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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/24450-8.txt b/24450-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..298ab20 --- /dev/null +++ b/24450-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7935 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bones, by Edgar Wallace + +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: Bones + Being Further Adventures in Mr. Commissioner Sanders' Country + +Author: Edgar Wallace + +Release Date: January 29, 2008 [EBook #24450] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BONES *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + "BONES" + + being + + Further Adventures in + Mr. Commissioner Sanders' Country + + BY + + EDGAR WALLACE + + Author of "Sanders of the River," etc. + + WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED + LONDON AND MELBOURNE + + + + + To + + Isabel Thorn + + WHO WAS LARGELY RESPONSIBLE + + FOR BRINGING SANDERS + + INTO BEING + + This Book is Dedicated + + + + + CONTENTS + + + CHAP. PAGE + + PROLOGUE--SANDERS, C.M.G 7 + + I HAMILTON OF THE HOUSSAS 52 + + II THE DISCIPLINARIANS 71 + + III THE LOST N'BOSINI 88 + + IV THE FETISH STICK 108 + + V A FRONTIER AND A CODE 123 + + VI THE SOUL OF THE NATIVE WOMAN 148 + + VII THE STRANGER WHO WALKED BY NIGHT 164 + + VIII A RIGHT OF WAY 180 + + IX THE GREEN CROCODILE 193 + + X HENRY HAMILTON BONES 209 + + XI BONES AT M'FA 225 + + XII THE MAN WHO DID NOT SLEEP 240 + + + + +"BONES" + +PROLOGUE + +SANDERS--C.M.G. + + +I + +You will never know from the perusal of the Blue Book the true +inwardness of the happenings in the Ochori country in the spring of the +year of Wish. Nor all the facts associated with the disappearance of the +Rt. Hon. Joseph Blowter, Secretary of State for the Colonies. + +We know (though this is not in the Blue Books) that Bosambo called +together all his petty chiefs and his headmen, from one end of the +country to the other, and assembled them squatting expectantly at the +foot of the little hillock, where sat Bosambo in his robes of office +(unauthorized but no less magnificent), their upturned faces charged +with pride and confidence, eloquent of the hold this sometime Liberian +convict had upon the wayward and fearful folk of the Ochori. + +Now no man may call a palaver of all small chiefs unless he notifies the +government of his intention, for the government is jealous of +self-appointed parliaments, for when men meet together in public +conference, however innocent may be its first cause, talk invariably +drifts to war, just as when they assemble and talk in private it drifts +womanward. + +And since a million and odd square miles of territory may only be +governed by a handful of ragged soldiers so long as there is no +concerted action against authority, extemporized and spontaneous +palavers are severely discouraged. + +But Bosambo was too cheery and optimistic a man to doubt that his action +would incur the censorship of his lord, and, moreover, he was so filled +with his own high plans and so warm and generous at heart at the thought +of the benefits he might be conferring upon his patron that the +illegality of the meeting did not occur to him, or if it occurred was +dismissed as too preposterous for consideration. + +And so there had come by the forest paths, by canoe, from fishing +villages, from far-off agricultural lands near by the great mountains, +from timber cuttings in the lower forest, higher chiefs and little +chiefs, headmen and lesser headmen, till they made a respectable crowd, +too vast for the comfort of the Ochori elders who must needs provide +them with food and lodgings. + +"Noble chiefs of the Ochori," began Bosambo, and Notiki nudged his +neighbour with a sharp elbow, for Notiki was an old man of forty-three, +and thin. + +"Our lord desires us to give him something," he said. + +He was a bitter man this Notiki, a relative of former chiefs of the +Ochori, and now no more than over-head of four villages. + +"Wa!" said his neighbour, with his shining face turned to Bosambo. + +Notiki grunted but said no more. + +"I have assembled you here," said Bosambo, "because I love to see you, +and because it is good that I should meet those who are in authority +under me to administer the laws which the King my master has set for +your guidance." + +Word for word it was a paraphrase of an address which Sanders himself +had delivered three months ago. His audience may have forgotten the +fact, but Notiki at least recognized the plagiarism and said "Oh, ho!" +under his breath and made a scornful noise. + +"Now I must go from you," said Bosambo. + +There was a little chorus of dismay, but Notiki's voice did not swell +the volume. + +"The King has called me to the coast, and for the space of two moons I +shall be as dead to you, though my fetish will watch you and my spirit +will walk these streets every night with big ears to listen to evil +talk, and great big eyes to see the hearts of men. Yea, from this city +to the very end of my dominions over to Kalala." His accusing eyes fixed +Notiki, and the thin man wriggled uncomfortably. + +"This man is a devil," he muttered under his breath, "he hears and sees +all things." + +"And if you ask me why I go," Bosambo went on, "I tell you this: +swearing you all to secrecy that this word shall not go beyond your +huts" (there were some two thousand people present to share the +mystery), "my lord Sandi has great need of me. For who of us is so wise +that he can look into the heart and understand the sorrow-call which +goes from brother to brother and from blood to blood. I say no more save +my lord desires me, and since I am the King of the Ochori, a nation +great amongst all nations, must I go down to the coast like a dog or +like the headman of a fisher-village?" + +He paused dramatically, and there was a faint--a very faint--murmur +which he might interpret as an expression of his people's wish that he +should travel in a state bordering upon magnificence. + +Faint indeed was that murmur, because there was a hint of taxation in +the business, a promise of levies to be extracted from an unwilling +peasantry; a suggestion of lazy men leaving the comfortable shade of +their huts to hurry perspiring in the forest that gum and rubber and +similar offerings should be laid at the complacent feet of their +overlord. + +Bosambo heard the murmur and marked its horrid lack of heartiness and +was in no sense put out of countenance. + +"As you say," said he approvingly, "it is proper that I should journey +to my lord and to the strange people beyond the coast--to the land where +even slaves wear trousers--carrying with me most wonderful presents that +the name of the Ochori shall be as thunder upon the waters and even +great kings shall speak in pride of you," he paused again. + +Now it was a dead silence which greeted his peroration. Notably +unenthusiastic was this gathering, twiddling its toes and blandly +avoiding his eye. Two moons before he had extracted something more than +his tribute--a tribute which was the prerogative of government. + +Yet then, as Notiki said under his breath, or openly, or by innuendo as +the sentiment of his company demanded, four and twenty canoes laden with +the fruits of taxation had come to the Ochori city, and five only of +those partly filled had paddled down to headquarters to carry the Ochori +tribute to the overlord of the land. + +"I will bring back with me new things," said Bosambo enticingly; +"strange devil boxes, large magics which will entrance you, things that +no common man has seen, such as I and Sandi alone know in all this land. +Go now, I tell thee, to your people in this country, telling them all +that I have spoken to you, and when the moon is in a certain quarter +they will come in joy bearing presents in both hands, and these ye shall +bring to me." + +"But, lord!" it was the bold Notiki who stood in protest, "what shall +happen to such of us headmen who come without gifts in our hands for +your lordship, saying 'Our people are stubborn and will give nothing'?" + +"Who knows?" was all the satisfaction he got from Bosambo, with the +additional significant hint, "I shall not blame you, knowing that it is +not because of your fault but because your people do not love you, and +because they desire another chief over them. The palaver is finished." + +Finished it was, so far as Bosambo was concerned. He called a council of +his headmen that night in his hut. + +Bosambo made his preparations at leisure. There was much to avoid before +he took his temporary farewell of the tribe. Not the least to be counted +amongst those things to be done was the extraction, to its uttermost +possibility, of the levy which he had quite improperly instituted. + +And of the things to avoid, none was more urgent or called for greater +thought than the necessity for so timing his movements that he did not +come upon Sanders or drift within the range of his visible and audible +influence. + +Here fortune may have been with Bosambo, but it is more likely that he +had carefully thought out every detail of his scheme. Sanders at the +moment was collecting hut tax along the Kisai river and there was also, +as Bosambo well knew, a murder trial of great complexity waiting for his +decision at Ikan. A headman was suspected of murdering his chief wife, +and the only evidence against him was that of the under wives to whom +she displayed much hauteur and arrogance. + +The people of the Ochori might be shocked at the exorbitant demands +which their lord put upon them, but they were too wise to deny him his +wishes. There had been a time in the history of the Ochori when demands +were far heavier, and made with great insolence by a people who bore the +reputation of being immensely fearful. It had come to be a by-word of +the people when they discussed their lord with greater freedom than he +could have wished, the tyranny of Bosambo was better than the tyranny of +Akasava. + +Amongst the Ochori chiefs, greater and lesser, only one was conspicuous +by his failure to carry proper offerings to his lord. When all the gifts +were laid on sheets of native cloth in the great space before Bosambo's +hut, Notiki's sheet was missing and with good reason as he sent his son +to explain. + +"Lord," said this youth, lank and wild, "my father has collected for you +many beautiful things, such as gum and rubber and the teeth of +elephants. Now he would have brought these and laid them at your lovely +feet, but the roads through the forest are very evil, and there have +been floods in the northern country and he cannot pass the streams. Also +the paths through the forest are thick and tangled and my father fears +for his carriers." + +Bosambo looked at him, thoughtfully. + +"Go back to your father, N'gobi," he said gently, "and tell him that +though there come no presents from him to me, I, his master and chief, +knowing he loves me, understand all things well." + +N'gobi brightened visibly. He had been ready to bolt, understanding +something of Bosambo's dexterity with a stick and fearing that the chief +would loose upon him the vengeance his father had called down upon his +own hoary head. + +"Of the evil roads I know," said Bosambo; "now this you shall say to +your father: Bosambo the chief goes away from this city and upon a long +journey; for two moons he will be away doing the business of his cousin +and friend Sandi. And when my lord Bim-bi has bitten once at the third +moon I will come back and I will visit your father. But because the +roads are bad," he went on, "and the floods come even in this dry +season," he said significantly, "and the forest is so entangled that he +cannot bring his presents, sending only the son of his wife to me, he +shall make against my coming such a road as shall be in width, the +distance between the King's hut and the hut of the King's wife; and he +shall clear from this road all there are of trees, and he shall bridge +the strong stream and dig pits for the floods. And to this end he shall +take every man of his kingdom and set them to labour, and as they work +they shall sing a song which goes: + + "We are doing Notiki's work, + The work Notiki set us to do, + Rather than send to the lord his King + The presents which Bosambo demanded. + +"The palaver is finished." + +This is the history, or the beginning of the history, of the straight +road which cuts through the heart of the Ochori country from the edge of +the river by the cataracts, even to the mountains of the great King, a +road famous throughout Africa and imperishably associated with Bosambo's +name--this by the way. + +On the first day following the tax palaver Bosambo went down the river +with four canoes, each canoe painted beautifully with camwood and gum, +and with twenty-four paddlers. + +It was by a fluke that he missed Sanders. As it happened, the +Commissioner had come back to the big river to collect the evidence of +the murdered woman's brother who was a petty headman of an Isisi fishing +village. The _Zaire_ came into the river almost as the last of Bosambo's +canoes went round the bend out of sight, and since a legend existed on +the river, a legend for the inception of which Bosambo himself was +mainly responsible, that he was in some way related to Mr. Commissioner +Sanders, no man spoke of Bosambo's passing. + +The chief came to headquarters on the third day after his departure from +his city. His subsequent movements are somewhat obscure, even to +Sanders, who has been at some pains to trace them. + +It is known that he drew a hundred and fifty pounds in English gold from +Sanders' storekeeper--he had piled up a fairly extensive credit during +the years of his office--that he embarked with one headman and his wife +on a coasting boat due for Sierra Leone, and that from that city came a +long-winded demand in Arabic by a ragged messenger for a further +instalment of one hundred pounds. Sanders heard the news on his return +to headquarters and was a little worried. + +"I wonder if the devil is going to desert his people?" he said. + +Hamilton the Houssa laughed. + +"He is more likely to desert his people than to desert a balance of four +hundred pounds which now stands to his credit here," he said. "Bosambo +has felt the call of civilization. I suppose he ought to have secured +your permission to leave his territory?" + +"He has given his people work to keep them busy," Sanders said a little +gravely. "I have had a passionate protest from Notiki, one of his chiefs +in the north. Bosambo has set him to build a road through the forest, +and Notiki objects." + +The two men were walking across the yellow parade ground past the +Houssas hut in the direction of headquarters' bungalow. + +"What about your murderer?" asked Hamilton, after a while, as they +mounted the broad wooden steps which led to the bungalow stoep. + +Sanders shook his head. + +"Everybody lied," he said briefly. "I can do no less than send the man +to the Village. I could have hung him on clear evidence, but the lady +seemed