved near. When this had happened Kingozi could not
+have told. It was between two rest periods. From an immense discouraging
+distance, they towered imminent. It seemed that a half-hour's easy walk
+should take them to the foothills. Yet not a man there but knew that this
+nearness was exactly as deceitful as the distance had been before.
+
+The afternoon wore on. Kingozi's canteen was all but empty, though he had
+drunk sparingly, a swallow at a time. His tongue was slightly swollen. The
+sun had him to a certain extent; so that, although he could rouse himself
+at will, nevertheless, he moved mechanically in a sort of daze.
+
+He heard Simba's voice; and brought himself into focus.
+
+The gun bearer was staring at something on the ground. Kingozi followed
+the direction of his gaze. Before him lay a dead man.
+
+It was one of the common porters--a tall, too slender savage, with armlets
+of polished iron, long, ropy hair--a typical _shenzi_. His load was
+missing: evidently one of the _askaris_ had taken it up.
+
+Kingozi's safari filed by, each man gazing in turn without expression at
+the huddled heap. Only Maulo, the camp jester, hurled a facetious comment
+at the corpse. Thereupon all the rest laughed after the strange, heartless
+custom of the African native. Or is it heartless? We do not know.
+
+The day's march had passed through the phase of coordinated action. It was
+now the duty of each man to get in if he could. It was Kingozi's duty to
+arrive first, and to arrange succour for Cazi Moto and those whom he
+drove.
+
+Twenty minutes beyond the dead man they came upon three porters sitting by
+the wayside. They were men in the last extremity of thirst and exhaustion,
+their eyes wide and vacant, their tongues so swollen that their teeth were
+held apart. Nothing was to be done here, so Kingozi marched by.
+
+Then he came upon a half-dozen bags of _potio_. They were thrown down
+pellmell, anyhow; so that Kingozi concluded they had been surreptitiously
+thrown away, and not temporarily abandoned with intent to return for them.
+
+After that the trail resembled the traces of a rout. Every few yards now
+were the evidences of desperation: loads of _potio_, garments, water
+bottles emptied and cast aside in a gust of passion at their emptiness. At
+intervals also they passed more men, gaunt, incredibly cadaverous,
+considering that only the day before they had been strong and well. They
+sat or lay inert, watching the safari pass, their eyes apathetic. Kingozi
+paid no attention to them, nor to the loads of _potio_, nor to the
+garments and accoutrements; but he caused Simba to gather the water
+bottles. After a time Simba was hung about on all sides, and resembled at
+a short distance some queer conical monster.
+
+Then they topped the bank of a wide shallow dry streambed and saw the
+remnants of other safari below them.
+
+The Leopard Woman sat on a tent load. Even at this distance her erect
+figure expressed determination and defiance. The Nubian squatted beside
+her. Men lay scattered all about in attitudes of abandon and exhaustion;
+yet every face was turned in her direction.
+
+Kingozi descended the bank and approached, his experienced eye registering
+every significant detail.
+
+She turned to him a face lowering like a thundercloud, her eyes flashing
+the lightnings, her lips scarlet and bitten. Kingozi noted the bloodied
+_kiboko_.
+
+"They won't go on!" she cried at him harshly. "I can't make them! It is
+death for them here, but all they will do is to sit down! It is maddening!
+If they must die----"
+
+She leaped to her feet and drew an automatic pistol.
+
+"_Bandika!_" she cried. "Take your loads! Quickly!"
+
+She threatened the man nearest her. He merely stared, his expression dull
+with the infinite remoteness of savage people. Without further parley she
+fired. Although the distance was short, she missed, the bullet throwing up
+a spurt of sand beneath the man's armpit. He did not stir, nor did his
+face change.
+
+Kingozi's bent form had straightened. An authority, heretofore latent,
+flashed from his whole personality.
+
+"Stop!" he commanded.
+
+She turned toward him a look of convulsed rage. Then suddenly her
+resistance to circumstances broke. She hurled the automatic pistol at the
+porter, and flopped down on the tent load, hiding her face in her hands.
+
+Kingozi paid her no further attention.
+
+"Simba!" he called.
+
+"Yes, suh!"
+
+"Take one man. Collect all water bottles. Take a lantern. Go as rapidly
+as you can to find water. Fill all the bottles and bring them back.
+There are people in the hills. There will be people near the water. Get
+them to help you carry back the water bottles."
+
+Simba selected Mali-ya-bwana to accompany him, but this did not meet
+Kingozi's ideas.
+
+"I want that man," said he.
+
+Simba and one of the other leading porters started away. Kingozi gave his
+attention to the members of the other safari.
+
+They sat and sprawled in all attitudes. But one thing was common to all:
+a dead sullenness.
+
+"Why do you not obey the _memsahib?_" Kingozi asked in a reasonable tone.
+
+No one answered for some time. Finally the man who had been shot at
+replied.
+
+"There is no water. We are very tired. We cannot go on without water."
+
+"How can you get water if you do not go on?"
+
+"_Hapana shauri yangu_," replied the man indifferently, uttering the
+fatalistic phrase that rises to the lips of the savage African almost
+automatically, unless his personal loyalty has been won--"that is not my
+affair." He brooded on the ground for a space then looked up. "It is the
+business of porters to carry loads; it is the business of the white man to
+take care of the porters." And in that he voiced the philosophy of this
+human relation. The porters had done their job: not one inch beyond it
+would they go. The white woman had brought them here: it was now her
+_shauri_ to get them out.
+
+"You see!" cried the Leopard Woman bitterly. "What can you do with such
+idiots!"
+
+Kingozi directed toward her his slow smile.
+
+"Yes, I see. Do you remember I asked you once when you were boasting your
+efficiency, whether you had ever tried your men? Your work was done
+smartly and well--better than my work was done. But my men will help me in
+a fix, and yours will not."
+
+"You are quite a preacher," she rejoined. "And you are exasperating. Why
+don't you do something?"
+
+"I am going to," replied Kingozi calmly.
+
+He called Mali-ya-bwana to him.
+
+"Talk to these _shenzis_," said he.
+
+Mali-ya-bwana talked. His speech was not eloquent, nor did it flatter the
+Leopard Woman, but it was to the point.
+
+"My _bwana_ is a great lord," said he. "He is master of all things. He
+fights the lion, he fights the elephant. Nothing causes him to be afraid.
+He is not foolish, like a woman. He knows the water, the sun, the wind.
+When he speaks it is wisdom. Those who do what he says follow wisdom.
+_Bassi!_"
+
+Immediately this admonition was finished Kingozi issued his first command:
+
+"Bring all loads to this place."
+
+Nobody stirred at first.
+
+"My loads, the loads of Bibi-ya-chui--all to this place."
+
+Mali-ya-bwana and the other fourteen of Kingozi's safari who were now
+present brought their loads up and began to pile them under Kingozi's
+direction.
+
+"Quickly!" called Kingozi in brisk, cheerful tones. "The water is not far,
+but the day is nearly gone. We must march quickly, even without loads."
+
+The import of the command began to reach the other porters. This white man
+did not intend to camp here then--where there was no water! He did not
+mean to make them march with loads! He knew! He was a great lord, and
+wise, as Mali-ya-bwana had said! One or two arose wearily and stiffly, and
+dragged their loads to the pile. Others followed. Kingozi's men helped the
+weakest. Kingozi himself worked hard, arranging the loads, covering them
+with tarpaulins, weighting the edges.
+
+His intention reached also the Leopard Woman. She watched proceedings
+without comment for some time. Then she saw something that raised her
+objection.
+
+"I shall want that box," she announced. "Leave that one out. And that is
+my tent being brought up now."
+
+Apparently Kingozi did not hear her. He bestowed the box in a space left
+for it, and piled the two tent loads atop. The Leopard Woman arose and
+glided to his side.
+
+"That box----" she began.
+
+"I heard you," replied Kingozi politely, "but it will really be impossible
+to carry anything at all."
+
+"That box is indispensable to me," she insisted haughtily.
+
+"You have no men strong enough to carry a load: and mine will need all the
+strength they have left before they get in."
+
+He went on arranging the loads under the tarpaulins.
+
+"Those loads are my tent," she said, as Kingozi turned away.
+
+"We cannot take them."
+
+Her eyes flashed. She whirled with the evident intention of issuing her
+commands direct. Kingozi's weary, slow indifference fell from him. In one
+bound he faced her, his chin thrust forward. His blue eyes had focussed
+into a cold, level stare.
+
+"Don't dare interfere!" he ordered. "If you attempt it, I shall order you
+restrained--physically. Understand? I do not know how far you intend to
+travel--or where; but if you value your future authority and prestige with
+your own men, do not make yourself a spectacle before them."
+
+"You would not dare!" she panted.
+
+The tenseness relaxed. Kingozi became again the slow-moving, slouching,
+indifferent figure of his everyday habit.
+
+"Oh, I can dare almost anything--when I have to. You do not seem to
+understand. You have come a cropper--a bad one. Left to yourselves you are
+all going to die here. If I am to help you to your feet, I must do it
+without interference. I think we shall get through: but I am not at all
+certain. Go and sit down and save your strength."
+
+"I hate you!" she flashed. "I'd rather die here than accept your help! I
+command you to leave me!"
+
+"Bless you!" said Kingozi, as though this were a new thought. "I wasn't
+thinking especially of _you_; I am sorry for your boys."
+
+Mali-ya-bwana, under his directions, had undone the loads containing the
+lanterns. Everything seemed now ready for the start. All of Kingozi's
+safari had arrived except Cazi Moto and five men.
+
+"Have you any water left?" Kingozi asked the Leopard Woman.
+
+She stared straight ahead of her, refusing to answer. Unperturbed, Kingozi
+turned to the Nubian.
+
+"Which is _memsahib's_ canteen?"
+
+The Nubian silently indicated two of the three hung on his person. Kingozi
+shook them, and found them empty. His own contained still about a pint,
+and this he poured into one of hers. She appeared not to notice the act.
+
+The march was resumed. Mali-ya-bwana was instructed to lead the way
+following the scraped places on the earth, the twigs bent over, and the
+broken branches by which Simba had marked his route for them. Kingozi
+himself brought up the rear. Reluctantly, apathetically, the Leopard
+Woman's men got to their feet. Kingozi was everywhere, urging,
+encouraging, shaming, joking, threatening, occasionally using the _kiboko_
+he had taken from one of the _askaris_. At last all were under way. The
+Leopard Woman sat still on the load, the Nubian crouched at her back. The
+long, straggling, staggering file of men crawled up the dry bank and
+disappeared one by one over the top. Each figure for a moment was
+silhouetted against the sky, for the sun was low. Kingozi toiled up the
+steep, his head bent forward. In his turn he, too, stood black and massive
+on the brink, the outline of his powerful stooped shoulders gold-rimmed in
+light. She watched him feverishly, awaiting from him some sign that he
+realized her existence, that he cared whether or not she was left behind.
+He did not look back. In a moment he had disappeared. The prospect was
+empty of human life.
+
+She arose. For an instant her face was convulsed with a fairly demoniac
+fury. Then a mask of blankness obliterated all expression. She followed.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+
+ON THE PLATEAU
+
+Two hours into the night Kingozi, following in the rear, saw a cluster of
+lights, and shortly came to a compact group of those who had gone before
+him. They were drinking eagerly from water bottles. Simba, lantern in
+hand, stood nearby. A number of savages carrying crude torches hovered
+around the outskirts. Kingozi could not make out the details of their
+appearance: only their eyeballs shining. He drew Simba to one side.
+
+"There are many _shenzis_?"
+
+"Many, like the leaves of the grass, _bwana_."
+
+"The huts are far?"
+
+"One hour, _bwana_, in the hills."
+
+"These _shenzis_ are good?"--meaning friendly.
+
+"_Bwana_, the _sultani_ of these people is a great lord. He has many
+people, and much riches. He has told, his people to come with me. He
+prepares the guest house for you."
+
+"Tired, Simba?"
+
+"It has been a long path since sunup, _bwana_. But I had water, and the
+people gave me _potio_ and meat. I am strong."
+
+"Cazi Moto is back there--in the Thirst," suggested Kingozi, "and many
+others. And there is no water."
+
+"I will go, _bwana_, and take the _shenzis_ with me."
+
+He set about gathering the water bottles and gourds that had not been
+emptied. Mali-ya-bwana and, unexpectedly, a big Kavirondo of Kingozi's
+safari, volunteered. The rest prepared to continue the journey.
+
+But another delay occurred. The Leopard Woman, who had walked indomitably,
+now collapsed. Her eyes were sunken in her head, her lips had paled; only
+the long white oval of her face recalled her former splendid and exotic
+beauty. When the signal to proceed was given, she stepped forward as
+firmly as ever for perhaps a dozen paces, then her knees crumpled under
+her.
+
+"I'm afraid I'm done," she muttered to Kingozi.
+
+In the latter's eyes, for the first time, shone a real and ungrudging
+admiration. He knelt at her side and felt her pulse. Without hesitation,
+and in the most matter-of-fact way, he unbuttoned her blouse to the waist
+and tore apart the thin chemise beneath.
+
+"Water," he commanded.
+
+With the wetted end of his neck scarf he beat her vigorously below the
+left breast. After a little she opened her eyes.
+
+"That's better," said Kingozi, and began clumsily to rebutton her blouse.
+
+A slow colour rose to her face as she realized in what manner she had been
+exposed, and she snatched her garments together. Kingozi, watching her
+closely, seemed to see in this only a satisfactory symptom.
+
+"That's right; now you're about again. Blood going once more."
+
+They proceeded. A man on either side supported the Leopard Woman's steps.
+
+Shortly the hills closed around them. The dark velvet masses compassed
+them about, and the starry sky seemed suddenly to have been thrust upward
+a million miles. The open plain narrowed to a track along which they
+groped single file. They caught the sound of running water to their left;
+but far below. There seemed no end to it.
+
+But then, unexpectedly, they found themselves on a plateau, with the mass
+of the mountains on one side and the sea of night on the other, as though
+it might be the spacious deck of a ship. A multitude of people swarmed
+about them, shining naked people, who stared; and there seemed to be huts
+with conical roofs, and a number of little winking fires that shifted
+position. The people led the way to a circular hut of good size, with a
+conical thatched roof and wattle walls. Kingozi stooped his head,
+thrusting the lantern inside. The interior had been swept. A huge earthen
+tub full of water stood by the door. The place contained no other
+furnishings.
+
+"Bring the _memsahib_ here," he commanded.
+
+She was half dragged forward. Kingozi took her in his arms to prevent her
+falling.
+
+"Bring grass," he ordered.
+
+The request was repeated outside in Swahili, and turned into a strange
+tongue. Kingozi heard many feet hurrying away.
+
+He stood supporting the half-fainting form of the Leopard Woman. Her head
+rested against his shoulder. Her eyes were closed, her muscles had all
+gone slack, so that her body felt soft and warm. Kingozi, waiting,
+remembered her as she had looked the evening of his call--silk-clad,
+lithe, proud, with blood-red lips, and haughty, fathomless eyes, and the
+single jewel that hung in the middle of her forehead. Somehow at this
+moment she seemed smaller, in her safari costume, and helpless, and
+pathetic. He felt the curve of her breast against him, and the picture of
+her as he had seen her out there in the Thirst arose before his eyes. At
+that time it had not registered: he was too busy about serious things. But
+now, while he waited, the incident claimed, belated, his senses. His
+antagonism, or distrust, or coldness, or suspicion, or indifference, or
+whatever had hardened him, disappeared. He stared straight before him at
+the lantern, allowing these thoughts and sensations to drift through him.
+Subconsciously he noted that the lamp flame showed a halo, or rather two
+halos, one red and one green. By experience he knew that this portended
+one of his stabbing headaches through the eyes. But the thought did not
+hold him. He contemplated unwaveringly the spectacle of this soft, warm,
+helpless but indomitable piece of femininity fronting the African
+wilderness unafraid. Unconsciously his arms tightened around her, drawing
+her to him. She gave no sign. Her form was limp. Apparently she was
+either half asleep or in a stupor. But had Kingozi looked down when he
+tightened his arms, instead of staring at the halo-encircled lantern, he
+would have seen her glance sidewise upward into his face, he would have
+discerned a fleeting smile upon her lips.
+
+Almost immediately the people were back with armfuls of the long grass
+that grows on the edge of mountainous country. Under Kingozi's directions
+they heaped it at one side. He assisted the Leopard Woman to this
+improvised couch and laid her upon it. She seemed to drop instantly
+asleep.
+
+They brought more grass and piled it in another place. Mali-ya-bwana
+superintended these activities zealously. He had drunk his fill, had
+bolted a chunk of goat's flesh one of the savages had handed him, now he
+was ready to fulfil his _bwana's_ commands.
+
+"You will eat?" he asked.
+
+But Kingozi was not hungry. His strong desire was for a tall _balauri_ of
+hot tea, but this could not be. He knew it Was unsafe to drink the water
+unboiled--it is unsafe to drink any African water unboiled--but this time
+it could not be helped. He was not even very tired, though his eyes
+burned. There was nothing more to do. Kingozi knew that Simba and Cazi
+Moto would not attempt to come in.
+
+They now had both food and water, and would camp somewhere out on the
+plain.
+
+"I will sleep," he decided.
+
+Mali-ya-bwana at once thrust the savages outside, without ceremony,
+peremptorily. When the _bwana_ of an African belonging to the safari class
+wants anything, the latter gets it for him. The headman of the author of
+these lines went single handed and stopped in its very inception a royal
+_n'goma_, or dance, to which men had come a day's journey, merely because
+his _bwana_ wanted to sleep! Kingozi was here alone, in a strange country,
+for the moment helpless; but Mali-ya-bwana hustled the tribesmen out as
+brusquely as though a regiment were at his back. Which undoubtedly had its
+effect.
+
+Kingozi sat down on the straw and blew out his lantern. The wattle walls
+were not chinked; so the sweet night wind blew through freely; and
+elusively he saw stars against the night. The Leopard Woman breathed
+heavily in little sighs. He was not sleepy. Then everything went black----
+
+
+When Kingozi awakened it was full daylight. A varied murmur came happily
+from outside, what the Africans call a _kalele_--a compound of chatter,
+the noise of occupation, of movement, the inarticulate voice of human
+existence. He glanced across the hut. The Leopard Woman was gone.
+
+"Boy!" he shouted.
+
+At the sound of his voice the _kalele_ ceased. Almost immediately Cazi
+Moto stooped to enter the doorway. Cazi Moto was dressed in clean khaki,
+and bore in his hand a _balauri_ of steaming tea. Kingozi seized this and
+drained it to the bottom.
+
+"That is good," he commented gratefully. "I did not expect to see you,
+Cazi Moto. Did all the men get in?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"_Vema!_ And the men of the Leopard Woman?"
+
+"Many died, _bwana_; but many are here."
+
+Kingozi arose to his feet.
+
+"I must have food. These _shenzis_ eat what?"
+
+"Food is ready, _bwana_."
+
+"I will eat. Then we must make _shauri_ with these people to get our
+loads. My men must rest to-day."
+
+"Come, _bwana_," said Cazi Moto.
+
+Kingozi stooped to pass through the door. When he straightened outside, he
+paused in amazement. Before him stood his camp, intact. The green tent
+with the fly faced him, the flaps thrown back to show within his cot and
+tin box. White porters' tents had been pitched in the usual circle, and
+before each squatted men cooking over little fires. The loads, covered by
+the tarpaulin, had been arranged in the centre of the circle. At a short
+distance to the rear the cook camp steamed.
+
+Cazi Moto stood at his elbow grinning.
+
+"Hot water ready, _bwana_," said he; and for the first time Kingozi
+noticed that he carried a towel over his arm.
+
+"This is good, very good, Cazi Moto!" said he. "_Backsheeshi m'kubwa_ for
+this; both for you and for Simba."
+
+"Thank you, _bwana_," said Gaza Moto. "Simba brought the water, and it
+saved us; and I thought that my _bwana_ should not sleep on grass a second
+time before these _shenzis_."
+
+"Who carried in the loads? Not our porters?"
+
+"No, _bwana_, the _shenzis_."
+
+Kingozi glanced at his wrist watch. It was only ten o'clock. "When?"
+
+"Last night."
+
+"They went back last night?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_. Mali-ya-bwana considered that it was bad to leave the
+loads. There might be hyenas--or the _shenzis_----"
+
+Kingozi slapped his thigh with satisfaction. This was a man after his own
+heart.
+
+"Call Mali-ya-bwana," he ordered.
+
+The tall Baganda approached.
+
+"Mali-ya-bwana," said Kingozi. "You have done well. For this you shall
+have _backsheeshi_. But more. You need not again carry a load. You will
+be--" he hesitated, trying to invent an office, but reluctant to infringe
+upon the prerogatives of either Simba or Cazi Moto. "You will be headman
+of the porters; and you, Cazi Moto, will be headman of all the safari, and
+my own man besides."
+
+The Baganda drew himself erect, his face shining. Placing his bare heels
+together, he raised his hand in a military salute. Kingozi was about to
+dismiss him, but this arrested his intention.
+
+"Where did you learn to do that?" he asked sharply.
+
+"I was once in the King's African Rifles."[7]
+
+[Footnote 7: Only, of course, Mali-ya-bwana gave the native name for these
+troops.]
+
+"You can shoot, then?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"Good!" commented Kingozi thoughtfully. Then after a moment: "_Bassi_."
+
+Mali-ya-bwana saluted once more and departed. Kingozi turned toward his
+tent.
+
+It had been pitched under a huge tree, with low, massive limbs and a shade
+that covered a diameter of fully sixty yards. Before it the usual table
+had been made of piled-up chop boxes, and to this Cazi Moto was bearing
+steaming dishes. The threatened headache had not materialized, and Kingozi
+was feeling quite fit. He was ravenously hungry, for now his system was
+rested enough to assimilate food. His last meal had been breakfast before
+sunup of the day before. Without paying even casual attention to his
+surroundings he seated himself on a third chop box and began to eat.
+
+Kingozi's methods of eating had in them little of the epicure. He simply
+ate all he wanted of the first things set before him. After this he drank
+all he wanted from the tall _balauri_. Second courses did not exist for
+Kingozi. Then with a sigh of satisfaction, he fumbled for his pipe and
+tobacco, and looked about him.
+
+The guest house had been built, as was the custom, a little apart from the
+main village. The latter was evidently around the bend of the hill, for
+only three or four huts were to be seen, perched among the huge
+outcropping boulders that were, apparently, characteristic of these hills.
+The mountains rose rather abruptly, just beyond the plateau; which, in
+turn, fell away almost as abruptly to the sweep of the plains. The bench
+was of considerable width--probably a mile at this point. It was not
+entirely level; but on the other hand not particularly broken. A number of
+fine, symmetrical trees of unknown species grew at wide intervals,
+overtopping a tangle of hedges, rank bushes, vines, and shrubs that
+appeared to constitute a rough sort of boundary between irregular fields.
+A tiny swift stream of water hurried by between the straight banks of an
+obviously artificial ditch.
+
+But though the village was hidden from view, its inhabitants were not.
+They had invaded the camp. Kingozi examined them keenly, with curiosity.
+Naked little boys and girls wandered gravely about; women clung together
+in groups; men squatted on their heels before anything that struck their
+attention, and stared.
+
+These people, Kingozi noted, were above middle size, of a red bronze, of
+the Semitic rather than the Hamitic type, well developed but not obviously
+muscular, of a bright and lively expression. The women shaved their heads
+quite bare; the men left a sort of skull cap of hair atop the head.
+Earlobes were pierced and stretched to hold ivory ornaments running up to
+the size of a jampot. There were some, but not many, armlets, leglets, and
+necklets of iron wire polished to the appearance of silver. The women wore
+brief skirts of softened skins: the men carried a short shoulder cape, or
+simply nothing at all. Each man bore a long-bladed heavy spear. Before
+squatting down in front of whatever engaged his attention for the moment,
+the savage thrust this upright in the ground. Kingozi, behind his pipe,
+considered them well: and received a favourable impression. An immovable,
+unblinking semicircle crouched at a respectful distance taking in every
+detail of the white man's appearance and belongings, watching his every
+move. Nobody spoke; apparently nobody even winked.
+
+Now appeared across the prospect two men walking. One was an elderly
+savage, with a wrinkled, shrewd countenance. He was almost completely
+enveloped in a robe of softened skins. Followed him a younger man,
+dangling at the end of a thong a small three-legged stool cut entire from
+a single block of wood. The old man swept forward with considerable
+dignity; the younger, one hand held high in the most affected fashion,
+teetered gracefully along as mincingly as any dandy.
+
+The visitor came superbly up to where Kingozi sat, and uttered a greeting
+in Swahili. He proved to possess a grand, deep, thunderous voice.
+
+"_Jambo!_" he rolled.
+
+Kingozi stared up at him coolly for a moment; then, without removing his
+pipe from his teeth, he remarked:
+
+"_Jambo!_"
+
+The old man, smiling, extended his hand.[8]
+
+[Footnote 8: Many African tribes shake hands in one way or another.]
+
+Kingozi, nursing the bowl of his pipe, continued to stare up at him.
+
+"Are you the _sultani?_" he demanded abruptly.
+
+The old man waved his hand in courtly fashion.
+
+"I am not the _sultani_," he answered in very bad Swahili; "I am the
+headman of the _sultani_."
+
+Kingozi continued to stare at him in the most uncompromising manner. In
+the meantime the younger man had loosed the thong from his wrist and had
+placed the stool on a level spot. The prime minister to the _sultani_
+arranged his robe preparatory to sitting down.
+
+Kingozi removed his pipe from his lips, and sat erect.
+
+"Stand up!" he commanded sharply. "If you are not the _sultani_ how dare
+you sit down before me!"
+
+The youth whisked the stool away: the old man covered his discomfiture in
+a flow of talk. Kingozi listened to him in silence. The visitor concluded
+his remarks which--as far as they could be understood--were entirely
+general: and, with a final courtly wave of the hand, turned away. Then
+Kingozi spoke, abruptly, curtly.
+
+"Have your people bring me eggs," he said, "milk, _m'wembe_."[9]
+
+[Footnote 9: A sort of flour ground from rape seeds.]
+
+The old man, somewhat abashed, made the most dignified retreat possible
+through the keenly attentive audience of his own people.
+
+Kingozi gazed after him, his blue eyes wide with their peculiar aggressive
+blank stare. A low hum of conversation swept through the squatting
+warriors. Those who understood Swahili murmured eagerly to those who did
+not. These uttered politely the long drawn "A-a-a-a!" of savage interest.
+
+"Cazi Moto, where is my chair?" Kingozi demanded, abruptly conscious that
+the chop box was not very comfortable.
+
+"Bibi-ya-chui has it."
+
+"Where is she?"
+
+"Right behind you," came that young woman's voice in amused tones. "You
+have been so busy that you have not seen me."
+
+Kingozi turned. The chair had been placed in a bare spot close to the
+trunk of the great tree. He grinned cheerfully.
+
+"I was pretty hungry," he confessed, "and I don't believe I saw a single
+thing but that curry!"
+
+[Footnote 9: A sort of flour ground from rape seeds.]
+
+"Naturally. It is not to be wondered at. Are you all rested?"
+
+"I'm quite fit, thanks. And you?"
+
+She was still in her marching costume; but her hair had been smoothed, her
+face washed. The colour had come back to her lips, the light to her
+expression. Only a faint dark encircling of the eyes, and a certain
+graceful languor of attitude recalled the collapse of yesterday.
+
+"Oh, I am all right; but perishing for a cigarette. Have you one?"
+
+"Sorry, but I don't use them. Are not all your loads up yet?"
+
+"None of them."
+
+"Well, they should be in shortly. Cazi Moto has given you breakfast, of
+course."
+
+"Yes. But nobody has yet gone for my loads."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Kingozi sharply. "Why did you not start men for them
+when you first awakened?"
+
+She smiled at him ruefully.
+
+"I tried. But they said they were very tired from yesterday. They would
+not go."
+
+"Simba!" called Kingozi.
+
+"Suh!"
+
+"Bring the headman of Bibi-ya-chui. Is he that mop-headed blighter?" he
+asked her.
+
+"Who? Oh, the Nubian, Chaké. No; he is just a faithful creature near
+myself. I have no headman."
+
+"Who takes your orders, then?"
+
+"The _askaris_."
+
+"Which one?"
+
+"Any of them." She made a mouth. "Don't look at me in that fashion. Is
+that so very dreadful?"
+
+"It's impossible. You can never run a safari in that way. Simba, bring all
+the _askaris_."
+
+Simba departed on his errand. Kingozi turned to her gravely.
+
+"Dear lady," said he gravely, "I am going to offend you again. But this
+won't do. You are a wonderful woman; but you do not know this game well
+enough. I acknowledge you will handle this show ordinarily in tiptop
+style; but in a new country, in contact with new peoples--it's a
+specialist's job, that's all."
+
+"I'm beginning to think so," she replied with unexpected humility.
+
+"Already you've lost control of your organization: you nearly died from
+lack of water--By the way, why didn't you push ahead with your Nubian, and
+find the water?"
+
+"I had to get my men on."
+
+He looked on her with more approval.
+
+"Well, you're safe out of it. And now, I beg of you, don't do it any
+more."
+
+"Is my little scolding all done?" she asked after a pause.
+
+"Forgive me. I did not mean it as a scolding."
+
+She sat upright and rested her elbows on her knees, her chin in her hands.
+Her long sea-green eyes softened.
+
+"Listen: I deserve that what you say. I thought I knew, because always I
+have travelled in a good country. But never the hell of a dry country. I
+want you to know that you are quite right, and I want to tell you that I
+know you saved me and my men: and I would not know what to do now if you
+were not here to help me. There!" she made a pretty outward-flinging
+gesture. "Is that enough?"
+
+Kingozi, like most men whose natural efficiency has been hardened by wide
+experience, while impervious to either open or wily antagonism, melted at
+the first hint of surrender. A wave of kindly feeling overwhelmed the last
+suspicions--absurd suspicions--his analysis had made. He was prevented
+from replying by the approach of Simba at the head of eight of the
+_askaris_. They slouched along at his heels, sullen and careless, but when
+they felt the impact of Kingozi's cold glare, they straightened to
+attention. Kingozi ran his eye over them.
+
+"Where are the other four?" he demanded.
+
+"Three are in the _shenzis'_ village. One says he is very tired."
+
+"Take Mali-ya-bwana and Cazi Moto. Take the leg chains. Bring that one man
+before me with the chains on him. Have him bring also his gun; and his
+cartridges."
+
+Ignoring the waiting eight, Kingozi resumed his conversation with the
+Leopard Woman.
+
+"They are out of hand," said he. "We must impress them."
+
+"_Kiboko?_" she inquired.
+
+"Perhaps--but you have rather overdone that. We shall see."
+
+"I heard you talk with that old man a few moments ago," she said. "And I
+heard also much talk of our men about it. He is a very powerful chief--
+next to the _sultani_. Are not you afraid that your treatment of him will
+make trouble? You were not polite."
+
+"What else have you heard?"
+
+"This _sultani_ has apparently several hundred villages. They keep goats,
+fat-tailed sheep, and some few cattle. They raise _m'wembe_, beans,
+peanuts, and bananas. They have a war caste of young men."
+
+Kingozi listened to her attentively.
+
+"Good girl!" said he. "You use your intelligence. These are all good
+points to know."
+
+"But this old man----"
+
+"No; I have not insulted him. I know the native mind. I have merely
+convinced him that I am every bit as important a person as his _sultani_."
+
+"What do you do next? Call on the _sultani_."
+
+"By no means. Wait until he comes. If he does not come by, say to-morrow,
+send for him."
+
+Simba appeared leading a downcast _askari_ in irons. Kingozi waved his
+hand toward those waiting in the sun; and the new captive made the ninth.
+
+"Now, Simba, go to the village of these _shenzis_. Tell the other three
+_askaris_ to come; and at once. Do not return without them."
+
+Simba, whose fierce soul all this delighted beyond expression, started off
+joyfully, trailed by a posse of his own choosing.
+
+"What are you going to do?" asked the Leopard Woman curiously.
+
+"Get them in line a bit," replied Kingozi carelessly. "I feel rather lazy
+and done up to-day; don't you?"
+
+"That is so natural. And I am keeping your chair----"
+
+"I've been many trips without one. This tree is good to lean against----"
+
+They chatted about trivial matters. A certain ease had crept into their
+relations: a guard had been lowered. To a small extent they ventured to
+question each other, to indulge in those tentative explorations of
+personality so fascinating in the early stages of acquaintanceship. To her
+inquiries Kingozi repeated that he was an ivory hunter and trader; he came
+into this country because new country alone offered profits in ivory these
+days; he had been in Africa for fifteen years. At this last she looked him
+over closely.
+
+"You came out very young," she surmised.
+
+"When my father took me out of the medical school to put me into the
+ministry. I had a knack for doctoring. I ran away."
+
+"Why did you come to Africa?"
+
+"Didn't particularly. Started for Iceland on a whaling ship. Sailed the
+seven seas after the brutes. Landed on the Gold Coast--and got left
+behind."
+
+She looked at him hard, and he laughed.
+
+"'Left' with my kit and about sixty pounds I had hung on to since I left
+home--my own money, mind you! _And_ a harpoon gun! Lord!" he laughed
+again, "think of it--a harpoon gun! You loaded it with about a peck of
+black powder. Normally, of course, it shot a harpoon, but you could very
+near cram a nigger baby down it! And kick! If you were the least bit off
+balance it knocked you flat. It was the most extraordinary cannon ever
+seen in Africa, and it inspired more respect, acquired me more _kudos_
+than even my beard."
+
+"So _that's_ why you wear it!" she murmured.
+
+"What?"
+
+"Nothing; go on."
+
+"Just the sight of that awe-inspiring piece of ordnance took me the length
+of the Congo without the least difficulty."
+
+"Tell me about the Congo."
+
+Apparently, at this direct and comprehensive question, there was nothing
+to tell about the Congo. But adroitly she drew him on. He told of the
+great river and its people, and the white men who administered it. The
+subject of cannibals seemed especially to fascinate her. He had seen
+living human beings issued as a sort of ration on the hoof to native
+cannibal troops.
+
+Simba returned with the other three _askaris_.
+
+Kingozi arose from the ground and stretched himself.
+
+"I'm sorry," said he, "I'm afraid I shall have to ask you for the chair
+now."
+
+She arose, wondering a little. He placed the chair before the waiting line
+of _askaris_, and planted himself squarely in it as in a judgment seat. He
+ran his eye over the men deliberately.
+
+"You!" said he suddenly, pointing his forefinger at the man in irons. "You
+have disobeyed my orders. You are no longer an _askari_. You are a common
+porter, and from now on will carry a load. It is not my custom to use
+_kiboko_ on _askaris_; but a common porter can eat _kiboko_, and Mali-ya-
+bwana, my headman of safari, will give you twenty-five lashes. _Bassi!_"
+
+Mali-ya-bwana, well pleased thus early to exercise the authority of his
+new office, led the man away.
