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diff --git a/9401-8.txt b/9401-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..18fda64 --- /dev/null +++ b/9401-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9462 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Leopard Woman, by Stewart Edward White + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Leopard Woman + +Author: Stewart Edward White + +Illustrator: W. H. D. Koerner + +Posting Date: August 11, 2012 [EBook #9401] +Release Date: December, 2005 +First Posted: September 29, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LEOPARD WOMAN *** + + + + +Produced 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 Project Gutenberg's The Leopard Woman, by Stewart Edward White + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LEOPARD WOMAN *** + +***** This file should be named 9401-8.txt or 9401-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/4/0/9401/ + +Produced by Suzanne Shell, Richard Prairie, Tonya Allen, +and Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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