to have been rather unpopular and the murderer quite a person to +be commended in the eyes of the public. The devil of it is," he said as +he sank into his big chair with a sigh, "that had I hanged him it would +not have been necessary to write three foolscap sheets of report. I +dislike these domestic murderers intensely--give me a ravaging brigand +with the hands of all people against him." + +"You'll have one if you don't touch wood," said Hamilton seriously. + +Hamilton came of Scottish stock--and the Scots are notorious prophets. + + +II + +Now the truth may be told of Bosambo, and all his movements may be +explained by this revelation of his benevolence. In the silence of his +hut had he planned his schemes. In the dark aisles of the forests, under +starless skies when his fellow-huntsmen lay deep in the sleep which the +innocent and the barbarian alone enjoy; in drowsy moments when he sat +dispensing justice, what time litigants had droned monotonously he had +perfected his scheme. + +Imagination is the first fruit of civilization and when the reverend +fathers of the coast taught Bosambo certain magics, they were also +implanting in him the ability to picture possibilities, and shape from +his knowledge of human affairs the eventual consequences of his actions. +This is imagination somewhat elaborately and clumsily defined. + +To one person only had Bosambo unburdened himself of his schemes. + +In the privacy of his great hut he had sat with his wife, a steaming +dish of fish between them, for however lax Bosambo might be, his wife +was an earnest follower of the Prophet and would tolerate no such +abomination as the flesh of the cloven-hoofed goat. + +He had told her many things. + +"Light of my heart," said he, "our lord Sandi is my father and my +mother, a giver of riches, and a plentiful provider of pence. Now it +seems to me, that though he is a just man and great, having neither fear +of his enemies nor soft words for his friends, yet the lords of his land +who live so very far away do him no honour." + +"Master," said the woman quietly, "is it no honour that he should be +placed as a king over us?" + +Bosambo beamed approvingly. + +"Thou hast spoken the truth, oh my beloved!" said he, in the +extravagance of his admiration. "Yet I know much of the white folk, for +I have lived along this coast from Dacca to Mossomedes. Also I have +sailed to a far place called Madagascar, which is on the other side of +the world, and I know the way of white folk. Even in Benguella there is +a governor who is not so great as Sandi, and about his breast are all +manner of shining stars that glitter most beautifully in the sun, and he +wears ribbons about him and bright coloured sashes and swords." He +wagged his finger impressively. "Have I not said that he is not so great +as Sandi. When saw you my lord with stars or cross or sash or a sword? + +"Also at Decca, where the Frenchi live. At certain places in the Togo, +which is Allamandi,[1] I have seen men with this same style of +ornaments, for thus it is that the white folk do honour to their kind." + +[Footnote 1: Allamandi--German territory.] + +He was silent a long time and his brown-eyed wife looked at him +curiously. + +"Yet what can you do, my lord?" she asked. "Although you are very +powerful, and Sandi loves you, this is certain, that none will listen to +_you_ and do honour to Sandi at your word--though I do not know the ways +of the white people, yet of this I am sure." + +Again Bosambo's large mouth stretched from ear to ear, and his two rows +of white teeth gleamed pleasantly. + +"You are as the voice of wisdom and the very soul of cleverness," he +said, "for you speak that which is true. Yet I know ways, for I am very +cunning and wise, being a holy man and acquainted with blessed apostles +such as Paul and the blessed Peter, who had his ear cut off because a +certain dancing woman desired it. Also by magic it was put on again +because he could not hear the cocks crow. All this and similar things I +have here." He touched his forehead. + +Wise woman that she was, she had made no attempt to pry into her +husband's business, but spent the days preparing for the journey, she +and the nut-brown sprawling child of immense girth, who was the apple +of Bosambo's eye. + +So Bosambo had passed down the river as has been described, and four +days after he left there disappeared from the Ochori village ten +brothers in blood of his, young hunting men who had faced all forms of +death for the very love of it, and these vanished from the land and none +knew where they went save that they did not follow on their master's +trail. + +Tukili, the chief of the powerful eastern island Isisi, or, as it is +contemptuously called, the N'gombi-Isisi by the riverain folk, went +hunting one day, and ill fortune led him to the border of the Ochori +country. Ill fortune was it for one Fimili, a straight maid of fourteen, +beautiful by native standard, who was in the forest searching for roots +which were notorious as a cure for "boils" which distressed her +unamiable father. + +Tukili saw the girl and desired her, and that which Tukili desired he +took. She offered little opposition to being carried away to the Isisi +city when she discovered that her life would be spared, and possibly was +no worse off in the harem of Tukili than she would have been in the hut +of the poor fisherman for whom her father had designed her. A few years +before, such an incident would have passed almost unnoticed. + +The Ochori were so used to being robbed of women and of goats, so meek +in their acceptance of wrongs that would have set the spears of any +other nation shining, that they would have accepted the degradation and +preserved a sense of thankfulness that the robber had limited his +raiding to one girl, and that a maid. But with the coming of Bosambo +there had arrived a new spirit in the Ochori. They had learnt their +strength, incidentally they had learnt their rights. The father of the +girl went hot-foot to his over-chief, Notiki, and covered himself with +ashes at the door of the chief's hut. + +"This is a bad palaver," said Notiki, "and since Bosambo has deserted us +and is making our marrows like water that we should build him a road, +and there is none in this land whom I may call chief or who may speak +with authority, it seems by my age and by relationship to the kings of +this land, I must do that which is desirable." + +So he gathered together two thousand men who were working on the road +and were very pleased indeed to carry something lighter than rocks and +felled trees, and with these spears he marched into the Isisi forest, +burning and slaying whenever he came upon a little village which offered +no opposition. Thus he took to himself the air and title of conqueror +with as little excuse as a flamboyant general ever had. + +Had it occurred on the river, this warlike expedition must have +attracted the attention of Sanders. The natural roadway of the territory +is a waterway. It is only when operations are begun against the internal +tribes who inhabit the bush, and whose armies can move under the cloak +of the forest (and none wiser) that Sanders found himself at a +disadvantage. + +Tukili himself heard nothing of the army that was being led against him +until it was within a day's march of his gates. Then he sallied forth +with a force skilled in warfare and practised in the hunt. The combat +lasted exactly ten minutes and all that was left of Notiki's spears made +the best of their way homeward, avoiding, as far as possible, those +villages which they had visited en route with such disastrous results to +the unfortunate inhabitants. + +Now it is impossible that one conqueror shall be sunk to oblivion +without his victor claiming for himself the style of his victim. Tukili +had defeated his adversary, and Tukili was no exception to the general +rule, and from being a fairly well-disposed king, amiable--too amiable +as we have shown--and kindly, and just, he became of a sudden a menace +to all that part of Sanders' territory which lies between the French +land and the river. + +It was such a situation as this as only Bosambo might deal with, and +Sanders heartily cursed his absent chief and might have cursed him with +greater fervour had he had an inkling of the mission to which Bosambo +had appointed himself. + + +III + +His Excellency the Administrator of the period had his office at a +prosperous city of stone which we will call Koombooli, though that is +not its name. + +He was a stout, florid man, patient and knowledgeable. He had been sent +to clear up the mess which two incompetent administrators made, who had +owed their position rather to the constant appearance of their friends +and patrons in the division lobbies than to their acquaintance with the +native mind, and it is eloquent of the regard in which His Excellency +was held that, although he was a Knight Commander of St. Michael and St. +George, a Companion of a Victorian Order, a Commander of the Bath, and +the son of a noble house, he was known familiarly along the coast to all +administrators, commissioners, even to the deputy inspectors, as "Bob." + +Bosambo came to the presence with an inward quaking. In a sense he had +absconded from his trust, and he did not doubt that Sanders had made all +men acquainted with the suddenness and the suspicious character of his +disappearance. + +And the first words of His Excellency the Administrator confirmed all +Bosambo's worst fears. + +"O! chief," said Sir Robert with a little twinkle in his eye, "are you +so fearful of your people that you run away from them?" + +"Mighty master," answered Bosambo, humbly, "I do not know fear, for as +your honour may have heard, I am a very brave man, fearing nothing save +my lord Sanders' displeasure." + +A ghost of a smile played about the corners of Sir Robert's mouth. + +"That you have earned, my friend," said he. "Now you shall tell me why +you came away secretly, also why you desired this palaver with me. And +do not lie, Bosambo," he said, "for I am he who hung three chiefs on +Gallows Hill above Grand Bassam because they spoke falsely." + +This was one of the fictions which was current on the coast, and was +implicitly believed in by the native population. The truth will be +recounted at another time, but it is sufficient to say that Bosambo was +one of those who did not doubt the authenticity of the legend. + +"Now I will speak to you, O my lord," he said earnestly, "and I speak by +all oaths, both the oaths of my own people----" + +"Spare me the oaths of the Kroo folk," protested Sir Robert, and raised +a warning hand. + +"Then by Markie and Lukie will I swear," said Bosambo, fervently; "those +fine fellows of whom Your Excellency knows. I have sat long in the +country of the Ochori, and I have ruled wisely according to my +abilities. And over me at all times was Sandi, who was a father to his +people and so beautiful of mind and countenance that when he came to us +even the dead folk would rise up to speak to him. This is a miracle," +said Bosambo profoundly but cautiously, "which I have heard but which I +have not seen. Now this I ask you who see all things, and here is the +puzzle which I will set to your honour. If Sandi is so great and so +wise, and is so loved by the greater King, how comes it that he stays +for ever in one place, having no beautiful stars about his neck nor +wonderful ribbons around his stomach such as the great Frenchiman--and +the great Allamandi men, and even the Portuguesi men wear who are +honoured by their kings?" + +It was a staggering question, and Sir Robert Sanleigh sat up and stared +at the solemn face of the man before him. + +Bosambo, an unromantic figure in trousers, jacket, and shirt--he was +collarless--had thrust his hands deeply into unaccustomed pockets, +ignorant of the disrespect which such an attitude displayed, and was +staring back at the Administrator. + +"O! chief," asked the puzzled Sir Robert, "this is a strange palaver you +make--who gave you these ideas?" + +"Lord, none gave me this idea save my own bright mind," said Bosambo. +"Yes, many nights have I laid thinking of these things for I am just and +I have faith." + +His Excellency kept his unwavering eye upon the other. He had heard of +Bosambo, knew him as an original, and at this moment was satisfied in +his own mind of the other's sincerity. + +A smaller man than he, his predecessor for example, might have dismissed +the preposterous question as an impertinence and given the questioner +short shrift. But Sir Robert understood his native. + +"These are things too high for me, Bosambo," he said. "What dog am I +that I should question the mind of my lords? In their wisdom they give +honour and they punish. It is written." + +Bosambo nodded. + +"Yet, lord," he persisted, "my own cousin who sweeps your lordship's +stables told me this morning that on the days of big palavers you also +have stars and beautiful things upon your breast, and noble ribbons +about your lordship's stomach. Now your honour shall tell me by whose +favour these things come about." + +Sir Robert chuckled. + +"Bosambo," he said solemnly, "they gave these things to me because I am +an old man. Now when your lord Sandi becomes old these honours also will +he receive." + +He saw Bosambo's face fall and went on: + +"Also much may happen that will bring Sandi to their lordships' eyes, +they who sit above us. Some great deed that he may do, some high service +he may offer to his king. All these happenings bring nobility and +honour. Now," he went on kindly, "go back to your people, remembering +that I shall think of you and of Sandi, and that I shall know that you +came because of your love for him, and that on a day which is written I +will send a book to my masters speaking well of Sandi, for his sake and +for the sake of the people who love him. The palaver is finished." + +Bosambo went out of the Presence a dissatisfied man, passed through the +hall where a dozen commissioners and petty chiefs were waiting audience, +skirted the great white building and came in time to his own cousin, +who swept the stables of His Excellency the Administrator. And here, in +the coolness of the stone-walled mews, he learnt much about the +Administrator; little tit-bits of information which were unlikely to be +published in the official gazette. Also he acquired a considerable +amount of data concerning the giving of honours, and after a long +examination and cross-examination of his wearied relative he left him as +dry as a sucked orange, but happy in the possession of a new +five-shilling piece which Bosambo had magnificently pressed upon him, +and which subsequently proved to be bad. + + +IV + +By the River of Spirits is a deep forest which stretches back and back +in a dense and chaotic tangle of strangled sapling and parasitic weed to +the edge of the Pigmy forest. No man--white or brown or black--has +explored the depth of the Forbidden Forest, for here the wild beasts +have their lairs and rear their young; and here