+
+Kingozi dropped his chin in his hand, a movement that pushed out his beard
+in a terrifying manner. One after another of the eleven men felt the
+weight of his stare. At last he spoke.
+
+"I have heard tales of you," said he, "but I who speak know nothing about
+you. You are _askaris_, soldiers with guns, and next to gun bearers are
+the greatest men in the safari. Some have told me that you are not
+_askaris_, that you are common porters--and not good ones--who carry guns.
+I do not know. That we shall see. This is what must be done now, and done
+quickly: the loads of your _memsahib_ must be brought here, and camp made
+properly, according to the custom. Perhaps your men are no longer tired:
+perhaps you will get the _shenzis_. That is not my affair. You
+understand?"
+
+The answer came in an eager chorus.
+
+He ran his eye over them again.
+
+"You," he indicated, "stand forward. Of what tribe are you?"
+
+"Monumwezi, _bwana_."
+
+"Your name?"
+
+The man uttered a mouthful of gutturals.
+
+"Again."
+
+He repeated.
+
+"That is not a good name for me. From now on you are--Jack."
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"Do you know the customs of _askaris?_"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"H'm," Kingozi commented in English, "nobody would guess it. Then
+understand this: You are headman of _askaris_. You take the orders: you
+report to me--or the _memsahib_," he added, almost as an afterthought.
+"To-morrow morning _fall in_, and I will look at your guns. _Bassi!_"
+
+They filed away. Kingozi arose and returned the chair.
+
+"Is that all you will do to them?" she demanded. "I tell you they have
+insulted me; they have refused to move; they should be punished."
+
+"That's all. They understand now what will happen. You will see: they will
+not refuse again."
+
+She appeared to struggle against a flare of her old rebellious spirit.
+
+"I will leave it to you," she managed at last.
+
+The squatting savages had not moved a muscle, but their shining black eyes
+had not missed a single detail.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+
+THE SULTANI
+
+Six hours later the Leopard Woman's camp had arrived, had been pitched,
+and everything was running again as usual. The new _askari_ headman, Jack,
+had reported pridefully to Kingozi. The latter had nodded a careless
+acknowledgment; and had referred the man to his mistress. She had
+disappeared for a time, but now emerged again, bathed, freshened, dainty
+in her silken tea gown, the braids of hair down her back, the band of
+woven gold encircling her brow, the single strange jewel hanging in the
+middle of her forehead. For a time she sat alone under her own tree; but,
+as Kingozi showed no symptoms of coming to her, and as she was bored and
+growing impatient, she trailed over to him, the Nubian following with her
+chair. Kingozi was absorbed in establishing points on his map. He looked
+up at her and nodded pleasantly, then moved his protractor a few inches.
+
+"Just a moment," he murmured absorbedly.
+
+She lit a cigarette and yawned. The immediate prospect was dull. Savages
+continued to drift in, to squat and stare, then to move on to the porters'
+camps. There a lively bartering was going on. From some unsuspected store
+each porter had drawn forth a few beads, some snuff, a length of wire, or
+similar treasure; and with them was making the best bargain he could for
+the delicacies of the country. The process was noisy. Four _askaris_, with
+their guns, stood on guard. The shadows were lengthening in the hills, and
+the heat waves had ceased to shimmer like veils.
+
+"That's done," said Kingozi at last.
+
+"Thank the Lord!" she ejaculated. "This bores me. Why do we not do
+something? I should like some milk, some eggs--many things. Let us summon
+this king."
+
+But Kingozi shook his head.
+
+"That's all very well where the white man's influence reaches. But not
+here. I doubt if there are three men in this people who have ever even
+seen a white man. Of course they have all heard of us, and know a good
+deal about us. We must stand on our dignity here. Let the _sultani_ come
+to us, all in his own time. Without his goodwill we cannot move a step
+farther, we cannot get a pound of _potio_."
+
+"How long will it take? I want to get on. This does not interest me. I
+have seen many natives."
+
+Kingozi smiled.
+
+"Two days of visit. Then perhaps a week to get _potio_ and guides."
+
+"Impossible! I could not endure it!"
+
+"I am afraid you will have to. I know the untamed savage. He is inclined
+to be friendly, always. If you hurry the process, you must fight. That's
+the trouble with a big mob like yours. It is difficult to feed so many
+peacefully. Even in a rich country they bring in _potio_ slowly--a cupful
+at a time. With the best intentions in the world you may have to use
+coercion to keep from starving. And coercion means trouble. Look at
+Stanley--he left hostilities everywhere, that have lasted up to now. The
+people were well enough disposed when he came among them with his six or
+eight hundred men. But he had to have food and he had to have it quickly.
+He could not wait for slow, diplomatic methods. He had to _take_ it. Even
+when you pay for a thing, that doesn't work. The news travelled ahead of
+him, and the result was he had to fight. And everybody else has had to
+fight ever since."
+
+"That is interesting. I did not know that."
+
+"A small party can negotiate. That's why I say you have too many men."
+
+"But the time wasted!" she cried aghast.
+
+"Time is nothing in Africa." He went on to tell her of the two travellers
+in Rhodesia who came upon a river so wide that they could but just see
+from one bank to the other; and so swift that rafts were of little avail.
+So one man went back for a folding boat while the other camped by the
+stream. Four months later the first man returned with the boat. The
+"river" had dried up completely!
+
+"They didn't mind," said Kingozi, "they thought it a huge joke."
+
+An hour before sundown signs of activity manifested themselves from the
+direction of the invisible village. A thin, high, wailing chant in female
+voices came fitfully to their ears. A compact little group of men rounded
+the bend and approached. Their gait was slow and stately.
+
+"Well," remarked Kingozi, feeling for his pipe, "we are going to be
+honoured by that visit from his majesty."
+
+The Leopard Woman leaned forward and surveyed the approaching men with
+some interest. They were four in number. Three were naked, their bodies
+oiled until they glistened with a high polish. One of them carried a
+battered old canvas steamer chair; one a fan of ostrich plumes; and one a
+long gourd heavily decorated with cowrie shells. The fourth was an
+impressive individual in middle life, hawkfaced, tall and spare, carrying
+himself with great dignity. He wore a number of anklets and armlets of
+polished wire, a broad beaded collar, heavy earrings, and a sumptuous robe
+of softened goatskins embroidered with beads and cowrie shells. As he
+strode his anklets clashed softly. His girt was free, and he walked with
+authority. Altogether an impressive figure.
+
+"The _sultani_ is a fine-looking man," observed Bibi-ya-chui. "I suppose
+the others are slaves."
+
+Kingozi threw a careless glance in the direction of the approaching group.
+
+"Not the _sultani_--some understrapper. Chief Hereditary Guardian of the
+Royal Chair, or something of that sort, I dare say."
+
+The tall man approached, smiling graciously. Kingozi vouchsafed him no
+attention. Visibly impressed, the newcomer rather fussily superintended
+the unfolding and placing of the chair. The slaves with the plumed fan and
+the gourd stationed themselves at either side. The other two men fell
+back.
+
+Now the shrill chanting became more clearly audible. Shortly appeared a
+procession. Women bearing burdens walked two by two. Armed men with spears
+and shields flanked them. As they approached, it could be seen that they
+were very gorgeous indeed; the women hung with strings of cowries, bound
+with glittering brass and iron, bedecked with strings of beads. To one
+familiar with savage peoples there could be no doubt that these were close
+to the purple. Each bead, each shell, each bangle of wire had been passed
+through many, many hands before it reached this remote fastness of
+barbarity; and in each hand, you may be sure, profits had remained. But
+the men were more impressive still. Stark naked of every stitch of cloth
+or of tanned skins, oiled with an unguent carrying a dull red stain, their
+heads shaved bare save for a small crown patch from which single feathers
+floated, they symbolized well the warrior stripped for the fray. A beaded
+broad belt supported a short sword and the _runga_, or war club; an oval
+shield of buffalo hide, brilliantly painted, hung on the left arm; a
+polished long-bladed spear was carried in the right hand. And surrounding
+the face, as a frame, was a queer headdress of black ostrich plumes. Every
+man of them wore about his ankles hollow bangles of considerable size; and
+these he clashed loudly one against the other as he walked.
+
+It made a great uproar this--the clang of the iron, the wild wailing of
+the women's voices.
+
+Kingozi moved his chair four or five paces to the front.
+
+"I'm sorry," he told her, "but I must ask you to stay where you are. This
+is an important occasion."
+
+He surveyed the oncoming procession with interest.
+
+"Swagger old beggar," he observed. "His guard are well turned out. You
+know those markings on the shields are a true heraldry--the patterns mean
+families, and all that sort of thing."
+
+The chanting grew louder as the procession neared. The warriors stared
+fiercely straight ahead. Before Kingozi they parted to right and left,
+forming an aisle leading to his chair. Down this the women came, one by
+one, still singing, and deposited their burdens at the white man's feet.
+There were baskets of _m'wembe_, earthen bowls of eggs, fowls, gourds of
+milk, bundles of faggots and firewood, woven bags of _n'jugu_ nuts,
+vegetables, and two small sheep. Kingozi stared indifferently into the
+distance; but as each gift was added to the others he reached forward to
+touch it as a sign of acceptance. Their burdens deposited, they took their
+places in front of the ranks of the warriors.
+
+"Am I supposed to speak?" asked the Leopard Woman.
+
+"Surely."
+
+"Shouldn't we order out our _askaris_ with their guns to make the parade?"
+
+"No. We could not hope to equal this show, possibly. Our lay is to do the
+supercilious indifferent." He turned to his attentive satellite. "Cazi
+Moto," he ordered, "tell our people, quietly, to go back to their camps.
+They must not stand and stare at these _shenzis_. And tell M'pishi to make
+large _balauris_ of coffee, and put in plenty of sugar."
+
+Cazi Moto grinned understandingly, and glided away. Shortly the safari men
+could be seen sauntering unconcernedly back to their little fires.
+
+Suddenly the warriors cried out in a loud voice, and raised their right
+arms and spears rigidly above their heads. A tall, heavily built man
+appeared around the bend. He was followed by two young women, who flanked
+him by a pace or so to the rear. They were so laden with savage riches as
+to be almost concealed beneath the strings of cowrie shells and bands of
+beads. In contrast the man wore only a long black cotton blanket draped to
+leave one shoulder and arm bare. Not an earring, not a bangle, not even a
+finger ring or a bead strap relieved the sombre simplicity of the black
+robe and the dark skin.
+
+"But this man is an artist!" murmured Bibi-ya-chui. "He understands
+effect! This is stage managed!"
+
+The _sultani_ approached without haste. He stopped squarely before
+Kingozi's chair. The latter did not rise. The two men stared into each
+other's eyes for a full minute, without embarrassment, without contest,
+without defiance. Then the black man spoke.
+
+"_Jambo, bwana_," he rumbled in a deep voice.
+
+"_Jambo, sultani_" replied Kingozi calmly.
+
+They shook hands.
+
+With regal deliberation the visitor arranged his robes and sat down in the
+battered old canvas chair. A silence that lasted nearly five minutes
+ensued.
+
+"I thank you, _sultani_, for the help your men have given. I thank you for
+the houses. I thank you for these gifts."
+
+The _sultani_ waved his hand magnificently.
+
+"It is not the custom of white men to give gifts until their departure,"
+continued Kingozi, "but this knife is yours to make friendship."
+
+He handed over a knife, of Swedish manufacture, the blade of which
+disappeared into the handle in a most curious fashion. The _sultani's_
+eyes lit up with an almost childish delight, but his countenance showed no
+emotion. He passed the knife on to the dignitary who stood behind his
+chair.
+
+"This," said Kingozi, taking one of the steaming _balauris_ from Cazi
+Moto, "is the white man's _tembo_."
+
+The _sultani_ tasted doubtfully. He was pleased. He gave back the
+_balauri_ at last with a final smack of the lips.
+
+"Good!" said he.
+
+Another full five minutes of silence ensued. Then the _sultani_ arose. He
+cast a glance about him, his eye, avid with curiosity, held rigidly in
+restraint. It rested on the Leopard Woman.
+
+"I see you have one of your women with you," he remarked.
+
+He turned, without further ceremony, and stalked off, followed at a few
+paces by the two richly ornamented girls. The warriors again raised their
+spears aloft, holding them thus until their lord had rounded the cliff.
+Then, the women in precedence, they marched away. Kingozi puffed his pipe
+indifferently.
+
+The Leopard Woman was visibly impatient, visibly roused.
+
+"Are you letting him go?" she demanded. "Do not you inquire the country?
+Do not you ask for _potio_, for guides?"
+
+"Not to-day," replied Kingozi. He turned deliberately to face her, his
+eyes serious. "Please realize once for all that we live here only by force
+of _prestige_. My only chance of getting on, our only chance of safety
+rests on my ability to impress this man with the idea that I am a bigger
+lord than he. And, remember, I have lived in savage Africa for fifteen
+years, and I know what I am doing. This is very serious. You must not
+interfere; and you must not suggest."
+
+The Leopard Woman's eyes glittered dangerously, but she controlled
+herself.
+
+"You talk like a sultan yourself," she protested at length. "You should
+not use that tone to me."
+
+Kingozi brushed the point aside with a large gesture.
+
+"I will play the game of courtesy with you, yes," said he, "but only when
+it does not interfere with serious things. In this matter there must be no
+indefiniteness, no chance for misunderstanding. Politeness, between the
+sexes, means both. I will repeat: in this you must leave me free hand no
+interference, no suggestion."
+
+"And if I disobey your commands?" she challenged, with an emphasis on the
+last word.
+
+He surveyed her sombrely.
+
+"I should take measures," he replied finally.
+
+"You are not my master: you are not the master of my men!"
+
+Kingozi permitted himself a slight smile.
+
+"If you believe that last statement, just try to give an order to your men
+counter to an order of mine. You would see. And of course in case of a
+real crisis I should have to make myself master of you, if you seemed
+likely to be troublesome."
+
+"I would kill you! I warn you; I go always armed!"
+
+From the folds of her silken robe she produced a small automatic pistol
+which she displayed. Kingozi glanced at it indifferently.
+
+"In that case you would have to kill yourself, too; and then it would not
+matter to either of us."
+
+"I find you insufferable!" she cried, getting to her feet.
+
+She moved away in the direction of her camp. The faithful Nubian folded
+her chair and followed. At the doorway of her tent she looked back.
+Kingozi, his black pipe in his mouth, was bending absorbedly over his map.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI
+
+
+THE IVORY STOCKADE
+
+The Leopard Woman, emerging from her tent shortly after sunup the next
+morning, saw across the opening her own _askaris_ being drilled by
+Kingozi, Simba, and Cazi Moto. Evidently the instruction was in rifle
+fire. Two were getting individual treatment: Simba and Cazi Moto were
+putting them through a careful course in aiming and pulling the trigger on
+empty guns. Kingozi sat on a chop box in the shade, gripping his eternal
+pipe, and issuing curt orders and criticisms to the baker's dozen, before
+him. When he saw the Leopard Woman he arose and strolled in her direction.
+
+"That's the worst lot of so-called _askaris_ I ever saw," he remarked.
+"Where did you pick them up?"
+
+His manner was entirely unconscious of any discussions or dissentions. He
+looked into her eyes and smiled genially.
+
+"I took them from the recruiting man, as they came," she replied. As
+always the deeps of her eyes were enigmatical; but the surfaces, at least,
+of her mood answered his.
+
+"They know how to load a gun, and that is about all. I don't believe one
+of them ever fired a weapon before this trip. They haven't the most
+rudimentary ideas of aiming. Don't even know what sights are for. My boys
+will soon whip them into some sort of shape. I came over to see how much
+ammunition you have for their muskets. They really ought to fire a few
+rounds--after a week of aiming and snapping. Then they'll be of some use.
+Not much, though."
+
+"I really don't know," she answered his question. "Chaké will look and
+see."
+
+"Send him over to report when he finds out," requested Kingozi, preparing
+to return.
+
+"What move does your wisdom contemplate to-day?" she called after him.
+
+"Oh, return his majesty's visit this afternoon. Like to go?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+"Well, I'll let you know when. And if you go, you must be content to stand
+two or three yards behind me, and to say nothing."
+
+She flushed, but answered steadily enough:
+
+"I'll remember."
+
+It was nearing sundown when Kingozi emerged from his tent and gave the
+signal to move. He had for the first time strapped on a heavy revolver;
+his glasses hung from his neck; his sleeve was turned back to show his
+wrist watch; and, again for the first time, he had assumed a military-
+looking tunic. He carried his double rifle.
+
+"Got on everything I own," he grinned.
+
+Simba and Cazi Moto waited near. From the mysterious sources every native
+African seems to possess they had produced new hats and various trinkets.
+Their khakis had been fresh washed; so they looked neat and trim.
+
+The Leopard Woman wore still one of her silken negligées, and the jewel on
+her forehead; but her hair had been piled high on her head. Kingozi
+surveyed her with some particularity. She noted the fact. Her satisfaction
+would have diminished could she have read his mind. He was thinking that
+her appearance was sufficiently barbaric to impress a barbaric king.
+
+They rounded the point of cliffs, and the village lay before them. It
+rambled up the side of the mountain, hundreds of beehive houses perched
+and clinging, with paths from one to the other. The approach was through a
+narrow straight lane of thorn and aloes, so thick and so spiky that no
+living thing bigger than a mouse could have forced its way through the
+walls. The end of this vista was a heavy palisade of timbers through which
+a door led into a circular enclosure ten feet in diameter, on the other
+side of which another door opened into the village. Above each of these
+doors massive timbers were suspended ready to fall at the cut of a sword.
+Within the little enclosure, or double gate, squatted a man before a great
+drum.
+
+"They're pretty well fixed here," observed Kingozi critically. "Nobody can
+get at them except down that lane. The mountains are impassable because of
+the thorn. They must use arrows."
+
+"Why?" asked the Leopard Woman.
+
+"The form of their defence. They shoot between the logs of the palisade
+down the narrow lane. If they fought only with spears, the lane would be
+shorter, and it would be defended on the flank."
+
+"Why don't they defend it on the flank also, even with arrows?" asked the
+Leopard Woman shrewdly.
+
+"'It is not the custom,'" wearily quoted Kingozi in the vernacular. "Don't
+ask me _why_ a savage does things. I only know he does."
+
+Their conversation was drowned by the sound of the drum.
+
+The guardian did not beat it, but rubbed the head rapidly with the stick,
+modifying the pressure scientifically until the vibrations had well
+started. It roared hollowly, like some great bull.
+
+The visitors passed through the defensive anteroom and entered the village
+enclosure.
+
+On the flat below the hills, heretofore invisible, stood a half-dozen
+large houses. At the end, where the cañon began to narrow, a fence gleamed
+dazzlingly white. From this distance the four-foot posts, planted in
+proximity like a stockade, looked to have been whitewashed.
+
+People were appearing everywhere. The crags and points of the hills were
+filling with bold black figures silhouetted against the sky. Men, women,
+children, dogs sprang up, from the soil apparently. As though by magic the
+flat open space became animated. Plumed heads appeared above the white
+fence in the distance, where, undoubtedly, their owners had been loafing
+in the shade. Another drum began to roar somewhere, and with it the echoes
+began to arouse themselves in the hills.
+
+Paying no attention to any of this interesting confusion Kingozi sauntered
+straight ahead. At his command the Leopard Woman had dropped a pace to the
+rear.
+
+"The royal palace is behind the white fence," he volunteered over his
+shoulder.
+
+They approached the sacred precincts. But while yet fifty yards distant,
+Kingozi stopped with an exclamation. He turned to the Leopard Woman, and
+for the first time she saw on his face and in his eyes a genuine and
+unconcealed excitement.
+
+"My Lord!" he cried to her, "saw ever any man the likes of that!"
+
+The white posts of which the fence was made were elephants' tusks!
+
+"Kingdom coming, what a sight!" murmured Kingozi. "Why, there are hundreds
+and hundreds of them--and the smallest worth not less than fifty pounds!"
+
+Her eyes answered him whole-heartedly, for her imagination was afire.
+
+"What magnificence!" she replied. "The thought is great--a palace of
+ivory! This is kingly!"
+
+But the light had died in Kingozi's eyes. "Won't do!" he muttered to her.
+"Compose your face. Come."
+
+Without another glance at the magnificent tusks he marched on through the
+open gate.
+
+Other drums, many drums, were roaring all about. The cliff of the cañon
+was filled with sound that buffeted back and forth until it seemed that it
+must rise above the hills and overflow the world. A chattering and
+hurrying of people could be heard as an undertone.
+
+The small enclosure was occupied by a dozen of the plumed warriors who had
+now snatched up emblazoned shield and polished spear; and stood rigidly at
+attention. Women of all ages crouched and squatted against the fence and
+the sides of a large wattle and thatch building.
+
+Kingozi walked deliberately about, looking with detached interest at the
+various people and objects the corral contained. He had very much the air
+of a man sauntering idly about a museum, with all the time in the world on
+his hands, and nowhere much to go. Simba and Cazi Moto remained near the
+gate. The Leopard Woman, not knowing what else to do, trailed after him.
+
+This continued for some time. At last her impatience overcame her.
+
+"I suppose I may talk," said she resentfully. "How much longer must this
+go on? Why do not you make your call and have it over?"
+
+Kingozi laughed.
+
+"You do not know this game. Inside old Stick-in-the mud is waiting in all
+his grandeur. He expects me to go in to him. I am going to wait until he
+comes out to me. _Prestige_ again."
+
+Apparently without a care in the world, he continued his stroll. Small
+naked children ventured from hiding-places and stared. To some of these
+Kingozi spoke pleasantly with the immediate effect of causing them to
+scuttle back to cover. He examined minutely the tusks comprising the
+stockade. They had been arranged somewhat according to size, with the
+curve outward. Kingozi spent some time estimating them.
+
+"Fortune here for some one," he observed.
+
+At the end of an hour the _sultani_ gave up the contest and appeared,
+smiling, unconcerned. The men greeted each other, exchanged a few words.
+Women emerged from the house carrying _tembo_ in gourd bottles, and
+smaller half-gourds from which to drink it. Their eyes were large with
+curiosity as to this man and woman of a new species. Kingozi touched his
+lips to the _tembo_. They exchanged a few words, and shook hands again.
+Then Kingozi turned away, and, followed by the Leopard Woman and his two
+men, walked out through the ivory gateway, down through the open flat,
+under the fortified portal, and so down the lane of spiky walls. The drums
+roared louder and louder. Warriors in spear, shield, and plumed headdress
+stood rigid as they passed. People by the hundreds gazed at them openly,
+peered at them from behind doors, or looked down on them from the crags
+above. They rounded the corner of the cliff. Before them lay their own
+quiet peaceful camp. Only the voice of the drums bellowed as though behind
+them in the cleft of the hills some great and savage beast lay hid.
+
+[Illustration: "Their eyes were large with curiosity as to this man and
+woman of a new species.... Kingozi touched his lips to the _tembo_"]
+
+"That seemed to be all right," suggested the Leopard Woman, ranging
+alongside again.
+
+"They didn't spear us, if that's what you mean. We can tell more about it
+to-morrow."
+
+"What will happen to-morrow?"
+
+"Yesterday and to-day finished the 'side' and ceremony. If to-morrow old
+Stick-in-the-mud drifts around quite on his own, like any other _shenzi_,
+and if the women come into camp freely, why then we're all right."
+
+"And otherwise?"
+
+"Well, if the _sultani_ stays away, and if you don't see any women at all,
+and if the men are painted and carry their shields--they will always carry
+their spears--that won't be so favourable." "In which case we fight?"
+
+"No: I'll alter my diplomacy. There's a vast difference between mere
+unfriendliness and hostility. I think I can handle the former all right. I
+wish I knew a little more of their language. Swahili hardly fills the
+bill. I'll see what I can do with it in the next few days."
+
+"You cannot learn a language in a few days!" she objected incredulously.
+
+"Of course not. But I seem to know the general root idea of this patter.
+It isn't unlike the N'gruimi--same root likely--a bastard combination of
+Bantu-Masai stock."
+
+She looked at him.
+
+"You know," she told him slowly, "I am beginning to believe you _savant_.
+You make not much of it, but your knowledge of natives is extraordinary.
+You better than any other man know these people--their minds--how to
+influence them."
+
+"I have a little knowledge of how to go at them, that's true. That's about
+the only claim I have to being _savant_, as you call it. My book knowledge
+and fact knowledge is equalled by many and exceeded by a great many more.
+But mere knowledge of facts doesn't get far in practice," he laughed.
+"Lord, these scientists! Helpless as children!" He sobered again. "There's
+one man has the science and the psychology both. He's a wonderful person.
+He knows the native objectively as I never will; and subjectively as well
+if not better. It is a rare combination. He's 'way over west of us
+somewhere now--in the Congo headwaters--a Bavarian, name Winkleman."
+
+Had Kingozi been looking at her he would have seen the Leopard Woman's
+frame stiffen at the mention of this name. For a moment she said nothing.
+
+"I know the name--he is great scientist," she managed to say.
+
+"He is more than a scientist; he is a great humanist. No man has more
+insight, more sympathetic insight into the native mind. A man of vast
+influence."
+
+They had reached Kingozi's camp under the great tree. He began to unbuckle
+his equipment.
+
+"I'll just lay all this gorgeousness aside," said he apologetically.
+
+But the Leopard Woman did not proceed to her own camp.
+
+"I am interested," said she. "This Winkleman--he has vast influence? More
+than yourself?"
+
+"That is hard to say," laughed Kingozi. "I should suppose so."
+
+She caught at a hint of reluctant pride in his voice.
+
+"Let us suppose," said she. "Let us suppose that you wanted one thing of
+natives, and Winkleman wanted another thing. Which would succeed?"
+
+"Neither. We'd both be speared," replied Kingozi promptly. "Positive and
+negative poles, and all that sort of thing."
+
+She puzzled over this a moment, trying to cast her question in a new form.
+
+"But suppose this: suppose Winkleman had obtained his wish. Could you
+overcome his influence and what-you-call substitute your own?"
+
+"No more than he could substitute his were the cases reversed. I've
+confidence enough in myself and knowledge enough of Winkleman to guarantee
+that."
+
+"So it would depend on who got there first?" she persisted; "that is your
+opinion?"
+
+"Why, yes. But what does it matter?"
+
+"It amuses me to get knowledge. I admire your handle of these people. You
+must be patient and explain. It is all new to me, although I thought I had
+much experience."
+
+She arose.
+
+"I am tired now. I go to the _siesta_."
+
+Kingozi stared after her retreating figure. The direct form of her
+questions had stirred again suspicions that had become vague.
+
+"What's she driving at?" he asked the uncomprehending Simba in English. He
+considered the question for some moments. "Don't even know her name or
+nationality," he confessed to himself after a while. "She's a queer one. I
+suppose I'll have to give her a man or so to help her back across the
+Thirst." He pondered again, "I might take her _askaris_. Country will feed
+them now. I'll have a business talk with her."
+
+As the tone of voice sounded final to Simba he ventured his usual reply.
+
+"Yes, suh!" said Simba.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII
+
+
+THE PILOCARPIN
+
+The _sultani_ duly appeared the next morning; women brought in firewood
+and products of the country to trade; all was well. The entire day, and
+the succeeding days for over a week, Kingozi sat under his big tree,
+smoking his black pipe. The _sultani_ sat beside him. For long periods at
+a time nothing at all was said. Then for equally long periods a lively
+conversation went on, through an interpreter mostly, though occasionally
+the _sultani_ launched into his bastard Swahili or Kingozi ventured a few
+words in the new tongue. Once in a while some intimate would saunter into
+view, and would be summoned by his king. Then Kingozi patiently did the
+following things:
+
+(a) He performed disappearing tricks with a rupee or other small object;
+causing it to vanish, and then plucking it from unexpected places.
+
+(b) With a pair of scissors--which were magic aplenty in themselves--he
+cut a folded paper in such a manner that when unfolded a row of paper
+dolls was disclosed. This was a very successful trick. The pleased
+warriors dandled them up and down delightedly in an _n'goma_.
+
+(c) He opened and shut an opera hat. The ordinary "plug hat" was known to
+these people, but not an opera hat.
+
+(d) He allowed them to look through his prism glasses.
+
+(e) On rare occasions he lit a match.
+
+This vaudeville entertainment was always a huge success. The newcomers
+squatted around the two chairs, and the conversation continued.
+
+Bibi-ya-chui occasionally stood near and listened. The subjects were
+trivial in themselves, and repeated endlessly.
+
+Ten minutes of this bored her to the point of extinction. She could not
+understand how Kingozi managed to survive ten hours day after day. Only
+once was he absent from his post, and then for only a few hours. He went
+out accompanied by Simba and a dozen _shenzis_, and shot a wildebeeste.
+The tail of this--an object much prized as a fly whisk--he presented to
+his majesty. All the rest of the time he talked and listened.
+
+"It is such childish nonsense!" the Leopard Woman expostulated. "How can
+you do it?"
+
+"Goes with the job. It's a thing you must learn to do if you would get on
+in this business."
+
+And once more she seemed to catch a glimpse of the infinity of savage
+Africa, which has been the same for uncounted ages, impersonal, without
+history, without the values of time!
+
+But had she known it, Kingozi was getting what he required. Information
+came to him a word now, a word then; promises came to him in single
+phrases lost in empty gossip. He collected what he wanted grain by grain
+from bushels of chaff. The whole sum of his new knowledge could have been
+expressed in a paragraph, took him a week to get, but was just what he
+wanted. If he had asked categorical questions, he would have received
+lies. If he had attempted to hurry matters, he would have got nothing at
+all.
+
+About sundown the _sultani_ would depart, followed shortly by the last
+straggler of his people. The succeeding hours were clear of _shenzis_, for
+either the custom of the country or the presence of strangers seemed to
+demand an _n'goma_ every evening. In the night stillness sounds carried
+readily. The drums, no longer rubbed but beaten in rhythm; the shrill
+wailing chants of women; the stamp and shuffle of feet; the cadenced
+clapping of hands rose and fell according to the fervour of the dance. The
+throb of these sounds was as a background to the evening--fierce,
+passionate, barbaric.
+
+After the departure of the _sultani_ Kingozi took a bath and changed his
+clothes. The necessity for this was more mental than physical. Then he
+relaxed luxuriously. It was then that he resumed his relations with the
+Leopard Woman, and that they discussed matters of more or less importance
+to both.
+
+The first evening they talked of the wonder of the ivory stockade. Kingozi
+had not yet had an opportunity to find out whence the tusks had come,
+whether the elephants had been killed in this vicinity, or whether the
+ivory had been traded from the Congo.
+
+"It is very valuable," he said. "I must find out whether old Stick-in-the-
+mud knows what they are worth, or whether he can be traded out of them on
+any reasonable basis."
+
+"You will not be going farther," she suggested one evening, apropos of
+nothing.
+
+"Farther? Why not?" he asked rather blankly.
+
+"You told me you were an ivory hunter," she pointed out.
+
+"Ah--yes. But I have hardly the goods to trade--come back later," he
+stumbled, for once caught off his guard. "I'm really looking for new
+hunting grounds."
+
+She did not pursue the subject; but the enigmatic smile lurked for a
+moment in the depths of her eyes.
+
+Every night after supper Kingozi caused his medicine chest to be brought
+out and opened, and for a half-hour he doctored the sick. On this subject
+he manifested an approach to enthusiasm.
+
+"I know I can't doctor them all," he answered her objection, "and that
+it's foolish to pick out one here and there; but it interests me. I told
+you I was a medical student by training." He fingered over the square
+bottles, each in its socket. "This is not the usual safari drug list," he
+said. "I like to take these queer cases and see what I can do with them. I
+may learn something; at any rate, it interests me. McCloud at Nairobi
+fitted me out; and told me what it would be valuable to observe."
+
+She appeared interested, and shortly he became enough convinced of this to
+show and explain each drug separately. The quinine he carried in the
+hydrochlorate instead of the sulphate, and he waxed eloquent telling her
+why. Crystals of iodine as opposed to permanganate of potash for
+antiseptic he discussed. From that he branched into antisepsis as opposed
+to asepsis as a practical method in the field.
+
+"Theory has nothing to do with it," said he. "It's a matter of which will
+_work!_"
+
+It was all technical; but it interested her for the simple reason that
+Kingozi was really enthusiastic. True enthusiasm, without pose or self-
+consciousness, invariably arouses interest.
+
+"Now here's something you'll never see in another safari kit," said he,
+holding up one of the square bottles filled with small white crystals,
+"and that wouldn't be found in this one except for an accident. It's
+pilocarpin."
+
+"What is pilocarpin?" she asked, making a difficulty of the word.
+
+"It is really a sort of eye dope," he explained. "You know atropin--the
+stuff an oculist uses in your eyes when he wants to examine them--leaves
+your vision blurred for a day or so."
+
+"Yes, I know that."
+
+"The effect of atropin is to expand the pupil. Pilocarpin is just the
+opposite--it contracts the pupil."
+
+"What need could you possibly have of that?"
+
+"There's the joke: I haven't. But when I was outfitting I could not get
+near enough phenacetin. I suppose you know that we use phenacetin to
+induce sweating as first treatment of fever."
+
+"I am not entirely ignorant. I can treat fevers, of course."
+
+"Well, I took all they could spare. Then McCloud suggested pilocarpin.
+Though it is really an eye drug, to be used externally, it also has an
+effect internally to induce sweating. So that's why I have it."
+
+She was examining the bottles.
+
+"But you have atropin also. Why is that?"
+
+"There's a good deal of ophthalmia or trachoma floating around some native
+districts. I thought I might experiment."
+
+"And this"--she picked up a third bottle--"ah, yes, morphia. But how much
+alike they all are."
+
+"In appearance, yes; in effect most radically and fatally different--like
+people," smiled Kingozi.
+
+But though Kingozi's scientific interest was keen in certain directions--
+as ethnology, drugs, and zoology--it had totally blind spots. Thus the
+Leopard Woman kept invariably on her table the bowl of fresh flowers; and
+she manifested an unfailing liking to investigate such strange shrubs,
+trees, flowers, or nondescript growths as flourished thereabouts.
+
+"Do you know how one names these?" she asked him concerning certain
+strange blooms.
+
+"I know nothing whatever about vegetables," he replied with indifferent
+scorn.
+
+Several times after that, forgetting, she proffered the same question and
+received exactly the same reply. Finally it became a joke to her. Slyly,
+at sufficient intervals so that he should not become conscious of the
+repetition, she took delight in eliciting this response, always the same,
+always delivered with the same detached scorn:
+
+"I know nothing whatever about vegetables."
+
+In the meantime Simba, with great enthusiasm, continued his drill of the
+_askaris_. Kingozi gave them an hour early in the day. They developed
+rapidly from wild trigger yanking. An allowance of two cartridges apiece
+proved them no great marksmen, but at least steady on discharge.
+
+The "business conversation" Kingozi projected with the Leopard Woman did
+not take place until late in the week. By that time he had pieced together
+considerable information, as follows:
+
+The mountain ranges at their backs possessed three practicable routes.
+Beyond the ranges were grass plains with much game. Water could be had in
+certain known places. No people dwell on these plains. This was because of
+the tsetse fly that made it impossible to keep domestic cattle. Far--very
+far--perhaps a month, who knows, is the country of the _sultani_ M'tela.
+This is a very great _sultani_--very great indeed--a _sultani_ whose
+spears are like the leaves of grass. His people are fierce, like the
+Masai, like the people of Lobengula, and make war their trade. His people
+are known as the Kabilagani. The way through the mountains is known;
+guides can be had. The way across the plains is known; but for guides one
+must find representatives of a little scattered plains tribe. That can be
+done. _Potio_ for two weeks can be had--and so on.
+
+Kingozi was particularly interested in these Kabilaganis: and pressed for
+as much information as he could. Strangely enough he did not mention the
+ivory stockade, nor did he attempt either to trade or to determine whether
+or not the _sultani_ knew its value.
+
+At the end of eight days he knew what he wished to know.
+
+"I shall leave in two days," he told the Leopard Woman. "I should suggest
+that you go to-morrow. I will send Simba with you to show you the water-
+hole in the kopje. After that you know the country for yourself."
+
+"But I am not going back!" she cried. "I am going on."
+
+"That is impossible." He went on to explain to her what he had learned of
+the country ahead: omitting, however, all reference to M'tela and his
+warrior nation. "More plains: more game. That's all. You have more of that
+than you can use back where we came from. And with every step you are
+farther away. I am going on--very far. I may not come back at all."
+
+She listened to all his arguments, but shook her head obstinately at their
+end.
+
+"Your plan does not please me," said she. "I will go and see these plains
+for myself."
+
+This was final, and Kingozi at last came to see it so.
+
+"I was going to suggest that I relieve you of your _askaris_," said he,
+"but if you persist in this foolish and aimless plan, you will need them
+for yourself."
+
+"Cannot we go together, at least for a distance?"
+
+But to this he was much opposed.
+
+"I shall be travelling faster than your cumbersome safari," he objected.
+"I could not delay."
+
+And in this decision he seemed as firm as had she in her intention to
+proceed. After a light reconnaissance, so to speak, of argument, appeal,
+and charm, she gave over trying to persuade him, and fell back on her
+usual lazily indifferent attitude. Kingozi went ahead with his
+preparations, laying in _potio_, examining kits, preparing in every way
+his compact little caravan for the long journey before it. Then something
+happened. He changed his mind and decided to combine safaris with the
+Leopard Woman.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII
+
+
+THE TROPIC MOON
+
+For several nights the plain below the plateau had been a sea of
+moonlight, white, ethereal, fragile as spun glass. Each evening the shadow
+of the mountains had shortened, drawing close under the skirts of the
+hills. In stately orderly progression the quality of the night world was
+changing. The heavy brooding darkness was being transformed to a fairy
+delicacy of light.
+
+And the life of the world seemed to feel this change, to be stirring, at
+first feebly, then with growing strength. The ebb was passed; the tides
+were rising to the brim. Each night the throb of the drums seemed to beat
+more passionately, the rhythm to become quicker, wilder: the wailing
+chants of the women rose in sudden gusts of frenzy. Dark figures stole
+about in shadows; so that Kingozi, becoming anxious, gave especial
+instructions, and delegated trusty men to see that they were obeyed.
+
+"If our men get to fooling with their women, they'll spear the lot of us!"
+he explained.
+
+And at last, like a queen whose coming has been prepared, a queen in whose
+anticipation life had quickened, the moon herself rose serenely above the
+ranges.
+
+Immediately the familiar objects changed; the familiar shadows vanished.
+The world became a different world, full of enchantment, of soft-singing
+birds, of chirping insects, of romance and recollections of past years, of
+longings and the spells of barbaric Africa.
+
+Kingozi sat with the Leopard Woman "talking business" when this miracle
+took place. When the great rim of the moon materialized at the mountain's
+rim, he abruptly fell silent. The spell had him, as indeed it had all
+living things. From the village the drums pulsed more wildly, shoutings of
+men commenced to mingle with the voices of the women; a confused clashing
+sound began to be heard. In camp the fires appeared suddenly to pale. A
+vague uneasiness swept the squatting men. Their voices fell: they
+exchanged whispered monosyllables, dropping their voices, they knew not
+why.
+
+The Leopard Woman arose and glided to the edge of the tree's shadow, where
+she stood gazing upward at the moon. Kingozi watched her. He, old and
+seasoned traveller as he was, had indeed fallen under the spell. He did
+not consider it extraordinary, nor did it either embarrass or stir his
+senses, that standing as she did before the moon and the little fires her
+body showed in clear silhouette through her silken robe. Apparently this
+was her only garment. It made a pale nimbus about her. She seemed to the
+vague remnant of Kingozi's thinking perceptions like a priestess--her
+slim, beautiful form erect, her small head bound with the golden fillet
+from which, he knew, hung the jewel on her forehead. As though meeting
+this thought she raised both arms toward the moon, standing thus for a
+moment in the conventional attitude of invocation. Then she dropped her
+arms, and came back to Kingozi's side.
+
+Again it was like magic, the sudden blotting out of the slim human figure,
+the substitution of the draped form as she moved from the light into the
+shadow. But on Kingozi's retina remained the vision of her as she was. He
+shifted, caught his breath.
+
+As she came near him his hand closed over hers, bringing her to a halt.
+She did not resist, but stood looking down at him waiting. He struggled
+for an appearance of calm.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked unsteadily. "You have never told me."
+
+"You have named me--Bibi-ya-chui--the Woman of the Leopards."
+
+She was smiling faintly, looking down at him through half-closed eyes.
+
+"But who are you? You are not English."
+
+"My name: you have given it. Let that suffice. Me--I am Hungarian." She
+stooped ever so slightly and touched the upstanding mop of his wavy hair.
+"What does it matter else?" she asked softly.
+
+She was leaning: the moonlight came through the branches where she leaned;
+the little fires--again the silken robes became a nimbus--and the drums of
+the _n'goma_, the drums seemed to be throbbing in his veins----
+
+He leaped to his feet and seized her savagely by the shoulders. The soft
+silk slipped under his fingers. She threw back her head, looking at him
+steadily. Her eyes glowed deep, and the jewel on her forehead. Kingozi was
+panting.
+
+"You are wonderful--maddening!" he muttered. This sudden unexpected
+emotion swept him away, as a pond, quiet behind the dam, becomes a flood.
+
+"I knew we could be such friends!" she said.
+
+And then one of those tiny incidents happened that so often change the
+course of greater events. In the darkness that still lingered the other
+side of the camp an _askari_ challenged sharply some lurking wanderer.
+According to his recent teaching he used the official word.
+
+"_Samama!_" said he.
+
+The metallic rattle of his musket and the brief official challenge
+awakened Kingozi as would a dash of cold water. His instinct to crush to
+his breast this alluring, fascinating, willing goddess of the moon was as
+strong as ever. But across that instinct lay the shadow of a former day. A
+clear picture flashed before his mind. He saw a man in the uniform of a
+high office, and heard that man's words of instruction to himself. The
+words had concluded with a few informal phrases of trust and confidence.
+While these were being spoken, outside a sentry had challenged:
+"_Samama!_" and as he moved, the metal of his accoutrements had clicked.
+
+With a wrench Kingozi turned, dropping her shoulders. He deliberately ran
+away. At the edge of his own camp he looked back. She was still standing
+as he had left her. The moonlight, striking through the opening in the
+branches, fell across her. At this distance she was merely a white figure;
+but Kingozi saw her again as she had stood in invocation to the moon. As
+though she had only awaited his turning, she raised her hand in grave
+salutation and disappeared.
+
+Kingozi was too restless, too stirred, to sit still. After a vain attempt
+to smoke a quiet and ruminative pipe he arose and began to wander about.
+The men looked up at him furtively from their little fires where
+perpetually meat roasted. He strode on through the camp. His feet bore him
+to the narrow lane leading to the village. Down the vista he saw flames
+leaping, and figures leaping wildly, too, and the drums beat against his
+temples. He turned back seeking quiet, and so on through camp again, and
+past the Leopard Woman's tent. His mind was in a turmoil. No perception
+reached him of outside things--once the disturbance of human creatures was
+past. His feet led him unconsciously.
+
+It was the old struggle. He desired this woman mightily. That he had been
+totally indifferent to her before argued nothing. He had been suddenly
+awakened: and he was in the prime of life. But the very strength of his
+desire warned him. If he had really been on a hunt for ivory--well--he
+wrenched his mind savagely from even a contemplation of possibilities.
+Still, it would be a very sweet relation in a lonely life--a women of this
+quality, this desirability, this understanding, able to travel the
+wilderness of Africa, eager for the life, young, beautiful, tingling with
+vitality. In spite of himself Kingozi played with the thought. The fever
+was in his brain, the magic of the tropic moon was flooding his soul.
+
+Some warning instinct brought him back to the world about him. His steps
+had taken him down the cañon trail. He stood at the edge of the open
+plain.
+
+Facing him and not twenty yards distant stood a lion.
+
+The sight cleared Kingozi's brain of all its vapours. For the first time
+he realized clearly what he had done. He, a man whose continued existence
+in this dangerous country had depended on his unfailing readiness, his
+ever-present alertness and presence of mind, had committed two of the
+cardinal sins. In savage Africa no man must at any time stir a foot into
+the veldt or jungle unarmed; in savage Africa no man must go at night
+fifty feet from a fire without a torch or lantern.
+
+By day a lion is usually harmless unless annoyed. Game herds manifest no
+alarm at his presence, merely opening through their ranks a lane for his
+indifferent passing. But at night he asserts his dominion.
+
+Kingozi realized his deadly peril. The beast bulked huge and black--a wild
+lion is a third larger than his menagerie relative--looking as big as a
+zebra against the moonlight. His eyes glowed steadily as he contemplated
+this interloper in his domain. After a moment he sank prone, extending his
+head. The next move, Kingozi knew, would be the flail-like thrash of the
+long tail, followed immediately by the rush.
+
+Nothing was to be done. The immediate surroundings were bare of trees, and
+in any case the lightning charge of the beast would have caught his victim
+unless the branches had happened to be fairly overhead.
+
+The glowing eyes lowered. A rasping gurgling began deep in the animal's
+throat, rising and falling in tone with the inhaling and exhaling of the
+breath. This increased in volume. It became terrifying. The long tail
+stiffened, whacked first to one side, then to the other. The moment was at
+hand.
+
+Kingozi stood erect, his hands clenched, every muscle taut. All his senses
+were sharpened. He heard the voices of the veldt, near and far, and all
+the little sounds that were underneath them. His vision seemed to pierce
+the darkness of the shadows, so that he made out the details of the lion's
+mane, and even the muscles stiffening beneath the skin.
+
+And then at the last moment a kongoni, panic stricken, running blind, its
+nose up, broke through the thin bush to the left and dashed across the
+trail directly between the man and the lion.
+
+African animals are subject to these strange, blind panics, especially at
+night. The individual so affected appears to lose all sense of its
+surroundings. It has been known actually to bump into and knock down men
+in plain and open sight. What had so terrified the kongoni it would be
+impossible to say. Perhaps a stray breeze had wafted the scent of this
+very lion; perhaps some other unseen danger actually threatened, or
+perhaps the poor beast merely awakened from the horror of a too vivid
+dream.
+
+The diversion occurred at the moment of the lion's greatest tension. His
+body was poised for the attack, as a bow is bent to drive forth the arrow.
+Probably without conscious thought on his part, instinctively, he changed
+his objective. The huge body sprang; but instead of the man the kongoni
+was struck down!
+
+Kingozi stooped low and ran hard to the left. When at a safe distance he
+straightened his back, and set his footsteps rapidly campward.
+
+The incident had thoroughly awakened him. His brain was working clearly
+now, and under forced draught. The magic of moonlight had lost its power.
+Habits of years reasserted themselves. His usual iron common sense
+regained its ascendency; though, strangely enough, there persisted in his
+mind a mystic feeling for the symbolism of this missed danger.
+
+"Settles it!" he said, in his usual fashion of talking aloud. "I'm on a
+job, and I must do it. Came near being a messy ass!"
+
+He saw plainly enough that a mission such as his had no place in it for
+women--even such women as Bibi-ya-chui. She must go back--or stay here--
+didn't matter much which. The call of duty sounded very clear. By the time
+he had reached the level of the upper plateau his mind was fully made up.
+As far as he was concerned the Leopard Woman had definitely lost all
+chance of going alone.
+
+The frosted moonlight still lay across the world. It meant nothing but
+illumination to Kingozi. By its light he discerned a paper lying against a
+bush; and since paper of any sort is scarce, he picked it up.
+
+At camp he lighted his lantern and spread out his find on the table. It
+proved to be a map.
+
+A glance proved to Kingozi that it was not his property. He remembered a
+sudden wind squall early in the afternoon. Evidently it had swept the
+Leopard Woman's table.
+
+The map was in manuscript, very well drawn, and the text was German. From
+long habit Kingozi glanced first at the scale of miles, then raised his
+eyes to determine what country was represented. After a moment he arose,
+took his lantern into his tent, and there spread his find on his cot.
+
+For it was a map of this very locality!
+
+Kingozi examined it with great attention, finally getting out for
+comparison his own sketch maps. The German map was a more finished
+product; otherwise they were practically the same. Kingozi searched for
+and found records of the various waters along his back track. Each was
+annotated in ink in a language strange to him--probably Hungarian, he
+reflected. At the dry _donga_ where he had overtaken and rescued the
+Leopard Woman's water-starved safari he found the legend _wasser_ also.
+
+"Explorations for this map made after the rains," he concluded.
+
+Here the Leopard Woman had written the German word _nein!_ underscored
+several times.
+
+So far Kingozi's sketches and the German map were the same. But the German
+map furnished all details for some distance in advance. This village was
+indicated, and the mountains, and plains beyond. The three practical
+routes were plotted by means of red lines. These lines converged at the
+far side of the ranges, united in one, and proceeded out across the
+plains. Kingozi counted days' journeys by the indicated water-holes up to
+eleven. Then the map ceased; but an arrow at the end of the red line was
+explained by a compass bearing, and the name M'tela. And, as far as
+Kingozi could see, the sole purport of the whole affair was not topography
+but a route to the country of M'tela!
+
+Here was a facer! As far as any one knew, the country he had just
+traversed was unexplored. Yet here was a good detailed map of just that
+route. Furthermore, a copy was in the hands of this woman who claimed she
+was out for sport merely, and had no knowledge of the country. Yes--she
+had made just that statement. Of course she might be out merely for
+adventure, just as she said. If she were of prominence and influence, she
+might easily enough have obtained a copy of a private map. But then why
+did she pretend ignorance? She seemed never to have heard of the name of
+M'tela; yet this map's sole reason for being was that it indicated at
+least the beginning of a route to M'tela's country.
+
+Could she be on the same errand as himself?
+
+That sounded fantastic. Kingozi reviewed the circumstances. M'tela was a
+formidable myth, gradually taking shape as a reality. He was reported as a
+mighty chief of distant borders. Tales of ten thousand spears drifted back
+to official attention. Allowing the usual discount, M'tela still loomed as
+a powerful figure. Nobody had paid very much attention to him until this
+time, but now his distant border had become important. Through it a new
+road from the north was projected. The following year the route was to be
+explored. The friendship of M'tela and his umpty-thousand spears became
+important. His hostility could cause endless trouble and delay. Kingozi's
+present job was to lay the foundations for this friendship.
+
+"You have a free hand, Culbertson," the very high official had said to
+him. "We are not going to suggest or advise. Choose your own men; take as
+many or as few as you please. Take your own time and your own methods. But
+get the results."
+
+"I appreciate your confidence, sir," Kingozi had replied.
+
+"You and that man Winkleman are the best hands on earth with natives, and
+we know it. Requisition what you want."
+
+This woman was a Hungarian: she possessed a German official map. Could she
+be on official business? It did not seem likely. Women are not much good
+at that sort of thing in Africa. What official business could she be on?
+The same as his own? That seemed still more unlikely; but if so, why
+should they not work together? Germany and England had an equal stake in
+the opening of this new route. An amical Boundary Commission had just
+completed a satisfactory survey between the German and British East
+African Protectorates. But she had lied to him, and she had acted lies of
+apparent ignorance! Why that?
+
+Having examined the subject from all sides, and having discovered it as
+yet incapable of solution, Kingozi, characteristically, decided to go
+slow. If she were on the same mission as himself, that fact would develop
+in due time, and then they could work together. If she were still on some
+mission, but a mission other than his own, that fact, too, would in due
+time develop. If she were merely travelling in idle curiosity--well, she
+ought not to lie!
+
+For Kingozi had changed his mind. No longer was he determined that she
+must turn back at this point. Now he was equally determined that she must
+accompany him.
+
+"I'll keep an eye on you, young woman," said he. "You pretend to be very
+eager to go on with me. We'll see! But now you'll find it difficult to
+quit this game. You may get more of it than you bargained for. If you are
+really out just for sport and curiosity, I'm sorry for you. But you
+shouldn't lie!"
+
+He copied the map roughly; then returned it to the spot under the bushes
+where he had found it.
+
+Next morning he announced to the Leopard Woman his changed decision. He
+was self-contained and direct. She smiled secretly to herself. She thought
+she understood both the change of decision and the brusqueness. One was
+the magic of the tropic moon; the other was the shy, half-ashamed reaction
+of the strong man whose emotions have controlled him. The proof--that she
+was going with him.
+
+She was wrong!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV
+
+
+OVER THE RANGES
+
+When the day came for departure the Leopard Woman was indisposed, and
+could not travel. At the end of that period eight bags of _potio_
+disappeared. They had to be replaced. Kingozi occupied the time on the
+details of his preparations. Then three men deserted, and all loads had to
+be redistributed. At last they were off.
+
+A horde of savages accompanied them at first. These dropped off one by one
+until there remained only the guides appointed. The trail led steeply
+upward. It soon shook free of the thorn tangle and debouched on grassy
+rolling shoulders from which a wide, maplike view could be seen of the
+country through which they had passed. Shortly they skirted a deep deft
+cañon in which sang a brook; and at its head came to a forest. The trees
+were tall, their cover dense; long, ropelike vines hung in festoons. It
+was very still. A colobus barked somewhere in the tops; the small green
+monkeys swung from limb to limb, or scampered along the rope vines,
+chattering. Silent, gaudy birds swooped across dusky spaces. The dripping
+of water reached the ear; the smell of dampness the nostrils.
+
+This was as far as they went the first day. The climb had been severe; and
+at the end of three and a half hours the woman announced that she was done
+up. Nothing remained but to make camp. This was done, therefore; and all
+the afternoon Kingozi lay flat on the cot he had caused to be brought into
+the open air, and blew smoke upward, and stared at the maze of limbs in
+the forest roof. The Leopard Woman kept her tent; but he did not offer to
+disturb her. He was thinking.
+
+Next day they marched for hours through the forest, and at last came out
+on more rolling grass shoulders. Evidently this side of the mountains was
+not abrupt, but slanted off in a gentle slope to unknown distances. There
+the game began to reappear; and Kingozi dropped two hartebeeste for the
+safari. Here Cazi Moto came up in great perturbation to announce that two
+of the _memsahib's_ porters were missing. The little headman did not
+understand how it happened, as he had zealously brought up the rear.
+Unless, of course, it was a case of desertion.
+
+Kingozi looked thoughtful, then ordered camp to be pitched. Accompanied by
+Simba, Mali-ya-bwana, and three _askaris_ he took the back track. At the
+end of an hour and a half of brisk walking he met the two missing porters.
+Their explanation was voluble. They had fallen out for a few moments, and
+when they had resumed their loads, the safari was ahead. Then they had
+hastened, but the road had divided. They had taken the wrong fork.
+
+"Show me where the road divided," ordered Kingozi.
+
+The loads were deposited by the side of the trail, and the delinquents,
+with every appearance of confidence, led the way back another hour's march
+to a veritable fork. Kingozi examined the earth for tracks.
+
+"Could you not see that the safari had gone this way and not that way?" he
+asked.
+
+"Yes, _bwana_," they said together; "we saw it after a little. That is why
+we came back."
+
+Kingozi grunted, but said nothing. The nine men retraced their steps. Both
+porters were on a broad grin, laughing and talking in subdued tones to the
+_askaris_. The _bwana_ strode on rapidly ahead. They followed at a little
+dogtrot, carrying their loads easily.
+
+At camp Kingozi ordered them to place the loads in place beneath the
+tarpaulin.
+
+"Simba," said he in a casual voice, "these men get _kiboko_."
+
+"Yes, _bwana_. How many?"
+
+"Fifty."
+
+The bystanders gasped, and the shining countenances of the culprits turned
+a sickly gray. Fifty lashes is a maximum punishment, inflicted only for
+the gravest crimes. More cannot be administered without fear of grave
+consequences. The offence of straggling is generally considered not
+serious. Even Simba was not certain he had heard aright.
+
+"How many, _bwana_?" he asked again.
+
+"Fifty," repeated Kingozi tonelessly, and turned his blank, baleful glare
+in their direction.
+
+The punishment was administered. When it was finished the porters, shaking
+like leaves, blankets drawn over their bleeding flanks, were brought to
+face the white man seated in his chair.
+
+"_Bassi_," he pronounced. The word went out into a dead silence, so that
+it was heard to the farthest confines of the hushed camp. "Let no man
+hereafter miss the trail."
+
+He arose and entered his tent. Cazi Moto was there, unfolding the canvas
+bath tub, laying out the clean clothes. He looked up from his occupation,
+his wizened face contorted in a shrewd smile.
+
+"No more will we make camp when the sun is only a few hours high," he
+surmised.
+
+Kingozi looked at him.
+
+"You and I have handled many safaris, Cazi Moto," he replied.
+
+Delays from these causes ceased, but other delays supervened. Never were
+the reasons for them attributable to accident; but they were more numerous
+than ordinarily. Kingozi said nothing.
+
+All the day's march he walked fifty yards ahead of the long procession.
+The Leopard Woman walked part of the time; part of the time she rode a
+donkey procured from the _sultani_. The two necessarily held little
+converse during the day. At camp Kingozi had many tasks--camp to arrange,
+meat to procure, sick to doctor, guides to interrogate. Only at the
+evening meal, which now they shared, did he and his travelling companion
+resume their intimacies.
+
+The relation had developed into a curious one. For one thing, it was more
+expansive. They discussed many subjects of what might be called general
+interest, talking interestedly on books, world politics, colonial
+policies, even the larger problems of life. In these discussions they
+explored each other's intelligence, came to a mental approachment, a cold,
+clear respect for each other's capacity and experience. Never did they
+approach the personal. At no time in their acquaintance had they talked so
+unrestrainedly, so freely, with so much genuine pleasure; at no time did
+they touch so little the mysteries of personality.
+
+If the Leopard Woman felt this, or wondered at the cloaked withdrawal, she
+gave no sign. Apparently she was all candour. She seemed to throw herself
+frankly and with pleasure into this relationship of the head, to have
+forgotten the possibilities so richly though so momentarily disclosed by
+the magic of the moon. She lounged in her canvas chair, twisting her lithe
+body within her silks; she smoked her cigarettes; the jewel of changing
+lights glowed on her forehead; she talked in her modulated voice and
+quaint, precise English. The man's pulses remained calm. His eyes did not
+miss the beauty of her form, as frankly defined beneath the silk as the
+forms of the naked _bibis_ of the village; nor the alluring paleness of
+her face in contrast to the red lips; nor the drowning passion of her wide
+eyes. But they did not reach his senses. Were the insulation of his plain
+duty--which to Kingozi meant quite sincerely his whole excuse for
+existence in this puzzling life--were this to be withdrawn--he never even
+contemplated the thought. Reminders from that night of the moon prevented
+him from doing so.
+
+After this fashion they came to the grass plains of the uplands. Here
+ensued more delays. These did not spring from delinquencies in the safari:
+the exemplary punishment assured that. But things broke, and things were
+forgotten, and things had to be done differently. The guides, procured
+with difficulty from the little hunting peoples of the plain, disappeared
+at the end of the second day. They professed themselves afraid of Chaké,
+the Nubian. The latter vehemently denied having spoken a word to them.
+Day's marches were shortened because the woman could not stand long ones.
+Kingozi found it a great bother to travel with a woman.
+
+Nevertheless, he made no attempts to separate the safaris. He had been
+watching closely. These difficulties, the delays, breakages, and
+abbreviations of day's journeys had, nine times out of ten, their origin
+in the camp of the Leopard Woman. In ordinary circumstances he would have
+put this down to inferior organization. But there was the mysterious,
+unmentioned map, whose accuracy, by the way, he found exact. Gradually he
+came to the conclusion that the delays were not entirely accidental. The
+conclusion became a conviction that the Leopard Woman was making as much
+of a drag and as big a nuisance of herself as possible.
+
+Why?
+
+She wanted to become such a burden that Kingozi would go on without her.
+Again, why? At the village she had vehemently refused to go back, and had
+pleaded to join forces with Kingozi. This puzzled him for some time. Then
+he saw. Of course she did not want to turn back. If, as he surmised, she
+had some errand with M'tela, like his own, she would not want to turn
+back, but she would like a plausible excuse to separate from him once the
+ranges of mountains were crossed. Why did she not drop off then on the
+excuse, say, of the wonderful new hunting grounds? That would be simple.
+Kingozi concluded that she wished the initiative to come from him. And the
+more convinced he was that she wanted to get rid of him, the more firmly
+he resolved that she must remain.
+
+But it did make for slow travel.
+
+What of it? There was no haste. There was plenty of game, the days passed
+pleasantly, the evenings were delightful. A moonbeam flashed in his brain
+showing him vistas----He firmly shut the window!
+
+Certainly if Bibi-ya-chui harboured any active desire to drive Kingozi
+into leaving her to her own devices, she concealed it well. Occasionally
+in the evening, when he stared into the distance, she twisted herself to
+look at him. Then her eyes widened, no one could have told with what
+emotion. In her fixed stare could have been many things--or nothing. Did
+she desire this man, as she had seemed to the night of the full moon, and
+did she but bide her time, knowing this was not the moment? Did she desire
+this man, and hate him because he had touched her only to turn away? Did
+the very simplicity and directness of his nature baffle her? Did she hate
+him for his mastering of circumstances but not herself? Any or all of
+these emotions might have lain beneath the smoulder in her eyes. One thing
+Kingozi would not have seen, had he turned his head suddenly enough, and
+that was indifference. But he continued to stare out into the veldt, and
+she continued to stare at him; while around them the chatter of men, the
+wail of hyenas, the thunder of lions, the shrill, thin cries of night
+birds, and the mighty brooding silence that took no account of them all
+attended the African night.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV
+
+
+THE SHARPENING OF THE SPEAR
+
+Thus passed six weeks. By the end of this time the combined safaris had
+progressed out into the unknown country about a normal three weeks'
+journey. The rest was delay.
+
+They had ventured out into the plain as into an enchanted sea. The
+mountains had dropped below the horizon behind them; none had as yet
+arisen before. The veldt ran in long, low undulations, so that always they
+walked up or down gentle slopes. It was as though a ground swell had set
+in toward distant, invisible shores. Here the short grass was still green
+from the rains. Water lay in pools at the bottom of _dongas_. By this good
+fortune travel was independent of the permanent water, and hence safe and
+easy. Game was everywhere. Not for a single hour in all that six weeks
+were they out of sight of it. Scattered over the sward like deer in a pack
+the beasts grazed placidly in twos or threes, or in great bands. Without
+haste, almost imperceptibly, they drew aside to allow the safari to pass,
+and closed in again behind it. Thus the travellers were always the centre
+of a little moving oasis of clear space five hundred yards in diameter.
+Occasionally some unusual and unexpected crease in the earth or density of
+brush in the _dongas_ brought them in surprise fairly atop an unsuspecting
+herd. Then ensued a wild stampede. This communicated itself visually to
+all the animals in sight. They moved off swiftly. And then still other
+remote beasts, unaware of the cause of disturbance, quite out of sight of
+the safari, but signalled by twinkle of stripe or flash of rump, also took
+flight. So that far over the veldt, at last, the game hordes shifted
+uneasily until the impulse died.
+
+In this country were many lions. Most of the requisites of a lion were
+here present--abundant game, water, the cover of the low brush in the
+_dongas_. Only lacked a few rocky kopje fastnesses to make it ideal; but
+that lack could be, and was, overlooked. The members of the safari often
+saw the great beasts sunning themselves atop ant hills; walking with
+dignity across the open country; sitting on their haunches to stare with
+great yellow eyes at these strangers passing by. Here they had never been
+annoyed or hunted; so here they had not become as strictly nocturnal as
+nearer settlement. In all their magnificence they stalked abroad, lords of
+the veldt. Kingozi's finger itched for the trigger. There is no more
+exciting sport than that of lion shooting afoot. It is a case of kill or
+be killed; for a lion, once the issue is joined, never gives up. He fights
+literally to the death; and when he is so crippled that he can no longer
+keep his feet, he drags himself forward, and dies facing his opponent
+dauntlessly. No other beast furnishes the same danger, the same thrill.
+His mere appearance stirs the most sluggish spirit.
+
+"_Simba! Simba! Simba!_" the exclamation ran back the line of the safari,
+the sibilant hissed excitedly. Kingozi's heart bounded, and his knuckles
+whitened as he gripped his rifle.
+
+"_Bwana hapana piga?_" Simba implored. "Is not _bwana_ going to shoot?"
+
+But Kingozi shook his head. The temptation was strong, but he resisted it.
+He refrained from shooting at the lions for exactly the same reason that
+he had insulated himself against the Leopard Woman's charms.
+
+In all this wide country were no settled habitations. Your African native
+requires hills or forests; he will not dwell on open plains at any great
+distance from his natural protection. A few people there were, hunters and
+nomads, living on wild honey and game. They were solitaries and lived
+where night found them, a little race, shyer than the game. For days and
+days they flanked the safari before venturing to approach. Then one would
+appear a hundred yards away and open shouted negotiations with the
+porters. Perhaps after a few hours he would venture into camp. Invariably
+Kingozi interrogated these people. They stood before him palpitating like
+birds, poised, tense for flight. He asked them of water, of people, of
+routes. By means of kind treatment and little presents he tried to gain
+their confidence. Sometimes thus he induced them to talk freely, but never
+did he succeed in persuading them to guide him. The mere fact of
+interrogation rendered them uneasy. Probably they could not themselves
+have understood that uneasiness; but invariably at nightfall they
+disappeared. They made fire by the rubbing of sticks, shot poisoned arrows
+at game.
+
+From them Kingozi gained little but chatter. They knew accurately every
+permanent water, to be sure. This information, in view of the abundance of
+rain pools, was not at present valuable; nevertheless Kingozi questioned
+them minutely, and made many marks on the map he was preparing. Always he
+mentioned M'tela. At first he introduced the name at any time in the
+course of the interview; but soon he found that this dried up all
+information. So then he reserved that subject for the last. They were
+afraid of the very syllables. They spoke them under their breaths, with
+side glances. M'tela was a great lord; a lord of terror, to be feared.
+
+At first the information was most vague. M'tela was over yonder--a long
+distance--who knows how far? He possessed more or less mythical
+characteristics, ranging from a height of forty or fifty feet down to the
+mere possession of a charm by which he could kill at a distance. Then, as
+the journey went on, the vagueness began to define. M'tela took form as a
+big man with a voice like the lion at night. His surroundings began to be
+described. He lived in the edge of a forest; his people were many; he had
+forty wives, and the like. Still it was far, very far. Kingozi concluded
+that none of these people had in person visited the Kabilagani, but were
+talking at second hand.
+
+And finally direct information came to him--in the form of fear. M'tela
+was a great lord, a lord of many spears, his hand was heavy, he took what
+he desired, his warriors were fierce and cruel and could not be gainsaid.
+Told under the breath, with furtive glances to right and to left. And not
+far: a three days' journey. Kingozi translated this into terms of safari
+travel and made it about eight days. And, indeed, though no mountains as
+yet raised their peaks above the horizon, fleets of clouds setting sail
+from the distant ranges winged their way joyously down a growing wind.
+
+The Leopard Woman fell ill and kept her tent. Kingozi waited two days,
+then sought her out. His patience over delay was about gone. The headaches
+to which physical exhaustions always made him subject had annoyed him
+greatly of late, had rendered him irritable. His eyes bothered him--a
+reflex from his run-down condition, he thought, combined with a slight
+inflammation due to the glare of sun or yellowing grass. Boracic acid
+helped very little. The halo he had noticed around the light that evening
+when they had first arrived at the _sultani's_ village returned. He saw it
+about every campfire, every lantern flame, even around the, brightest of
+the stars. Altogether he approached the interview in a strongly impatient
+mood.
+
+The Leopard Woman lay abed beneath silken sheets. This was the first time
+Kingozi had ever seen sheets of any kind on any kind of a safari. In
+reality the Leopard Woman was an enticing, luring vision, but Kingozi,
+through the lenses of his mood, saw only the silkiness and "sheetiness" of
+those covers. He began to comprehend the numerous tin boxes.
+
+"I'm going to leave you here and push on," he began abruptly. "You will be
+all right with the men I shall leave you. When you feel able to do so,
+follow on. I'll leave a plain trail."
+
+She objected feebly; but immediately, seeing that this would not touch his
+mood, she asked him the reason of his haste.
+
+"I'll tell you," he replied, "about a week distant is a chief named
+M'tela. Did you ever hear of him?"
+
+"M'tela?" she repeated the name thoughtfully. "No--but I don't know much
+about native tribes."
+
+Remembering her map Kingozi's lips compressed under his beard. What
+earthly object could she have in lying?--unless her errand was as secret
+as his own.
+
+"Well, he is described as being very powerful. And of course he will hear
+of us. It is well to make friends with him before he has had a chance to
+think us over too long. I'll just go on and see him."
+
+"When will you start?" she asked, conceding the point without discussion.
+
+"To-morrow morning. I shall make the distance in about five days,
+probably: you should be able to do so in eight or ten. How are you feeling
+to-day?"
+
+"Better. I wondered would you ask."
+
+He picked up her wrist.
+
+"Pulse seems steady. Any fever?"
+
+"A little early and late."
+
+"Well, keep on with the hydrochlorate. You'll pull out in a day or so."