are mosquito in dense +clouds. Moreover, and this is important, a certain potent ghost named +Bim-bi stalks restlessly from one border of the forest to the other. +Bim-bi is older than the sun and more terrible than any other ghost. For +he feeds on the moon, and at nights you may see how the edge of the +desert world is bitten by his great mouth until it becomes, first, the +half of a moon, then the merest slither, and then no moon at all. And on +the very dark nights, when the gods are hastily making him a new meal, +the ravenous Bim-bi calls to his need the stars; and you may watch, as +every little boy of the Akasava has watched, clutching his father's hand +tightly in his fear, the hot rush of meteors across the velvet sky to +the rapacious and open jaws of Bim-bi. + +He was a ghost respected by all peoples--Akasava, Ochori, Isisi, +N'gombi, and Bush folk. By the Bolengi, the Bomongo, and even the +distant Upper Congo people feared him. Also all the chiefs for +generations upon generations had sent tribute of corn and salt to the +edge of the forest for his propitiation, and it is a legend that when +the Isisi fought the Akasava in the great war, the envoy of the Isisi +was admitted without molestation to the enemy's lines in order to lay an +offering at Bim-bi's feet. Only one man in the world, so far as the +People of the River know, has ever spoken slightingly of Bim-bi, and +that man was Bosambo of the Ochori, who had no respect for any ghosts +save of his own creation. + +It is the custom on the Akasava district to hold a ghost palaver to +which the learned men of all tribes are invited, and the palaver takes +place in the village of Ookos by the edge of the forest. + +On a certain day in the year of the floods and when Bosambo was gone a +month from his land, there came messengers chance-found and walking in +terror to all the principal cities and villages of the Akasava, of the +Isisi, and of the N'gombi-Isisi carrying this message: + + "Mimbimi, son of Simbo Sako, son of Ogi, has opened his house to + his friends on the night when Bim-bi has swallowed the moon." + +A summons to such a palaver in the second name of Bim-bi was not one +likely to be ignored, but a summons from Mimbimi was at least to be +wondered at and to be speculated upon, for Mimbimi was an unknown +quantity, though some gossips professed to know him as the chief of one +of the Nomadic tribes which ranged the heart of the forest, preying on +Akasava and Isisi with equal discrimination. But these gossips were of a +mind not peculiar to any nationality or to any colour. They were those +jealous souls who either could not or would not confess that they were +ignorant on the topic of the moment. + +Be he robber chief, or established by law and government, this much was +certain. Mimbimi had called for his secret palaver and the most noble +and arrogant of chiefs must obey, even though the obedience spelt +disaster for the daring man who had summoned them to conference. + +Tuligini, a victorious captain, not lightly to be summoned, might have +ignored the invitation, but for the seriousness of his eldermen, who, +versed in the conventions of Bim-bi and those who invoked his name, +stood aghast at the mere suggestion that this palaver should be +ignored. Tuligini demanded, and with reason: + +"Who was this who dare call the vanquisher of Bosambo to a palaver? for +am I not the great buffalo of the forest? and do not all men bow down to +me in fear?" + +"Lord, you speak the truth," said his trembling councillor, "yet this is +a ghost palaver and all manner of evils come to those who do not obey." + +Sanders, through his spies, heard of the summons in the name of Bim-bi, +and was a little troubled. There was nothing too small to be serious in +the land over which he ruled. + +As for instance: Some doubt existed in the Lesser N'gombi country as to +whether teeth filed to a point were more becoming than teeth left as +Nature placed them. Tombini, the chief of N'gombi, held the view that +Nature's way was best, whilst B'limbini, his cousin, was the chief +exponent of the sharpened form. + +It took two battalions of King Coast Rifles, half a battery of artillery +and Sanders to settle the question, which became a national one. + +"I wish Bosambo were to the devil before he left his country," said +Sanders, irritably. "I should feel safe if that oily villain was sitting +in the Ochori." + +"What is the trouble?" asked Hamilton, looking up from his task--he was +making cigarettes with a new machine which somebody had sent him from +home. + +"An infernal Bim-bi palaver," said Sanders; "the last time that +happened, if I remember rightly, I had to burn crops on the right bank +of the river for twenty miles to bring the Isisi to a sense of their +unimportance." + +"You will be able to burn crops on the left side this time," said +Hamilton, cheerfully, his nimble fingers twiddling the silver rollers of +his machine. + +"I thought I had the country quiet," said Sanders, a little bitterly, +"and at this moment I especially wanted it so." + +"Why at this particular moment?" asked the other in surprise. + +Sanders took out of the breast pocket of his uniform jacket a folded +paper, and passed it across the table. + +Hamilton read: + + "SIR,--I have the honour to inform you that the Rt. Hon. Mr. James + Bolzer, his Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, is + expected to arrive at your station on the thirtieth inst. I trust + you will give the Right Honourable gentleman every facility for + studying on the spot the problems upon which he is such an + authority. I have to request you to instruct all Sub-Commissioners, + Inspectors, and Officers commanding troops in your division to make + adequate arrangements for Mr. Bolzer's comfort and protection. + + "I have the honour to be, etc." + +Hamilton read the letter twice. + +"To study on the spot those questions upon which he is such an +authority," he repeated. He was a sarcastic devil when he liked. + +"The thirtieth is to-morrow," Hamilton went on, "and I suppose I am one +of the officers commanding troops who must school my ribald soldiery in +the art of protecting the Rt. Hon. gent." + +"To be exact," said Sanders, "you are the only officer commanding troops +in the territory; do what you can. You wouldn't believe it," he smiled a +little shamefacedly, "I had applied for six months' leave when this +came." + +"Good Lord!" said Hamilton, for somehow he never associated Sanders with +holidays. + +What Hamilton did was very simple, because Hamilton always did things in +the manner which gave him the least trouble. A word to his orderly +conveyed across the parade ground, roused the sleepy bugler of the +guard, and the air was filled with the "Assembly." Sixty men of the +Houssas paraded in anticipation of a sudden call northwards. + +"My children," said Hamilton, whiffling his pliant cane, "soon there +will come here a member of government who knows nothing. Also he may +stray into the forest and lose himself as the bride-groom's cow strays +from the field of his father-in-law, not knowing his new surroundings. +Now it is to you we look for his safety--I and the government. Also +Sandi, our lord. You shall not let this stranger out of your sight, nor +shall you allow approach him any such evil men as the N'gombi iron +sellers or the fishing men of N'gar or makers of wooden charms, for the +government has said this man must not be robbed, but must be treated +well, and you of the guard shall all salute him, also, when the time +arrives." + +Hamilton meant no disrespect in his graphic illustration. He was dealing +with a simple people who required vivid word-pictures to convince them. +And certainly they found nothing undignified in the right honourable +gentleman when he arrived next morning. + +He was above the medium height, somewhat stout, very neat and orderly, +and he twirled a waxed moustache, turning grey. He had heavy and bilious +eyes, and a certain pompousness of manner distinguished him. Also an +effervescent geniality which found expression in shaking hands with +anybody who happened to be handy, in mechanically agreeing with all +views that were put before him and immediately afterwards contradicting +them; in a painful desire to be regarded as popular. In fact, in all the +things which got immediately upon Sanders' nerves, this man was a sealed +pattern of a bore. + +He wanted to know things, but the things he wanted to know were of no +importance, and the information he extracted could not be of any +assistance to him. His mind was largely occupied in such vital problems +as what happened to the brooms which the Houssas used to keep their +quarters clean when they were worn out, and what would be the effect of +an increased ration of lime juice upon the morals and discipline of the +troops under Hamilton's command. Had he been less of a trial Sanders +would not have allowed him to go into the interior without a stronger +protest. As it was, Sanders had turned out of his own bedroom, and had +put all his slender resources at the disposal of the Cabinet Minister +(taking his holiday, by the way, during the long recess), and had +wearied himself in order to reach some subject of interest where he and +his guest could meet on common ground. + +"I shall have to let him go," he said to Hamilton, when the two had met +one night after Mr. Blowter had retired to bed, "I spent the whole of +this afternoon discussing the comparative values of mosquito nets, and +he is such a perfect ass that you cannot snub him. If he had only had +the sense to bring a secretary or two he would have been easier to +handle." + +Hamilton laughed. + +"When a man like that travels," he said, "he ought to bring somebody who +knows the ways and habits of the animal. I had a bright morning with him +going into the question of boots." + +"But what of Mimbimi?" + +"Mimbimi is rather a worry to me. I do not know him at all," said +Sanders with a puzzled frown. "Ahmet, the spy, has seen one of the +chiefs who attended the palaver, which apparently was very impressive. +Up to now nothing has happened which would justify a movement against +him; the man is possibly from the French Congo." + +"Any news of Bosambo?" asked Hamilton. + +Sanders shook his head. + +"So far as I can learn," he said grimly, "he has gone on _Cape Coast +Castle_ for a real aboriginal jag. There will be trouble for Bosambo +when he comes back." + +"What a blessing it would be now," sighed Hamilton, "if we could turn +old man Blowter into his tender keeping." And the men laughed +simultaneously. + + +V + +There was a time, years and years ago, when the Ochori people set a +great stake on the edge of the forest by the Mountain. This they smeared +with a paint made by the admixture of camwood and copal gum. + +It was one of the few intelligent acts which may be credited to the +Ochori in those dull days, for the stake stood for danger. It marked the +boundary of the N'gombi lands beyond which it was undesirable that any +man of the Ochori should go. + +It was not erected without consideration. A palaver which lasted from +the full of one moon to the waning of the next, sacrifices of goats and +sprinkling of blood, divinations, incantations, readings of devil marks +on sandy foreshores; all right and proper ceremonies were gone through +before there came a night of bright moonlight when the whole Ochori +nation went forth and planted that post. + +Then, I believe, the people of the Ochori, having invested the post +with qualities which it did not possess, went back to their homes and +forgot all about it. Yet if they forgot there were nations who regarded +the devil sign with some awe, and certainly Mimbimi, the newly-arisen +ranger of the forest, who harried the Akasava and the Isisi, and even +the N'gombi-Isisi, must have had full faith in its potency, for he never +moved beyond that border. Once, so legend said, he brought his terrible +warriors to the very edge of the land and paid homage to the innocent +sign-post which Sanders had set up and which announced no more, in plain +English, than trespassers will be prosecuted. Having done his _devoir_ +he retired to his forest lair. His operations were not to go without an +attempted reprisal. Many parties went out against him, notably that +which Tumbilimi the chief of Isisi led. He took a hundred picked men to +avenge the outrage which this intruder had put upon him in daring to +summons him to palaver. + +Now Sugini was an arrogant man, for had he not routed the army of +Bosambo? That Bosambo was not in command made no difference and did not +tarnish the prestige in Tumbilimi's eyes, and though the raids upon his +territory by Mimbimi had been mild, the truculent chief, disdaining the +use of his full army, marched with his select column to bring in the +head and the feet of the man who had dared violate his territory. + +Exactly what happened to Tumbilimi's party is not known; all the men who +escaped from the ambush in which Mimbimi lay give a different account, +and each account creditable to themselves, though the only thing which +stands in their favour is that they did certainly save their lives. +Certainly Tumbilimi, he of the conquering spears, came back no more, and +those parts which he had threatened to detach from his enemy were in +fact detached from him and were discovered one morning at the very gates +of his city for his horrified subjects to marvel at. When warlike +discussions arose, as they did at infrequent intervals, it was the +practice of the people to send complaints to Sanders and leave him to +deal with the matter. You cannot, however, lead an army against a dozen +guerrilla chiefs with any profit to the army as we once discovered in a +country somewhat south of Sanders' domains. Had Mimbimi's sphere of +operations been confined to the river Sanders would have laid him by the +heels quickly enough, because the river brigand is easy to catch since +he would starve in the forest, and if he took to the bush would +certainly come back to the gleaming water for very life. + +But here was a forest man obviously, who needed no river for himself, +but was content to wait watchfully in the dim recesses of the woods. + +Sanders sent three spies to locate him, and gave his attention to the +more immediate problem of his Right Honourable guest. Mr. Joseph Blowter +had decided to make a trip into the interior and the _Zaire_ had been +placed at his disposal. A heaven-sent riot in the bushland, sixty miles +west of the Residency, had relieved both Sanders and Hamilton from the +necessity of accompanying the visitor, and he departed by steamer with a +bodyguard of twenty armed Houssas; more than sufficient in these +peaceful times. + +"What about Mimbimi?" asked Hamilton under his breath as they stood on a +little concrete quay, and watched the _Zaire_ beating out to midstream. + +"Mimbimi is evidently a bushman," said Sanders briefly. "He will not +come to the river. Besides, he is giving the Ochori a wide berth, and it +is to the Ochori that