+
+But the Leopard Woman pulled out in a second or so after Kingozi's
+departure. As soon as he was safe away, she threw back the covers and
+swung to the edge of the cot. At her call Chaké, the Nubian, appeared. To
+him she immediately began to give emphatic directions, repeating some of
+them over and over vehemently. He bent his fuzzy head listening, his
+yellow eyeballs showing, his fang-like teeth exposed in a grin of
+comprehension. When she had finished he nodded, said a few words in his
+own tongue, and glided from the tent.
+
+At his own camp he stooped and picked up a weapon. This was a spear, and
+belonged to him personally. He had brought it all the way from Nubia. It
+differed from any of the native spears of East Africa both in form and in
+weight. Its blade was broad and shaped like a leaf; its haft was of wood;
+and its heel was shod with only the briefest length of iron. Chaké kept
+this spear in a high state of polish, so that its metal shone like silver.
+He lifted it, poised it, made as though to throw it, to thrust with it.
+Then with a sigh of renunciation he laid it aside. From behind one of the
+porters' tents he took another spear, one typical of this country that had
+been traded for only a day or two before. This Chaké considered clumsy and
+unnecessarily heavy. Nevertheless he bore it out into the long grass where
+he squatted in concealment; and, producing a stone, began painstakingly to
+sharpen the point and edges. As the slow labour went on he seemed to work
+himself gradually to a pitch of excitement. A little crooning song began
+to rise and fall, to flow and ebb. His eyes flashed, his back bent to a
+tense crouch. Every few moments he dashed the spear against an imaginary
+shield, poised it, thrust with it strongly, the chant rising. Then
+abruptly his voice fell, his muscles relaxed, he resumed the rythmical
+whetting with the stone.
+
+All afternoon he squatted, passing the stone over the steel; polishing
+long after the point and edges were as sharp as they could be made. When
+the sun grew large at the world's edge he threw himself flat on his belly
+and wormed his way to a position a few yards from Kingozi's tent. There he
+left the spear. When he had gained a spot a hundred yards away, he arose
+to his feet and walked quietly into camp. A moment later he was sitting on
+his heels before his fire, eating his evening meal.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI
+
+
+THE MURDER
+
+That night Kingozi was restless and could not sleep. His vision had been
+blurring badly during the day, and now his eyeballs ached as though they
+had been seared. After his solitary evening meal he wandered about
+restlessly, gripping his pipe strongly between his teeth. Shortly after
+dark he entered his tent with the idea of turning in early; but the pain
+drove him out again. He remained only long enough to substitute his
+mosquito boots for his day boots. The Nubian, lying in the long grass
+beside the newly sharpened spear, settled himself to wait.
+
+Kingozi's figure lost itself among the men of the camp. The strong, clean
+wind that blew every day from distant ranges, was falling with the night.
+A breath of coolness came with it. Chaké shivered and wished he had
+brought his blanket. The time was very long; but back of Chaké were
+generations of men who had lain patiently in wait. He gripped the haft of
+the heavy spear.
+
+Black night descended in earnest. The little fires were dying down. Still
+Kingozi, tortured by his headache, wandered about. Upward of two hours
+passed. Then at last the crouching Nubian saw dimly the silhouette of the
+white man returning, caught in the glimmer of coals the colour of the
+khaki coat he wore. The moment was at hand. Chaké arose to his knees, his
+spear in his right hand. As soon as his victim should lie down on the cot,
+it was his intention to thrust him through the canvas. It must be
+remembered that the cot was placed close to the wall, and that the body of
+the sleeper was defined against it.
+
+But unexpectedly the wearer of the khaki coat passed the tent door and
+proceeded to the rear where he reached upward to the rear guy rope where
+hung a towel, or some such matter. This brought him to within four feet of
+the kneeling Nubian, the broad of his back exposed, both arms upraised.
+Without hesitation Chaké drove the spear into his back. The sharp long
+blade slipped through the flesh as easily as a hot knife into butter. The
+murdered man choked once and pitched forward headlong on his face. Chaké,
+leaving the weapon, glided swiftly away.
+
+Once well beyond the chance of a fire glimmer he arose to his feet and
+quickly regained his own camp. This was exactly on the opposite side of
+the circle. The four men with whom he shared his tiny cotton tent,
+_askaris_ all as beseemed his dignity, were sound asleep. He squatted on
+his heels, pushed together the embers of his fire, staring into the coals.
+His ugly face was as though carved from ebony. Only his wild savage eyes
+glowed and flashed with a brooding lambent flame; and his wide nostrils
+slowly expanded and contracted as though with some inner heaving emotion.
+
+Thus he sat for perhaps ten minutes. Then on the opposite side of the
+circle a commotion began. Some one cried out, figures ran to and fro,
+commands were given, brands were snatched from dying fires, torches were
+lit. Elsewhere, all about camp, sleepers were sitting up, were asking one
+another what was the matter. The _askaris_ in Chaké's tent grumbled, and
+turned over, and asked what it was all about. Chaké shook his mop of hair,
+staring into the fire.
+
+From the Leopard Woman's tent came a sharp summons. The Nubian arose and
+stalked boldly across the open space. At the closed tent he scratched his
+fingernail respectfully against the canvas.
+
+"_Karibu, karibu!_" summoned his mistress impatiently. He slipped between
+the flaps and stood inside.
+
+The Leopard Woman was seated upright in her cot. On the tin box near the
+head of the bed burned a candle in a mica lantern. By its dim light her
+face looked paler than ever, and deep black circles seemed to have defined
+themselves under her eyes. The Nubian and the white woman stared at each
+other for a moment.
+
+"It is done?" she asked finally, in a hoarse whisper.
+
+"It is done, _memsahib_," he replied calmly.
+
+For another pause she stared at him, her eyes widening. "You have done
+well. _Bassi!_" she enunciated at last.
+
+The tent flaps still quivered behind the Nubian's exit, when she threw
+herself face downward on the cot. Her body shook with convulsive dry sobs.
+After a moment she twisted on her side. Both hands clutched her throat, as
+though she strangled for air. Her eyes were round and rolling. It was as
+if some mighty pent force were struggling for release. Suddenly the
+release came. She began to weep, the tears streaming down her face.
+Shortly she commenced to mutter little short disjointed phrases in her own
+language. She wrung her hands.
+
+"I had to do it!" she gasped in German. "I had to do it! It was the only
+way! Tell me it was the only way!" she seemed to appeal to some one
+invisible. And then she resumed her lament in the Hungarian.
+
+But all at once something dried this emotion as the sear of a flame would
+dry water over which it passed. The tears ceased, her eyes flashed, she
+jerked her body upright, listening. The commotion of pursuit and
+investigation was sweeping past her tent.
+
+Distinctly she heard the voice of Kingozi giving commands.
+
+An instant later Chaké darted into the tent and fell to the ground. His
+face was the sickly gray of a negro in terror, his eyes rolled in his
+head, his teeth chattered, his every muscle trembled.
+
+"_Memsahib! Memsahib!_" he gasped.
+
+Her eyes were blazing with an anger the more fierce in that some of it was
+reaction.
+
+"Fool!" she spat at him.
+
+"I killed him, _memsahib!_ I drove the _shenzi_ spear through his back! I
+left him lying there! He is a god! He has come back from the dead!"
+
+"Fool!" she repeated, and swung her feet to the floor. "Stay here! Do not
+go out!" she commanded, when she had assumed her mosquito boots. She
+slipped out between the tent flaps.
+
+Torches were everywhere flickering about. She stopped one of the men as he
+passed.
+
+"A _shenzi_ has killed Mavrouki with a spear," the man answered her
+question.
+
+She stood for some time watching the torches. Then she saw Kingozi himself
+take his place by the pile of loads.
+
+"Fall in!" he commanded sharply.
+
+She returned to her tent.
+
+"Here!" she addressed the crouching Nubian. "It is as I said. You have
+been a fool. You have killed a porter by mistake. Now the _bwana_ has
+ordered to _fall in_. He wishes to see if any are missing. Go take your
+place, and answer to your name."
+
+"Oh, _memsahib!_ Oh, _memsahib!_" the man was groaning.
+
+"Go, I say!" she cried. "And hold up your head. If this is suspected of
+you, you will surely die."
+
+Kingozi called the roll by the light of a replenished fire.
+
+As each man was named, he was required to step forward to undergo
+Kingozi's scrutiny.
+
+Most were uneasy, many were excited. Kingozi passed them rapidly in
+review. But when Chaké came forward, he paused in the machine-like
+regularity of his inspection.
+
+"Hullo, my bold buccaneer," said he in English, "what ails you?"
+
+The Leopard Woman had drawn near. Kingozi glanced at her over his
+shoulder.
+
+"I know these Fuzzy-Wuzzies pretty well," he remarked. "This man has the
+blood look in his eye."
+
+"He's been sick all day," she ventured.
+
+"Sick, eh? Have you had him about you all evening?"
+
+The Leopard Woman hesitated the least appreciable portion of a second.
+
+"No," she answered, "he was sick; I let him sleep in his own camp."
+
+She withdrew a pace, almost as though washing her hands of the affair.
+Kingozi whirled and levelled his forefinger at the Nubian.
+
+"Why did you use a _shenzi_ spear?" he demanded.
+
+Over Chaké's face had come the blank, lifeless expression of the obstinate
+savage. Kingozi recognized it, and knew that further interrogation was a
+matter of much time and patience. His eyes and head ached cruelly.
+
+"Very well," he answered the Nubian's unspoken opposition. "You'll keep.
+Simba, get me the hand irons and the leg irons. Guard this man. To-morrow
+we will look into it." He turned away without waiting to see his commands
+carried out. "I've got a beastly headache," he remarked to Bibi-ya-chui.
+"This affair--this whole affair--will keep. Cazi Moto, I want two men with
+guns--my men--to stand by my tent, one in front, one in the rear."
+
+The Leopard Woman watched his drooping, wearied form making its way to his
+tent. He walked shuffling, almost stumbling. The habitual masking stare of
+her eyes changed. Something softer, almost yearning, crept into them. When
+the tent flaps had fallen behind him she threw both arms aloft in a
+splendid tragic gesture, careless of the staring men. Her face was
+convulsed by strong emotion. She turned and fled to her own tent, where
+she threw herself face down on her cot.
+
+"It must be done! It must be done!" she groaned to her pillow.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII
+
+
+THE DARKNESS
+
+Kingozi retired again to his cot; but for a long time he could not get to
+sleep. Little things annoyed him. A fever owl in a thorn tree somewhere
+nearby called over and over again monotonously, hurriedly, without pause,
+without a break in rhythm. Kingozi knew that the bird would thus continue
+all night long, and he tried to adjust his mind to the fact, but failed.
+It seemed beyond human comprehension that any living creature could keep
+up steadily so breathless a performance. Some of the men were chatting in
+low voices. Ordinarily he would not have heard them at all; now they
+annoyed him. He stood it as long as he could, then shouted "_Kalele!_" at
+them in so fierce a tone that the human silence was dead and immediate.
+But this made prominent other lesser noises. Kingozi's headache was worse.
+He tossed and turned, but at last fell into a half-waking stupor.
+
+He was brought to full consciousness by the entrance of Cazi Moto. He
+opened his eyes. It was still night--a very black night, evidently, for
+not a ray of light entered the tent.
+
+"What time is it, Cazi Moto?" he asked.
+
+"Five o'clock, _bwana_."
+
+It was time to rise if a march was to be undertaken. Kingozi waited a
+moment impatiently.
+
+"Why do you not light the candle?" he demanded.
+
+"The candle is lighted, _bwana_" replied Cazi Moto, with a slight tone of
+surprise.
+
+Kingozi reached his outspread hand across to his tin box. His fingers
+encountered a flame, and were slightly scorched. He lay back and closed
+his eyes.
+
+"The men have struck their tents?" he asked Cazi Moto after a moment.
+
+"Yes, _bwana_, all is prepared."
+
+Then there must be a dozen little fires, and the tent must be filled with
+flickering reflections. Kingozi lay for some time, thinking. He could hear
+Cazi Moto moving about, arranging clothes and equipment. When by the
+sounds Kingozi knew that the task was finished and Cazi Moto about to
+depart, he spoke.
+
+"We shall not make safari to-day," he said. Cazi Moto stopped.
+
+"_Bwana?_"
+
+"We shall not make safari to-day."
+
+Cazi Moto's mind adjusted itself to this new decision. Then, without
+comment, he glided out to reverse all his arrangements.
+
+Left alone Kingozi lay on his back and bent his will power to getting
+control of the situation.
+
+He was blind.
+
+At first the mere thought sent so numbing a chill through all his
+faculties that he needed the utmost of his fortitude to prevent an
+insensate and aimless panic. Gradually he gained control of this.
+
+Then he groped for the candle. By experiment he found that at a distance
+of a foot or so the illumination registered. Then there was no paralysis
+of the nerve itself. Desperately he marshalled his unruly thoughts,
+striving to look back into the remote past of his student days. Fragments
+of knowledge came to him, but nothing on which to build a theory of what
+was wrong.
+
+"It's mechanical; it's mechanical," he muttered over and over to himself,
+but could not seem to progress beyond this point. All he could conclude
+was that it was _not_ ophthalmia or trachoma. He had seen a good deal of
+these two plagues of Egypt, and their symptoms were absent here. He
+concentrated until his mind was weary, and his will slipped. At last in
+despair he relaxed and in an unconscious gesture rubbed his eyes with his
+forefingers and thumbs. The contact brought him to with a jerk.
+
+The eyeballs, instead of feeling soft and velvety under the lids, were as
+hard as marbles.
+
+The shock of this phenomenon rang a bell in his memory. A distinct picture
+came to him of his classroom and old Doctor Stokes. He could fairly hear
+the slow, impressive voice.
+
+"There is one symptom," the past was saying to him, "one symptom, young
+gentlemen, that is not always present; but when present establishes the
+diagnosis beyond any doubt. I refer to a peculiar hardening of the eyeball
+itself----"
+
+"Glaucoma!" cried Kingozi aloud.
+
+His thoughts, like hounds on a trail, raced off after this new scent.
+Desperately he tried to recollect. In snatches he captured knowledge. Of
+its accuracy he was sometimes in doubt; but little by little that doubt
+grew less. To change the figure, the latent images of his past science
+developed slowly, like the images on a photographic plate.
+
+Glaucoma--a hardening, an enlarging of the pupil, a change in the shape
+and consistency of the iris--yes, he had it fairly well. Treatment? Let's
+see--an operation on the iris, delicate. That was it. Impossible, of
+course. But there was something else, a temporary expedient, until the
+surgeon could be reached--an undue expansion of the pupil----
+
+"Why," shouted Kingozi aloud, sitting up in bed. "Pilocarpin, of course!"
+
+What luck! He fervently blessed the shortage of phenacetin that had forced
+him to take pilocarpin as a sweating substitute for fever.
+
+"Cazi Moto!" he called. Then, as the headman hurried up: "Get me the box
+of medicines, quick!"
+
+He waited until he heard the little man reenter the tent.
+
+"Place it here," he commanded. "Now go."
+
+He groped for the case, opened it----
+
+The bottles it contained were all of the same shape. He remembered that
+the pilocarpin was at the right-hand end--or was it the left? Hastily he
+uncorked the left-hand bottle, and was immediately reassured. It contained
+tablets. The right-hand bottle, on the contrary, held the typical small
+crystals. But a doubt assailed him. At the same end of the case were the
+receptacles also of the atropin and the morphia. He remembered the Leopard
+Woman's remarking how much alike they all were. Kingozi seemed to see
+plainly in his mind's eye the precise arrangement, to visualize even the
+exact appearance of the labels on the bottles--first the morphia, next to
+it the pilocarpin, and last the atropin. But while he contemplated this
+mental image, it shifted. The pilocarpin and atropin changed places. And
+this latter recollection seemed as distinct to him as the first had been.
+
+He fingered the three bottles, his brows bent. And across his mental
+travail floated another thought that brought him up all standing.
+
+Pilocarpin and atropin had exactly the opposite effect.
+
+"Here, this won't do!" he said aloud. "If I get the wrong stuff in my eyes
+it will destroy them permanently."
+
+He raised his voice for Cazi Moto.
+
+"When Bibi-ya-chui is awake," he told the headman, "I want to see her.
+Tell her to come."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII
+
+
+THE LEOPARD WOMAN CHANGES HER SPOTS
+
+Kingozi washed, dressed, had his breakfast, and sat quietly in his chair.
+In the open he found that he had a dim consciousness of light, but that
+was all. There was no pain.
+
+After a while Cazi Moto came to report that the Leopard Woman was out and
+about. Kingozi's message had been delivered.
+
+"She says you shall come to her tent," concluded Cazi Moto. Kingozi
+considered. To insist that she should come to him might lead to a
+downright refusal, unless he sent her word of his condition. This he did
+not wish to do. His recollections of the classroom were now distinct. He
+knew that the pilocarpin would restore his vision within a few hours; and
+while the alleviation would be temporary, it might last some months, or
+until he could get the proper surgical aid. Therefore it would be as well
+not to let the men know anything was even temporarily the matter.
+
+"Take my chair," he ordered Cazi Moto. Then when the latter started off,
+he followed, touching lightly the folded seat. As he felt the shade of the
+tree under which the Leopard Woman's tent had been pitched, he chanced a
+"good morning." Her reply gave him her direction, and he seated himself
+facing her.
+
+"I am stupid this morning," he said. "Had a bad night. I wanted you to do
+something for me--read a label, as a matter of fact--and it never occurred
+to me that I might bring the label to you. Cazi Moto, go get my box of
+medicines."
+
+"I do not quite understand," replied the Leopard Woman. "What is it you
+would have me do?"
+
+"Read a label--on a bottle."
+
+"Why is it you do not read it yourself?"
+
+"My eyes do not focus well this morning."
+
+"I see," she said slowly. "And you would have me indicate for you the
+remedy. That is it?"
+
+"Yes, that is it. I've stupidly forgotten which the bottle is I want."
+
+He heard her moving slightly here and there. He strained his ears to
+understand what she was about.
+
+"You are blind!" she cried suddenly.
+
+"Temporarily--until I get my remedy. How did you know?"
+
+"The look of you; and just this moment I thrust suddenly at your face."
+
+Cazi Moto arrived with the medicine chest which he placed at his master's
+feet, and opened. Kingozi extracted the three bottles.
+
+"The table is directly in front of you," came the Leopard Woman's voice.
+
+He reached out, and after a moment deposited the vials on the table.
+
+"It's one of these," he said, "but I don't know which. Just read them for
+me."
+
+"This remedy will cure you?"
+
+"It will give me my sight. I have what is known as glaucoma. It is an
+undue expansion of the pupil. This remedy contracts it again. The only
+real cure is an operation."
+
+A silence ensued.
+
+"Well?" asked Kingozi at length.
+
+"It interests me," came her voice. "Suppose you had not this remedy?"
+
+"I should remain blind," replied Kingozi simply.
+
+"Until you obtained the remedy?"
+
+"Probably for always. One must not let glaucoma run or it becomes chronic.
+It's God's own luck that I have this stuff with me--it's the pilocarpin I
+told you of. The other stuff--atropin--would blind me for sure!"
+
+He thrust forward the three bottles.
+
+"Here," he urged.
+
+"If you had not the remedy--this what-you-call--pilocarpin, what would you
+do?" An edge of eagerness had crept into her tones.
+
+"Do?" said Kingozi, a little impatiently. "I'd streak it for a surgeon. I
+have no desire to lose my sight."
+
+Another pause.
+
+"I shall not read your labels," she decided. Her voice now was low and
+decided.
+
+"What!" cried Kingozi.
+
+He could hear the rustle of her clothes as she leaned forward.
+
+"Listen," she said. "Why should I do this for you? You have treated me as
+a man treats his dog, his horse, his servant, his child--not as a man
+treats a woman. Do you think because I have been the meek one, the quiet
+one, that I have not cared?"
+
+"But this--my sight----"
+
+"Your sight is safe. You tell me so yourself. Go back to your surgeon. And
+if you suffer inconvenience on the way--or pain--or humiliation--or anger
+--why that is what you have made me suffer."
+
+"I----?"
+
+"You! You have treated me with scorn, with contempt, like a little child,
+as though I did not exist! You have--what-you-call--ridden over--
+overridden what I propose, what I try to do. You and your lordly way! You
+are not a man--you are a fish of cold blood; a statue of iron! You have
+nothing but the head! You 'know nothing whatever about vegetables'--nor
+women! Bah! Shall I read your labels and give you your sight? Ah, no! ah,
+_non!_"
+
+Kingozi was stunned. Idly his hand slid forward across the table. It
+encountered and closed upon her wrist. Instantly she struggled to be free,
+whereupon mechanically he tightened his clasp. She made a desperate effort
+to do something. His other hand sought hers. It grasped one of the three
+bottles, and even as he determined this fact, she tried again to hurl it
+to the ground. Frustrated, she relaxed her grip, and he released her.
+
+He could hear the fling of her body as she stood upright; could catch the
+indrawing of her breath.
+
+"Read them for yourself!" was her parting shot as she withdrew.
+
+Kingozi sat very still for a long time. Then he arose abruptly and
+commanded Cazi Moto to return with him to his own camp. There he caused
+his chair to be placed in the shade.
+
+"Cazi Moto," said he, "listen well. You are my other hands; now you must
+be something else. I am sick in the eyes; I can see nothing. In one of
+these bottles is the medicine that will cure me, and in one of them is the
+medicine that will make me blind forever. I do not know which it is; and I
+cannot read the _barua_ because I cannot see it. And Bibi-ya-chui cannot
+read it. So you must be my eyes. Take a stick, and make on the ground
+marks exactly like those on the _barua_. Make them deep, so that I may
+feel them with my hands."
+
+[Illustration: "'Cazi Moto, take a stick and make on the ground marks
+exactly like those on the _barua_. Make them deep, so that I may feel them
+with my hands'"]
+
+Cazi Moto sharpened a stick, smoothed out a piece of earth, and squatted
+beside it.
+
+The Central African native is untrained either to express himself or to
+see pictorially. We have been so trained since the building blocks of our
+infancy, so that a photograph of a scene is to us an exact replica of that
+scene in miniature. As a matter of fact, it is only an arbitrary and
+conventional arrangement of black and white. A raw native sees nothing
+more than that even in a portrait of him self.
+
+So Cazi Moto went at this task absolutely unequipped both of brain and of
+hand. In addition the label was rather difficult. The printed body of it
+contained the firm name of the chemists and their address; the drug itself
+was written, Kingozi remembered with exasperation, in his own not very
+legible script.
+
+"Dashed fool!" he told himself aloud in his usual habit. "Deserve what
+you've got. Ought to have segregated the drugs--ought to have printed the
+labels--no use thinking of that now."
+
+Cazi Moto worked painstakingly, his shrewd and wizened face puckered in
+absorption. He accomplished a legible _Borroughs & Wellcome_ after many
+trials. Then he proceeded with the script. It seemed impossible to make a
+start; he did not even begin at the beginning, but was inclined to view
+the work as an entity and to begin drawing it at the top of the middle.
+Kingozi corrected that. At last the white man's fingers made out
+distinctly a capital M. He erased it with a sweep of the hand.
+
+"That part of the _barua_ again," he ordered.
+
+After a time Cazi Moto repeated the feat.
+
+"Once more."
+
+This was quicker.
+
+Kingozi dropped that bottle into his side pocket with a sigh of relief.
+
+"Evidently the morphine," he said. "We'll try it again later to be sure.
+Wish I didn't scribble such a rotten hand. My capital As and Ps are
+something alike."
+
+He had a new idea. For fifteen minutes he tried to get from Cazi Moto at
+first the number of letters on each label; and later, when the flowing
+script proved this impractical, an idea of the relative lengths of the
+words. Neither method was certain enough; another argument for printing
+your labels, thought Kingozi.
+
+"We'll get it, old sportsman!" he cried aloud in English. "We'll try for
+the first letter."
+
+He bent forward, but the lesson went no further.
+
+For an hour the Leopard Woman had been watching, curious as to what these
+two were doing so quietly in the shade of the tree. At last she evidently
+made up her mind she must find out. Quietly she drew near them unnoticed,
+so that at last she was standing only a few feet to one side. There she
+witnessed the final triumph as to the morphine, and heard Kingozi's last
+confident speech. As he leaned forward to place another bottle for Cazi
+Moto to copy from, she gathered her forces, rushed forward between them,
+snatched the vial, and dashed it violently against a rock, where it
+naturally broke into innumerable pieces. Cazi Moto stared up at her,
+astounded into immobility. Kingozi, without a trace of emotion, leaned
+back in his chair.
+
+"I think I am losing my wits," he remarked. "I have been criminally stupid
+through this whole affair. I might have foreseen something of the kind."
+
+She stood there panting excitedly, her hands clinched at her sides.
+
+"I will read your label for you now--the bottle you hold in your hand! It
+is atropin--atropin--" She laughed wildly.
+
+"I thank you, madam," he said ironically.
+
+"Now you must go back!"
+
+"Yes. Now I must go back. I thank you."
+
+"You may well thank me. I have saved your life!" she cried hysterically,
+and was gone.
+
+Kingozi did not examine the meaning of this; indeed, it hardly registered
+at all as it was to him evidently the product of excitement.
+
+He forgot even the scandalized Cazi Moto squatting at his feet. For a long
+time he stared sightlessly straight ahead. He could not explain this
+woman. The whole outburst, the complete about-face in what had been their
+apparent relations, overwhelmed him. He had had no idea of the slow
+damming back of resentments; in fact, he really had no idea that there
+were causes for resentment at all! He had done the direct, obvious,
+efficient thing in a number of instances when naturally her powers or
+abilities were inadequate. Characteristically, he forgot utterly the night
+of the full moon!
+
+First of all, it was evident that he must turn back if he was to save his
+eyesight. As he remembered glaucoma, it ought to be surgically treated
+within two months, at most.
+
+The second point was whether he could turn back. His mission was a simple
+one. Would it wait? He could not see why not. He had been sent to gain the
+friendship and active alliance of M'tela and his spears; and had been
+given _carte blanche_ in the matters of equipment, methods, and time.
+Inside a year or so the International Boundary Commission would be running
+boundary lines through that country. Until then the Kabilagani could very
+well go on as they probably had gone on for the last five hundred years.
+
+Very well; as far as his job was concerned, he could go back; as far as
+his eyes were concerned, he must go back.
+
+Remained the problem of Bibi-ya-chui.
+
+Why was she in the country? For the same purpose as himself? It seemed
+unlikely; she appeared to have slight qualifications for such a task.
+Indeed, in the candour of his own inner communings Kingozi acknowledged
+that he and the German, Winkleman, alone could be held really fitted for
+that sort of negotiation. But if she were? Why did she not say so? Their
+object would be the same. It was as much to Germany's interest to pacify,
+to make friendly this hinterland before the advent of the Boundary
+Commission. All this was a puzzle. But there was the indubitable secret
+map, and the indubitable concealment of purpose; and--to Kingozi's mind--
+the indubitable attempt to make travelling so tedious that he would split
+safaris and permit her to go alone.
+
+This led to another conclusion. He could not see the reason for it all,
+but one thing was clear: she must not even now be allowed to take her own
+course. Whatever she was up to, she did not intend to let him know about
+it; ergo it was something inimical to him, either personally or
+officially. Probably personally, Kingozi thought with a grim smile. He was
+no fool about women when his mind was sufficiently disengaged from other
+things; and now he remembered the inhibited promise of the tropic moon.
+Still he could take no chances. He could turn back; he must turn back; and
+as a corollary the Leopard Woman must turn back with him!
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX
+
+
+THE TRIAL
+
+He remembered Cazi Moto squatting, undoubtedly horrified to the core.
+
+"Cazi Moto, are you there?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"Where has the _memsahib_ gone?"
+
+"Into her tent, _bwana_."
+
+"Listen well to me. She has destroyed the medicine. Now we must go back to
+where _Bwana_ Marefu can come to fix my eyes. We shall go with all the men
+as far as the people of the _sultani_. There we will leave many porters
+and many loads. With a few men we will go to Bwana Marefu. When he has
+fixed my eyes, then we will come back. I will fix a _barua_ for _Bwana_.
+This must be sent on ahead of us so he can come to meet us. Pick two good
+men for messengers. Is all that understood?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"Tell me, then, what is to be done?"
+
+Cazi Moto repeated the gist of what had been said. Kingozi nodded.
+
+"That is it."
+
+"_Bwana?_" Cazi Moto hesitated.
+
+"Yes. Speak."
+
+"That woman. Shall she be _kibokoed_ or killed?"
+
+Kingozi caught back a chuckle.
+
+"No," he said gravely. "That will wait for later. But see that she is
+watched; do not permit her to talk to her men; take all her guns and
+pistols, and bring them to me."
+
+"And this Chaké?"
+
+"Of course." Kingozi had really forgotten the man in the concentrations of
+the past few hours. "Let him be brought before me an hour before sundown."
+
+He found himself all at once overcome with sleep. Hardly was he able to
+stagger to his cot before he fell into a deep, refreshing slumber.
+
+At the appointed hour Cazi Moto scratched on his tent door. Kingozi arose
+and walked confidently into the opening. Cazi Moto deftly indicated the
+location of the chair. Kingozi sat down.
+
+Although he could not see, he visualized the scene well enough.
+Immediately in front of him, and ten feet away, stood the manacled Nubian,
+with an armed man at either elbow. Behind them, in turn, were grouped
+silently all the combined safaris. At his own elbows stood Cazi Moto and
+Simba--possibly Mali-ya-bwana.
+
+He allowed an impressive wait to ensue. Then abruptly he began his
+interrogation. He had been thinking over the circumstances, off and on,
+since last night, and had determined on his line. Ordinarily he would have
+called for witnesses of various sorts, but this would have been not at all
+for the purpose of piling up evidence against the accused. That is the
+civilized fashion; and is superfluous among savages. Kingozi's witnesses
+would have been called solely for the purpose of furnishing information to
+himself. He needed only one piece of information here, and that only one
+witness could furnish him--the man before him.
+
+"Why did you kill Mavrouki?" he demanded.
+
+"I did not kill Mavrouki, _bwana_."
+
+"That is a lie," rejoined Kingozi calmly.
+
+Chaké became voluble.
+
+"All night I sat by my fire cooking _potio_ and meat," he protested. "This
+the _askaris_ will tell you. And my spear lay in the tent with the
+_askaris_," he went on at great length, repeating these two points,
+babbling, protesting, pleading. Kingozi listened to him in dead silence
+until he had quite run down.
+
+"Listen," said he impressively, "all these words are lies. This is what
+happened: from one of the _shenzis_ you traded a spear, or a spear was
+given you. Your own spear you left in the tent. All day you sat in the
+grass and sharpened the _shenzi_ spear." This was a wild guess, based on
+probabilities, but by the uneasy stir in the throng Kingozi knew he had
+scored. "Then at night you waited, and you speared Mavrouki with the
+_shenzi_ spear, and you left it in his back, for you said to yourself,
+'men will think a _shenzi_ has done this thing.' Then you went quietly to
+your fire, and cooked _potio_, and your own spear was all the time where
+the _askaris_ were lying."
+
+Kingozi paused. He knew without Cazi Moto's whispered assurance that every
+shot had told. It was a simple bit of deduction, but to these simpler
+minds it seemed miraculous.
+
+"Why did you wish to kill me?" he demanded.
+
+The Nubian, taken completely by surprise, began to chatter with fright.
+
+"I did not wish to kill you, _bwana_. I wished to kill Mavrouki."
+
+"That is a lie," said Kingozi equably. "Why should you wait for Mavrouki
+near my tent? Was Mavrouki my gun bearer, or even my cook, that he should
+come to my tent? Mavrouki was a porter, and if you wished to kill Mavrouki
+you would wait by the porters' camp."
+
+He said these words slowly, without emphasis, in almost a detached manner.
+By the murmur he knew that this amazing reasoning had, as usual, struck
+the men with deep astonishment. The African native is a simple creature.
+He waited a full minute.
+
+"Mavrouki wore a khaki coat. He and I were the only people of all the
+safari who had khaki coats. That is why in the darkness you mistook
+Mavrouki for me. That is why you killed Mavrouki."
+
+He said this in a firm voice, as though making an indisputable statement.
+The buzz of low-voiced comment increased. This time he did not pause.
+
+"Why did you wish to kill me?" he repeated.
+
+But again he sensed the fact that Chaké had taken refuge in the dull
+stupidity that is an acknowledgment of defeat. He knew that he would get
+no more replies. After waiting a few moments he went on. His voice had
+become weighty with authority and measured with doom.
+
+"You will not tell. Let it be so. And now listen; and you other safari men
+listen also. Because you have wished to kill me, you shall have two
+hundred lashes with the _kiboko_; and then you shall be hanged."
+
+A moment of horror was followed by a low murmur of comment. Not a man
+there but realized that the unfortunate Nubian would never live to be
+hanged. A punishment of twenty-five is as much as the most stoical can
+stand in silence; fifty as much as can be absorbed without permanent
+injury; seventy-five an extreme resorted to on a very few desperately rare
+occasions. Beyond that no experience taught the result. Kingozi's sentence
+was equivalent to death by torture.
+
+He leaned forward in his chair, listening intently. He heard his victim's
+gasp, the mutter of the crowd. They passed him by. Then he sank back, a
+half smile on his lips. He had caught the rustle of silks, the indignant
+breathing of a woman. He knew that Bibi-ya-chui stood before him.
+
+"But this is atrocious!" she cried. "This cannot go on!"
+
+"It shall go on," he replied steadily. "Why not?"
+
+"He is my man. I forbid it!"
+
+"He is my man to punish when he attempts my life."
+
+"I shall prevent this--this--oh, this outrage!"
+
+"How?" he asked calmly.
+
+She turned to the men and began to talk to them in Swahili, repeating
+emphatically what she had just said to Kingozi in English, uttering her
+commands. They were received in a dead silence.
+
+"You have heard the _memsahib_ speak, you men of the _memsahib's_ safari,"
+remarked Kingozi; then: "You, Jack, whom I made chief of _askaris_, you
+speak."
+
+"What does the _bwana_ say of this?" came Jack's deep voice after a
+moment.
+
+"You have heard."
+
+"What the _bwana_ says is law."
+
+"Does any man of you think differently? Speak!"
+
+No voice answered. Kingozi turned to where, he knew, the Leopard Woman
+stood.
+
+"You see?"
+
+He heard only a choked sob of rage and impotence. After waiting a minute
+he resumed:
+
+"Do my command. Let three men, in turn, give the _kiboko_. You, Simba, see
+that they strike hard."
+
+A faint clink of manacles indicated that the guards had laid hands on
+their victim.
+
+"Wait!" cried the Leopard Woman in a strangled voice.
+
+Kingozi raised his hand.
+
+"You--you brute!" she cried. "You shall not do this! Chaké is not to
+blame! It is I--I, who speak. I did this. I ordered him to kill you. I
+alone should be punished!"
+
+He drew a deep breath.
+
+"I thought so," he said softly; then in Swahili: "These are my orders. Let
+this man be well guarded. Let him be treated well, and given _potio_ and
+meat. He shall be punished later. And now," he turned to Bibi-ya-chui in
+English again, "let us drop the excitement and the hysterics. Let us sit
+down calmly and discuss the matter. Perhaps you are now ready to tell me
+why you have lied to me; why you have concealed your possession of a
+secret map and other information; why you have deliberately delayed my
+march; and, above all, why you have refused to aid my blindness and have
+attempted to kill me."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX
+
+
+KINGOZI'S ULTIMATUM
+
+But she did not immediately answer this. She was on fire with a new
+thought.
+
+"This is another of your--what you call--traps!" she cried. "You never
+intended to kill this man with the _kiboko!_ You intended to make me
+speak--as I did!"
+
+"That's as may be," he rejoined. "At least I should have tried how far he
+would have been faithful to you before telling what he knew--if you had
+not spoken."
+
+"He is faithful--to the death," she asseverated with passion.
+
+"I am inclined to believe you are right. But that is neither here nor
+there. I am waiting answers to my questions."
+
+"And you shall wait," she took him up superbly. "I shall not answer!"
+
+He shrugged his shoulders wearily.
+
+"That is your affair. I must confess that I am curious to know, however,
+why you did not shoot me. You have a pistol."
+
+"Your men took that pistol."
+
+"But not until late this morning. You had plenty of chance."
+
+"I could not," she said, her voice taking on a curious intonation; "there
+was no need."
+
+"You mean since I went blind there was no need," he interjected quickly.
+
+She hesitated whether to reply. Then:
+
+"Yes, that is it," she assented.
+
+Kingozi leaned forward, gripping the arms of his chair.
+
+"I must tell you that my blindness is not going to help you in the way you
+believe," he said.
+
+"What do I believe?" The animation of curiosity crept into her voice.
+
+"For one thing, you believe I am no ivory hunter; and you know perfectly
+why I am in this country."
+
+"Do I?"
+
+"Do you not?"
+
+"Well--yes."
+
+"Why is it, tell me."
+
+She pondered this, then made up her mind
+
+"I do not know why not. The time for fencing is over. I know perfectly
+that you are sent by your government to make treaty with M'tela. And I
+know," she added with the graciousness of one who has got back to sure
+ground, "that no one could do it better; and no one as well."
+
+"Except Winkleman," said Kingozi simply.
+
+"Except Winkleman--perhaps."
+
+"As you say, the time for fencing is over," pursued Kingozi. "That is
+true. And it is true also that you are not merely travelling for pleasure.
+You are yourself on a mission. You are Hungarian, but you are in the
+employ of the German Government."
+
+She laughed musically.
+
+"_Bravo!_" she cried. "That is true. But go on--how do you make the
+guess?"
+
+"Your maps, your--pardon me--equivocations, and a few other matters of the
+sort. Now it is perfectly evident that you are trying to forestall me in
+some manner."
+
+"Point number two," she agreed mockingly.
+
+"I am free to confess I do not know why; and at present I do not care.
+That's why I tell you. You are so anxious to forestall me--for this
+unknown reason--that when smaller things fail----"
+
+"You are of an interest--what smaller things?"
+
+"Various wiles--some of them feminine. Delays, for example. Do you suppose
+I believed for a moment those delays were not inspired? That is why my
+punishments were so severe--and other wiles," he concluded vaguely.
+
+She did not press the point.
+
+"When smaller things failed," he repeated, "you would have resorted even
+to murder. Your necessity must have been great."
+
+"Believe me--it was!" she answered.
+
+He brought up short at the unexpected feeling that vibrated in her voice.
+His face expressed a faint surprise, and he returned to his subject with
+fresh interest.
+
+"And when my eyes failed me, and you could have given me my sight by the
+mere reading of a label, you refused; you condemned me to the darkness.
+And, further, when I had a chance to learn my remedy for myself, you
+destroyed it. I wonder whether that cost you anything, too?"
+
+He sat apparently staring out into the distance, his sightless eyes wide
+with the peculiar blank pathos of the blind. The Leopard Woman's own eyes
+were suffused with tears!
+
+"I remember now something you said when you broke the bottle of
+pilocarpin," he said slowly. "I did not notice it at the time; now it
+comes to me. 'I have saved your life,' you said. I get the meaning of that
+now. You would have killed me rather than not have forestalled me; but the
+blindness saved you that necessity. You know, I am a little glad to learn
+that you did not _want_ to kill me."
+
+"Want!" she cried. "How could I want?"
+
+Kingozi chuckled.
+
+"You told me enough times just what you thought of me."
+
+Her crest reared, but drooped again.
+
+"No women likes to be treated so. And if you had your eyes, so I would
+hate you again!"
+
+"I don't know why you want to prevent me from reaching M'tela, nor why you
+want to reach him first, nor why in its wisdom your government sent you at
+all. I'd like to know, just as a matter of curiosity. But it doesn't
+really matter, because it does not affect the essential situation in the
+least."
+
+"You are going to M'tela just the same?" she inquired anxiously.
+
+"Bless you, no. I have no desire to go blind. It's the beastliest
+affliction can come to an active man. And glaucoma is a tricky thing. I'd
+like to get to McCloud tomorrow. But still you are not going to get to
+M'tela before me."
+
+"No?"
+
+"I am sorry; but you will have to go with me."
+
+"You have the force," she acknowledged after a moment. Somewhat surprised
+at her lack of protest--or was it resignation to the inevitable?--Kingozi
+checked himself. After a moment he went on.
+
+"Somehow," he mused, "in spite of your amiable activities, I have a
+certain confidence in you. It would be much more comfortable for both of
+us if you would give me your word not to try to escape, or to go back, or
+to leave my camp, or cause your men to leave my camp, or anything like
+that."
+
+"Would you trust my word?"
+
+"If you would give it solemnly--yes."
+
+"But to do what I wished to do--as you say just now yourself--I am ready
+to use all means--even to killing. Why do you not think I would also
+break, my word to do my ends?"
+
+"I think you would not."
+
+"But do you think I would, what you call--consider your trust in me more
+great than my government's trust in me?"
+
+"No. I do not think that either."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I do not think you will give your word to me unless you mean to keep it.
+If you do give it, I am willing to rely upon it."
+
+The Leopard Woman moved impulsively to his side.
+
+"Very well. I give it," she said with a choke.
+
+"That you go with my safari, without subterfuge, without sending word
+anywhere--in other words, a fair start afresh!"
+
+"Just that," she replied.
+
+"That is your word of honour?"
+
+"My word of honour."
+
+"Give me your hand on it."
+
+She laid her palm in his. His hand closed over hers, gripping it tightly.
+Her eyes were swimming, her breast heaved. Slowly she swayed toward him,
+leaned over him. Her lips touched his. Suddenly she was seized hungrily.
+She abandoned herself to the kiss.
+
+But after a moment she tore herself away from him, panting.
+
+"This must not be!" she cried tragically. "I know not what I do! This is
+not good! I am a woman of honour!"
+
+Kingozi, his blind face alight, held out his arms to her.
+
+"Your honour is safe with me," he said.
+
+But he had mistaken her meaning. Step by step she recoiled from him until
+she stood at the distance of some paces, her hands pressed against her
+cheeks, her eyes fixed on him with a strange mixture of tenderness, pity,
+and sternness.
+
+"What is it?" he begged, getting uncertainly to his feet. "Where are you?"
+
+But she did not answer him. After a moment she slipped away.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI
+
+
+THE MESSENGERS
+
+The return trip began promptly the following morning, and progressed
+uninterruptedly for two weeks. One by one they picked up the water-holes
+found on the journey out.
+
+A few details had to be adjusted to compensate for Kingozi's lack of eyes.
+The matter of meat supplies, for example.
+
+"Good luck I gave some attention to your shooting, old sportsman," he
+remarked to Simba in English, then in Swahili: "Here are five cartridges.
+Go get me a zebra and a kongoni."
+
+Simba was no shot, but Kingozi knew he would stalk, with infinite patience
+and skill, fairly atop his quarry before letting off one of the precious
+cartridges.
+
+In the matter of rhinoceros and similar dangers, they simply took a
+chance.
+
+Kingozi marched at the end of a stick held by Simba. He gave his whole
+energies to getting over the day's difficulties of all sorts. His
+relations with the Leopard Woman swung back. Perhaps vaguely, in the back
+of his mind, he looked forward to the interpretation of that
+unpremeditated kiss; but just now a mixed feeling of responsibility and
+delicacy prevented his going forward from the point attained. During the
+march they walked apart most of the time. The weariness of forced travel
+abridged their evenings.
+
+Chaké walked guarded, and slept in chains.
+
+Whenever the location of water-holes permitted, the safari made long
+jumps. The two messengers sent out with a scrawled letter to Doctor
+McCloud--whom they knew as Bwana Marefu--were of course far ahead. With
+any luck Kingozi hoped to meet the surgeon not far from the mountains
+where dwelt the _sultani_ of the ivory stockade.
+
+Thus the march went through a fortnight. The close of the fourteenth day
+found them camped near water in a _donga_. The dim blue of mountains had
+raised itself above the horizon ahead. This rejoiced the men. They were
+running low of _potio_, and they knew that from the _sultani's_ subjects
+in these mountains a further supply could be had. As a consequence, an
+unwonted _kalele_ was smiting the air. Each man chatted to his next-door
+neighbour at the top of his lungs, laughing loudly, squealing with
+delight. Kingozi sat enjoying it. He had been so long in Africa that this
+happy rumpus always pleased him. Suddenly it fell to silence. He cocked
+his ear, trying to understand the reason.
+
+Across the open veldt two figures had been descried. They were coming
+toward the camp at a slow dogtrot; and as they approached it could be seen
+that save for a turban apiece they were stark naked; and save for a spear
+and a water gourd apiece they were without equipment. One held something
+straight upright before him, as medieval priests carried a cross. The
+turbans were formed from their blankets; mid-blade of each spear was wound
+with a strip of red cloth; the object one carried was a letter held in the
+cleft of a stick.
+
+By these tokens the safari men knew the strangers to be messengers.
+
+The mail service of Central Africa is slow but very certain. You give your
+letter to two reliable men and inform them that it is for _Bwana_ So-and-
+so. Sooner or later _Bwana_ So-and-so will get that letter. He is found by
+a process of elimination. In the bazaars the messengers inquire whether he
+has gone north, south, east, or west. Some native is certain to have known
+some of his men. So your messengers start west. Their progress
+thenceforward is a series of village visits. The gossip of the country
+directs them. Gradually, but with increasing certainty, their course
+defines itself, until at last--months later--they come trotting into camp.
+
+These two jogged in broadly agrin. Cazi Moto and Simba led them at once to
+Kingozi's chair.
+
+"These men bring a _barua_ for you, _bwana_," said Cazi Moto.
+
+Kingozi took the split wand with the letter thrust crosswise in the cleft.
+
+"Who sent them?" he asked.
+
+"The _Bwana_ M'Kubwa[10], _bwana_."
+
+[10: _Bwana M'Kubwa_--the great lord, i.e., the chief officer of any
+district.]
+
+"Have they no message?"
+
+"They say no message, _bwana_."
+
+"Take them and give them food, and see that they have a place in one of
+the tents."
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"And send Bibi-ya-chui to me."
+
+The Leopard Woman sent word that she was bathing, but would come shortly.
+Kingozi sat fingering the letter, which he could not read. It was long and
+thick. He could feel the embossed frank of the Government Office. The
+situation was puzzling. It might contain secret orders, in which case it
+would be inadvisable to allow the Leopard Woman a sight of its contents.
+But Kingozi shook off this thought. At about the time he felt the cool
+shadow of the earth rise across his face as the sun slipped below the
+horizon, he became aware also by the faint perfume that the Leopard Woman
+had come.
+
+"I am in a fix," he said abruptly. "Runners have just come in with this
+letter. It is official, and may be secret. I am morally certain you ought
+not to know its contents; but I don't see how I am to know them unless you
+do. Will you read it to me, and will you give me your word not to use its
+contents for your own or your government's purposes?"
+
+She hesitated.
+
+"I cannot promise that."
+
+"Well," he amended after a moment, "you will stick to the terms of your
+other promise--that you will not attempt to leave my safari or send
+messages until we arrive."
+
+"The fresh, even start," she supplied. "That promise is given."
+
+He handed her the envelope.
+
+A crackle of paper, then a long wait.
+
+"I shall not read you this," she said finally in a strangled, suppressed
+voice.
+
+"Why not?" he demanded sharply.
+
+"It contains things I would not have you know."
+
+He felt the paper thrust into his hands, reached for her wrists, and
+pinioned them. For once his self-control had broken. His face was suffused
+with blood and dark with anger.
+
+But his speech was cut short by an uproar from the camp. Cries, shrieks,
+shouts, yells, and the sound of running to and fro steadily increased in
+volume. It was a riot.
+
+In vain Kingozi called for Cazi Moto and Simba. Finally he grasped his
+_kiboko_ and started in the direction of the disturbance. The Leopard
+Woman sprang to his side, and guided him. He laid about him blindly with
+the _kiboko_, and in time succeeded in getting some semblance of order.
+
+"Cazi Moto! Simba!" he shouted angrily.
+
+"Bwana?" "Sah?" two panting voices answered.
+
+"What is this?"
+
+They both began to speak at once.
+
+"You, Cazi Moto," commanded Kingozi.
+
+"These men are liars," began Cazi Moto.
+
+"What men?"
+
+"These men who brought the _barua_. They tell lies, bad lies, and we beat
+them for it."
+
+"Since when have you beaten liars? And since when have I ceased to deal
+punishment? And since when has it been permitted that such a _kalele_ be
+raised in my camp?" pronounced Kingozi coldly. "For attending to such
+things you are my man; and Simba is my man; and Mali-ya-bwana is my man;
+and Jack is my man. Because you have done these things I fine you six
+rupees each one."
+
+"Yes, _bwana_," said Cazi Moto submissively.
+
+"These other men--what manner of 'lie' do they tell? Bring them here."
+
+The messengers were produced.
+
+"What is it you tell that my men beat you for telling lies? They must be
+bad lies, for it is not the custom of men to beat men for telling lies."
+
+"We tell no lies, _bwana_" said one of the messengers earnestly. "We tell
+the truth."
+
+"What is it you tell?"
+
+"We said what has happened: that across the Serengëtti came white men from
+the country of Taveta, and that these white men were many, and had many
+_askaris_ with them, and our white men from Nairobi met them, and fought
+so that those from Taveta were driven back and some were killed. And down
+the N'Gouramani River many of our white men with _Mahindi_[11] fought with
+strange white men on a hill below Ol Sambu, but were driven off. And many
+_Mahindi_ are coming in to Mombasa, all with guns, and all the _askaris_
+are brought into Nairobi. And we told these safari men that the white men
+were making war on the white men, so they cried out at this, and beat us."
+
+[Footnote 11: Mahindi--East Indians.]
+
+Kingozi had listened attentively.
+
+"Well, Cazi Moto?" he demanded.
+
+"But this is a lie; a bad lie," said Cazi Moto, "to say that white men
+make war on white men!"
+
+"Nevertheless it is true," rejoined Kingozi quietly. "These other white
+men are the _Duyches_[12], and they make war."
+
+[Footnote 12: Duyches--Germans.]
+
+He turned and walked back to his camp unassisted. He groped for his chair
+and sat down. His hand encountered the letter.
+
+"You do not need to read this to me now," he told the Leopard Woman
+quietly. "I know what it tells." He thought a moment. "It is clear to me
+now. You knew, this war was to be declared."
+
+She did not reply.
+
+"You know about _when_ this war was to be declared," he pursued his
+thought. "Yes, it fits."
+
+Her silence continued.
+
+"You should have killed me," he thought aloud. "That alone could have
+accomplished your mission properly. You might have known I would make you
+go back, too. Or perhaps you thought you could command your own men in
+spite of me?"
+
+"Perhaps," she said unexpectedly.
+
+He raised his voice:
+
+"Cazi Moto!"
+
+The chastened headman came running.
+
+"To-morrow," Kingozi told him, "the men go on half _potio_. There will be
+plenty of meat but only half _potio_."
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"And if any man grumbles, or if any man objects even one word to what I do
+or where I go, bring him to me at once. Understand?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"_Bassi_."
+
+"What is it you intend to do now?" asked the Leopard Woman curiously.
+
+"Go back, of course."
+
+"Back--where?"
+
+"To M'tela."
+
+She gasped.
+
+"But you cannot do that! You have not considered; you have not thought."
+
+He shrugged his shoulders.
+
+"But it means blindness; blindness for always!"
+
+"I know my duty."
+
+"But to be blind, to be blind always; never to see the sun, the wide
+veldt, the beasts, and the birds! Never to read a book, to see a man's
+face, a woman's form; to sit always in darkness waiting--you cannot do
+that!"
+
+He winced at her words but did not reply. Her hands fluttered to his
+shoulders.
+
+"Please do not do this foolishness," she pleaded softly; "it is not worth
+it! See, I have given my word! If you had thought I would go ahead of you
+to M'tela, all that danger is past. A fresh start, you said it yourself.
+Do you think I would deceive you?"
+
+She was hovering very close to him; he could feel her breath on his cheek.
+Firmly but gently he took her two wrists and thrust her away from him.
+
+"Listen, my dear," he said gently, "this is a time for clear thinking. My
+country is at war with Germany; and my whole duty is to her. You are an
+Austrian."
+
+"My country, too, is at war," she said unexpectedly.
+
+"Ah, you knew that would happen, too," he said after a startled pause. "I
+know only this: that if in times of peace it was important to my
+government that M'tela's friendship be gained, it is ten times as
+important in time of war. I must go back and do my best."
+
+"But why?" she interjected eagerly. "This savage tribe--it is in the
+remote hinterland; it knows nothing of the white man or the white man's
+quarrels. What difference can it make?"
+
+"That is not my affair. For one thing, he is on the border."
+
+"But what difference of that? The border means nothing. The fate of their
+colonies will be fought in Europe, not here. What happens to this country
+depends on who wins there below."
+
+"Can you state positively of your own knowledge that no invasion or
+movement of German troops is planned across M'tela's country? On your
+sacred word of honour?" propounded Kingozi suddenly.
+
+"On my word of honour," she repeated slowly, "no such movement."
+
+"Do you know what you are talking about?"
+
+She was silent.
+
+"It doesn't sound reasonable--an invasion from that quarter--what could
+they gain either on that side or on this?" Kingozi ruminated. A sudden
+thought struck him. "And that there is no reason whatever, from my point
+of view as a loyal British subject, against my going out at this time? On
+your word?"
+
+"Oh!" she cried distressedly, "you ask such questions! How can I
+answer----"
+
+He stopped her with grave finality.
+
+"That is sufficient. I go back."
+
+She did not attempt to combat him.
+
+"I have done my duty, too," she said dully. "Mine is not the Viennese
+conscience. My parole; I must take that back. From to-morrow I take it
+back."
+
+"I understand. I am sorry. To-morrow I place my guard."
+
+"Oh, why cannot you have the sense?" she cried passionately. "I cannot
+bear it! That you must be blind! That I must kill you if I can, once
+more!"
+
+Kingozi smiled quietly to himself at this confession.
+
+"So you would even kill me?" he queried curiously.
+
+"I must! I must! If it is necessary, I must! I have sworn!"
+
+"Don't you suppose I shall take precautions?"
+
+"Oh, I hope so! I do hope so!" she cried.
+
+Her distress was so genuine, her unconsciousness of the anomaly of her
+attitude so naïve that Kingozi forbore even to smile.
+
+"I must go on," he concluded simply.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII
+
+
+THE SECOND MESSENGERS
+
+The return journey began. A remarkable tribute to Kingozi's influence, not
+only over his own men, but over those of the new safari, might have been
+read from the fact that there was brought for correction not one grumble,
+either over the halving of the _potio_ or the apparently endless counter-
+marching. As far as the white members were concerned the journey was one
+of doggedness and gloom. Kingozi's strong will managed to keep to the
+foreground the details of his immediate duty; but to do so he had to sink
+all other considerations whatever. The same effort required to submerge
+all thought of the darkened years to come carried down also every
+recollection of the past. The Leopard Woman ceased to exist, not because
+she had lost importance, but because Kingozi's mind was focussed on a
+single point.
+
+And she. Perhaps she understood this; perhaps the tearing antagonism of
+her own purposes, duties, and desires stunned or occupied her--who knows?
+The outward result was the same as in the case of her companion. They
+walked apart, ate apart, lived each in his superb isolation, going forward
+like sleep-walkers to what the future might hold.
+
+Thus they travelled for ten days. In mid-march, then, Cazi Moto came to
+tell Kingozi that two more messengers had arrived.
+
+"They are not people of our country," he added. "They are _shenzis_ such
+as no man here ever saw before."
+
+"What sort of _shenzis?_"
+
+"Short, square men. Very black. Hair that is long and stands out like a
+little tree."
+
+"What do they say?"
+
+"_Bwana_, they speak a language that no man here understands. And this is
+strange: that they do not come from the direction of Nairobi."
+
+"Perhaps they are men from M'tela."
+
+"No, _bwana_, that cannot be, for they carry a _barua_. They came from a
+white man."
+
+"That is strange, very strange," said Kingozi quickly. "I do not
+understand. Is there water near where we stand?"
+
+"There is the water of the place we called _Campi ya Korungu_ when we
+passed before."
+
+"Make camp there."
+
+"The sun is at four hours[13], _bwana_."
+
+[Footnote 13: 10:00 o'clock.]
+
+"It makes no difference."
+
+When camp had been pitched Kingozi caused the new messengers to be brought
+before him. A few moments' questioning elicited two facts: one, that there
+existed no medium of communication known to both parties; two, that the
+strangers were from some part of the Congo basin. The latter conclusion
+Kingozi gained from catching a few words of a language root known to him.
+He stretched his hand for the letter.
+
+It was in a long linen envelope, unsealed, and unembossed.
+
+Not from the government. He unfolded the sheets of paper and ran his
+fingers over the pages. Written in pencil; he could feel the indentations
+where the writer had borne down. Some private individual writing him from
+camp on the Congo side. Who could it be? Kingozi's Central African
+acquaintance was wide; he knew most of the gentlemen adventurers roaming
+through that land of fascination. A good many were not averse to ivory
+poaching; and the happy hunting ground of ivory poaching was at that time
+the French Congo. It might be any of them. But how could they know of his
+whereabouts in this unknown country? And how could they know he was in
+this country at all? These last two points seemed to him important.
+Suddenly he threw his head back and laughed aloud.
+
+"Self-centred egotist!" he addressed himself. "Cazi Moto, tell Bibi-ya-
+chui I wish to see her."
+
+Cazi Moto departed to return immediately with the Leopard Woman who, at
+this hour, was still in her marching clothes. If she felt any surprise at
+this early abandonment of the day's march she did not show it. Two
+_askaris_, confided with the task of guarding her, followed a few paces to
+the rear. She glanced curiously at the bushy savages.
+
+"Here," said Kingozi, holding out the letter, "is a _barua_ for you--from
+your friend Winkleman in the Congo."
+
+The shock of surprise held her speechless for a moment.
+
+"Your blindness is well! You can see!" she cried then.
+
+Kingozi raised his head sharply, for there was a lilt of relief and
+gladness in her voice.
+
+"No," he answered, "just ordinary deduction. Am I right?"
+
+He heard her slowly unfolding the paper.
+
+"Yes, you are right," she said in sober tones, after a moment. She uttered
+a happy exclamation, then another; then ran to his side and threw her arms
+around his neck in an impulsive hug. Kingozi remembered the waiting men
+and motioned them away. She was talking rapidly, almost hysterically, as
+people talk when relieved of a pressure.
+
+"Yes, it is from Winkleman. He has come in from the Congo side. When this
+letter was written he was only ten days' march from M'tela."
+
+"How do you know that?" interjected Kingozi sharply.
+
+"Native information, he says. Oh, I am so glad! so glad! so glad!"
+
+"That was the plan from the start, was it?" said Kingozi. "I don't know
+whether it was a good plan or that I have been thick. My head is in rather
+a whirl. It was Winkleman right along, was it?"
+
+She laughed excitedly.
+
+"Oh, such a game! Of course it was Winkleman. Did you think me one to be
+sent to savage kings?"
+
+"It didn't seem credible," muttered Kingozi. "It is a humiliating
+question, but seems inevitable--were you actually sent out by your
+officials merely to delay _me?_"
+
+"So that Winkleman might arrive first--surely."
+
+"I see." Kingozi's accent was getting to be more formally polite. "But why
+you? Why did not your most efficient employers dispatch an ordinary
+assassin? I do not err in assuming that you all knew that this war was to
+be declared at this time."
+
+"That is true." Her voice still sang, her high spirits unsubdued by his
+veiled sarcasm.
+
+"Then since it is war, why not have me shot and done with it? Why send a
+woman?"
+
+"That was arranged, truly. A man of the Germans was following you. He was
+as a sportsman, for it would not do to rouse suspicion. Then he had an
+accident. I was in Nairobi. I heard of it. I did not know you, and this
+German did not know you. It seemed to us very simple. I was to follow
+until I came up with you. Then I was to delay you until I had word that
+Winkleman had crossed the _n'yika_."
+
+"All very simple and easy," murmured Kingozi.
+
+"It was not simple! It was not easy!" she cried in a sudden flash of
+resentment. "You are a strange man. When you go toward a thing, you see
+down a narrow lane. What is either side does not exist." Her voice
+gradually raised to vehemence. "I am a woman. I am weak and helpless. Do
+you assist me, comfort me, sustain me in dreadful situation? No! You march
+on, leaving me to follow! I think to myself that you are a pig, a brute,
+that you have no chivalry, that you know not the word gentleman; and I
+hate you! Then I see that I am wrong. You have chivalry, you are a true
+gentleman; but before you is an object and you cannot turn your eyes away.
+And I think so to myself that when this object is removed, is placed one
+side for a time, then you will come to yourself. Then will be my chance.
+For I study you. I look at your eyes and the fire in them, and the lips,
+and the wide, proud nostril; and I see that here is no cold fish creature,
+but a strong man. So I wait my time. And the moon rises, and the savage
+drums throb, throb like hearts of passion, and the bul-buls sing in the
+bush--and I know I am beautiful, and I know men, and almost I think you
+look one side, and that I win!"
+
+"So all that was a game!" commented Kingozi.
+
+"A game? But yes--then!"
+
+"For the sake of winning your point--would you--would you----"
+
+"For the sake of winning my point did I not command to kill you--you--my
+friend?" she commented, her manner falling from vehemence to sadness. "If
+I could do that, what else would matter!" She paused; then went on in a
+subdued voice: "But even then your glance but wavered. You are a strong
+man; and you are a victim of your strength. When an idea grips hold of
+you, you know nothing but that. And so I saw the delaying of you was not
+so simple, so easy. It was not as a man to a woman, but as a man to a man.
+It was war. I did my best," she concluded wearily.
+
+Kingozi was staring in her direction almost as though he could see.
+
+"Why do you tell me all this?" he asked at length.
+
+"I want you to know. And I am so glad!" The lilt had crept back into her
+voice.
+
+"I congratulate you," he replied drily.
+
+"Stupid! Oh, stupid!" she cried. "Do you not see why I am glad? It is you!
+Now you shall not sit forever in the darkness. You shall go back to your
+doctor, who will arrange your eyes."
+
+"Why?" asked Kingozi.
+
+"Why!" she repeated, astonished. "But it is 'why not!' Listen! Have you
+thought? Winkleman is now but a week's march from M'tela. And here, where
+we stand, it is perhaps twenty days, perhaps more. Winkleman would arrive
+nearly two weeks ahead of you. Tell me, how long would it take you to win
+M'tela's friendship so it would not be shaken?"
+
+Kingozi's face lit with a grim smile.
+
+"A week," he promised confidently.
+
+"You see! And Herr Winkleman is equal to you; you have said so yourself.
+Is not it so?"
+
+"It's so, all right."
+
+"Then--you see?"
+
+"I see."
+
+"Then we shall go back to the doctor. Oh, do you not see it is for that I
+am glad--truly, truly! You must believe me that!"
+
+"I believe you," said Kingozi. "Nevertheless, I do not think I shall go
+back."
+
+"But that is madness. You cannot arrive in time. And it is to lose your
+eyes all for nothing, for a foolish idea that you do your duty!"
+
+Kingozi shook his head. She wrung her hands in despair.
+
+"Oh, I know that look of you!" she cried. "You see only down your narrow
+lane!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII
+
+
+THE COUNCIL OF WAR
+
+That evening Kingozi called to him Cazi Moto, Simba, and Mali-ya-bwana. He
+commanded them to build a little fire, and when the light from the leaping
+flames had penetrated his dull vision, he told them to sit down before
+him. Thus they knew that a serious council was intended. They squatted on
+their heels below the white man in his chair, and looked up at him with
+bright, devoted eyes.
+
+"Listen," he said. "The matter is this: the _Inglishee_ are at war with
+the _Duyche_. Over from the Congo comes a _Duyche_ known as _Bwana_
+Nyele.[14] It is his business to reach this _shenzi_ king, M'tela, and
+persuade M'tela to fight on the side of the _Duyche_. It is our business
+to reach M'tela and persuade him to fight on the side of the _Inglishee_.
+Is that understood?"
+
+[Footnote 14: _Bwana_ Nyele--the master with the mane, i.e., beard or
+hair.]
+
+"It is understood, _bwana_" said they.
+
+"But this _Duyche, Bwana_ Nyele, is only one week's march from M'tela; and
+he undoubtedly has many gifts for M'tela and the Kabilagani. And we are
+many days' safari distant, and I am blind and cannot hurry." he three
+uttered little clucks of sympathy and interest.
+
+"But for all that we may win. You three men are my eyes and my right hand.
+I have a plan, and this is what you must do: Cazi Moto must stay with me
+to be headman of safari, and to be my eyes when we come to M'tela's land.
+You Simba, and you Mali-ya-bwana, must go with six of the best men to
+where _Bwana_ Nyele is marching. These two strange _shenzis_ will guide
+you. Then when you are near the safari of _Bwana_ Nyele you must arrange
+so that these _shenzis_ can have no talk with any of the safari of _Bwana_
+Nyele. That is understood?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_," said Simba. "Do we kill these _shenzis?_"
+
+"No, do not kill them. Tie them fast."
+
+"Yes, _bwana_, and then?"
+
+"This is the most difficult. You must get hold of _Bwana_ Nyele, and you
+must tie him fast also, and keep him from his safari. He is a
+_m'zungu_[15], yes--but he is a _Duyche_, and my enemy, and these things
+are right, because I command it."
+
+[Footnote 15: _M'zungu_--white man.]
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"Then you must keep _Bwana_ Nyele and these two _shenzis_ close in camp,
+hidden where their safari cannot find them. And after two weeks you must
+send two men to M'tela's to find me, and to tell me where you are hidden.
+Now is all that understood? You, Simba, tell me what you are to do."
+
+"Mali-ya-bwana, myself, six men and these _shenzis_ travel to where the
+safari of _Bwana_ Nyele marches. When we are near that safari we tie up
+the two _shenzis_. Then we get _Bwana_ Nyele and tie him up in a secret
+camp. Then after two weeks we send two men to tell the _bwana_ where we
+are. But, _bwana_, how do we get _Bwana_ Nyele?"
+
+"That I will tell you soon. One thing you forgot: you must reach the
+_Duyche_ before he gets into M'tela's country. This means travel night and
+day--fast travel. Can this be done?"
+
+"We shall pick good men, _bwana_, runners of the Wakamba. We shall do our
+best."
+
+"Good. Each man four days' _potio_, and what biltong he can use. Simba,
+take my small rifle and fifty cartridges. Take some snuff, beads, and
+wire--only a little--to trade for _potio_ if you meet with other people.
+Understood?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"Cazi Moto," he directed, "bring me the small box of wood from my
+_sandoko_."
+
+He slid the cover off this box when it was delivered into his hands,
+fumbled a moment, and held up an object.
+
+"What is this?" he asked.
+
+"It is a bone, _bwana_."
+
+"Yes, it is a bone; but it is more. It is a magic. With this you will take
+_Bwana_ Nyele."
+
+He could sense the stir of interest in the three men before him.
+
+"Listen carefully. This is what you must do. When you have come near to
+this safari, you must follow it until it has put down its loads and is
+just about to make camp. Not a rest period on the road; not after camp is
+made--just at the moment when the men begin to untie the loads, when they
+begin to pitch the tents. That is the magic time. Understand?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_," they chorused breathlessly.
+
+"Simba must be ready. He must take off his clothes, and he must oil his
+body and paint it, and put on the ornaments of a _shenzi_ of this country.
+For that purpose he must take with him the necklace, the armlets, anklets,
+and belt that I traded for with the _shenzis_, and which Cazi Moto will
+get from my tent. Do you know the style of painting of these _shenzis_ of
+the plains, Simba?"
+
+"Yes, _bwana_."
+
+"It is important that you make yourself a _shenzi_. This magic is a bad
+magic otherwise. Then at the moment I have named, Simba as a _shenzi_ will
+take this magic bone and hold it out to _Bwana_ Nyele saying nothing.
+_Bwana_ Nyele will say words, perhaps in Swahili which Simba will
+understand; perhaps in some other language which he will not understand.
+Simba must point thus; and then must start in that direction. _Bwana_
+Nyele will follow a few steps. Then Simba will say: 'Many more, _bwana_,
+over there only a little distance.'" Kingozi uttered this last sentence in
+atrocious Swahili. "You must say it in just that way, like a _shenzi_. Say
+it."
+
+Simba repeated the words and accent.
+
+"Yes, that is it. Then say nothing more, no matter what he asks; and do
+not let him touch the magic bone. Point. He will follow you; and when he
+has followed out of sight of the safari you will all seize him and tie him
+fast. The rest is as I have commanded."
+
+"How does _bwana_ know how these things will happen thus?" breathed Simba
+in awestricken tones.
+
+"It is a magic," replied Kingozi gravely.
+
+Over and over he drilled them until the details were thoroughly
+understood. Then he dismissed them and leaned back with a sigh. The plan
+was simple, but ought to work. At the moment of making camp Winkleman
+would be less apt than at any other time to take with him an escort--
+especially if his interest or cupidity were aroused--for every one would
+be exceedingly busy. And no fear about the interest and cupidity! The
+"magic" bone Kingozi had confided to Simba was a fragment of a Pleistocene
+fossil. Kingozi himself valued it highly, but he hoped and expected to get
+it back. It made excellent bait, which no scientist could resist. Of
+course there might be a second white man with Winkleman, but from the
+reported size of the latter's safari he thought not. All in all, Kingozi
+had great reliance in his magic.
+
+At the end of fifteen minutes Simba came to report.