our friend is going. I cannot see how he can +possibly dump himself into mischief." + +Nevertheless, as a matter of precaution, Sanders telegraphed to the +Administration not only the departure, but the precautions he had taken +for the safety of the Minister, and the fact that neither he nor +Hamilton were accompanying him on his tour of inspection "to study on +the spot those problems with which he was so well acquainted." + +"O.K." flashed Bob across the wires, and that was sufficient for +Sanders. Of Mr. Blowter's adventures it is unnecessary to tell in +detail. How he mistook every village for a city, and every city for a +nation, of how he landed wherever he could and spoke long and eloquently +on the blessing of civilization, and the glories of the British +flag--all this through an interpreter--of how he went into the question +of basket-making and fly-fishing, and of how he demonstrated to the +fishermen of the little river a method of catching fish by fly, and how +he did not catch anything. All these matters might be told in great +detail with no particular credit to the subject of the monograph. + +In course of time he came to the Ochori land and was welcomed by Notiki, +who had taken upon himself, on the strength of his rout, the position of +chieftainship. This he did with one eye on the river, ready to bolt the +moment Bosambo's canoe came sweeping round the bend. + +Now Sanders had particularly warned Mr. Blowter that under no +circumstances should he sleep ashore. He gave a variety of reasons, such +as the prevalence of Beri-Beri, the insidious spread of sleeping +sickness, the irritation of malaria-bearing mosquitoes, and of other +insects which it would be impolite to mention in the pages of a family +journal. + +But Notiki had built a new hut as he said especially for his guest, and +Mr. Blowter, no doubt, honoured by the attention which was shown to him, +broke the restricting rule that Sanders had laid down, quitted the +comfortable cabin which had been his home on the river journey, and +slept in the novel surroundings of a native hut. + +How long he slept cannot be told; he was awakened by a tight hand +grasping his throat, and a fierce voice whispering into his ear +something which he rightly understood to be an admonition, a warning and +a threat. + +At any rate, he interpreted it as a request on the part of his captor +that he should remain silent, and to this Mr. Blowter in a blue funk +passively agreed. Three men caught him and bound him deftly with native +rope, a gag was put into his mouth, and he was dragged cautiously +through a hole which the intruders had cut in the walls of Notiki's +dwelling of honour. Outside the hut door was a Houssa sentry and it must +be confessed that he was not awake at the moment of Mr. Blowter's +departure. + +His captors spirited him by back ways to the river, dumped him into a +canoe and paddled with frantic haste to the other shore. + +They grounded their canoe, pulled him--inwardly quaking--to land, and +hurried him to the forest. On their way they met a huntsman who had been +out overnight after a leopard, and in the dark of the dawn the chief of +those who had captured Mr. Blowter addressed the startled man. + +"Go you to the city of Ochori," he said, "and say 'Mimbimi, the high +chief who is lord of the forest of Bim-bi, sends word that he has taken +the fat white lord to his keeping, and he shall hold him for his +pleasure.'" + + +VI + +It would appear from all the correspondence which was subsequently +published that Sanders had particularly warned Mr. Blowter against +visiting the interior, that Sir Robert, that amiable man, had also +expressed a warning, and that the august Government itself had sent a +long and expensive telegram from Downing Street suggesting that a trip +to the Ochori country was inadvisable in the present state of public +feeling. + +The hasty disposition on the part of certain Journals to blame Mr. +Commissioner Sanders and his immediate superior for the kidnapping of so +important a person as a Cabinet Minister was obviously founded upon an +ignorance of the circumstances. + +Yet Sanders felt himself at fault, as a conscientious man always will, +if he has had the power to prevent a certain happening. + +Those loyal little servants of Government, carrier pigeons--went +fluttering east, south and north, a missionary steamer was hastily +requisitioned, and Sanders embarked for the scene of the disappearance. + +Before he left he telegraphed to every likely coast town for Bosambo. + +"If that peregrinating devil had not left his country this would not +have happened," said Sanders irritably; "he must come back and help me +find the lost one." + +Before any answer could come to his telegrams he had embarked, and it is +perhaps as well that he did not wait, since none of the replies were +particularly satisfactory. Bosambo was evidently un-get-at-able, and the +most alarming rumour of all was that which came from Sierra Leone and +was to the effect that Bosambo had embarked for England with the +expressed intention of seeking an interview with a very high personage +indeed. + +Now it is the fact that had Sanders died in the execution of his duty, +died either from fever or as the result of scientific torturing at the +hands of Akasava braves, less than a couple of lines in the London Press +would have paid tribute to the work he had done or the terrible manner +of his passing. + +But a Cabinet Minister, captured by a cannibal tribe, offers in addition +to alliterative possibilities in the headline department, a certain +novelty particularly appealing to the English reader who loves above all +things to have a shock or two with his breakfast bacon. England was +shocked to its depths by the unusual accident which had occurred to the +Right Honourable gentleman, partly because it is unusual for Cabinet +Ministers to find themselves in a cannibal's hands, and partly because +Mr. Blowter himself occupied a very large place in the eye of the public +at home. For the first time in its history the eyes of the world were +concentrated on Sanders' territory, and the Press of the world devoted +important columns to dealing not only with the personality of the man +who had been stolen, because they knew him well, but more or less +inaccurately with the man who was charged with his recovery. + +They also spoke of Bosambo "now on his way to England," and it is a fact +that a small fleet of motor-boats containing pressmen awaited the +incoming coast mail at Plymouth only to discover that their man was not +on board. + +Happily, Sanders was in total ignorance of the stir which the +disappearance created. He knew, of course, that there would be talk +about it, and had gloomy visions of long reports to be written. He would +have felt happier in his mind if he could have identified Mimbimi with +any of the wandering chiefs he had met or had known from time to time. +Mimbimi was literally a devil he did not know. + +Nor could any of the cities or villages which had received a visitation +give the Commissioner more definite data than he possessed. Some there +were who said that Mimbimi was a tall man, very thin, knobbly at the +knees, and was wounded in the foot, so that he limped. Others that he +was short and very ugly, with a large head and small eyes, and that when +he spoke it was in a voice of thunder. + +Sanders wasted no time in useless inquiries. He threw a cloud of spies +and trackers into the forest of Bim-bi and began a scientific search; +snatching a few hours sleep whenever the opportunity offered. But though +the wings of his beaters touched the border line of the Ochori on the +right and the Isisi on the left, and though he passed through places +which hitherto had been regarded as impenetrable on account of divers +devils, yet he found no trace of the cunning kidnapper, who, if the +truth be told, had broken through the lines in the night, dragging an +unwilling and exasperated member of the British Government at the end +of a rope fastened about his person. + +Then messages began to reach Sanders, long telegrams sent up from +headquarters by swift canoe or rewritten on paper as fine as cigarette +paper and sent in sections attached to the legs of pigeons. + +They were irritating, hectoring, worrying, frantic messages. Not only +from the Government, but from the kidnapped man's friends and relatives; +for it seemed that this man had accumulated, in addition to a great deal +of unnecessary information, quite a large and respectable family circle. +Hamilton came up with a reinforcement of Houssas without achieving any +notable result. + +"He has disappeared as if the ground had opened and swallowed him," said +Sanders bitterly. "O! Mimbimi, if I could have you now," he said with +passionate intensity. + +"I am sure you would be very rude to him," said Hamilton soothingly. "He +must be somewhere, my dear chap; do you think he has killed the poor old +bird?" + +Sanders shook his head. + +"The lord knows what he has done or what has happened to him," he said. + +It was at that moment that the messenger came. The _Zaire_ was tied to +the bank of the Upper Isisi on the edge of the forest of Bim-bi, and the +Houssas were bivouacked on the bank, their red fires gleaming in the +gathering darkness. + +The messenger came from the forest boldly; he showed no fear of Houssas, +but walked through their lines, waving his long stick as a bandmaster +will flourish his staff. And when the sentry on the plank that led to +the boat had recovered from the shock of seeing the unexpected +apparition, the man was seized and led before the Commissioner. + +"O, man," said Sanders, "who are you and where do you come from? Tell me +what news you bring." + +"Lord," said the man glibly, "I am Mimbimi's own headman." + +Sanders jumped up from his chair. + +"Mimbimi!" he said quickly; "tell me what message you bring from that +thief!" + +"Lord," said the man, "he is no thief, but a high prince." + +Sanders was peering at him searchingly. + +"It seems to me," he said, "that you are of the Ochori." + +"Lord, I was of the Ochori," said the messenger, "but now I am with +Mimbimi,--his headman, following him through all manners of danger. +Therefore I have no people or nation--wa! Lord, here is my message." + +Sanders nodded. + +"Go on," he said, "messenger of Mimbimi, and let your news be good for +me." + +"Master," said the man, "I come from the great one of the forest who +holds all lives in his two hands, and fears not anything that lives or +moves, neither devil nor Bim-bi nor the ghosts that walk by night nor +the high dragons in the trees----" + +"Get to your message, my man," said Sanders, unpleasantly; "for I have a +whip which bites sharper than the dragons in the trees and moves more +swiftly than m'shamba." + +The man nodded. + +"Thus says Mimbimi," he resumed. "Go you to the place near the Crocodile +River where Sandi sits, say Mimbimi the chief loves him, and because of +his love Mimbimi will do a great thing. Also he said," the man went on, +"and this is the greatest message of all. Before I speak further you +must make a book of my words." + +Sanders frowned. It was an unusual request from a native, for his offer +to be set down in writing. "You might take a note of this, Hamilton," he +said aside, "though why the deuce he wants a note of this made I cannot +for the life of me imagine. Go on, messenger," he said more mildly; "for +as you see my lord Hamilton makes a book." + +"Thus says my lord Mimbimi," resumed the man, "that because of his love +for Sandi he would give you the fat white lord whom he has taken, asking +for no rods or salt in repayment, but doing this because of his love for +Sandi and also because he is a just and a noble man; therefore do I +deliver the fat one into your hands." + +Sanders gasped. + +"Do you speak the truth?" he asked incredulously. + +The man nodded his head. + +"Where is the fat lord?" asked Sanders. This was no time for ceremony or +for polite euphemistic descriptions even of Cabinet Ministers. + +"Master, he is in the forest, less than the length of the village from +here, I have tied him to a tree." + +Sanders raced across the plank and through the Houssa lines, dragging +the messenger by the arm, and Hamilton, with a hastily summoned guard, +followed. They found Joseph Blowter tied scientifically to a gum-tree, a +wedge of wood in his mouth to prevent him speaking, and he was a +terribly unhappy man. Hastily the bonds were loosed, and the gag +removed, and the groaning Cabinet Minister led, half carried to the +_Zaire_. + +He recovered sufficiently to take dinner that night, was full of his +adventures, inclined perhaps to exaggerate his peril, pardonably +exasperated against the man who had led him through so many dangers, +real and imaginary. But, above all things, he was grateful to Sanders. + +He acknowledged that he had got into his trouble through no fault of the +Commissioner. + +"I cannot tell you how sorry I am all this has occurred," said Sanders. + +It was after dinner, and Mr. Blowter in a spotless white suit--shaved, +looking a little more healthy from his enforced exercise, and certainly +considerably thinner, was in the mood to take an amused view of his +experience. + +"One thing I have learnt, Mr. Sanders," he said, "and that is the +extraordinary respect in which you are held in this country. I never +spoke of you to this infernal rascal but that he bowed low, and all his +followers with him; why, they almost worship you!" + +If Mr. Blowter had been surprised by this experience no less surprised +was Sanders to learn of it. + +"This is news to me," he said dryly. + +"That is your modesty, my friend," said the Cabinet Minister with a +benign smile. "I, at any rate, appreciate the fact that but for your +popularity I should have had short shrift from this murderous +blackguard." + +He went down stream the next morning, the _Zaire_ overcrowded with +Houssas. + +"I should have liked to have left a party in the forest," said Sanders; +"I shall not rest until we get this thief Mimbimi by the ear." + +"I should not bother," said Hamilton dryly; "the sobering influence of +your name seems to be almost as potent as my Houssas." + +"Please do not be sarcastic," said Sanders sharply, he was unduly +sensitive on the question of such matters as these. Nevertheless, he was +happy at the end of the adventure, though somewhat embarrassed by the +telegrams of congratulation which were poured upon him not only from the +Administrator but from England. + +"If I had done anything to deserve it I would not mind," he said. + +"That is the beauty of reward," smiled Hamilton; "if you deserve things +you do not get them, if you do not deserve them they come in cartloads, +you have to take the thick with the thin. Think of the telegrams which +ought to have come and did not." + +They took farewell of Mr. Blowter on the beach, the surf-boat waiting to +carry him to a mail steamer decorated for the occasion with strings of +flags. + +"There is one question which I would like to ask you," said Sanders, +"and it is one which for some reason I have forgotten to ask before--can +you describe Mimbimi to me so that I may locate him? He is quite unknown +to us." + +Mr. Blowter frowned thoughtfully. + +"He is difficult to describe! all natives are alike to me," he said +slowly. "He is rather tall, well-made, good-looking for a native, and +talkative." + +"Talkative!" said Sanders quickly. + +"In a way; he can speak a little English," said the Cabinet Minister, +"and evidently has some sort of religious training, because he spoke of +Mark, and Luke, and the various Apostles as one who had studied possibly +at a missionary school." + +"Mark and Luke," almost whispered Sanders, a great light dawning upon +him. "Thank you very much. I think you said he always bowed when my name +was mentioned?" + +"Invariably," smiled the Cabinet Minister. + +"Thank you, sir." Sanders shook hands. + +"O! by the way, Mr. Sanders," said Blowter, turning back from the boat, +"I suppose you know that you have been gazetted C.M.G.?" + +Sanders flushed red and stammered "C.M.G." + +"It is an indifferent honour for one who has rendered such service to +the country as you," said the complacent Mr. Blowter profoundly; "but +the Government feel that it is the least they can do for you after your +unusual effort on my behalf and they have asked me to say to you that +they will not be unmindful of your future." + +He left Sanders standing as though frozen to the spot. + +Hamilton was the first to congratulate him. + +"My dear chap, if ever a man deserved the C.M.G. it is you," he said. + +It would be absurd to say that Sanders was not pleased. He was certainly +not pleased at the method by which it came, but he should have known, +being acquainted with the ways of Governments, that this was the reward +of cumulative merit. He walked back in silence to the Residency, +Hamilton keeping pace by his side. + +"By the way, Sanders," he said, "I have just had a pigeon-post from the +river--Bosambo is back in the Ochori country. Have you any idea how he +arrived there?" + +"I think I have," said Sanders, with a grim little smile, "and I think I +shall be calling on Bosambo very soon." + +But that was a threat he was never destined to put into execution. That +same evening came a wire from Bob. + +"Your leave is granted: Hamilton is to act as Commissioner in your +temporary absence. I am sending Lieutenant Francis Augustus Tibbetts to +take charge of Houssas." + +"And who the devil is Francis Augustus Tibbetts?" said Sanders and +Hamilton with one voice. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +HAMILTON OF THE HOUSSAS + + +Sanders turned to the rail and cast a wistful glance at the low-lying +shore. He saw one corner of the white Residency, showing through the +sparse _isisi_ palm at the end of the big garden--a smudge of green on +yellow from this distance. + +"I hate going--even for six months," he said. + +Hamilton of the Houssas, with laughter in his blue eyes, and his +fumed-oak face--lean and wholesome it was--all a-twitch, whistled with +difficulty. + +"Oh, yes, I shall come back again," said Sanders, answering the question +in the tune. "I hope things will go well in my absence." + +"How can they go well?" asked Hamilton, gently. "How can the Isisi live, +or the Akasava sow his barbarous potatoes, or the sun shine, or the +river run when Sandi Sitani is no longer in the land?" + +"I wouldn't have worried," Sanders went on, ignoring the insult, "if +they'd put a good man in charge; but to give a pudden-headed +soldier----" + +"We thank you!" bowed Hamilton. + +"----with little or no experience----" + +"An insolent lie--and scarcely removed from an unqualified lie!" +murmured Hamilton. + +"To put him in my place!" apostrophized Sanders, tilting back his helmet +the better to appeal to the heavens. + +"'Orrible! 'Orrible!" said Hamilton; "and now I seem to catch the +accusing eye of the chief officer, which means that he wants me to hop. +God bless you, old man!" + +His sinewy paw caught the other's in a grip that left both hands numb at +the finish. + +"Keep well," said Sanders in a low voice, his hand on Hamilton's back, +as they walked to the gangway. "Watch the Isisi and sit on +Bosambo--especially Bosambo, for he is a mighty slippery devil." + +"Leave me to deal with Bosambo," said Hamilton firmly, as he skipped +down the companion to the big boat that rolled and tumbled under the +coarse skin of the ship. + +"I _am_ leaving you," said Sanders, with a chuckle. + +He watched the Houssa pick a finnicking way to the stern of the boat; +saw the solemn faces of his rowmen as they bent their naked backs, +gripping their clumsy oars. And to think that they and Hamilton were +going back to the familiar life, to the dear full days he knew! Sanders +coughed and swore at himself. + +"Oh, Sandi!" called the headman of the boat, as she went lumbering over +the clear green swell, "remember us, your servants!" + +"I will remember, man," said Sanders, a-choke, and turned quickly to his +cabin. + +Hamilton sat in the stern of the surf-boat, humming a song to himself; +but he felt awfully solemn, though in his pocket reposed a commission +sealed redly and largely on parchment and addressed to: "Our +well-beloved Patrick George Hamilton, Lieutenant, of our 133rd 1st Royal +Hertford Regiment. Seconded for service in our 9th Regiment of +Houssas--Greeting...." + +"Master," said his Kroo servant, who waited his landing, "you lib for +dem big house?" + +"I lib," said Hamilton. + +"Dem big house," was the Residency, in which a temporarily appointed +Commissioner must take up his habitation, if he is to preserve the +dignity of his office. + +"Let us pray!" said Hamilton earnestly, addressing himself to a small +snapshot photograph of Sanders, which stood on a side table. "Let us +pray that the barbarian of his kindness will sit quietly till you +return, my Sanders--for the Lord knows what trouble I'm going to get +into before you return!" + +The incoming mail brought Francis Augustus Tibbetts, Lieutenant of the +Houssas, raw to the land, but as cheerful as the devil--a straight stick +of a youth, with hair brushed back from his forehead, a sun-peeled nose, +a wonderful collection of baggage, and all the gossip of London. + +"I'm afraid you'll find I'm rather an ass, sir," he said, saluting +stiffly. "I've only just arrived on the Coast an' I'm simply bubbling +over with energy, but I'm rather short in the brain department." + +Hamilton, glaring at his subordinate through his monocle, grinned +sympathetically. + +"I'm not a whale of erudition myself," he confessed. "What is your name, +sir?" + +"Francis Augustus Tibbetts, sir." + +"I shall call you Bones," said Hamilton, decisively. + +Lieut. Tibbetts saluted. "They called me Conk at Sandhurst, sir," he +suggested. + +"Bones!" said Hamilton, definitely. + +"Bones it is, skipper," said Mr. Tibbetts; "an' now all this beastly +formality is over we'll have a bottle to celebrate things." And a bottle +they had. + +It was a splendid evening they spent, dining on chicken and palm-oil +chop, rice pudding and sweet potatoes. Hamilton sang, "Who wouldn't be a +soldier in the Army?" and--by request--in his shaky falsetto baritone, +"My heart is in the Highlands"; and Lieut. Tibbetts gave a lifelike +imitation of Frank Tinney, which convulsed, not alone his superior +officer, but some two-and-forty men of the Houssas who were unauthorized +spectators through various windows and door cracks and ventilating +gauzes. + +Bones was the son of a man who had occupied a position of some +importance on the Coast, and though the young man's upbringing had been +in England, he had the inestimable advantage of a very thorough +grounding in the native dialect, not only from Tibbetts, senior, but +from the two native servants with whom the boy had grown up. + +"I suppose there is a telegraph line to headquarters?" asked Bones that +night before they parted. + +"Certainly, my dear lad," replied Hamilton. "We had it laid down when we +heard you were coming." + +"Don't flither!" pleaded Bones, giggling convulsively; "but the fact is +I've got a couple of dozen tickets in the Cambridgeshire Sweepstake, an' +a dear pal of mine--chap named Goldfinder, a rare and delicate bird--has +sworn to wire me if I've drawn a horse. D'ye think I'll draw a horse?" + +"I shouldn't think you could draw a cow," said Hamilton. "Go to bed." + +"Look here, Ham----" began Lieut. Bones. + +"To bed! you insubordinate devil!" said Hamilton, sternly. + +In the meantime there was trouble in the Akasava country. + + +II + +Scarcely had Sanders left the land, when the _lokali_ of the Lower Isisi +sent the news thundering in waves of sound. + +Up and down the river and from village to village, from town to town, +across rivers, penetrating dimly to the quiet deeps of the forest the +story was flung. N'gori, the Chief of the Akasava, having some +grievance against the Government over a question of fine for failure to +collect according to the law, waited for no more than this intelligence +of Sandi's going. His swift loud drums called his people to a +dance-of-many-days. A dance-of-many-days spells "spears" and spears +spell trouble. Bosambo heard the message in the still of the early +night, gathered five hundred fighting men, swept down on the Akasava +city in the drunken dawn, and carried away two thousand spears of the +sodden N'gori. + +A sobered Akasava city woke up and rubbed its eyes to find strange +Ochori sentinels in the street and Bosambo in a sky-blue table-cloth, +edged with golden fringe, stalking majestically through the high places +of the city. + +"This I do," said Bosambo to a shocked N'gori, "because my lord Sandi +placed me here to hold the king's peace." + +"Lord Bosambo," said the king sullenly, "what peace do I break when I +summon my young men and maidens to dance?" + +"Your young men are thieves, and it is written that the maidens of the +Akasava are married once in ten thousand moons," said Bosambo calmly; +"and also, N'gori, you speak to a wise man who knows that +clockety-clock-clock on a drum spells war." + +There was a long and embarrassing silence. + +"Now, Bosambo," said N'gori, after a while, "you have my spears and your +young men hold the streets and the river. What will you do? Do you sit +here till Sandi returns and there is law in the land?" + +This was the one question which Bosambo had neither the desire nor the +ability to answer. He might swoop down upon a warlike people, surprising +them to their abashment, rendering their armed forces impotent, but +exactly what would happen afterwards he had not foreseen. + +"I go back to my city," he said. + +"And my spears?" + +"Also they go with me," said Bosambo. + +They eyed each other: Bosambo straight and muscular, a perfect figure of +a man, N'gori grizzled and skinny, his brow furrowed with age. + +"Lord," said N'gori mildly, "if you take my spears you leave me bound to +my enemies. How may I protect my villages against oppression by evil men +of Isisi?" + +Bosambo sniffed--a sure sign of mental perturbation. All that N'gori +said was true. Yet if he left the spears there would be trouble for him. +Then a bright thought flicked: + +"If bad men come you shall send for me and I will bring my fine young +soldiers. The palaver is finished." + +With this course N'gori must feign agreement. He watched the departing +army--paddlers sitting on swathes of filched spears. Once Bosambo was +out of sight, N'gori collected all the convertible property of his city +and sent it in ten canoes to the edge of the N'gombi country, for +N'gombi folk are wonderful makers of spears and have a saleable stock +hidden against emergency. + +For the space of a month there was enacted a comedy of which Hamilton +was ignorant. Three days after Bosambo had returned in triumph to his +city, there came a frantic call for succour--a rolling, terrified +rat-a-plan of sound which the _lokali_ man of the Ochori village read. + +"Lord," said he, waking Bosambo in the dead of night, "there has come +down a signal from the Akasava, who are pressed by their enemies and +have no spears." + +Bosambo was in the dark street instanter, his booming war-drum calling +urgently. Twenty canoes filled with fighting men, paddling desperately +with the stream, raced to the aid of the defenceless Akasava. + +At dawn, on the beach of the city, N'gori met his ally. "I thank all my +little gods you have come, my lord," said he, humbly; "for in the night +one of my young men saw an Isisi army coming against us." + +"Where is the army?" demanded a weary Bosambo. + +"Lord, it has not come," said N'gori, glibly; "for hearing of your +lordship and your swift canoes, I think it had run away." + +Bosambo's force paddled back to the Ochori city the next day. Two nights +after, the call was repeated--this time with greater detail. An N'gombi +force of countless spears had seized the village of Doozani and was +threatening the capital. + +Again Bosambo carried his spears to a killing, and again was met by an +apologetic N'gori. + +"Lord, it was a lie which a sick maiden spread," he explained, "and my +stomach is filled with sorrow that I should have brought the mighty +Bosambo from his wife's bed on such a night." For the dark hours had +been filled with rain and tempest, and Bosambo had nearly lost one canoe +by wreck. + +"Oh, fool!" said he, justly exasperated, "have I nothing to do--I, who +have all Sandi's high and splendid business in hand--but I must come +through the rain because a sick maiden sees visions?" + +"Bosambo, I am a fool," agreed N'gori, meekly, and again his rescuer +returned home. + +"Now," said N'gori, "we will summon a secret palaver, sending messengers +for all men to assemble at the rise of the first moon. For the N'gombi +have sent me new spears, and when next the dog Bosambo comes, weary with +rowing, we will fall upon him and there will be no more Bosambo left; +for Sandi is gone and there is no law in the land." + + +III + +Curiously enough, at that precise moment, the question of law was a very +pressing one with two young Houssa officers who sat on either side of +Sanders' big table, wet towels about their heads, mastering the +intricacies of the military code; for Tibbetts was entering for an +examination and Hamilton, who had only passed his own by a fluke, had +rashly offered to coach him. + +"I hope you understand this, Bones," said Hamilton, staring up at his +subordinate and running his finger along the closely printed pages of +the book before him. + +"'Any person subject to military law,'" read Hamilton impressively, +"'who strikes or ill-uses his superior officer shall, if an officer, +suffer death or such less punishment as in this Act mentioned.' Which +means," said Hamilton, wisely, "that if you and I are in action and you +call me a liar, and I give you a whack on the jaw----" + +"You get shot," said Bones, admiringly, "an' a rippin' good idea, too!" + +"If, on the other hand," Hamilton went on, "I called you a liar--which I +should