+
+"All is ready, _bwana_," he said, "and we start now. But if _bwana_ could
+let me take a lantern, which I have in my hand, we could travel also at
+night."
+
+The lantern, as Kingozi well knew, was not for the purpose of casting
+light in the path, but as some slight measure of protection against lions.
+
+"Let me have it," he ordered. It was passed into his hands, and proved to
+be one of the two oil lanterns kept for emergencies.
+
+But Kingozi sent the headman for one of the candle lanterns in everyday
+use, and a half-dozen short candles.
+
+"These are better," he said; "and _qua heri_, Simba. If you do these
+things well, large _backsheeshi_ for you all."
+
+"_Qua heri, bwana_" said Simba, and was gone.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV
+
+
+M'TELA'S COUNTRY
+
+To the bewilderment of the Leopard Woman the pace of the safari now
+slackened. Heretofore the marches had been stretched to the limit of
+endurance; now the day's journey was as leisurely as that of a sportsman's
+caravan. It started at daybreak, to be sure, but it ended at noon, unless
+exigencies of water required an hour or two additional. As a matter of
+fact, Kingozi knew that he had done everything possible. If Simba & Co.
+succeeded, then there was no immediate hurry; if they failed, hurry would
+be useless.
+
+Bibi-ya-chui noticed the absence of two such prominent members of the
+safari as Simba and Mali-ya-bwana, of course, but readily accepted
+Kingozi's explanation that he had sent them "as messengers."
+
+The little safari for the third time crawled its antlike way across the
+immensities of the veldt. Cazi Moto managed to keep them supplied with
+meat, but at an excessive expenditure of cartridges. As he used the
+Leopard Woman's rifle, this did not so much matter, for she was abundantly
+supplied. At last the blue ranges rose before them; each day's journey
+defined their outlines better. The foothills began to sketch themselves,
+to separate from the ranges, finally to surround the travellers with the
+low swells of broken country. Running water replaced the still water-
+holes. Cazi Moto reported herds of goats in the distance. One evening
+several of the goatherds ventured into camp. They spoke no Swahili, but at
+the name M'tela they nodded vigorously, and at the mention of Kabilagani
+they pointed at their own breasts.
+
+"I wish I had eyes!" cried Kingozi petulantly. "What kind of people are
+they?"
+
+The Leopard Woman told him as best she could--tall, well-formed, copper in
+hue, of a pleasing expression, clad scantily in goat skins.
+
+"Their ornaments, their arms?" cried Kingozi with impatience.
+
+"They are poor people," replied Bibi-ya-chui. "They have armlets of iron
+beaten out, and necklaces of shell fragments or bone. They carry spears
+with a short blade, broad like a leaf."
+
+"Their armlets are not of wire? They have no cowrie shells?"
+
+"No, it is beaten iron----"
+
+"Good!" cried Kingozi. "There has been little or no trading here!"
+
+One of the goatherds went with them as guide to M'tela.
+
+"Without doubt," Kingozi surmised, "others have run on to warn M'tela of
+our coming."
+
+Their way led on a gentle, steady up grade without steep climbs. The
+hills, at first only scattered, low hummocks, became higher, more
+numerous, closed in on them; until, before they knew it, they found
+themselves walking up the flat bed of a cañon between veritable mountains.
+The end of the view, the Leopard Woman said, was shut by a frowning,
+unbroken rampart many thousands of feet high.
+
+"Then we are due for a climb," sighed Kingozi. "These native tracks never
+hunt for a grade! When they want to go up, why up they go!"
+
+But the head of the cañon, instead of stopping against the wall, bent
+sharply to the left. A "saddle" was disclosed.
+
+Toward this the hard-beaten track led. Shortly it began to mount steeply,
+and shortly after it entered a high forest growing on the abrupt slopes.
+Here it was cool and mysterious, with green shadows, and the swing of rope
+vines, and the sudden remoteness of glimpsed skies. The earth was soft and
+moist under foot; so the dampness of it rose to the nostrils. Vines and
+head-high bracken and feather growths covered the ground. In every shallow
+ravine were groves of tree ferns forty feet tall. A silence dwelt there, a
+different silence from that of the veldt at night; compounded of a few
+simple elements, such as the faint, incessant drip of hidden waters and
+occasional loud, hollowly echoing noises such as the bark of a colobus or
+the scream of a hyrax. There were birds, rare, flashing, brilliant,
+furtive birds, but they said nothing.
+
+Through this forest on edge the path led steeply upward. Sometimes it was
+almost perpendicular; sometimes it took an angle; sometimes--but rarely--
+it paused at a little ledge wide enough to rest nearly the whole safari at
+once.
+
+For an hour and a half they climbed, then topped the rim of the escarpment
+and emerged from the forest at the same time.
+
+Immediately they were a thousand leagues from the Africa they knew. A
+gently rolling country stretched out before them with sweeps of green
+grass shoulder high, and compact groves of trees as though planted. For
+miles it undulated away until the very multitude of its low, peaceful
+hills shut in the horizon. Cattle grazed in the wide-flung hollows, and
+little herds of game; goats and sheep dotted the hills. The groves of
+trees were very green. Everything breathed of peace and plenty. Almost
+would one with proper childhood recollections listen for a church-going
+bell, search for spires and cottage roofs among the trees. Slim columns of
+smoke rose straight into the motionless air. The very sun seemed to have
+abated its African fierceness, and to have become mild.
+
+Some of these things Kingozi learned from Cazi Moto; some from the Leopard
+Woman; each after his kind.
+
+About a half-mile away a number of warriors in single file walked across
+the wide valley and disappeared in the forest to the left. They carried
+heavy spears and oval shields painted in various designs. A fillet bound
+long ostrich plumes that slanted backward on either side the head; and as
+they walked forward in the rather teetery fashion of the savage dandy
+these plumes waved up and down in rhythm.
+
+"M'tela," said the _shenzi_ goatherd waving his hand abroad.
+
+They camped at the edge of a pleasant grove near running water. The donkey
+that the Leopard Woman rode fell to the tall lush grasses with a
+thankfulness beyond all expression. All the safari was in high spirits.
+They saw _potio_ in sight again; and, immediately, long grass for beds.
+
+Visitors came in shortly--a dozen armed men, like the warriors seen
+earlier in the day, and a dignified older man who spoke a sufficient
+Swahili. Kingozi received these in a friendly fashion, did not permit them
+to sit, but at once began to cross-question them. The Leopard Woman
+emerged from her tent.
+
+"Stay where you are," Kingozi called to her in decided tones. "You must in
+this permit me to judge of expediencies. I forbid you to hold any
+communication with these people. I hope you will not make it necessary for
+me to take measures to see that my wishes are carried out."
+
+She showed no irritation, not even at the "forbid," but smiled quietly,
+and without reply returned to her tent.
+
+"Yes," said the old man, "this was M'tela's country, these were M'tela's
+people." He disclaimed having been sent by M'tela.
+
+At this point Kingozi, apparently losing all interest, dismissed them into
+the hands of Cazi Moto. The latter, previously instructed, took his guests
+to his own camp. There he distributed roast meat, one _balauri_ of coffee
+to the old man, and many tales, some of them true. These people had never
+before laid eyes on a white man, but naturally, at this late date in
+African history, all had heard more or less of the phenomenon. Cazi Moto
+found that the distinction between _Inglishee_ and _Duyche_ was known. He
+left a general impression that Kingozi was the favourite son of the King,
+come from sheer friendship and curiosity to see M'tela, whose fame was
+universal. For two hours the warriors squatted, or walked about camp
+examining with carefully concealed curiosity its various activities and
+strange belongings. Then all disappeared. No more people appeared that
+day.
+
+Kingozi knew well enough that this was a spying party sent directly from
+M'tela's court; and that, pending its report, nothing more was to be done.
+Cazi Moto's detailed description of what had been said and done cheered
+his master wonderfully. By all the signs the simplest of the white man's
+wonders were brand new to the visitors; _ergo_ Winkleman could not have
+arrived. If he were not yet at M'tela's court, the chances seemed good
+that Simba and the magic bone had succeeded.
+
+Nothing at present could be done. Kingozi sent Cazi Moto out to kill an
+abundance of game. The little headman returned later to report the
+extraordinary luck of two zebra to two cartridges (at thirty yards to be
+sure!) and that after each kill very many _shenzis_ gathered to examine
+the bullet wound, the gun, and the distance. They were immensely excited,
+not at all awestricken, entirely friendly. There was no indication of any
+desire to rob the hunters. Evidently, Kingozi reflected, they were
+familiar with firearms by hearsay, and were deeply interested at this
+first hand experience.
+
+The safari remained encamped at this spot all the next day, and the day
+succeeding. Natives came into camp, at first only the men, hesitatingly;
+then the women. A brisk little trade sprang up for yams, bananas,
+_m'wembe_ meal, eggs, and milk. No shrewder bargainer exists than your
+African safari man, and these soon discovered that beads and wire
+possessed great purchasing power in this unsophisticated country. The
+bartering had to be done in sign language, as Swahili seemed to be
+unknown; and no man in the safari understood this unknown tongue. Kingozi
+sat in state before his tent, smoking his pipe--which he still enjoyed in
+spite of his blindness--and awaiting events in that vast patience so
+necessary to the successful African traveller. Occasionally a group of the
+chatting natives would drift toward his throne, would fall into
+awestricken silence, would stare, would drift away again; but none
+addressed him. The Leopard Woman, obeying rules that Kingozi had managed
+to convey as very strict, held apart. Only in the evening, after the lion-
+fearing visitors had all departed, did they sit together sociably by the
+fire. The nights at this elevation were cool--cold they seemed to the
+heat-seasoned travellers.
+
+There was not much conversation. Kingozi was lost in a deep brooding,
+which she respected. The occasion was serious, and both knew it. During
+the moment of decision the man's duty and principle had been the most
+important matters in the world. Once the decision was irrevocably made,
+however, these things fell below the horizon. There loomed only the
+thought of perpetual blindness. Kingozi faced it bravely; but such a fact
+requires adjustment, and in these hours of waiting the adjustments were
+being made.
+
+Only once or twice did Bibi-ya-chui utter the thoughts that continually
+possessed her.
+
+"It seems so foolish!" she complained to him. "You are making yourself
+blind for always; and you are going to be a prisoner for long! If you
+would go back, you would not be captured and held by Winkleman when you
+reach M'tela!"
+
+But such expostulations she knew to be vain, even as she uttered them.
+
+At about nine o'clock of the third day Cazi Moto reported a file of
+warriors, many warriors--"like the leaves of grass!" armed with spears and
+shields, wearing black ostrich plumes, debouching from the grove a mile
+across the way. At the same instant the Leopard Woman, her alarm causing
+her to violate her instructions, came to Kingozi's camp.
+
+"They attack us!" she cried. "They come in thousands! How can we resist so
+many--and you blind! Tell me what I shall do!"
+
+"There is no danger," Kingozi reassured her. "This is undoubtedly an
+escort. No natives ever attack at this hour of the day. Their time is just
+at first dawn."
+
+She sighed with relief. Then a new thought struck her.
+
+"But if they had wished to attack--at dawn--we have had no extra guards--
+we have not fortified! What would prevent their killing us all?"
+
+"Not a thing," replied Kingozi calmly. "We are too weak for resistance.
+That is a chance we had to take. Now please go back to your tent. Cazi
+Moto, strike camp, and get ready to safari."
+
+The warriors of M'tela debouched on the open plain, seemingly without end.
+The sun glinted from their upraised, polished spears; their ostrich plumes
+swayed gently as though a wind ruffled a field of sombre grain tassels;
+the anklets and leg bracelets clashed softly together to produce in the
+aggregate a rhythmic marching cadence. Their front was nearly a quarter of
+a mile in width. Rank after rank in succession appeared: literally
+thousands. Drums roared and throbbed; and the blowing of innumerable
+trumpets, fashioned mostly from the horns of oryx and sing-sing, added to
+the martial ensemble.
+
+The members of the safari were gathered in little knots, staring, wide
+eyed with apprehension. Upon them descended zealous Cazi Moto. Even his
+_kiboko_ had difficulty in breaking up the groups, in setting the men at
+the commonplace occupations of breaking camp. Yet that must be done, in
+all decent dignity; and at length it was done.
+
+The first ranks were now fairly at the outskirts of camp; the last had but
+just left the woods. The plains were literally covered with spearmen. A
+magnificent sight! They came to a halt, raised their spears horizontally
+above their heads; the horns and drums redoubled their din; a mighty,
+concerted shout rent the air. Then abruptly fell dead silence.
+
+From the front rank a tall, impressive savage stepped forward, pacing with
+dignified stride. He walked directly to Kingozi's chair.
+
+"_Jambo, bwana!_" He uttered his greeting in deep chest tones that rumbled
+like distant thunder.
+
+"_Jambo, n'ympara_," responded Kingozi in a mild tone. By his use of the
+word _n'ympara_--headman--he indicated his perfect understanding of the
+fact that this man, for all his magnificence, for all the strength of his
+escort, was not M'tela himself, but only one of M'tela's ministers.
+
+"_Jambo, bwana m'kubwa!_" rolled the latter.
+
+"_Jambo_" replied Kingozi.
+
+"_Jambo, bwana m'kubwa-sana!_"
+
+"_Jambo_."
+
+"_Jambo, bwana m'kubwa-sana!_"
+
+"_Jambo_."
+
+Having thus climbed by easy steps to the superlative greeting, the
+minister uttered his real message. As befitted his undoubted position in
+court, he spoke excellent Swahili.
+
+"I am come to take you to the _manyatta_ of M'tela," he announced.
+
+"That is well," replied Kingozi calmly. "In one hour we shall go."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV
+
+
+M'TELA
+
+They set off through the beautiful country in their usual order of march.
+The warriors of M'tela accompanied them, walking ahead, behind, and on
+either flank. The drums roared incessantly, the trumpets of horn sounded.
+It was a triumphal procession, but rather awe-inspiring. The safari men
+did their best to imitate Kingozi's attitude of indifference; and
+succeeded fairly well, but their eyes rolled in their heads.
+
+The Leopard Woman sat her donkey, and surveyed it all with appreciative
+eyes. In spite of Kingozi's reassuring words, the impression of savage
+power as the warriors debouched from the wood had been vivid enough to
+give emphasis to a strong feeling of relief when their intentions proved
+peaceful. The revulsion accentuated her enjoyment of the picturesque
+aspects of the scene. The shining, naked bodies, the waving ostrich
+plumes, the glitter of spears, the glint of polished iron, the wild,
+savage expression of the men, the throb of barbaric music appealed to her
+artistic sense. In a way her mind was at rest. At least the striving was
+over. Kingozi had made his decision; it was no use to struggle against it
+longer. She had no doubt that now they were virtually prisoners, that they
+were being conducted in this impressive manner to a chieftain already won
+over by Winkleman. The latter had had more than the time necessary to
+carry out his purpose. Kingozi's persistence was maddeningly futile; but
+it was part of the man, and she could not but acquiesce.
+
+They marched across the open grassy plain, and into the woods beyond. A
+wide, beaten track took them through, as though they walked in a lofty
+tunnel with green walls through which one could look, but beyond which one
+might not pass. Then out into the sunlight again, skirting a swamp of
+plumed papyrus with many waterfowl, and swarms of insects, and birds
+wheeling swiftly catching the insects, and other larger birds soaring
+grandly above on the watch-out for what might chance. This swamp was like
+a green river flowing bank high between the hills. It twisted out of sight
+around wooded promontories. And the hills, constantly rising in height,
+crowned with ever-thickening forests, extended as far as the eye could
+reach.
+
+At the end of the straight vista they turned sharp to the right and
+climbed a tongue of land--what would be called a "hog's-back" in the West.
+It was grown sparsely with trees, and commanded a wide outlook. Now the
+sinuous course of the papyrus swamp could be followed for miles in its
+vivid green; and the tops of the forest trees lay spread like a mantle.
+The top of the "hog's-back" had been flattened, and on it stood M'tela's
+palace.
+
+The Leopard Woman stared curiously. There was not much to be seen. A high
+stockade of posts and wattle shut off the view, but over it could be
+distinguished a thatched roof. It was rectangular instead of circular and
+appeared to be at least forty feet long--a true, royal palace. Smaller
+roofs surrounded it. Outside the gate stood several more of the gorgeous
+spearmen, rigidly at attention. Not another soul was in sight.
+
+But whatever seemed to lack either in the cordiality or curiosity of the
+inhabitants was more than made up for by the escort. With admirable
+military precision, a precision that Kingozi would have appreciated could
+he have seen it, they deployed across the wide open space at the front of
+the plateau. The drums lined up before them. In the echoing enclosure of
+the forest walls the noise was prodigious. And then abruptly, as before,
+it fell. In the silence the voice of the old headman was heard:
+
+"Here will be found the way to the guest houses," he urged gently.
+
+The ragged safari, carrying its loads, plunged again into a forest path,
+walking single file, a tatterdemalion crew. And yet a philosophic observer
+might have caught a certain nonchalance, a faint superiority of bearing on
+the part of these scarecrows; ridiculous when considered against the
+overwhelming numbers, the military spruceness, the savage formidability of
+the wild hordes that surrounded them. And if he had been an experienced as
+well as a philosophic observer he could have named the quality that
+informed them. Even in these truly terrifying, untried conditions it
+persisted--the white man's _prestige_.
+
+The forest path, wide and well-trodden, led them a scant quarter mile to a
+cleared wide space on the very edge of the hill, which here fell abruptly
+away. A large circular guest house occupied the centre point, and other
+smaller houses surrounded it at a respectful distance. To the right hand
+were the tops of trees on a lower elevation; to the left and at the rear
+the solid wall of forest; immediately in front a wide outlook over the
+papyrus swamp and the partly clothed hills beyond.
+
+Their guides--for there were several--indicated the guest houses, and
+silently disappeared. The safari was alone with its own devices.
+
+Kingozi's practical voice broke the slight awe that all this savage
+magnificence had imposed.
+
+"Cazi Moto!" he commanded, "tell me what is here."
+
+He listened attentively while the wizen-faced little headman gave a
+detailed account, not only of the present dispositions, but also of what
+had been seen during the short march to M'tela's stronghold. At the
+conclusion of this recital he called to the Leopard Woman.
+
+"I am here, near you," she answered.
+
+"You must be my eyes for this," he told her. "Look into the large guest
+house. Is it clean? Is it fairly new?"
+
+She reported favourably as to these points.
+
+"I am sorry, but I must take it over for myself," he said. "Matter not of
+comfort, but of prestige. You would do best to pitch your tent somewhere
+near. Cazi Moto, let the men make camp as usual."
+
+"Very well," she agreed to her part of this program. Her manner was very
+gentle; and she looked on him, could he have known it, with eyes of a
+tender compassion. His was a brave heart, but Winkleman must long since
+have arrived----
+
+She moved slowly away to superintend the placing of her tent, reflecting
+on these matters. It was decent of Winkleman to keep himself in the
+background just at first. Time enough to convince poor blind Kingozi that
+the game was up when he had to some extent recovered from the strain and
+fatigue of the long journey. But Winkleman was a good sort. She knew him:
+a big, hearty, bearded Bavarian, polyglot, intensely scientific, with a
+rolling deep voice. He must have had ten days--a week anyway--to use his
+acknowledged arts and influence on the savage king. Kingozi had said a
+week would be enough--and Kingozi knew! She sighed deeply as she thought
+of the doom to which his own obstinacy had condemned that remarkable man.
+Her eyes wandered to where he sat in his canvas chair, superintending
+through the ever-efficient Cazi Moto the details of the camp. His
+shoulders were sagging forward wearily, and his face in repose fell into
+lines of infinite sadness. Her heart melted within her; and in a sudden
+revulsion she flamed against Winkleman and all his diabolical efficiency.
+After all, this little corner of an unknown land could not mean so much to
+the general result, and it would be so glorious a consolation to a brave
+man's blindness! Then she became ashamed of herself as a traitor. Her tent
+was now ready; so she entered it, bathed, clad herself in her silks, and
+hung the jewel on her forehead. Once more the serene mistress of herself,
+she came forth to view the sights.
+
+It was by now near the setting of the sun. The forest shadows were rising.
+Colobus were calling, and birds. Up a steep trail from the swamp came a
+long procession of women and little girls. They were all stark naked, and
+each carried on her head an earthen vessel or a greater or lesser gourd
+according to her strength. They passed near the large guest house, and
+there poured the water from their vessels into a series of big jars. Thus
+every drop of water had to be transported up the hill, not only for the
+guest camp, but for all M'tela's thousands somewhere back in the
+mysterious forest. These women were of every age and degree of
+attractiveness; but all were slender, and each possessed a fine-textured
+skin of red bronze. Except the very old, whose breasts had fallen, they
+were finely shaped. The rays of the sun outlined them. They seemed quite
+unaware of their nakedness. Their faces were good-humoured; and some of
+them even smiled shyly at the white woman standing by her tent. Having
+poured out the water, they disappeared down the forest path.
+
+Thence shortly appeared other women with huge burdens of firewood carried
+by means of a strap, after the fashion of the Canadian tump-line; and
+still others with _m'wembe_, bananas, yams, eggs, _n'jugu_ nuts, and
+gourds of smoked milk. Evidently M'tela did not do things by halves.
+
+The customary routine of the camp went on. Supper was served as usual; and
+as usual the Leopard Woman joined Kingozi for the meal. The occasion was
+constrained on her side, easy on his. He asked her various questions as to
+details of the surroundings which she answered accurately but a little
+absently. She spoke from the surface of her mind. Within herself she was
+listening and waiting--listening for the first sound of shod feet, wailing
+for the moment when Winkleman should see fit to declare himself and end
+the suspense.
+
+So high was this inner tension that she fairly jumped from her chair as a
+demoniac shrieking wail burst from the forest near at hand. It was
+answered farther away. Other voices took up the cry. It was as though a
+thousand devils in shuddering pain were giving tongue.
+
+"Tree hyraxes," Kingozi reassured her.
+
+"Those tiny beasts!" she cried incredulously.
+
+"Just so. Sweet voices, haven't they? Some of these people must be wearing
+hyrax robes."
+
+And indeed she remembered seeing some of the soft, beautiful karosses.
+
+But now from the direction of M'tela's palaces arose a confused murmur
+that swelled as a multitude drew near. The drums began again. Soon, the
+Leopard Woman described, torches began to flash through the trees. At the
+same moment Cazi Moto came to report.
+
+"Build up a big fire," commanded Kingozi. He turned to the Leopard Woman.
+
+"This is likely to be an all-night session," he said resignedly. "If you
+want to get out of it, I advise you to go now. Not that you'll be able to
+get any sleep. But if you stay, you must stick it out. It would never do
+to leave in the middle of the performance. Some of it you won't like."
+
+"What is it to be?"
+
+"Ceremonial dances, I fancy."
+
+"I think I shall stay," she said slowly.
+
+In her heart she thought it extremely unlikely that the performance would
+last all night. Indeed her own opinion was that Kingozi would be a
+prisoner within an hour.
+
+Kingozi settled himself stolidly in his chair before the fire that was now
+beginning to eat its way through an immense pile of fuel, where, during
+all subsequent events, he remained in the same attitude.
+
+The Leopard Woman, on the contrary looked with all her eyes. The torches
+came nearer. People began to pour out from the woods. There were warriors
+in full panoply; lithe, naked men carrying only wands peeled fresh to the
+white; women hung heavily with cowries; other women with neither garment
+nor ornament, their bodies oiled and glistening. A deep, rolling chant
+arose from hundreds of throats, punctuated and carried by a sort of
+shrill, intermittent ululation. The drums were there, but for the moment
+they were not being beaten in cadence, only rubbed until they roared in
+undertone to the men's chanting.
+
+All these people divided to right and left in the clearing of the guest
+camp, and took their stations. More and more appeared. The space filled,
+filled solidly, until at last there was no break in the mass of humanity
+except for a circle forty feet in diameter about the fire.
+
+Suddenly a group of fifteen or twenty men detached themselves from the
+main body and leaped into this cleared space. The great chant still rolled
+on; but now a varied theme was introduced by a chorus of the nearby women.
+The dancers were oiled to a high state of polish, naked except for a
+single plume apiece and a sort of tasselled tail hung to a string belt.
+They clustered in a close group near the fire, facing a common centre. In
+deep chest tones they pronounced the word _goom_, at the same time half
+crouching; then in sharp staccato head tones the word _zup_, at the same
+time rising swiftly up and toward their common centre. It was like the ebb
+and surge of a wave, the alternate smooth crouch and spring over and over
+again--_goom, zup! goom, zup! goom, zup!_--and behind it the twinkle of
+torches, the gleam of eyes, the roll of the deep-voiced chanting.
+
+Endlessly they repeated this performance. The Leopard Woman, watching, at
+last had to close her eyes in order to escape the hypnotic quality of it.
+In spite of herself her senses swam in the rhythmic monotony. All outside
+the focus of the dancers turned gray--_goom, zup! goom, zup!_--was it
+never to end? And then it seemed to her that it never would end, that thus
+it would go on forever, and that so it was just and right. The men were
+tireless. The sweat glistened on their bodies, but their eyes gleamed
+fanatically. She floated off on a tide of irrelevant thoughts.
+
+Hours later, as it seemed to her, she came to herself suddenly. Kingozi
+still sat stolidly in his chair. The dancers were retiring step by step,
+still with unabated vigour, continuing their performance. They melted into
+the crowd.
+
+Now a pellmell of bizarre figures broke out. They were bedecked
+fantastically: some of them were painted with white clay; one was clad in
+the skins of beasts. There was no rhythm or order to their entrance; but
+immediately they began to dash here and there shouting.
+
+"It is the Lion Dance, _memsahib_," Cazi Moto told her in a low voice.
+"That one is the lion; and they hunt him with spears in the long grass."
+
+The chase went forward with some verisimilitude, and yet with a symbolic
+syncopation that indicated the Lion Dance was a very ancient and
+conventional ceremony. These dancers gave way to a chorus of singers. For
+interminable hours, so it seemed, they chanted a high, shrill recitative,
+carried in fugue by deeper voices. The burden of the song was evidently an
+impromptu. Occasionally some peculiarly apt or pleasing phrase was caught
+up for endless repetition. And in the background, against the farther
+background of the undistinguished masses, those who had formerly carried
+on their performances in the full glare of front-row publicity and the
+campfire, now continued their efforts almost unabated. The impressive
+utterers of the _goom-zup_ shibboleth, the slayers of the symbolical lion,
+carried on still. Indeed as the night wore on, and one group of dancers
+succeeded another, the homogeneous crowd began to break into varied
+activity. Each took his turn as principal, then fell back to form part of
+the variegated background. Each dance was different. Warriors fully armed
+clashed shield and spear; witch doctors crouched and sprang; women stamped
+in rhythm; the elephant was hunted, the crops sown and gathered, all the
+activities of community and individual life were danced, the frankness of
+some saved from obscenity only by the unconscious earnestness of their
+exposition and the evidence of their symbolism that they were not the
+expression of the moment but very ancient customs.
+
+The Leopard Woman watched it all with shining eyes. The emotion of the
+picturesque, the call of savage wildness, the contagion of a mounting
+community excitement caused the blood to race through her veins. The drums
+throbbed against her heart as the pulse throbbed against her temples. She
+resisted an actual impulse to rise from her chair, to throw herself with
+abandon into an orgy of rhythm and motion. Perfectly she understood those
+who, having reached the breaking point, dashed madly through the fire
+scattering embers and coals, or who darted forward to kiss ecstatically
+the white man's feet, or who reached a wild paroxysm of nerves to collapse
+the next instant into exhaustion. She was brought to herself by Kingozi's
+calm voice.
+
+"Sweet riot, isn't it?" he remarked. "They're working themselves up to a
+high pitch. It's always that way. You would think they'd drop from sheer
+weariness."
+
+"How long will they keep it up?" she asked, drawing a deep breath, and
+trying to speak naturally.
+
+"So it got you, too, a little, did it?" he said curiously.
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"The excitement. It's contagious unless you are accustomed to it. I've
+seen safe and sane youngsters go quite off their heads at these shows, and
+dash down and caper around like the maddest _shenzi_ of them all. Felt it
+myself at first. It draws you; like wanting to jump off when you look down
+from a high place." He was talking evenly and carelessly. "Enough of this
+sort of thing will make a crowd see anything. Devil-worshippers for
+instance, they see red devils, after they work up to it, not a doubt of
+it."
+
+"Thank you," she answered his evident purpose of bringing her to herself.
+
+"All right now, eh?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Well, to answer your question; I've known dances to last two days."
+
+"Heaven!" she cried, dismayed.
+
+"But this is to prepare a suitable entrance for his majesty. We'll hear
+from him along toward daylight." He held out his wrist watch toward her.
+"What time now?"
+
+Somehow the simple action seemed to her pathetic. Her eyes filled, and she
+stooped as though to kiss the outstretched hand. Never again would the
+worn old wrist watch serve its owner, except thus, vicariously!
+
+"It is ten minutes past the twelve," she answered in a stifled voice.
+
+"We must settle down to it. If you want tea or something to eat, tell Cazi
+Moto."
+
+He resumed his stolid demeanour.
+
+The dancing continued. Every once in a while women threw armfuls of fuel
+on the blaze. The tree hyraxes, out-screeched and outnumbered, fell into
+silence or withdrew. Above the stars shone serenely; and all about stood
+the trees of the ancient forest. Outside the hot, leaping red light they
+drew back aloof and still. They had seen many dances, many ebbs and flows
+of men's passions; for they were very old.
+
+The Leopard Woman's vision blurred after a time. She was getting drowsy.
+Her thoughts strayed. But always they circled back to the same point. She
+found herself wondering whether Winkleman would appear to-night.
+
+A few hours earlier than Kingozi had predicted, in fact not far after two
+o'clock, the wild dancing died to absolute immobility and absolute
+silence, and M'tela arrived.
+
+He appeared walking casually as though out for a stroll, emerging from the
+end of the wide forest path. Central African natives are never obese--
+comic papers to the contrary notwithstanding. Nevertheless, M'tela was a
+large man, amply built, his muscles overlaid by smoother, softer flesh. He
+possessed dignity without aloofness, a rare combination, and one that
+invariably indicates a true feeling of superiority. As he moved forward he
+glanced lazily and good-humouredly to right and left at his people, in the
+manner of a genial grown-up among small children. He wore a piece of
+cotton cloth dyed black, so draped as to leave one arm and shoulder bare,
+a polished bone armlet, and a tarboush that must have been traded through
+many hands.
+
+"The _sultani, bwana_," murmured the ever-alert Cazi Moto.
+
+M'tela wandered to where Kingozi sat. The white man did not move, but
+appeared to stare absently straight before him. At ten paces M'tela
+stopped and deliberately inspected his visitor for a full half-minute.
+Then he advanced and dropped to the stool an obsequious and zealous slave
+placed for him.
+
+"_Jambo_, papa," he said casually.
+
+His manner was perfect. The thousand or so human beings who crowded the
+clearing might not have existed. Himself and Kingozi, two equals, were
+settling themselves for an informal little chat in the midst of solitudes.
+His large intelligent eye passed over the Leopard Woman, but if her
+appearance aroused in him any curiosity or other interest no flicker of
+expression betrayed the fact.
+
+As he heard the form of address a brief gleam of satisfaction crossed
+Kingozi's face. Whether it has been transferred from the English, or has
+been adopted more directly from the babbling of infants, "papa" is
+perfectly good Swahili. When M'tela addressed Kingozi as "papa" he not
+only acknowledged him as a guest, but he admitted the white man to the
+intimacy that exists between equals in rank.
+
+M'tela was friendly.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI
+
+
+WAITING
+
+Two days passed. By the end of that time it had been borne in on the
+Leopard Woman that Winkleman had not yet arrived. Kingozi and M'tela
+circled each other warily, like two strange dogs, though all the time with
+an appearance of easy and intimate cordiality. As yet Kingozi had neither
+confided to the savage the fact of his blindness nor visited the royal
+palace. The latter ceremony he had evaded under one plea or another; and
+the infliction he had managed to conceal by the simple expedient of
+remaining in his canvas chair. Later would be time enough to acknowledge
+so great a weakness; later when the subtle and specialized diplomacy he so
+assiduously applied would have had time to do its work.
+
+For M'tela was initially friendly. This was a great satisfaction to
+Kingozi, though none knew better than he how any chance gust of influence
+or passion could veer the wind. Still it was something to start on; and
+something more or less unexpected and unhoped for. M'tela himself supplied
+the reason in the course of one of their interminable conversations.
+
+"I am pleased to see the white man," he said. "Never has the white man
+come to my country before; but always I knew he would come. One time long
+ago my brother who is king of the people near the Great Water said these
+words to me: 'My brother, some day white men will come to you. They will
+be few, and they will come with a small safari, and their wealth will look
+small to you. But make no mistake. Where these few white men who look poor
+come from are many more--like the leaves of the grass--and their wealth is
+great and their wonders many; and for each white man that is speared ten
+more come, without end, like water flowing down a hill. I know this to be
+so, for I am an old man, and I have fought, and of all those who fought
+the white man in my youth only I remain.' So I remembered these words of
+my brother always."
+
+"You are a wise man, oh, King," said Kingozi, "for those words are true."
+
+Hourly Kingozi cursed his eyes. With this man so well-disposed a day--a
+single hour--of the white man's miracles would have cemented his
+friendship. But Kingozi was deprived at a stroke of the great advantages
+to be gained by cutting out paper dolls, making coins disappear and appear
+again, and all the rest of the bag of tricks. He had not even the
+alternative advantage of a store of rich gifts with which to buy the
+chief's favour. This crude alternative to subtle diplomacy he had scorned
+when making out a small safari for a long journey.
+
+To be sure he was not doing badly. A box of matches and instructions in
+the use thereof went far as an evidence of munificence. Sparingly he doled
+out his few treasures--the gaudy blankets; coils of brass, copper, and
+iron wires; beads; snuff; knives, and the like. They were received with
+every mark of appreciation. In return firewood, water, and food of all
+sorts came in abundantly. But these, Kingozi well knew, were only
+temporizing evidences of good feeling. Time would come when M'tela would
+ceremoniously bring in his real present--assuredly magnificent as
+beseeming his power. Then, Kingozi knew, he should be able to reciprocate
+in degree. He could not do so; he could not use his accustomed methods; he
+could not even exhibit his trump card--the deadly wonder of the weapon
+that could kill at a distance.
+
+Nevertheless he would have awaited the outcome with serene indifference
+could he have been certain of a dear field. The arrival of Winkleman
+would, he secretly admitted, upset him completely. Winkleman--another
+white man, possessed of powers he did not possess, of wonders he did not
+own, of knowledge equal to his--would have no difficulty in taking the
+lead from him. Certainly Winkleman had not yet arrived, and he was long
+overdue. On the other hand, neither had Simba nor Mali-ya-bwana reported;
+and they were equally overdue. These were ticklish times; and Kingozi had
+great difficulty in sitting calmly in his canvas chair listening to the
+endless inconsequences of a savage.