be justified in doing--and you give me a whack on the jaw, I'd +make you sorry you were ever born." + +"That's military law, is it?" asked Bones, curiously. + +"It is," said Hamilton. + +"Then let's chuck it," said Bones, and shut up his book with a bang. "I +don't want any book to teach me what to do with a feller that calls me a +liar. I'll go you one game of picquet, for nuts." + +"You're on," said Hamilton. + + * * * * * + +"My nuts I think, sir." + +Bones carefully counted the heap which his superior had pushed over, +"And--hullo! what the dooce do you want?" + +Hamilton followed the direction of the other's eyes. A man stood in the +doorway, naked but for the wisp of skirt at his waist. Hamilton got up +quickly, for he recognized the chief of Sandi's spies. + +"O Kelili," said Hamilton in his easy Bomongo tongue, "why do you come +and from whence?" + +"From the island over against the Ochori, Lord," croaked the man, +dry-throated. "Two pigeons I sent, but these the hawks took--a fisherman +saw one taken by the Kasai, and my own brother, who lives in the Village +of Irons, saw the other go--though he flew swiftly." + +Hamilton's grave face set rigidly, for he smelt trouble. You do not send +pleasant news by pigeons. + +"Speak," he said. + +"Lord," said Kelili, "there is to be a killing palaver between the +Ochori and the Akasava on the first rise of the full moon, for N'gori +speaks of Bosambo evilly, and says that the Chief has raided him. In +what manner these things will come about," Kelili went on, with the +lofty indifference of one who had done his part of the business, so that +he had left no room for carelessness, "I do not know, but I have warned +all eyes of the Government to watch." + +Bones followed the conversation without difficulty. + +"What do people say?" asked Hamilton. + +"Lord, they say that Sandi has gone and there is no law." + +Hamilton of the Houssas grinned. "Oh, ain't there?" said he, in English, +vilely. + +"Ain't there?" repeated an indignant Bones, "we'll jolly well show old +Thinggumy what's what." + +Bosambo received an envoy from the Chief of the Akasava, and the envoy +brought with him presents of dubious value and a message to the effect +that N'gori spent much of his waking moments in wondering how he might +best serve his brother Bosambo, "The right arm on which I and my people +lean and the bright eyes through which I see beauty." + +Bosambo returned the messenger, with presents more valueless, and an +assurance of friendship more sonorous, more complete in rhetoric and +aptness of hyperbole, and when the messenger had gone Bosambo showed his +appreciation of N'gori's love by doubling the guard about the Ochori +city and sending a strong picket under his chief headman to hold the +river bend. + +"Because," said this admirable philosopher, "life is like certain roots: +some that taste sweet and are bitter in the end, and some that are vile +to the lips and pleasant to the stomach." + +It was a wild night, being in the month of rains. M'shimba M'shamba was +abroad, walking with his devastating feet through the forest, plucking +up great trees by their roots and tossing them aside as though they +were so many canes. There was a roaring of winds and a crashing of +thunders, and the blue-white lightning snicked in and out of the forest +or tore sprawling cracks in the sky. In the Ochori city they heard the +storm grumbling across the river and were awakened by the incessant +lightning--so incessant that the weaver birds who lived in palms that +fringed the Ochori streets came chattering to life. + +It was too loud a noise, that M'shimba M'shamba made for the _lokali_ +man of the Ochori to hear the message that N'gori sent--the +panic-message designed to lure Bosambo to the newly-purchased spears. + +Bones heard it--Bones, standing on the bridge of the _Zaire_ pounding +away upstream, steaming past the Akasava city in a sheet of rain. + +"Wonder what the jolly old row is?" he muttered to himself, and summoned +his sergeant. "Ali," said he, in faultless Arabic, "what beating of +drums are these?" + +"Lord," said the sergeant, uneasily, "I do not know, unless they be to +warn us not to travel at night. I am your man, Master," said he in a +fret, "yet never have I travelled with so great a fear: even our Lord +Sandi does not move by night, though the river is his own child." + +"It is written," said Bones, cheerfully, and as the sergeant saluted and +turned away, the reckless Houssa made a face at the darkness. "If old +man Ham would give me a month or two on the river," he mused, "I'd set +'em alight, by Jove!" + +By the miraculous interposition of Providence Bones reached the Ochori +village in the grey clouded dawn, and Bosambo, early astir, met the lank +figure of the youth, his slick sword dangling, his long revolver holster +strapped to his side, and his helmet on the back of his head, an eager +warrior looking for trouble. + +"Lord, of you I have heard," said Bosambo, politely; "here in the Ochori +country we talk of no other thing than the new, thin Lord whose +beautiful nose is like the red flowers of the forest." + +"Leave my nose alone," said Bones, unpleasantly, "and tell me, Chief, +what killing palaver is this I hear? I come from Government to right all +wrongs--this is evidently his nibs, Bosambo." The last passage was in +his own native tongue and Bosambo beamed. + +"Yes, sah!" said he in the English of the Coast. "I be Bosambo, good +chap, fine chap; you, sah, you look um--you see um--Bosambo!" + +He slapped his chest and Bones unbent. + +"Look here, old sport," he said affably: "what the dooce is all this +shindy about--hey?" + +"No shindy, sah!" said Bosambo--being sure that all people of his city +were standing about at a respectful distance, awe-stricken by the sight +of their chief on equal terms with this new white lord. + +"Dem feller he lib for Akasava, sah--he be bad feller: I be good +feller, sah--C'istian, sah! Matt'ew, Marki, Luki, Johni--I savvy dem +fine." + +Happily, Bones continued the conversation in the tongue of the land. +Then he learned of the dance which Bosambo had frustrated, of the spears +taken, and these he saw stacked in three huts. + +Bones, despite the character he gave himself, was no fool, and, +moreover, he had the advantage of knowing of the new N'gombi spears that +were going out to the Akasava day by day; and when Bosambo told of the +midnight summons that had come to him, Bones did the rapid exercise of +mental figuring which is known as putting two and two together. + +He wagged his head when Bosambo had finished his recital, did this +general of twenty-one. "You're a jolly old sportsman, Bosambo," he said +very seriously, "and you're in the dooce of a hole, if you only knew it. +But you trust old Bones--he'll see you through. By Gad!" + +Bosambo, bewildered but resourceful, hearing, without understanding, +replied: "I be fine feller, sah!" + +"You bet your life you are, old funnyface," agreed Bones, and screwed +his eyeglass in the better to survey his protégé. + + +IV + +Chief N'gori organized a surprise party for Bosambo, and took so much +trouble with the details, that, because of his sheer thoroughness, he +deserved to have succeeded. _Lokali_ men concealed in the bush were +waiting to announce the coming of the rescue party, when N'gori sent his +cry for help crashing across the world. Six hundred spearmen stood ready +to embark in fifty canoes, and five hundred more waited on either bank +ready to settle with any survivors of the Ochori who found their way to +land. + +The best of plans are subject to the banal reservation, "weather +permitting," and the signal intended to bring Bosambo to his destruction +was swallowed up in the bellowings of the storm. + +"This night being fine," said N'gori, showing his teeth, "Bosambo will +surely come." + +His Chief Counsellor, an ancient man of the royal tribe,[2] had +unexpected warnings to offer. A man had seen a man, who had caught a +glimpse of the _Zaire_ butting her way upstream in the dead of night. +Was it wise, when the devil Sandi waited to smite, and so close at hand, +to engage in so high an adventure? + +[Footnote 2: That which I call the Akasava proper is the very small, +dominant clan of a tribe which is loosely called "Akasava," but is +really Bowongo.] + +"Old man, there is a hut in the forest for you," said N'gori, with +significance, and the Counsellor wilted, because the huts in the forest +are for the sick, the old, and the mad, and here they are left to starve +and die; "for," N'gori went on, "all men know that Sandi has gone to his +people across the black waters, and the M'ilitani rules. Also, in +nights of storms there are men who see even devils." + +With more than ordinary care he prepared for the final settling with +Bosambo the Robber, and there is a suggestion that he was encouraged by +the chiefs of other lands, who had grown jealous of the Ochori and their +offensive rectitude. Be that as it may, all things were made ready, even +to the knives of sacrifice and the young saplings which had not been +employed by the Akasava for their grisly work since the Year of +Hangings. + +At an hour before midnight the tireless _lokali_ sent out its call: + + "We of the Akasava" (four long rolls and a quick + succession of taps) + + "Danger threatens" (a long roll, a short roll, + and a triple tap-tap) + + "Isisi fighting" (rolls punctuated by shorter + tattoos) + + "Come to me" (a long crescendo roll and + patter of taps) + + "Ochori" (nine rolls, curiously like + the yelping of a dog) + +So the message went out: every village heard and repeated. The Isisi +threw the call northward; the N'gombi village, sent it westward, and +presently first the Isisi, then the N'gombi, heard the faint answer: +"Coming--the Breaker of Lives," and returned the message to N'gori. + +"Now I shall also break lives," said N'gori, and sacrificed a goat to +his success. + +Sixteen hundred fighting men waited for the signal from the hidden +_lokali_ player, on the far side of the river bend. At the first hollow +rattle of his sticks, N'gori pushed off in his royal canoe. + +"Kill!" he roared, and went out in the white light of dawn to greet ten +Ochori canoes, riding in fanshape formation, having as their centre a +white and speckless _Zaire_ alive with Houssas and overburdened with the +slim muzzles of Hotchkiss guns. + +"Oh, Ko!" said N'gori dismally, "this is a bad palaver!" + + * * * * * + +In the centre of his city, before a reproving squad of Houssas, a dumb +man, taken in the act of armed aggression, N'gori stood. + +"You're a naughty boy," said Bones, reproachfully, "and if jolly old +Sanders were here--my word, you'd catch it!" + +N'gori listened to the unknown tongue, worried by its mystery. "Lord, +what happens to me?" he asked. + +Bones looked very profound and scratched his head. He looked at the +Chief, at Bosambo, at the river all aglow in the early morning sunlight, +at the _Zaire_, with her sinister guns a-glitter, and then back at the +Chief. He was not well versed in the dialect of the Akasava, and Bosambo +must be his interpreter. + +"Very serious offence, old friend," said Bones, solemnly; "awfully +serious--muckin' about with spears and all that sort of thing. I'll have +to make a dooce of an example of you--yes, by Heaven!" + +Bosambo heard and imperfectly understood. He looked about for a likely +tree where an unruly chief might sway with advantage to the community. + +"You're a bad, bad boy," said Bones, shaking his head; "tell him." + +"Yes, sah!" said Bosambo. + +"Tell him he's fined ten dollars." + +But Bosambo did not speak: there are moments too full for words and this +was one of them. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE DISCIPLINARIANS + + +Lieutenant Augustus Tibbetts of the Houssas stood at attention before +his chief. He stood as straight as a ramrod, his hands to his sides, his +eyeglass jammed in his eye, and Hamilton of the Houssas looked at him +sorrowfully. + +"Bones, you're an ass!" he said at last. + +"Yes, sir," said Bones. + +"I sent you to Ochori to prevent a massacre, you catch a chief in the +act of ambushing an enemy and instead of chucking him straight into the +Village of Iron you fine him ten dollars." + +"Yes, sir," said Bones. + +There was a painful pause. + +"Well, you're an ass!" said Hamilton, who could think of nothing better +to say. + +"Yes, sir," said Bones; "I think you're repeating yourself, sir. I seem +to have heard a similar observation before." + +"You've made Bosambo and the whole of the Ochori as sick as monkeys, and +you've made me look a fool." + +"Hardly my responsibility, sir," said Bones, gently. + +"I hardly know what to do with you," said Hamilton, drawing his pipe +from his pocket and slowly charging it. "Naturally, Bones, I can never +let you loose again on the country." He lit his pipe and puffed +thoughtfully. "And of course----" + +"Pardon me, sir," said Bones, still uncomfortably erect, "this is +intended to be a sort of official inquiry an' all that sort of thing, +isn't it?" + +"It is," said Hamilton. + +"Well, sir," said Bones, "may I ask you not to smoke? When a chap's +honour an' reputation an' all that sort of thing is being weighed in the +balance, sir, believe me, smokin' isn't decent--it isn't really, sir." + +Hamilton looked round for something to throw at his critic and found a +tolerably heavy book, but Bones dodged and fielded it dexterously. "And +if you must chuck things at me, sir," he added, as he examined the title +on the back of the missile, "will you avoid as far as possible usin' the +sacred volumes of the Army List? It hurts me to tell you this, sir, but +I've been well brought up." + +"What's the time?" asked Hamilton, and his second-in-command examined +his watch. + +"Ten to tiffin," he said. "Good Lord, we've been gassin' an hour. Any +news from Sanders?" + +"He's in town--that's all I know--but don't change the serious subject, +Bones. Everybody is awfully disgusted with you--Sanders would have at +least brought him to trial." + +"I couldn't do it, sir," said Bones, firmly. "Poor old bird! He looked +such an ass, an' moreover reminded me so powerfully of an aunt of mine +that I simply couldn't do it." + +No doubt but that Lieut. Francis Augustus Tibbetts of the Houssas, with +his sun-burnt nose, his large saucer eyes, and his air of solemn +innocence, had shaken the faith of the impressionable folk. This much +Hamilton was to learn: for Tibbetts had been sent with a party of +Houssas to squash effectively an incipient rebellion in the Akasava, and +having caught N'gori in the very act of most treacherously and most +damnably preparing an ambush for a virtuous Bosambo, Chief of the +Ochori, had done no more than fine him ten dollars. + +And this was in a land where even the Spanish dollar had never been seen +save by Bosambo, who was reported to have more than his share of silver +in a deep hole beneath the floor of his hut. + +Small wonder that Captain Hamilton held an informal court-martial of +one, the closing stages of which I have described, and sentenced his +wholly inefficient subordinate to seven days' field exercise in the +forest with half a company of Houssas. + +"Oh, dash it, you don't mean that?" asked Bones in dismay when the +finding of the court was conveyed to him at lunch. + +"I do," said Hamilton firmly. "I'd be failing in my job of work if I +didn't make you realize what a perfect ass you are." + +"Perfect--yes," protested Bones, "ass--no. Fact is, dear old fellow, +I've a temperament. You aren't going to make me go about in that +beastly forest diggin' rifle pits an' pitchin' tents an' all that sort +of dam' nonsense; it's too grisly to think about." + +"None the less," said Hamilton, "you will do it whilst I go north to sit +on the heads of all who endeavour to profit by your misguided leniency. +I shall be back in time for the Administration Inspection--don't for the +love of heaven forget that His Excellency----" + +"Bless his jolly old heart!" murmured Bones. + +"That His Excellency is paying his annual visit on the twenty-first." + +A ray of hope shot through the gloom of Lieut. Tibbetts' mind. + +"Under the circumstances, dear old friend, don't you think it would be +best to chuck that silly idea of field training? What about sticking up +a board and gettin' the chaps to paint, 'Welcome to the United +Territories,' or 'God bless our Home,' or something." + +Hamilton withered him with a glance. + +His last words, shouted from the bridge of the _Zaire_ as her stern +wheel went threshing ahead, were, "Remember, Bones! No shirking!" + +_"Honi soit qui mal y pense_!" roared Bones. + + +II + +Hamilton had evidence enough of the effect which the leniency of his +subordinate had produced. News travels fast, and the Akasava are great +talkers. Hamilton, coming to the Isisi city on his way up the river, +found a crowd on the beach to watch his mooring, their arms folded +hugging their sides--sure gesture of indifferent idleness--but neither +the paramount chief, nor his son, nor any of his counsellors awaited the +steamer to pay their respects. + +Hamilton sent for them and still they did not come, sending a message +that they were sick. So Hamilton went striding through the street of the +city, his long sword flapping at his side, four Houssas padding swiftly +in his rear at their curious jog-trot. B'sano, the young chief of the +Isisi, came out lazily from his hut and stood with outstretched feet and +arms akimbo watching the nearing Houssa, and he had no fear, for it was +said that now Sandi was away from the country no man had the authority +to punish. + +And the counsellors behind B'sano had their bunched spears and their +wicker-work shields, contrary to all custom--as Sanders had framed the +custom. + +"O chief," said Hamilton, with that ready smile of his, "I waited for +you and you did not come." + +"Soldier," said B'sano, insolently, "I am the king of these people and +answerable to none save my lord Sandi, who, as you know, is gone from +us." + +"That I know," said the patient Houssa, "and because it is in my heart +to show all people what manner of law Sandi has left behind, I fine you +and your city ten thousand _matakos_ that you shall remember that the +law lives, though Sandi is in the moon, though all rulers change and +die." + +A slow gleam of contempt came to the chief's eyes. + +"Soldier," said he, "I do not pay _matako--wa_!" + +He stumbled back, his mouth agape with fear. The long barrel of +Hamilton's revolver rested coldly on his bare stomach. + +"We will have a fire," said Hamilton, and spoke to his sergeant in +Arabic. "Here in the centre of the city we will make a fire of proud +shields and unlawful spears." + +One by one the counsellors dropped their wicker shields upon the fire +which the Houssa sergeant had kindled, and as they dropped them, the +sergeant scientifically handcuffed the advisers of the Isisi chief in +couples. + +"You shall find other counsellors, B'sano," said Hamilton, as the men +were led to the _Zaire_. "See that I do not come bringing with me a new +chief." + +"Lord," said the chief humbly, "I am your dog." + +Not alone was B'sano at fault. Up and down the road old grievances +awaited settlement: there were scores to adjust, misunderstandings to +remove. Mostly these misunderstandings had to do with important +questions of tribal superiority and might only be definitely tested by +sanguinary combat. + +Also picture a secret order, ruthlessly suppressed by Sanders, and +practised by trembling men, each afraid of the other despite their +oaths; and the fillip it received when the news went forth--"Sandi has +gone--there is no law." + +This was a fine time for the dreamers of dreams and for the men who saw +portends and understood the wisdom of Ju-jus. + +Bemebibi, chief of the Lesser Isisi, was too fat a man for a dreamer, +for visions run with countable ribs and a cough. Nor was he tall nor +commanding by any standard. He had broad shoulders and a short neck. His +head was round, and his eyes were cunning and small. He was an irritable +man, had a trick of beating his counsellors when they displeased him, +and was a ready destroyer of men. + +Some say that he practised sacrifice in the forests, he and the members +of his society, but none spoke with any certainty or authority, for +Bemebibi was chief, alike of a community and an order. In the Lesser +Isisi alone, the White Ghosts had flourished in spite of every effort of +the Administration to stamp them out. + +It was a society into which the hazardous youth of the Isisi were +initiated joyfully, for there is little difference in the temperament of +youth, whether it wears a cloth about its loins or lavender spats upon +its feet. + +Thus it came about that one-half of the adult male population of the +Lesser Isisi, had sworn by the letting of blood and the rubbing of salt: + + (1) To hop upon one foot for a spear's length every night and + morning. + + (2) To love all ghosts and speak gently of devils. + + (3) To be dumb and blind and to throw spears swiftly for the love + of the White Ghosts. + +One night Bemebibi went into the forest with six highmen of his order. +They came to a secret place at a pool, and squatted in a circle, each +man laying his hands on the soles of his feet in the prescribed fashion. + +"Snakes live in holes," said Bemebibi conventionally. "Ghosts dwell by +water and all devils sit in the bodies of little birds." + +This they repeated after him, moving their heads from side to side +slowly. + +"This is a good night," said the chief, when the ritual was ended, "for +now I see the end of our great thoughts. Sandi is gone and M'ilitini is +by the place where the three rivers meet, and he has come in fear. Also +by magic I have learnt that he is terrified because he knows me to be an +awful man. Now, I think, it is time for all ghosts to strike swiftly." + +He spoke with emotion, swaying his body from side to side after the +manner of orators. His voice grew thick and husky as the immensity of +his design grew upon him. + +"There is no law in the land," he sang. "Sandi has gone, and only a +little, thin man punishes in fear. M'ilitini has blood like water--let +us sacrifice." + +One of his highmen disappeared into the dark forest and came back soon, +dragging a half-witted youth, named Ko'so, grinning and mumbling and +content till the curved N'gombi knife, that his captor wielded, came +"snack" to his neck and then he spoke no more. + +Too late Hamilton came through the forest with his twenty Houssas. +Bemebibi saw the end and was content to make a fight for it, as were his +partners in crime. + +"Use your bayonets," said Hamilton briefly, and flicked out his long, +white sword. Bemebibi lunged at him with his stabbing spear, and +Hamilton caught the poisoned spearhead on the steel guard, touched it +aside, and drove forward straight and swiftly from his shoulder. + +"Bury all these men," said Hamilton, and spent a beastly night in the +forest. + +So passed Bemebibi, and his people gave him up to the ghosts, him and +his highmen. + +There were other problems less tragic, to be dealt with, a Bosambo +rather grieved than sulking, a haughty N'gori to be kicked to a sense of +his unimportance, chiefs, major and minor, to be brought into a +condition of penitence. + +Hamilton went zigzagging up the river swiftly. He earned for himself in +those days the name of "Dragon-fly," or its native equivalent, and the +illustration was apt, for it seemed that the _Zaire_ would poise, +buzzing angrily, then dart off in unexpected directions, and the spirit +of complacency which had settled upon the land gave place to one of +apprehension, which, in the old days, followed the arrival of Sanders in +a mood of reprisal. + +Hamilton sent a letter by canoe to his second-in-command. It started +simply: + +"Bones--I will not call you 'dear Bones,'" it went on with a hint of the +rancour in the writer's heart, "for you are not dear to me. I am +striving to clear up the mess you have made so that when His Excellency +arrives I shall be able to show him a law-abiding country. I have missed +you, Bones, but had you been near on more occasion than one, I should +not have missed you. Bones, were you ever kicked as a boy? Did any good +fellow ever get you by the scruff of your neck and the seat of your +trousers and chuck you into an evil-smelling pond? Try to think and send +me the name of the man who did this, that I may send him a letter of +thanks. + +"Your absurd weakness has kept me on the move for days. Oh, Bones, +Bones! I am in a sweat, lest even now you are tampering with the +discipline of my Houssas--lest you are handing round tea and cake to the +Alis and Ahmets and Mustaphas of my soldiers; lest you are brightening +their evenings with imitations of Frank Tinney and fanning the flies +from their sleeping forms," the letter went on. + +"Cad!" muttered Bones, as he read this bit. + +There were six pages couched in this strain, and at the end six more of +instruction. Bones was in the forest when the letter came to him, +unshaven, weary, and full of trouble. + +He hated work, he loathed field exercise, he regarded bridge-building +over imaginary streams, and the whole infernal curriculum of military +training, as being peculiarly within the province of the boy scouts and +wholly beneath the dignity of an officer of the Houssas. And he felt +horribly guilty as he read Hamilton's letter, for the night before it +came he had most certainly entertained his company with a banjo +rendering of the Soldiers' Chorus from "Faust." + +He rumpled his beautiful hair, jammed down his helmet, squared his +shoulders, and, with a fiendish expression on his face--an expression +intended by Bones to represent a stern, unbending devotion to duty, he +stepped forth from his tent determined to undo what mischief he had +done, and earn, if not the love, at least the respect of his people. + + +III + +There is in all services a subtle fear and hope. They have to do less +with material consequence than with a sense of harmony which rejects the +discordance of failure. Also Hamilton was a human man, who, whilst he +respected Sanders and had a profound regard for his qualities, nourished +a secret faith that he might so carry on the work of the heaven-born +Commissioner without demanding the charity of his superiors. + +He wished--not unnaturally--to spread a triumphant palm to his country +and say "Behold! There are the talents that Sanders left--I have +increased them, by my care, twofold." + +He came down stream in some haste having completed the work of +pacification and stopped at the Village of Irons long enough to hand to +the Houssa warder four unhappy counsellors of the Isisi king. + +"Keep these men for service against our lord Sandi's return." + +At Bosinkusu he was delayed by a storm, a mad, whirling brute of a storm +that lashed the waters of the river and swept the _Zaire_ broadside on +towards the shore. At M'idibi, the villagers, whose duty it was to cut +and stack wood for the Government steamers, had gone into a forest to +meet a celebrated witch doctor, gambling on the fact that there was +another wooding village ten miles down stream and that Hamilton would +choose that for the restocking of his boat. + +So that beyond a thin skeleton pile of logs on the river's edge--set up +to deceive the casual observer as he passed and approved of their +industry--there was no wood and Hamilton had to set his men to +wood-cutting. + +He had nearly completed the heart-breaking work when the villagers +returned in a body, singing an unmusical song and decked about with +ropes of flowers. + +"Now," explained the headman, "we have been to a palaver with a holy man +and he has promised us that some day there will come to us a great +harvest of corn which will be reaped by magic and laid at our doors +whilst we sleep." + +"And I," said the exasperated Houssa, "promise you a great harvest of +whips that, so far from coming in your sleep, will keep you awake." + +"Master, we did not know that you would come so soon," said the humble +headman; "also there was a rumour that your lordship had been drowned in +the storm and your _puc-a-puc_ sunk, and my young men were happy because +there would be no more wood to cut." + +The _Zaire_, fuel replenished, slipped down the river, Hamilton leaning +over the rail promising unpleasant happenings as the boat drifted out +from the faithless village. He had cut things very fine, and could do no +more than hope that he would reach headquarters an hour or so before the +Administrator arrived by the mail-boat. If Bones could be trusted there +would be no cause for worry. Bones should have the men's quarters +whitewashed, the parade ground swept and garnished, and stores in +excellent order for inspection, and all the books on hand for the +Accountant-General to glance over. + +But Bones! + +Hamilton writhed internally at the thought of Francis Augustus and his +inefficiency. + +He had sent his second the most elaborate instructions, but if he knew +his man, the languid Bones would do no more than pass those instructions +on to a subordinate. + +It was ten o'clock on the morning of the inspection that the _Zaire_ +came paddling furiously to the tiny concrete quay, and Hamilton gave a +sigh of relief. For there, awaiting him, stood Lieutenant Tibbetts in +the glory of his raiment--helmet sparkling white, steel hilt of sword +a-glitter, khaki uniform, spotless and well-fitting. + +"Everything is all right, sir," said Bones, saluting, and Hamilton +thought he detected a gruffer and more robust note in the tone. + +"Mail-boat's just in, sir," Bones went on with unusual fierceness. +"You're in time to meet His Excellency. Stores all laid out, books in +trim, parade ground and quarters whitewashed as per your jolly old +orders, sir." + +He saluted again, his eyes bulging, his face a veritable mask of +ferocity, and, turning on his heel, he led the way to the beach. + +"Here, hold hard!" said Hamilton; "what the dickens is the matter with +you?" + +"Seen the error