+
+The Leopard Woman could not understand how he did it. Her inner nervous
+tension, due as much to a conflict as to suspense, drove her nearly
+frantic. She knew that Winkleman's appearance spelled defeat for Kingozi;
+she knew that she should hope for that appearance--and deep in her heart
+she knew that she dreaded it! But as time went on without tangible
+results, she began to long for it as a relief. At least it would be over
+then. And Kingozi--oh, brave heart! oh, pathetic figure--if anything could
+make it up to him----!
+
+The morning of the third day came. Usual camp activities carried them on
+until nine o'clock. Kingozi was settled in his chair awaiting what the day
+would bring forth. The Leopard Woman coming across from her tent to the
+guest house stopped short at what she saw.
+
+Across the way, a half or three-quarters of a mile distant, beyond the
+green papyrus swamp, on the slope from the edge of the forest, appeared a
+long file of men bearing burdens on their heads. Even at this distance she
+made out the colour of occasional garments of khaki cloth, or the green of
+canvas on the packs.
+
+She arrived at Kingozi's side simultaneously with Cazi Moto.
+
+"A safari comes, _bwana_," said the latter. "It is across the swamp."
+
+Kingozi's figure stiffened.
+
+"What kind of a safari?" he asked quietly.
+
+The Leopard Woman answered him. There was no note of jubilation in her
+voice.
+
+"It is a white man's safari," she told him. "I can see khaki--and they are
+marching as a white man's safari marches."
+
+"Get my glasses," he told Cazi Moto. Then to her, his voice vibrating with
+emotion too long controlled: "Look and tell me, fairly. I must know.
+Whatever the outcome you must tell me truth. It will not matter. I can do
+nothing."
+
+"I will tell you the truth," she promised, raising the glasses.
+
+For some moments she looked intently.
+
+"It is Winkleman's safari," she announced sadly. "I have been able to see.
+It is a very large safari with many loads," she added.
+
+Kingozi's face turned gray. He dropped his face into his hands. Gently she
+laid her hand on his bowed head. Thus they waited, while the safari,
+evidently under local guidance, plunged into some hidden path through the
+papyrus, and so disappeared.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII
+
+
+THE MAGIC BONE
+
+Let us now follow Simba, Mali-ya-bwana, and their six men and the two
+strange _shenzis_ who were to act as guides.
+
+They started off across the veldt at about four o'clock of the afternoon
+and travelled rapidly until dark. The gait they took was not a run, but it
+got them over the ground at four and a half to five miles an hour. Shortly
+after sundown they stopped for an hour, ate, drank, and lay flat on their
+backs. Then they arose, lighted a candle end in the mica lantern, and
+resumed their journey. Thus they travelled day and night for three days.
+There seemed to be neither plan nor regularity to their journeying.
+Whenever they became tired enough to sleep, they lay down and slept for a
+little while; whenever they became hungry, they ate; and whenever they
+thirsted, they drank, paying no attention whatever to the time of day, the
+state of their larder, or the distance to more water. No ideas of
+conservation hampered them in the least. If the water gave out, they
+argued, they would be thirsty; but it was as well to be thirsty later from
+lack of water than to be thirsty now from some silly idea of abstention.
+No white man could have travelled successfully under that system.
+Nevertheless, the little band held together and arrived in the fringe of
+hills fit and comparatively fresh.
+
+Here they encountered people belonging to M'tela's tribes; but their
+guides seemed to vouch for them, and they passed without trouble. Indeed
+they were here enabled to get more food, and to waste no time hunting. At
+noon of another day, surmounting a ridge, they looked down on a marching
+safari. The two _shenzi_ guides pointed and grinned, much pleased with
+themselves. Their pleasure was short lived; for they were promptly seized,
+disarmed, and tied together. The grieved astonishment of their expressions
+almost immediately faded into fatalistic stolidity. So many things happen
+in Africa!
+
+Mali-ya-bwana and one of the other men proceeded rapidly ahead on the
+general line of march. The rest paralleled the safari below. After an hour
+the scouts returned with news of a water-hole where, undoubtedly, the
+strange safari would camp. All then hurried on.
+
+Concealed in a thicket Simba proceeded with great zest to make himself
+over into a _shenzi_. In every savage is a good deal of the small boy; so
+this disguising himself pleased him immensely. Taking the spear in one
+hand and the "sacred bone" reverently in the other, he set out to
+intercept the safari.
+
+It came within the hour. Simba almost unremarked regarded it curiously.
+There were over a hundred men, all of tribes unknown to him with the
+exception of a dozen who evidently performed the higher offices. The
+common porters were indeed _shenzis_--wild men--picked up from jungle and
+veldt as they were needed; and not at all of the professional porter class
+to be had at Mombasa; Nairobi, Dar-es-salaam, or Zanzibar. Simba's eyes
+passed over them contemptuously, but rested with more interest on the
+smaller body of _askaris_, headmen, and gun bearers. These also were of
+tribes strange to him; but of East African types with which he was
+familiar. They were all dressed in a sort of uniform of khaki, wore caps
+with a curtain hanging behind, and arm bands gayly emblazoned with
+imperial eagles. All this was very impressive. Simba conceived a respect
+for this white man's importance. Evidently he was a _bwana m'kubwa_. The
+supposed savage experienced a growing excitement over the task he had
+undertaken. All his training had taught him to respect the white man, as
+such; and now he was called upon to abduct forcibly one of the sacred
+breed--and such a specimen! Only Simba's undoubted force of character, and
+the veneration his long association with Kingozi had inculcated, sustained
+him.
+
+For Winkleman was a big man in every way: tall, broad, thick, with a
+massive head, large features, and such a tremendous black beard! Well had
+he deserved his native name of _Bwana_ Nyele--the master with the mane.
+
+Simba awaited the moment of greatest confusion in the placing and pitching
+of the camp, and then advanced timidly, holding out the bone Kingozi had
+given him. His courage and faith were very low. They revived instantly as
+he saw the immediate effect. It was just as Kingozi had told him it would
+be; and as there was nothing on earth in a bit of dry bone that could
+accomplish such an effect except magic, Simba thenceforward went on with
+his adventure in completed confidence.
+
+For at sight of the bone _Bwana_ Nyele's eyes lit up, he uttered an
+astonishing bellow of delight, and sprang forward with such agility for so
+large a man that he almost succeeded in snatching the talisman from
+Simba's hands. Acting precisely on his instructions the latter backed
+away, pointing over the hill.
+
+"Where did you get that?" Winkleman demanded.
+
+Simba continued to point.
+
+"Give it me."
+
+Simba started away, still pointing. Winkleman followed a few steps.
+
+"There is more?" he asked. "Do you speak Swahili?"
+
+"Many more, _bwana_," Simba replied in the atrocious Swahili Kingozi had
+ordered. "Over there only a little distance."
+
+Everything turned out as Kingozi had promised. Bwana Nyele asked several
+more questions, received no replies, finally bellowed:
+
+"But lead me there, _m'buzi!_ I would see!"
+
+Simba guided him up the hill. At the appointed spot they fell upon him and
+bore him to the earth in spite of his strength, and bound his hands behind
+his back. Then Simba wrapped the magic bone reverently in its cloth.
+Certainly it was wonderful magic.
+
+Winkleman put up a good fight, but once he felt himself definitely
+overpowered he ceased his struggles. He was helped to his feet. A glance
+at his captors taught him that these were safari men and not savages of
+the country; and, with full knowledge of the general situation, he was not
+long in guessing out his present plight. But now was not the time for
+talk.
+
+A half-hour's walk took the party to a second water-hole, the indications
+for which Simba had already noted on his little scouting tour. There they
+proceeded to make camp. The six porters began with their swordlike
+_pangas_ to cut poles and wattles, to peel off long strips of inner bark
+from the thorn trees which would serve as withes. Then they began the
+construction of a _banda_, one of the quickly built little thatched sheds,
+open at both ends. At sight of this Winkleman swore deeply. He was fairly
+trapped, and knew it; but the _banda_ indicated that he was to be held
+prisoner in this one spot for at least some days. However, wise man in
+native ways, he said nothing and made no objection. But his keen wide
+eyes took in every detail.
+
+When the _banda_ was finished and a big pile of the dried hay had been
+spread as a couch Simba approached respectfully but firmly, took _Bwana_
+Nyele's helmet from his head, his spine-pad from his back, and his shoes
+from his feet. In this strategy Winkleman with reluctance admired the
+white man's hands. Without head and spine covering of some sort he could
+not travel a mile under the tropic sun; without foot covering or a light
+he would be helpless at night. Of course these things could be improvised;
+but not easily. He stretched himself on the hay and awaited events.
+
+The men built a fire and gathered around it. They were cooking, but at the
+same time the two whom Winkleman recognized as leaders conferred earnestly
+and at great length. Had he been at their elbows he would have heard the
+following:
+
+"The magic of this bone is a very great magic," Simba was saying. "All
+happened exactly as _Bwana_ Kingozi told us. Now is the fifth day. There
+remain now nine days to wait until we must bring this _m'zungu_ to _Bwana_
+Kingozi at the _manyatta_ of M'tela."
+
+"It is indeed great magic," agreed Mali-ya-bwana. "How many days is the
+_manyatta?_"
+
+"I do not know. These _shenzis_ should know; but they talk only monkey
+talk. Here, let us try." He drew one of the prisoners one side. "M'tela,"
+he enunciated slowly.
+
+The savage nodded, and pointed the direction with his protruded lower lip.
+
+Simba indicated the sun, and swept his hand across the arc of the heavens.
+Then he looked inquiringly at the other and held up in rapid success first
+one, then two, then three fingers. The savage was puzzled. Simba went
+through the movements of a man walking, pronounced the name of M'tela,
+pointed out the direction, and then repeated his previous pantomime.
+A light broke on the _shenzi_. He held up four fingers.
+
+Simba next called to Mali-ya-bwana to interrogate the other prisoner
+apart. As the latter also reported M'tela four days distant--when he
+understood--this was accepted as the truth.
+
+"Then we remain in camp five days," they concluded, after working out the
+subtraction.
+
+"But," intervened one of the porters, "we have no more _potio_."
+
+"I have the _bwana's_ gun," Simba pointed out, "and also the gun of this
+_m'zungu_. There is here plenty of game."
+
+"To eat meat always is not well," grumbled the porter.
+
+"To eat _kiboko_ (whip) is always possible," replied Simba grimly.
+
+"Nevertheless," said Mali-ya-bwana, who as co-leader was privileged to
+more open speech, "_potio_ and meat are better than meat only."
+
+Simba looked at him inquiringly.
+
+"You have a thought?"
+
+Mali-ya-bwana leaned forward.
+
+"It is this: If the bone has such great magic that thus we can take
+prisoner a mighty _bwana_ like this, surely it is powerful enough to fight
+also against safari men."
+
+Simba pondered this.
+
+"Every one knows that a white man is a great Lord," urged Mali-ya-bwana,
+"and that it is useless for the black man to fight against him. This is
+true always. Every man knows this."
+
+"Black men have killed white men," Simba objected.
+
+"Only when the numbers were many. Even then many more black men also have
+died, so that the painting for mourning went through many tribes. Never
+before have men like us taken a white man thus easily."
+
+"That is true."
+
+"Then since this magic bone can subdue for us a great lord of a _m'zungu_,
+surely it will also subdue for us a safari of black men like ourselves, a
+safari that the _m'zungu_ has held in his hand."
+
+"That is true."
+
+"And that safari must have much _potio_"
+
+"That also is true."
+
+"Let you--or me, it does not matter--take the magic bone, and with it take
+also this safari and its _potio_."
+
+"I will do it," assented Simba after a moment. "You will stay here to
+carry out the _bwana's_ orders."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII
+
+
+SIMBA'S ADVENTURE
+
+In the course of the evening Winkleman, conceiving that the right moment
+had come, set himself seriously to establishing a dominance over these
+members of an inferior race. He was a skilled man at this, none more so;
+nevertheless he failed. For in the persons of Simba and Mali-ya-bwana he
+was dealing not with natives, but with another white man as shrewd and
+experienced as himself. Kingozi had from the abundance of his knowledge
+foreseen exactly what methods and arguments the Bavarian would use, and in
+his final instructions he had dramatized almost exactly the scene that was
+now taking place. Simba had his replies ready made for him. When an
+unexpected argument caught him unaware, he merely fingered surreptitiously
+his magic bone, and remained serenely silent. Winkleman might as well have
+talked at a stone wall. He soon recognized this, as also that the man had
+been coached minutely.
+
+"Who is your _bwana?_" he asked at length.
+
+"He is a very great _bwana_," Simba replied.
+
+"His name?"
+
+"He has many names among many people."
+
+"What name do you call him?"
+
+"I call him _bwana m'kubwa_ (great master)," replied Simba blandly.
+
+Winkleman gave up this tack and tried another.
+
+"What is his business? What does he do here?"
+
+"His business is to fight."
+
+"Ah!" ejaculated Winkleman. "To fight!"
+
+"Yes. His business is to fight the elephant."
+
+Winkleman swore. He could get at nothing this way. He must give his mind
+to escape.
+
+Early the next morning Simba started. He took with him, of course, his
+magic bone; but, like a canny general, he carried also the rifle. Mali-ya-
+bwana was left sufficiently armed by Winkleman's weapon and the sixteen
+cartridges captured on his person.
+
+By the water-hole Simba found the safari encamped. At sight of his khaki-
+clad figure several men ran to meet him. Their countenances were of a cast
+unfamiliar to Simba. He looked at them calmly.
+
+"Does some one speak Swahili?" he inquired.
+
+"_N'dio!_" they assented in chorus.
+
+Simba looked about him. This was indeed a great safari, and a rich
+_bwana_. The tent, of green canvas, was what is known as a "four-man
+tent"; that is, it took four men to carry it. The pile of loads in the
+centre of the cleared space was high. There were three tin boxes and many
+chop boxes among them.
+
+The group moved slowly across the open space, stared at by curious eyes,
+and came to a halt before a drill tent slightly larger than the little
+kennels assigned to the ordinary porters. Here over a fire bubbled a
+_sufuria_, the African cooking pot, tended by a naked small boy. A clean
+mat woven in bright colours carpeted the ground; on this all seated
+themselves.
+
+It would be tedious to relate each step of the ensuing negotiations. These
+simple Africans would have needed no instruction from civilization to
+carry on the most long-winded submarine controversy in the most approved
+and circuitous manner. At the end of one solid hour of grave and polite
+exchange it developed that the white man was not at present in camp.
+Somewhat later Simba permitted it to be understood that his own white man
+was not in the immediate neighbourhood. These gems of knowledge were
+separated by much leisurely chatter, and occasional and liberal dippings
+into the _sufuria_. And thus was the beginning and the end of the first
+day.
+
+At noon of the second day, after a refreshing night's sleep, Simba moved
+up his forces.
+
+"Your white man is known to me," said he.
+
+Some one remarked appropriately.
+
+"He is a prisoner in my camp."
+
+"In the camp of your white man."
+
+"In my camp. I myself have taken him prisoner," insisted Simba.
+
+"You are telling lies," said the headman of the safari.
+
+Simba took this calmly. In Africa to call a man a liar is no insult.
+
+"It is the truth," said he. "With my own hands I took him; and he lies
+bound in my camp."
+
+"These are lies," persisted the headman. "How can such things be? That you
+took a white man, a great _bwana?_ That is foolishness. That has never
+been and could never be. How could you accomplish such a feat?"
+
+"I have a magic."
+
+"Ho!" cried the headman derisively. "Everybody knows that a magic is not
+good against the white man. That has been tried many times!"
+
+"This is a white man's magic."
+
+The statement made a visible impression.
+
+"Let us see it," they demanded.
+
+But Simba refused. He was entirely at ease. In his ordinary habit he would
+have become excited over being doubted, he would have wrangled, have
+shouted--in short, would have been but one unit among many equals. But the
+possession of the magic bone gave him a confidence from outside himself.
+For the time being he slipped genuinely into the attitude of the white
+man; became a super-Simba, as it were. This dignity and sureness commenced
+to have its effect. Almost they began to believe that Simba's words might
+be true!
+
+At three o'clock the battle closed in.
+
+"My men need _potio_" said Simba. "Let ten loads be put aside, and let ten
+of these _shenzis_ be told to carry them where I shall say."
+
+But the headman leaped to his feet.
+
+"Who are you to give orders?" he cried. "These things belong to my white
+man."
+
+"Your white man is my property," replied Simba superbly; and with no
+further parley he shot the headman dead.
+
+Here indeed showed the super-Simba. The dispute might in the ordinary
+course of events have come to shooting; but only after hours of excited
+wrangling, and as a climax worked up to in a crescendo of emotion. This
+expeditious nipping in the bud was a thoroughly white-manly proceeding.
+
+The headman whirled about under the impact of the high-power bullet at so
+close a range, and collapsed face down. Simba sat calmly in his place. He
+did not even trouble to place himself in a better defensive attitude
+against possible attack. His confidence in his magic bone was growing to
+sublimity as he noted how efficiently it carried him through every crisis.
+All over the camp the porters, startled, leaped to their feet. But at the
+headmen's fire no one moved. They would ordinarily have been afraid
+neither of Simba nor Simba's weapons. Firearms were familiar to them. The
+usual sequence to Simba's deed would have been an immediately defunct
+Simba. But his serene confidence in his magic caught their credulity.
+
+The white man's _prestige_ and privileges were invested in him.
+
+"Yours is undoubtedly a great magic," said Winkleman's gun bearer
+politely. "Let us talk."
+
+They talked at great length, without bothering to remove the dead headman.
+The result was finally a continued respect for Simba, his magic bone, and
+his ready rifle; but a lingering though polite incredulity as to the
+matter of Winkleman--_Bwana_ Nyele. It was possible that Simba had killed
+the latter, of course. But to have taken him alive--and to be holding him
+prisoner----
+
+It was suggested that the various upper men of this safari accompany Simba
+to the place of incarceration. Declined for obvious reasons. Proposition
+modified to exclude all visitors but one. Still declined.
+
+The debate summarized in the above short paragraph consumed six hours.
+What is time in the face of an African eternity? And in Africa, as every
+one knows, the feeling of eternity is an accompaniment of every-day life.
+
+After some refreshments the sitting rose. Simba did not spend the night in
+camp. That did not seem to him wise. Instead he withdrew to a place he had
+already marked, deftly built himself a withe platform in the spread of an
+acacia, and slept soundly above the danger line.
+
+Next morning the discussion was resumed. It was all on an amicable basis.
+A bystander would have seen merely a group of lazy native servants
+gossiping idly. And, indeed, for one word of relevance were a dozen of
+sheer chatter. That is the African way.
+
+Since it was impossible to visit _Bwana_ Nyele, why could not _Bwana_
+Nyele be brought to within sight? Simba considered this; but finally
+rejected it. The risk was too great, magic bone or no magic bone.
+
+"It is probable you speak lies," said the gun bearer at last. "You say you
+want _potio_ and that you hold _Bwana_ Nyele prisoner. But you do not
+bring us orders from _Bwana_ Nyele for _potio_. Nor do you give us proof.
+We must have proof before we believe or before we obey."
+
+"I will bring you _Bwana_ Nyele's gun; or his coat; or anything that is
+his that you may see that I hold him prisoner."
+
+"Those things prove nothing," the gun bearer pointed out. "They might have
+been taken from a dead man."
+
+They negotiated further. One gifted with the power of seeing only
+essential things would have found here a strange parallel. For these two
+men, talking cautiously, clinging with tenacity to single points, yielding
+grudgingly, would have been the same to him as two shrewd business men
+coming together on the phrases of a contract, or two diplomats framing the
+terms of a treaty.
+
+Thus well into the third day. By that time an agreement had been reached.
+It was very simple and direct and practical, when one thinks of it;
+covered the situation fully; involved few compromises; and gained each man
+his point.
+
+Simba demanded _potio_ and obedience because he held the mighty _m'zungu_
+prisoner. The gun bearer wanted indubitable proof not only that Simba held
+the white man, but that he held him alive.
+
+It was agreed that Simba was to return to his own camp, was to procure the
+proof agreed upon, and was promptly to return. The said proof was to be
+one of _Bwana_ Nyele's fingers, which all agreed would be easily
+recognizable both as to identity and freshness!
+
+The divulgence of this simple little plan by a Simba quite in earnest
+dissipated Winkleman's last hope of doing anything by means of persuasion.
+He knew his African well enough to realize that this fantastic method of
+identification seemed quite a matter of course. In fact, Simba was at the
+moment sharpening his hunting knife in preparation. Winkleman swore
+heartily and fluently, then grinned. He was at heart a good soul,
+Winkleman, with a sense of amusement if not of humour, and a philosophy of
+life denied most of his inexperienced and theoretical countrymen. And also
+he realized that he had his work cut out to prevent the program being
+carried through. The African is slow to come to a definite conclusion, but
+once it is arrived at it is apt to look to him like a permanent structure.
+It was a wonderful tribute to Winkleman that it took him only four hours
+to persuade Simba that there might be another way; and two hours more to
+convince him that there might even be a better way. When Simba reluctantly
+and a little doubtfully sheathed his knife, the big Bavarian wiped his
+brow with genuine thankfulness.
+
+The reader need not be wearied by a detailed report of the interminable
+conferences that led up to the substitute plan. It would be a picture of a
+big bearded man smoking slowly--for until affairs were decided he could
+get no more of his own tobacco--leaning on his elbow beneath the roof of
+the _banda_. Before him squatted on their heels in the posture white men
+find so trying Mali-ya-bwana and Simba, entirely respectful, their shining
+black eyes fixed on the white man. The open ends of the _banda_ gave out
+on a dry boulder-strewn wash and the parched side of a hill. All else was
+sky. Morning coolness was succeeded by the blaze of midday, when the very
+surface of the ground danced in the shimmer; then slowly the shadows crept
+out, the veils of mirage sank to earth, a coolness wandered in from some
+blessed region; darkness came suddenly; over the parched hill--now looming
+mysterious in black garments--the tropic stars blazed out. Then outside
+some one lighted a fire. The flames cast lights and shadows within the
+_banda_ where still the white man leaned on his elbow, the black men
+squatted on their heels, and the murmur of talk went on and on.
+
+But Winkleman got his way. At an appointed hour and at an appointed place
+Winkleman, Mali-ya-bwana, and two of the carriers met Simba conducting the
+gun bearer from the other camp. The interview was very short. Indeed it
+had all been carefully rehearsed. Winkleman said only what he had agreed
+to say; and thereby earned his finger.
+
+"This man holds me prisoner," he told the gun bearer. "What he says is
+true. Do what he asks you to do. It is my command."
+
+"Yes, _bwana_," agreed the gun bearer.
+
+Then they parted. The immediate result was five loads of _potio_ brought
+by safari men to "somewhere in Africa," and thence transported by Simba's
+men to Simba's camp. As game was thereabout abundant and undisturbed
+everybody was happy.
+
+Thus passed a week, which brought time forward to the moment when Simba,
+following his instructions, was to report to Kingozi at the village of
+M'tela. Therefore Simba set forth, taking with him, according to African
+custom, one of the porters as companion. He carried Kingozi's rifle, but
+left that belonging to Winkleman with Mali-ya-bwana.
+
+Winkleman watched Simba go with considerable satisfaction. Mali-ya-bwana
+was a man much above average African intelligence, but he had not the
+experience, the initiative, the _flaire_ of Simba. Nor had he Simba's
+magic bone. Simba took that with him. Winkleman knew nothing of the
+supposed virtues of that property; and in consequence entertained a
+respect for qualities of Simba that were not entirely inherent in that
+individual. He began to flatter Mali-ya-bwana; to fraternize just enough;
+to assume complete resignation to his plight--in short, to use just those
+tactics a clever man would use to lull the alertness of any bright child.
+Naturally he succeeded. At sundown of the second day he began to complain
+of the irksomeness of his bonds.
+
+"This is foolishness, so to treat a _m'zungu_," said he. "Nothing is
+gained. I cannot sleep; and the skin of my wrists is sore. He who watches
+has only to keep the fire bright. I cannot go like smoke."
+
+To Mali-ya-bwana, in his flattered and unsuspicious mood, this seemed
+reasonable. He was no such fool as to turn Winkleman loose to his own
+devices; but he compromised by untying the Bavarian's wrists, and doubling
+the thongs by which the latter's ankles were hitched to the larger timbers
+of the _banda_. Also he instructed the sentinel to keep the fire bright,
+to watch _Bwana_ Nyele, and to stop instantly any and all movements of the
+hands toward the feet.
+
+The early watches passed quietly. A second sentinel replaced the first. Up
+to this time Winkleman had slept quietly. Now he began to shift position
+often, to twist and turn, finally to groan softly. The sentinel came to
+the end of the _banda_ and looked in. To him _Bwana_ Nyele raised a face
+so ghastly that even the half-savage porter was startled. The man's eyes
+seemed to have sunk into his head, deep seams to have creased his brow and
+jaws. Apparently Winkleman was on the point of dissolution.
+
+"_Magi! nataka magi!_"[16] he gasped.
+
+[Footnote 16: Water! I want water!]
+
+The sentinel took the canteen from the peg where it hung and bent over the
+dying man. Instantly his throat was clasped by a pair of heavy and
+powerful hands.
+
+Two minutes later Winkleman rose to his feet free. The porter's knife in
+his hand, he looked down on that unfortunate securely bound and gagged.
+Treading softly Winkleman stepped through the sleeping camp into the
+clear. He drew a deep breath. Then unconsciously wiping from his face the
+mixture of grease and ashes that had constituted his "make-up," he strode
+grimly away toward his own safari.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX
+
+
+WINKLEMAN'S SAFARI ARRIVES
+
+The Leopard Woman watched the safari file down the distant hill and lose
+itself beneath the green plumes of the papyrus swamp. By all right she
+should have rejoiced. Against every probability she had succeeded. The
+stars had worked for her. Though the prearranged plan had not carried in
+any of its details, nevertheless the sought-for result had been gained.
+She had herself done little to detain Kingozi; yet he had been detained;
+and here was Winkleman, belated but in time, to carry out triumphantly the
+wishes of the Imperial Government. But her heart was like lead.
+
+After the first droop Kingozi had straightened beneath the blow, and now
+sat bolt upright, staring straight before him, as a king might have sat
+alone on his throne. Whatever was coming, he would front it serenely.
+
+The head of the safari appeared at the foot of the slope. It seemed a
+trifle uncertain as to where to go next, but catching sight of Kingozi's
+tents, it turned up the hill. Cazi Moto's keen eyes were searching out
+every detail; those of the Leopard Woman had suddenly become suffused with
+tears.
+
+"It is a rich safari, _bwana_," Cazi Moto reported; "many loads." His
+voice sharpened with surprise, but he did not raise his tones. "Simba is
+there," said he.
+
+"Simba! So they caught him," muttered Kingozi. "Well, that play failed. Do
+you see the white man?" he asked.
+
+"No, _bwana_. The white man has not yet come. But Simba now sees us, and
+is coming."
+
+"He is guarded?"
+
+"No, _bwana_; he is alone."
+
+"_Jambo, bwana_," said Simba's voice a moment later.
+
+Something in his tone caught Kingozi's ear.
+
+"Yes, Simba?" was all he replied.
+
+"All has been done as you ordered, _bwana_. This is the fourteenth day,
+and I am here to tell you."
+
+Kingozi caught his breath sharply.
+
+"_Bwana_ Nyele was captured?"
+
+"Mali-ya-bwana holds him prisoner at a certain water."
+
+"There was no trouble?"
+
+"None, _bwana_. All happened as you told. This magic is a very great
+magic," said Simba piously.
+
+Kingozi paused.
+
+"The safari," he suggested at last. "I am told of a safari; indeed, I can
+hear it. What of that? No orders were given as to a safari."
+
+"That is true, _bwana_," explained Simba earnestly, "but this is a very
+great safari. It has tents and _potio_, and _chakula_[17], and blankets
+and beads and wire and many other things to a quantity impossible to say.
+And it came to my mind that _shenzis_ like these things, as do all men,
+and that in this _shenzi_ country my _bwana_ might make use of them; so I
+brought them with me for your use, _bwana_."
+
+[Footnote 17: _Chakula_--white man's food.]
+
+"You had no trouble bringing this great safari?" asked Kingozi.
+
+"I used again the magic bone," replied Simba.
+
+"Simba, you jewel!" cried Kingozi in English, "you've saved the day! I
+should think _shenzis_ did like these things! And oh, haven't I needed
+them! You old tar-baby, you!"
+
+And Simba replied as usual to this incomprehensible gibberish with his own
+full stock of English:
+
+"Yes, suh!"
+
+"You have done well, very well," Kingozi shifted to Swahili. "I am pleased
+with you. For this work you shall have much _backsheeshi_--a month's wages
+extra, and twenty goats for your farm, and any other thing that you want
+most. What is it?"
+
+Simba appeared to hesitate and boggle.
+
+"Speak up! I am Very pleased."
+
+"This is a very great thing I would ask," said Simba in a low voice.
+
+"It is a great thing you have done."
+
+"_Bwana_," cried Simba earnestly. "It is this: I would have the magic bone
+for my own. For it is a very great magic," he added wistfully.
+
+Kingozi choked back an impulse to shout aloud.
+
+"It is yours," he said gravely.
+
+"Oh, _bwana! bwana!_" choked Simba. "_Assanti! assanti sana!_"
+
+His sob was echoed at Kingozi's elbow.
+
+"Oh," cried the Leopard Woman, "I know I should be sorry that this has
+come this way! But I'm not; I am glad!"
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX
+
+
+WINKLEMAN APPEARS
+
+With the riches thus unexpectedly placed at his disposal, and legitimately
+his by the fortunes of war, Kingozi was enabled to proceed to the final
+grand exchange of gifts that assured his friendship with M'tela and sealed
+the alliance. He was spurred to his best efforts in this by the news,
+brought in by an alarmed Mali-ya-bwana, that Winkleman had escaped.
+However, by dint of rich presents, supplementing the careful diplomatic
+negotiations that had gone before, he arrived at an understanding.
+
+"And now, oh, King, I must tell you this," he said boldly. "Of white men
+there is not merely one but many kinds, just as among the African peoples.
+There are strong men and weak men, good men and bad men, and men of
+different tribes. Of the tribes are the _Inglishee_ to which I belong,
+which is the most powerful of all--like your own people of the Kabilagani
+in this land--and also another tribe called the _Duyche_, only a little
+less powerful. These two tribes are now at war."
+
+"A-a-a-a," observed M'tela interestedly.
+
+"One of the _Duyche_ is in your country, oh, King. I have met him and
+defeated him by my magic. Some of these people you see here were his
+people; and of his goods I have everything."
+
+"But it may be," suggested M'tela with a slight cooling of cordiality,
+"that many more _Duyche_ will follow this one."
+
+"They cannot prevail against my magic. Talk with Simba, with my men, and
+know what virtue is in my magic. But beyond that, oh, King, have you not
+heard of the wars of the Wakamba? of Lobengula? of the Matabele and the
+Basuto? has not news come to you from the north of the battles of the
+Sudan? Have you not heard of Lenani, the king of all Masai, and of his
+advice to his people? All these wars were won by _Inglishee_; Lenani's
+words of wisdom spoke of _Inglishee_. Have you ever heard of the victories
+of the _Duyche?_ No. There were no such victories!"[18]
+
+[Footnote 18: Kingozi here took shrewd advantage of the fact that German
+East Africa was peacefully occupied without necessity of the spectacular
+tribal wars of Matabeland, Zululand, Basutoland, and the Wakamba district
+of British East Africa. Lenani's advice to his people was given at the
+close of the Wakamba war. Said he: "There is no doubt that the Masai are a
+greater people than the Wakamba, and in case of war we could fight the
+white man harder than the Wakamba fought him. Undoubtedly, too, my people
+could kill a great many of the English. But this I have noticed: that when
+a Wakamba is dead, he remains dead; but when a white man is dead ten more
+come to take his place." In consequence of this advice the Masai--one of
+the most warlike of all the tribes--negotiated with the English, and today
+remain both at peace and unconquered.]
+
+After an hour's elaboration of this theme Kingozi judged the moment
+propitious to return to the original subject. M'tela offered the
+opportunity.
+
+"This _Duyche_ whom you have conquered--you killed him?"
+
+"He escaped."
+
+"A-a-a-a."
+
+"He is still alive and in your land. Let order be given to search him
+out."
+
+"That shall be done," said M'tela after a moment's thought.
+
+Mali-ya-bwana and Simba set out with a posse of M'tela's men. They had no
+great difficulty in getting track of the missing Bavarian. Winkleman had
+arrived to find the camping site deserted. He had, indomitably, set out on
+the track of his safari. To eat he was forced at last to beg of the wild
+herdsmen. M'tela's dread name elicited from these last definite
+information. The search party found Winkleman, very dirty, quite hungry,
+profoundly chagrined, but still good humoured, seated in a smoky hut
+eating soured smoky milk. He wore sandals improvised from goatskin, a hat
+and spine-pad made from banana leaves ingeniously woven.
+
+[Illustration: "The search party found Winkleman, very dirty, quite
+hungry, profoundly chagrined"]
+
+"_Ach!_" he cried, recognizing Kingozi's two men. "So it is you! What have
+you done with my safari?"
+
+"I led it to my _bwana_," replied Simba.
+
+"Where you may now lead me," said Winkleman resignedly. "By what means
+have you thought of these things, N'ympara?" "By the magic of this,"
+replied Simba with becoming modesty, producing the precious bone.
+
+"_Ach_ the _saurian!_" cried Winkleman. "I remember. It had gone from my
+mind. It is a curious type; I do not quite recognize. Let me see it."
+
+But Simba was replacing carefully the talisman in its wrappings. He had no
+mind to deliver the magic into other hands--perhaps to be used against
+himself!
+
+They led Winkleman directly to Kingozi's camp. Winkleman followed, looking
+always curiously about him. His was the true scientific mind. He was quite
+capable of forgetting his plight--and did so--in the interest of new fauna
+and flora, or of ethnological eccentricities. Once or twice he insisted on
+a halt for examination of something that caught his notice, and insisted
+so peremptorily when the savages would have forced him on, that they
+yielded to his wish.
+
+It was early in the morning. Kingozi, as ever, sat in his canvas chair
+atop the hill. He was alone, for the Leopard Woman, always on the alert
+and always staring through her glasses, had caught sight of the little
+group before it plunged into the papyrus; and had retired to her tent.
+Winkleman plowed up the hill blowing out his cheeks in a full-blooded
+hearty fashion.
+
+"Oho!" he cried in his great voice when he had drawn near. "This is not so
+bad! It is Culbertson!"
+
+"I am sorry about this," said Kingozi briefly--"a man of your eminence--
+very disagreeable."
+
+Winkleman dropped heavily to the ground.
+
+"That is nothing," he waved aside the half-apology, "though it would not
+be bad to have the bath and change these clothes. But fortunes of war--it
+is but the fortunes of war--I would have done worse to you. How long is it
+that you have arrived?"
+
+"Long enough," replied Kingozi briefly. "Oh, Cazi Moto, bring tea! I have
+had your tent pitched, Doctor Winkleman; and you must bathe and change and
+rest. But before you go we must understand each other. This is war time,
+and you are my prisoner. You must give me your parole neither to try to
+escape nor to tamper with my men, with M'tela, or any of his people. If
+you feel you cannot do this I shall be compelled to hold you closely
+guarded."
+
+Winkleman laughed one of his great gusty laughs.
+
+"I give it willingly. What foolishness otherwise. What foolishness anyway,
+all this. War is nonsense. It destroys. It interferes. Consider, my dear
+Culbertson, here was I safely in the Congo forests, and for two, three
+months I have lived there, like a native quietly; and of all the world
+there is to amuse me only the fauna and the flora--which I know like my
+hand. But I discover a new species--a _papilio_. But all the time I live
+quiet, and I wait. And at last the people, the little forest people,
+little by little they get confidence; they come to the edge of the forest,
+they venture to camp, slow. Suppose I wave my hand like that--pouf! They
+have run away. But I wait; and they come forth. So I camp by myself in the
+forest--for I leave my safari away that it may not frighten this people.
+And by and by we talk. I am beginning to learn their language. Culbertson,
+I find these people speak the true click language, but also I find it true
+sex-denoting language most resembling in that respect the ancient Fula!"
+
+"Where was this? Impossible!" cried Kingozi, interested and excited.
+
+"Ah!" roared Winkleman with satisfaction. "I thought I would your interest
+catch! But it is true; and in the central Congo."
+
+"But that would throw the prehistoric Libyan and Hamitic migrations
+farther to the west than----"
+
+"Pre-cisely!" interrupted Winkleman.
+
+"What sort of people were they? Did they show Hamitic characteristics
+particularly? or did they incline to the typical prognathous, short-
+legged, stealopygous type of the Bushmen?"
+
+But Winkleman reverted abruptly to his narrative.
+
+"That is a long discussion to make. It will wait. But just as I get these
+people where I can put them beneath my observation, so, there comes an
+ober-lieutenant with foolishness in the way of guns and uniform and
+_askaris_ and that nonsense; and my little people run into the forest and
+are no more to be seen."
+
+"Hard luck!" commented Kingozi feelingly.
+
+"Is it not so? This ober-lieutenant is a fool. He knows nothing.
+_Dumkopf!_ All he knows is to give me a letter from the _Kaiserliche
+dumkopf_ at Dar-es-salaam. I read it. It tells me I must come here, to
+this place, with speed, and get the military aid of this M'tela and so
+forth with many details. It was another foolishness. I know this type of
+people well. There is nothing new to be learned. They are of the usual
+types. It is foolishness to come here. But it is an order, so I come, and
+I do my best. But now I am a prisoner, while I might be with the little
+people in the Congo. I talk much."
+
+"I fancy we are going to have a good deal to talk about," interjected
+Kingozi.
+
+"_Ach!_ that is true! That is what I said--that I am glad this is
+Culbertson who catches me. Yes! We must talk!"
+
+Cazi Moto glided to them.
+
+"Bath is ready, _bwana_," said he.
+
+Winkleman puffed out his chest and protruded his great beard.
+
+"This war--foolishness!" he mumbled.
+
+"Yes, we have much to talk about. Nevertheless," said Kingozi with slight
+embarrassment, "it is necessary that I do my duty according to my orders.
+And my orders were much like yours--to get the alliance of this M'tela.
+But I have told him that you are my enemy; and he sent his men with mine
+to find you; and now, as you can well comprehend, I must----"
+
+But Winkleman's quick comprehension leaped ahead of Kingozi's speech.
+
+"I must play the prisoner, is it not?" he cried with one of his big
+laughs. "But so! Of course! That is comprehend. How could it be otherwise?
+I know my native! I know what he expects. I shall be humble, the slave,
+your foot upon my neck. Of course! Do you suppose I do not know?"
+
+"That is well," said Kingozi, much relieved, "I shall tell him that you
+are a man of much wisdom and great magic; and that I have saved your life
+to serve me."
+
+"So!" cried Winkleman delightedly; and departed to his tent and the
+waiting bath. A few moments later he could be heard robustly splashing in
+the tent. A roar summoned Cazi Moto.
+
+"Tell your _bwana_ I want _n'dowa_--medicine--understand? Need some boric
+acid," he yelled at Kingozi. "Eyes in bad shape."
+
+Kingozi ordered Cazi Moto to take over the entire medicine chest; then
+sent a messenger for M'tela, who shortly appeared.
+
+"This enemy of mine is taken, thanks to your men, oh, King. I have him
+here in the tent, well guarded."
+
+"How shall we kill him, papa?" inquired M'tela.
+
+"That has not yet been decided," replied Kingozi carelessly. "He must, of
+course, be taken to the great King of all _Inglishee_."
+
+M'tela looked disappointed.
+
+"In the meantime," pursued Kingozi, "as he has much knowledge, and great
+magic, I shall talk much with him, and get that magic for the benefit of
+us both, oh, King. He cannot escape, for my magic is greater than his."
+
+This M'tela well believed, for the reports industriously circulated by
+Simba anent his magic bone had reached the King, and had not lost in
+transit.
+
+So when Winkleman came swashbuckling up the hill M'tela was prepared. The
+blue-black beard and hearty, deep-chested carriage of the Bavarian
+impressed him greatly.
+
+"But this is a great _bwana_, papa," he said to Kingozi. "Like you and
+me."
+
+"This is the prisoner of which I spoke to you," said Kingozi in a loud
+voice.
+
+Winkleman, a twinkle in his wide eyes, but with his countenance composed
+to gravity, stepped forward, salaamed, and placed his forehead beneath
+Kingozi's hand in token of submission. Thus proper relations were
+established. Winkleman seated himself humbly on the sod, and kept silence,
+while high converse went forward. At length M'tela departed. Winkleman
+immediately plunged into the conversational gap around which, mentally, he
+had been, impatiently hovering for an hour.
+
+"But this articulation of the _saurus_" he broke out. "What of it?"
+
+"The magic bone," chuckled Kingozi.
+
+"Pouf! Pouf! It resembled much the _cinoliosaurus_, but that could not
+be."
+
+"Why not?" demanded Kingozi quickly.
+
+"It has been found only in the lias formations of the Jurassic," stated
+Winkleman dogmatically, "and that type of Jurassic is not here. It is of
+England, yes; of Germany, yes; of the Americas, yes. Of central Africa,
+no!"
+
+"Nevertheless----" interposed Kingozi.
+
+"But the _cryptoclidus_--that greatly resembles the _cinoliosaurus_--
+perhaps. Or even a subspecies of the _plesiosaurus_----"
+
+"Simba," called Kingozi.
+
+"Suh!"
+
+"Bring here the magic bone. The _bwana_ wishes to look at it. No; it is
+all right. I myself tell you; no harm can come."
+
+Reluctantly Simba produced the bone, now fittingly wrapped in clean
+_mericani_ cloth, and still more reluctantly undid it and handed it to
+Winkleman. The latter seized it and began minutely to examine it,
+muttering short, disconnected sentences to himself in German.
+
+"Now here is what I have said," he spoke aloud. "See. By this curve----"
+
+He broke off, staring curiously into Kingozi's face. The latter sat
+apparently looking out across the hills, paying no attention to the fact
+that Winkleman had thrust the bone fairly under his nose. The pause that
+ensued became noticeable. Kingozi stirred uneasily, turning his eyes in
+the direction of the scientist.
+
+"Glaucoma!" ejaculated Winkleman.
+
+Kingozi smiled wearily.
+
+"Yes. I wondered when you would find it out."
+
+"You are all blind?"
+
+"I can distinguish light." Kingozi straightened his back, and his voice
+became incisive. "But I can still see through eyes that are faithful to
+me! Make no mistakes there."
+
+"My dear friend; have I not given my parole?" gently asked the Bavarian.
+
+"Beg your pardon. Of course."
+
+"It is serious. You should have a surgeon. But why have you not used the
+temporary remedy? Of course you know the effect of drugs?"
+
+"I know that atropin is ruin, right enough," said Kingozi grimly.
+
+"But the pilocarpin----"
+
+"Of course. I only wish I had some."
+
+"But you have!" came Winkleman's astonished voice. "There is of it a large
+vial!"
+
+Kingozi gripped the arm of his chair for a full minute. Then he spoke to
+Cazi Moto in a vibrating voice.
+
+"Bring me the chest of medicines. Now," he went on to Winkleman, when this
+command had been executed, "kindly read to me the labels on all these
+bottles; begin at the left. All, please."
+
+He listened attentively while Winkleman obeyed. The pilocarpin was
+present; the atropin was gone.
+
+"You have not deceived me?" he cried sharply. "No--why should
+you--wait----"
+
+He thought for some moments. When he raised his face it was gray.
+
+"One of the bottles was broken. I had reason to believe it the
+pilocarpin," he said quietly. "Can I trespass on your good nature to make
+the proper solution for my eyes?"
+
+"It is but a temporary expedient," warned Winkleman. "It is surgery here
+demanded. I know the operation, but I cannot perform. One makes a
+transverse incision above the cornea----"
+
+"I know, I know," interrupted Kingozi. "But the pilocarpin will give me my
+sight. Let us get at it."
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI
+
+
+LIGHT AGAIN
+
+Three hours later Kingozi stepped into the open, his vision cleared. Such
+is often the marvellous--though temporary--effect of the proper remedies
+in this disease. He looked about him with a thankfulness not to be
+understood save by one whose sight has been thus unexpectedly restored.
+Winkleman followed him full of deep sympathy.
+
+"But I understand," he repeated over and over, "but it is like water on a
+weary march, _nicht wahr_. But this is bad, very bad! You say it has been
+going on for a month? And a month back! Too late. _Ach, schrecklich!_ It
+is so much a pity! You have, the youth, the strength, the knowledge! You
+could so far go! But you must learn the dictation; the great book, the
+_magnum opus_, it is there. Cheer up, my boy! Work, much work! That is
+what will cure your sick courage even if it cannot cure your sick eyes.
+Now, while we have the sight--see--the bone--this curve clearly indicates
+to me----"
+
+Winkleman produced the saurian bone. And for the first time Kingozi
+noticed Simba hovering anxiously near. Request and blandishments had
+proved of no avail in getting the magic bone from _Bwana_ Nyele.
+
+"It is all right," Kingozi reassured him. "We but use the magic for a
+little while. See; it has given me back my eyes."
+
+"A-a-a-a!" ejaculated Simba, deeply astonished.
+
+"We will use it but a little while longer," Kingozi concluded. "Then you
+shall have it again."
+
+"But to give this specimen to a gun bearer!" cried Winkleman in English.
+"That is craziness! It is a museum piece."
+
+"It belongs to him; and I have promised," said Kingozi.
+
+Winkleman subsided with deep rumblings. After a moment he renewed his
+discussion.
+
+Kingozi only half heard him. His mind was occupied by another, more human
+problem. The discovery that the atropin and not the pilocarpin had been
+destroyed agitated him profoundly; not, as might be believed, because it
+enabled him at a critical time to regain the use of his sight, but because
+it threw before him an insistent question. Did, or did not, Bibi-ya-chui
+know? He recalled the incident in all its little details--himself in his
+chair and Cazi Moto squatting before the three bottles set up before them,
+carefully tracing in the sand with a stick the characters on the labels;
+the Leopard Woman's sudden dash forward; the tinkle of smashed glass, and
+her voice panting with excitement: "I will read your labels for you now--
+the bottle you hold in your hand! It is atropin, atropin"--and her wild
+laugh.
+
+Did she know, or was she guessing or bluffing?
+
+It hurt him, hurt him inconceivably to think that she might have deceived
+him thus; might have broken the wrong bottle, and then deliberately have
+kept him in darkness with the very remedy at hand. That would seem the
+refinement of cruelty.
+
+But he must be fair. She was then fighting, fighting with all her power
+against odds, for her sworn duty. Deceit was her natural weapon. And at
+that time such deceit seemed very likely to win for her her point. No, he
+could not blame her there; he could not consistently even feel hurt. The
+few moments' reasoning brought him to the point where he did not feel
+hurt. After a little he even admired the quickness of wit.
+
+The instinctive depression vanished before this reasoning. He suddenly
+became light-hearted.
+
+But immediately the dark mood returned. Granted all this; how about the
+last two days? Before that it might well be that her sense of duty to her
+country, her firmness of spirit, her honour itself would impel her to
+cling to the last hope of gaining her end. Until his influence over M'tela
+was quite assured, Winkleman's arrival would probably turn the scale. She
+had not prevented Kingozi's arriving before the Bavarian; but she might
+hold the Englishman comparatively powerless. That was understandable.
+Kingozi felt he might even love her the more for this evidence of a
+faithful spirit. But the last few days! It must have become evident to her
+that her cause was lost; that M'tela's friendship had been gained for the
+English. If she had cared for him the least in the world would not she
+have hastened to produce the pilocarpin for his relief? What could she
+hope to gain by concealing it? And then the other words insisted on his
+recollection, bitter words--when, first blinded, he had asked her to read
+the labels on the bottle that would have given him sight. "Why should I do
+this for you? You have treated me as a man treats his dog, his horse, his
+servant, his child--not as a man treats a woman!" What real reason--
+besides his hopes--had he for thinking she did not still hate him, or at
+least remain indifferent to him? So indifferent that even after her chance
+had passed she still neglected to inform him that the pilocarpin was not
+destroyed after all.
+
+Winkleman talked on and on about his saurian. Would he never stop and go
+away?
+
+"I agree with you; you are probably right," said Kingozi at last, driven
+by sheer desperation to the endorsement of he knew not what scientific
+heresy. Winkleman snorted heavily in triumph, and returned the bone to a
+vastly relieved Simba. Kingozi interposed in haste before the introduction
+of a new topic.
+
+"Undoubtedly you will wish to see the palace of M'tela," said he with deep
+wile. "Of course you are supposed to be my prisoner, so I must send you
+under guard. You might take a small present to M'tela from me. I have not
+yet visited his place of course. This might be considered a preliminary to
+my first visit. Does it appeal to you?"
+
+"But yes! And I shall behave. I have given my parole. I shall be the good
+boy!"
+
+"Of course. I understand that. Do you eat at noon? No? Well, good luck.
+Cazi Moto, take Mali-ya-bwana and two _askari_ guns, and go with _Bwana_
+Nyele to the palace of M'tela."
+
+Scarcely had the group disappeared down the forest path when Kingozi was
+at the tent door of the Leopard Woman.
+
+"_Hodie?_" he pronounced the native word of one desiring entrance.
+
+"Who is there?" she asked in Swahili.
+
+"I--Culbertson."
+
+A slight pause; then her voice:
+
+"Come."
+
+He drew aside the tent flaps and entered. She was half reclining on the
+cot, her back raised by pillows stuffed with sweet grass. Her silk
+garment, carelessly arranged, had fallen partly open, so that the gleam of
+her flesh showed tantalizingly here and there. The blood leaped to
+Kingozi's forehead. She did not alter her pose. Suddenly he realized: of
+course, she thought him blind!
+
+The embarrassment met his sterner mood in a head-on collision, so that for
+a moment the impulsive speech failed him. She spoke first.
+
+"That was Winkleman, I suppose," she said. "I did not want to appear. What
+is decided?"
+
+"Decided?" he stammered, not knowing where to look, but unable to keep his
+eyes from straying.
+
+"Yes. Is it too late? Can he prevail with this M'tela after all?"
+
+"He is my prisoner; he has given his parole."
+
+"Oh!" she exclaimed, raising herself on her elbow in excitement. The
+abrupt movement dropped the robe from her shoulder. "You can see!" she
+cried; and huddled the garment about her in a panic. "You can see!" she
+repeated amazedly. "How is that? What has happened?"
+
+The words brought him to himself and to his need for definite knowledge.
+
+"Winkleman read the labels on my bottles," he said sternly. "I have simply
+used the pilocarpin."
+
+"The pilocarpin! But that was destroyed!"
+
+So unmistakably genuine was her cry of amazement that Kingozi's heart
+leaped with joy. She had not known! He took a step toward the couch.
+
+But at this moment a wild hullabaloo broke out in the camp. Men yelled and
+shouted. Some one began to blow a horn. There came the sound of many
+running to and fro. "Damn!" ejaculated Kingozi fervently; and ran out of
+the tent.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII
+
+
+THE COLOURS
+
+The whole camp was gathered about a number of M'tela's people, who were
+all talking at once. The din was something prodigious. Kingozi pushed his
+way rather angrily to the centre of disturbance.
+
+"Here, what is this?" he demanded to know.
+
+But a dead, astonished silence fell upon them all. They stared at him
+gaping.
+
+"What is it?" repeated Kingozi impatiently.
+
+"But _bwana!_" cried Cazi Moto. "You see!"
+
+"That is a magic," replied Kingozi curtly. "Now what is all this _kalele_
+about?"
+
+"Bwana, these people say that messengers have come in telling of many
+white men and _askaris_ marching in this direction."
+
+"From where? But that does not matter--are they _Inglishee_ or _Duyche?_"
+
+"These _shenzis_ do not know the difference."
+
+"That is true. How far away are they?"
+
+"Very near, _bwana_."
+
+"Get my gun. Have Simba follow me. Here, you lead the way." They marched
+rapidly through the forest path and past the palace of M'tela, which
+Kingozi had never seen. The savage king came out, and Winkleman and his
+bodyguard soon followed.
+
+"Oh, King," said Kingozi. "Now is the time to show to me that your
+friendship is true. As you know, other white men are coming, with
+warriors. I do not know yet whether these are _Inglishee_, who are my
+friends--and yours--or _Duyche_, who are my enemies. If they are _Duyche_
+they must be attacked and killed or captured, for we are at war."
+
+He watched M'tela carefully while he spoke, and felt satisfaction at what
+he saw.
+
+"Have no fear, papa," replied M'tela easily. "I will cause the great drums
+to be beaten. My warriors are as the leaves of the grass; and these are
+few."
+
+"Nevertheless they will kill many of yours," said Kingozi with great
+earnestness; "for they have guns that kill many times and at a long
+distance. When your warriors hear the great noise they make, and see the
+dead men, they will run." "You do not know the warriors of M'tela,"
+replied the king with dignity. "Should the half of them fall, the other
+half will give these to the hyenas. Yes, even if they had the thunder
+itself as weapon!"
+
+"How many are there, oh, King?" asked Kingozi, greatly relieved.
+
+"My men report thirty-one white men and many black men."
+
+"I go now," advised Kingozi, "to look upon these men. Give me guides, and
+a messenger to send back with news of what I find."
+
+M'tela issued the orders. A moment later Kingozi started on. Winkleman,
+who had spoken no word, waved him a friendly good-bye. Before they had
+reached the forest edge the great war drums began to roar.
+
+The guides took them swiftly down the forest path and across the rolling
+country with the groves. Kingozi looked at it all with curiosity and
+delight. It seemed to him that never in all his wanderings had he seen so
+beautiful and variegated a prospect. His blindness had overtaken him, it
+must be remembered, out on the open dry veldt, between the Great and the
+Little Rains. It was as though he had awakened from a sleep to find
+himself in this watered, green, and wooded paradise.
+
+At the top of a hill the guide stopped and pointed. Kingozi gathered that
+through the distant cleft he indicated the strangers must come. All sat
+down and waited.
+
+[Illustration: "At the top of the hill the guide stopped and pointed.
+Kingozi gathered that through the distant cleft he indicated the strangers
+must come"]
+
+An hour passed. Simba uttered an exclamation. Kingozi raised his glasses.
+Tiny figures on foot were debouching from the forest. They spread in all
+directions, advancing in fan-formation. Evidently the scouts. Then more
+tiny figures, figures on horseback. Kingozi counted them. There were, as
+M'tela had said, just thirty-one; a gallant little band, but at this
+distance indistinguishable. They rode out some distance. And at last the
+first files of the black troops appeared. Kingozi dropped his glasses to
+the end of its thong with a cheer. Drooping in the still air the colours
+were nevertheless easily recognized. The flag was of England.
+
+"_Inglishee! Inglishee!_" he repeated to M'tela's messengers, and made a
+motion back toward the palace. The men departed at a lope. Kingozi and
+Simba took the other direction.
+
+They met the newcomers halfway across the long, shallow dish between the
+wooded hills. On catching sight of them the mounted white men spurred
+forward. A confusion of greetings stormed them.
+
+"It's Culbertson!" "Where did _you_ rain down from?" "We've been looking
+for you without end! Isn't this a lark, old man!"
+
+In the meantime, in the personal attendants of these white men, Simba had
+discovered acquaintances; among them the two messengers Kingozi had
+despatched back in quest of Doctor McCloud.
+
+Kingozi stood in the middle of the group, his heart overflowing. It was
+good to see so many white faces again; it was good to see the faces of
+friends; it was good to know that his labours had not been in vain, and
+that the border was assured. And underneath it was a great exaltation. He
+walked on air. For she had not known! The blank astonishment of her face
+had proved that to him beyond a doubt. She really thought that she had
+destroyed the pilocarpin; she had not deliberately held from him the light
+of day!
+
+His high spirits expressed themselves in an animation and volubility so
+unlike the taciturn Culbertson that many of his acquaintances stared.
+
+"Seems quite bucked up," commented one to another. "Must have had a deuce
+of a time back here."
+
+"What is this arm of His Majesty's Service, anyway?" Kingozi was asking in
+general. "I mean the mounted and disreputable portion, not the decent
+infantry."
+
+"This, my son, is the Settlers' Own Irregulars; and we've come out for to
+hunt the shy and elusive German."
+
+"Good heads scarce up this way," rejoined Kingozi. "I've caught one
+specimen myself, however."
+
+"Specimen of what?"
+
+"German. Ever hear of Winkleman?"
+
+"Rather! The native _fundi?_[19] You don't mean to say you've got him!"
+
+[Footnote 19: Fundi--expert.]
+
+"I've got him. He's the only specimen in these parts. But I can show you
+several thousand of the best fighting men in Africa--all loyal British
+allies."
+
+"Good man!" cried a grizzled old settler. "I told 'em you'd do it!"
+
+"But the war?" demanded Kingozi eagerly. "What of the war? Tell me? I know
+nothing whatever."
+
+One of the younger men dismounted and insisted on delivering his animal to
+Kingozi.
+
+"Do me good to stretch my legs," said he. "And you've walked your share."
+
+Riding in a little group of the officers Kingozi listened attentively to
+an account of affairs as far as they were known. The Marne, and the
+Retreat from Mons straightened him in his saddle. It was worth it; he had
+done his bit! Whatever the price, it was worth it!
+
+The account finished, Captain Walsh began questioning in his turn.
+
+"Excellent!" he greeted Kingozi's account. "Couldn't be better! We have
+reasons to believe that the water-holes on this route are mapped by the
+Germans."
+
+"They are," interrupted Kingozi.
+
+"And that the plan contemplated coming through here, gathering the tribes
+as they advanced, and finally cutting in on us with a big force from the
+rear."
+
+"They'll run against a stone wall hereabouts," said Kingozi with
+satisfaction.
+
+"Lucky for us. I've only four companies--and these settlers. We are really
+only a reconnaissance."
+
+"How did you happen to follow my route?"
+
+"Ran against the messengers you sent back to get Doctor McCloud. They
+guided us. By the way, what is it? Must have been serious. You're not a
+man to run to panics. You look fit enough now."
+
+"Eyes," explained Kingozi. His heart sank, for the failure of his
+messengers to go on after McCloud took away the last small hope of saving
+his eyesight.
+
+"Fancy it will be all right," said Captain Walsh vaguely. He was thinking,
+quite properly, of ways and means and dispositions. "About this sultan,
+now; what do you advise----"
+
+They rode forward slowly through the high, aromatic grasses, discussing
+earnestly every angle of policy to be assumed in regard to M'tela. At its
+close all the white men were called together and given instructions. Even
+the youngest and most flippant knew natives well enough to realize the
+value of the structure Kingozi had built, and to listen attentively.
+
+These alternate marches and halts had permitted the foot troops to close
+up. Kingozi turned in his saddle to look at them. Fine, upstanding black
+men they were, marching straight and soldierly, neat in their uniforms of
+khaki, with the dull red tarboush, the blue leggings, the bare knees and
+feet. They were picked troops from the Sudan, these, fighting men by
+birth, whose chief tradition was that in case his colonel was killed no
+man must come back to his woman short of wiping out the last of the enemy.
+In spite of a long march they walked jauntily. Two mounted white men
+brought up the rear.
+
+Now they entered the cool forest trail. The sound of distant drums became
+audible. Men straightened in their saddles. Captain Walsh gave crisp
+orders. They entered the cleared space before M'tela's palace with colours
+flying and snare drums tapping briskly.
+
+The full force of M'tela's power seemed to have been gathered, gorgeous in
+the panoply of war. The forest threw back the roar of drums, of horns, of
+people chanting or shouting. Straight to the middle of the square marched
+the Sudanese, wheeled smartly into line. At a command they raised their
+rifles and fired a volley, the first gunfire ever heard in this ancient
+forest.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII
+
+
+CURTAIN
+
+The sun was setting. In a few minutes more the swift darkness would fall.
+After delivering the astonishing volley the troops wheeled and under
+Kingozi's guidance proceeded down the forest path to the great clearing.
+It was the close of a long, hard day, but under the scrutinizing eyes of
+these thousands of proud _shenzis_ the Sudanese stepped forth jauntily.
+Camping places were designated. All was activity as the tents were raised.
+
+But now rode in the two white men who had closed the rear of the column,
+not only of the fighting men, but of the burden bearers as well. They were
+covered with dust and apparently very glad to arrive. One of them rode
+directly to the group of officers and dismounted stiffly.
+
+"McCloud!" cried Kingozi.
+
+"The same," replied that efficient surgeon. "And now let's see the eyes. I
+have your scrawl." He stumped forward, looking keenly for what he wanted.
+"Sit here in this chair. Boy!" he bawled. "_Lete taa_--bring the lantern.
+And my case of knives. No, my lad, I'm not going to operate on you
+instanter, but I do want my reflector. Hold the light just here. Now,
+don't any of you move. Tip your head back a bit, that's a good chap." He
+went methodically forward with his examination as though he were at home
+in his white office. "H'm. How long this been going on? Five weeks, eh!
+Been blind? Oh--why didn't you use that pilocarpin I gave you--I see."
+The officers and other white men stood about in a compact and silent
+group. A sudden grave realization of the situation had descended upon
+them, sobering their careless or laughing countenances. No one knew
+exactly what it was all about, but some had caught the word "blindness"
+and repeated it to others. Some one yelled "_kalale_" savagely at the
+chattering men. Almost a dead stillness fell on the clearing, so that in
+the falling twilight the tree hyraxes took heart and began to utter their
+demoniac screams. The darkness came down softly. Soon the group in the
+centre turned to silhouettes against the light of the two lanterns held
+head high on either side the patient.
+
+Absorbedly Doctor McCloud proceeded. Kingozi sat quietly, turning his head
+to either side, raising or lowering his chin as he was requested to do so.
+At last McCloud straightened his back.
+
+"It is glaucoma right enough," said he; "fairly advanced. The pilocarpin
+has been a palliative. An operation is called for--iridectomy."
+
+He paused, wiping his mirror. Nobody dared ask the question that Kingozi
+himself at last propounded.
+
+"Can you do it--have you the necessary instruments?'"
+
+"Fine spade scalpel, small tweezers, scissors--_and_ a lot of experience.
+I've got all the former."
+
+"And the latter?"
+
+"I've done the operation before," said McCloud dryly.
+
+"Will it restore my sight permanently."
+
+"If successful the job will be permanent."
+
+"What chance of success?"
+
+"Fair--fair," rejoined McCloud with a touch of impatience. "How can I
+tell? But I'll just inform you of this, my lad, without the operation
+you're stone blind for the rest of your days, and it must be done now or
+not at all. So there's your Hobson's choice; and we'll get at it
+comfortably in the morning."
+
+He turned away and stopped with a frank stare of astonishment. The other
+men followed his gaze, and also stared.
+
+The Leopard Woman stood just within the circle of illumination. So intent
+was she on the examination and on Kingozi that she seemed utterly
+unconscious of the men standing over opposite. Her soft silk robe fell
+about her body in classic folds; the single jewel on its chain fillet
+blazed on her forehead; her hair fell in its braid to her hips, and her
+wide, gray-green eyes were fixed on the seated man. A more startlingly
+exotic figure for the wilds of Central Africa could not be imagined. The
+expressions on the faces of the newcomers were varied enough, to be sure,
+but all had a common groundwork of fair imbecility.
+
+[Illustration: "So intent was the Leopard Woman on the examination that
+she seemed utterly unconscious of the men standing over opposite."]
+
+She seemed to be unaware of even their presence. When. McCloud had
+pronounced his opinion, she glided forward and laid her hand on Kingozi's
+shoulder.
+
+"I am glad--but I am afraid," she said softly. Kingozi covered her hand
+with one of his own. His eyes twinkled with quiet amusement as he looked
+about him at the stricken faces of his friends. She whirled on the gaping
+McCloud. "But you must have a care!" she cried at him vehemently. "You
+must save his eyes. I wish it!"
+
+McCloud, recovering himself, bowed.
+
+"Madam," said he with a faint, amused irony. "It shall be my pleasure to
+do my best in fulfilling your commands."
+
+"It must be," she repeated; and turned to face the rest. "He is a great
+man; he must be saved. All this is folly. I have fought him to my best,
+for long, and I have used all means--good and bad. He conquered me as one
+who--what you call--subdues a child. And he is generous, and brave, and
+when the darkness comes to him he does not sit and weep. He is a great
+soul, and all things must be done!"
+
+She was superb, her head thrown back. Captain Walsh was the first to
+recover from the stunned condition in which all found themselves. He
+bowed.
+
+"Madam," said he, "in what you say we heartily concur. We add our urgence
+to yours. You must forgive our stupidity to the surprise of your
+appearance. Even yet my astonishment has not abated." He turned easily to
+Kingozi: "I hope you will afford me the pleasure of naming me to madam."
+
+Kingozi arose to his feet.
+
+"I do not know your name," he muttered to her.
+
+"I am the Leopard Woman," she smiled back on him enigmatically.
+
+Kingozi paused, embarrassed as to what to do. He could not use that name
+in an introduction to these men. She was looking at him mischievously.
+
+"Captain Walsh--and gentlemen," said Kingozi suddenly, "I want the
+pleasure of presenting you to--my future wife!"
+
+Her gasp of astonishment was lost in the chorus of congratulatory cries.
+It was all mysterious, profoundly astonishing. Much was to be explained.
+But for the moment each man was ready to believe the evidences of his own
+senses--that no matter how incongruous the fact of her presence might be,
+there she was, beautiful as the night. And every man facing her had seen
+the glory that shone from within when Kingozi had pronounced his
+introduction. Captain Walsh was speaking.
+
+"This is an occasion," he said, "and the King's African Rifles cannot have
+it otherwise than that you become their guests. I see our camp is in
+preparation. We have nothing beyond the ordinary stores, but you must all
+dine with us." He paused, considering. "Say in an hour," he continued. "It
+must be early, for I do not doubt we must receive his royal highness this
+evening."
+
+"You're right," said Kingozi, "and unless I miss my guess it will be an
+all-night job."
+
+The travel-wearied men groaned.
+
+"No help for it," said Captain Walsh cheerfully.
+
+They pressed forward to shake the hands of this strange couple. The
+Leopard Woman carried herself with the ease and poise of one accustomed to
+receiving homage. She had drawn near Kingozi again, and managed to reach
+out and press his arm.
+
+"Ye'll be married soon, I'm thinking," surmised McCloud.
+
+"Depends," replied Kingozi, his brow darkening. "Part of it's up to you,
+you know," he added briefly. "A blind man is a poor man."
+
+"We shall be married soon--now, if there is a priest among you!" cried the
+Leopard Woman vehemently, "As for poor man--pouf!" She turned to Walsh
+with an engaging smile. "And you, where you came, did you pass the people
+who live in the mountains back there, with a _sultani_ who dressed in
+black----"
+
+"I know," supplemented Captain Walsh, "very well."
+
+"The _sultani_ whose place has a fortified gate."
+
+"Really? We did not get to his village; too much of a hurry."
+
+The Leopard Woman shot a glance at Kingozi. He saw the triumph in it, and
+understood. The ivory stockade was unknown to any but themselves; still
+remained there in all its wealth awaiting the first trader. And that
+trader should be himself!
+
+"Poor, indeed!" she whispered to him.
+
+At this moment a roar of astonishment came up to them from down the slope.
+All turned to see Winkleman, the forgotten Winkleman, standing at the door
+of his tent. He was in pajamas, and his thick hair was tousled about.
+
+"But how I have slept!" he cried, "and the English, they have come! Well,
+well!" He came out, stretching his great arms lazily over his head. They
+stiffened in surprise as he caught sight of the Leopard Woman. For a
+second he stared; then dropped his arms with one of his big, gusty laughs.
+
+"_Kolossal!_" he roared. "The Countess Miklos! I was wondering! So he has
+captured you, too, has he!"
+
+With a simple and unembarrassed gesture she laid her arm across Kingozi's
+shoulders.
+
+"But yes," she repeated softly. "He has captured me, too."
+
+At the tiny fire burning before the tent reserved for the headmen of the
+camp sat Simba, Cazi Moto, and Mali-ya-bwana. The bone of the _saurian_
+lay before Simba, who was bragging.
+
+"Great is the magic of this bone, which is mine. It has brought us a long
+journey; it has won us the friendship of the great chief; it has revealed
+to us much riches in the teeth of _tembo_, the elephant, though that must
+not be spoken aside from us three; it has restored the light to _Bwana_
+Kingozi, our master; it has captured for us a great _bwana_ and a rich
+safari; it has brought to us _Bwana_ Bunduki[20] and many _bwanas_ and
+_askaris_; it has brought to our master a woman for his own--though to be
+sure there are many women. Great is this magic; and it is mine. With it I
+shall be lucky always."
+
+[Footnote 20: The Master of the Rifle--Captain Walsh.]
+
+"A-a-a-a!" agreed Cazi Moto and Mali-ya-bwana respectfully.
+
+From the darkened mysterious forest the tree hyraxes, excited by the
+numerous fires and the voices of so large an encampment, were wailing and
+shrieking.
+
+"The dead are restless tonight," said Simba, poking the fire.
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE LEOPARD WOMAN ***
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