of my ways, sir," growled Bones, again saluting +punctiliously. "I've been an ass, sir--too lenient--given you a lot of +trouble--shan't occur again." + +There was not time to ask any further questions. + +The two men had to run to reach the landing place in time, for the surf +boats were at that moment rolling to the yellow beach. + +Sir Robert Sanleigh, in spotless white, was carried ashore, and his +staff followed. + +"Ah, Hamilton," said the great Bob, "everything all right?" + +"Yes, your Excellency," said Hamilton, "there have been one or two +serious killing palavers on which I will report." + +Sir Robert nodded. + +"You were bound to have a little trouble as soon as Sanders went," he +said. + +He was a methodical man and had little time for the work at hand, for +the mail-boat was waiting to carry him to another station. Books, +quarters, and stores were in apple-pie order, and inwardly Hamilton +raised his voice in praise of the young man, who strode silently and +fiercely by his side, his face still distorted with a new-found +fierceness. + +"The Houssas are all right, I suppose?" asked Sir Robert. "Discipline +good--no crime?" + +"The discipline is excellent, sir," replied Hamilton, heartily, "and we +haven't had any serious crime for years." + +Sir Robert Sanleigh fixed his _pince-nez_ upon his nose and looked round +the parade ground. A dozen Houssas in two ranks stood at attention in +the centre. + +"Where are the rest of your men?" asked the Administrator. + +"In gaol, sir." It was Bones who answered the question. + +Hamilton gasped. + +"In gaol--I'm sorry--but I knew nothing for this. I've just arrived from +the interior, your Excellency." + +They walked across to the little party. + +"Where is Sergeant Abiboo?" asked Hamilton suddenly. + +"In gaol, sir," said Bones, promptly, "sentenced to death--scratchin' +his leg on parade after bein' warned repeatedly by me to give up the +disgusting habit." + +"Where is Corporal Ahmet, Bones?" asked the frantic Hamilton. + +"In gaol, sir," said Bones. "I gave him twenty years for talkin' in the +ranks an' cheekin' me when I told him to shut up. There's a whole lot of +them, sir," he went on casually. "I sentenced two chaps to death for +fightin' in the lines, an' gave another feller ten years for----" + +"I think that will do," said Sir Robert, tactfully. "A most excellent +inspection, Captain Hamilton--now, I think, I'll get back to my ship." + +He took Hamilton aside on the beach. + +"What did you call that young man?" he asked. + +"Bones, your Excellency," said Hamilton miserably. + +"I should call him Blood and Bones," smiled His Excellency, as he shook +hands. + + * * * * * + +"What's the good of bullyin' me, dear old chap?" asked Bones +indignantly. "If I let a chap off, I'm kicked, an' if I punish him I'm +kicked--it's enough to make a feller give up bein' judicial----" + +"Bones, you're a goop," said Hamilton, in despair. + +"A goop, sir?--if you'd be kind enough to explain----?" + +"There's an ass," said Hamilton, ticking off one finger; "and there's a +silly ass," he ticked off the second; "and there's a silly ass who is +such a silly ass that he doesn't know what a silly ass he is: we call +him a goop." + +"Thank you, sir," said Bones, without resentment, "and which is the +goop, you or----?" + +Hamilton dropped his hand on his revolver butt, and for a moment there +was murder in his eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE LOST N'BOSINI + + +"M'ilitani, there is a bad palaver in the N'bosini country," said the +gossip-chief of the Lesser Isisi, and wagged his head impressively. + +Hamilton of the Houssas rose up from his camp chair and stretched +himself to his full six feet. His laughing eyes--terribly blue they +looked in the mahogany setting of his lean face--quizzed the chief, and +his clean-shaven lips twitched ever so slightly. + +Chief Idigi looked at him curiously. Idigi was squat and fat, but wise. +None the less he gossiped, for, as they say on the river, "Even the wise +_oochiri_ is a chatterer." + +"O, laughing Lord," said Idigi, almost humble in his awe--for blue eyes +in a brown face are a great sign of devilry, "this is no smiling +palaver, for they say----" + +"Idigi," interrupted Hamilton, "I smile when you speak of the N'bosini, +because there is no such land. Even Sandi, who has wisdom greater than +_ju-ju_, he says that there is no N'bosini, but that it is the foolish +talk of men who cannot see whence come their troubles and must find a +land and a people and a king out of their mad heads. Go back to your +village, Idigi, telling all men that I sit here for a spell in the place +of my lord Sandi, and if there be, not one king of N'bosini, but a +score, and if he lead, not one army, but three and three and three, I +will meet him with my soldiers and he shall go the way of the bad king." + +Idigi, unconvinced, shaking his head, said a doubtful "_Wa!_" and would +continue upon his agreeable subject--for he was a lover of ghosts. + +"Now," said he, impressively, "it is said that on the night before the +moon came, there was seen, on the edge of the lake-forest, ten warriors +of the N'bosini, with spears of fire and arrows tipped with stars, +also----" + +"Go to the devil!" said Hamilton, cheerfully. "The palaver is finished." + +Later, he watched Idigi--so humble a man that he never travelled with +more than four paddlers--winding his slow way up stream--and Hamilton +was not laughing. + +He went back to his canvas chair before the Residency, and sat for half +an hour, alternately pinching and rubbing his bare arms--he was in his +shirt sleeves--in a reverie which was not pleasant. + +Here Lieutenant Augustus Tibbetts, returning from an afternoon's +fishing, with a couple of weird-looking fish as his sole catch, found +him and would have gone on with a little salute. + +"Bones!" called Hamilton, softly. + +Bones swung round. "Sir!" he said stiffly. + +"Come off your horse, Bones," coaxed Hamilton. + +"Not me," replied Bones; "I've finished with you, dear old fellow; as an +officer an' a gentleman you've treated me rottenly--you have, indeed. +Give me an order--I'll obey it. Tell me to lead a forlorn hope or go to +bed at ten--I'll carry out instructions accordin' to military law, but +outside of duty you're a jolly old rotter. I'm hurt, Ham, doocidly hurt. +I think----" + +"Oh shut up and sit down!" interrupted his chief, irritably. "You jaw +and jaw till my head aches." + +Reluctantly Lieutenant Tibbetts walked back, depositing his catch with +the greatest care on the ground. + +"What on earth have you got there?" asked Hamilton, curiously. + +"I don't know whether it's cod or turbot," said the cautious Bones, "but +I'll have 'em cooked and find out." + +Hamilton grinned. "To be exact, they're catfish, and poisonous," he +said, and whistled his orderly. "Oh, Ahmet," he said in Arabic, "take +these fish and throw them away." + +Bones fixed his monocle, and his eyes followed his catch till they were +out of sight. + +"Of course, sir," he said with resignation, "if you like to commandeer +my fish it's not for me to question you." + +"I'm a little worried, Bones," began Hamilton. + +"A conscience, sir," said Bones, smugly, "is a pretty rotten thing for a +feller to have. I remember years ago----" + +"There's a little unrest up there"--Hamilton waved his hand towards the +dark green forest, sombre in the shadows of the evening--"a palaver I +don't quite get the hang of. If I could only trust you, Bones!" + +Lieutenant Tibbetts rose. He readjusted his monocle and stiffened +himself to attention--a heroic pose which invariably accompanied his +protests. But Hamilton gave him no opportunity. + +"Anyway, I have to trust you, Bones," he said, "whether I like it or +not. You get ready to clear out. Take twenty men and patrol the river +between the Isisi and the Akasava." + +In as few words as possible he explained the legend of the N'bosini. "Of +course, there is no such place," he said; "it is a mythical land like +the lost Atlantis--the home of the mysterious and marvellous tribes, +populated by giants and filled with all the beautiful products of the +world." + +"I know, sir," said Bones, nodding his head. "It is like one of those +building estate advertisements you read in the American papers: +Young-man-go-west-an'-buy-Dudville Corner Blocks----" + +"You have a horrible mind," said Hamilton. "However, get ready. I will +have steam in the _Zaire_ against your departure." + +"There is one thing I should like to ask you about," said Bones, +standing hesitatingly first on one leg and then on the other. "I think +I have told you before that I have tickets in a Continental sweepstake. +I should be awfully obliged----" + +"Go away!" snarled Hamilton. + +Bones went cheerfully enough. + +He loved the life on the _Zaire_, the comfort of Sanders' cabin, the +electric reading lamp and the fine sense of authority. He would stand +upon the bridge for hours, with folded arms and impassive face, staring +ahead as the oily waters moved slowly under the bow of the +stern-wheeler. Now and again he would turn to give a fierce order to the +steersman or to the patient Yoka, the squat black _Krooman_ who knew +every inch of the river, and who stood all the time, his hand upon the +lever of the telegraph ready to "slow" at the first sign of a new +sand-bank. + +For, in parts, the river was less than two or three feet deep and the +bed was constantly changing. The sounding boys, who stood on the bow of +the steamer, whirling their long canes and singing the depth +monotonously, would shout a warning cry, but long before their lips had +framed a caution, Yoka would have pulled the telegraph over to "stop." +His eyes would have detected the tiny ripple on the waters ahead which +denoted a new "bank." + +To Bones, the river was a deep, clear stream. He had no idea as to the +depth and never troubled to inquire. These short, stern orders of his +that he barked to left and right from time to time, nobody took the +slightest notice of, and Bones would have been considerably embarrassed +if they had. Observing that the steamer was tacking from shore to shore, +a proceeding which, to Bones' orderly mind, seemed inconsistent with the +dignity of the Government boat, he asked the reason. + +"Lord," said the steersman, one Ebibi, "there are many banks hereabout, +large sands, which silt up in a night, therefore we must make a passage +for the _puc-a-puc_, by going from shore to shore." + +"You're a silly ass," said Bones, "and let it go at that." + +Yet, for all his irresponsibility, for all his wild and unknowledgeable +conspectus of the land and its people, there was instilled in the heart +of Lieutenant Tibbetts something of the spirit of dark romance and +adventure-loving, which association with the Coast alone can bring. + +In the big house at Dorking where he had spent his childhood, the +ten-acre estate, where his father had lorded (himself a one-time +Commissioner), he had watered the seed of desire which heredity had +irradicably sown in his bosom; a desire not to be shaped by words, or +confirmed in phrase, but best described as the discovery-lust, which +send men into dark, unknown places of the world to joyously sacrifice +life and health that their names might be associated with some scrap of +sure fact for the better guidance of unborn generations. + +Bones was a dreamer of dreams. + +On the bridge of the _Zaire_ he was a Nelson taking the _Victory_ into +action, a Stanley, a Columbus, a Sir Garnet Wolseley forcing the +passages of the Nile. + +Small wonder that he turned from time to time to the steersman with a +sharp "Put her to starboard," or "Port your helm a little." + +Less wonder that the wholly uncomprehending steersman went on with his +work as though Bones had no separate or tangible existence. + +On the fourth evening after leaving headquarters, Bones summoned to his +cabin Mahomet Ali, the sergeant in charge of his soldiers. + +"O, Mahomet," said he, "tell me of this N'bosini of which men speak, and +in which all native people believe, for my lord M'ilitani has said that +there is no such place and that it is the dream of mad people." + +"Master, that I also believe," said Mahomet Ali; "these people of the +river are barbarians, having no God and being foredoomed for all time to +hell, and it is my belief that his idea of N'bosini is no more than the +Paradise of the faithful, of which the barbarians have heard and +converted in their wild way." + +"Tell me, who talks of N'bosini," said Bones, crossing his legs and +leaning back in his chair, his hands behind his head; "for, remember +that I am a stranger amongst you, Mahomet Ali, coming from a far land +and having seen such marvels as----" + +He paused, seeking the Arabic for "gramaphone" and "motor-'bus," then he +went on wisely: "Such marvels as you cannot imagine." + +"This I know of N'bosini," said the sergeant, "that all men along this +river believe in it; all save Bosambo of the Ochori who, as is well +known, believes in nothing, since he is a follower of the Prophet and +the one God." + +Mahomet Ali salaamed devoutly. + +"And men say that this land lies at the back of the N'gombi country; and +others that it lies near the territories of the old King; and some +others who say that it is a far journey beyond the French's territory, +farther than man can walk, that its people have wings upon their +shoulders and can fly, and that their eyes are so fierce that trees burn +when they look upon them. This only we know, lord, we, of your soldiers, +who have followed Sandi through all his high adventures, that when men +talk of N'bosini, there is trouble, for they are seeking something to +excuse their own wickedness." + +All night long, as Bones turned from side to side in his hot cabin, +listening to the ineffectual buzzings of the flies that sought, +unsuccessfully, to reach the interior of the cabin through a fine meshed +screen, the problem of N'bosini revolved in his mind. + +Was it likely, thought Bones, cunningly, that men should invent a +country, even erring men, seeking an excuse? Did not all previous +experience go to the support of the theory that N'bosini had some +existence? In other words that, planted in the secret heart of some +forest in the territory, barred from communication with the world by +swift rivers of the high tangle of forests, there was, in being, a +secret tribe of which only rumours had been heard--a tribe of white men, +perhaps! + +Bones had read of such things in books; he knew his "Solomon's Mines" +and was well acquainted with his "Allan Quatermain." Who knows but that +through the forest was a secret path held, perchance, by armoured +warriors, which led to the mountains at the edge of the Old King's +territory, where in the folds of the inaccessible hills, there might be +a city of stone, peopled and governed by stern white-bearded men, and +streets filled with beautiful maidens garbed in the style of ancient +Greece! + +"It is all dam' nonsense of course," said Bones to himself, though +feebly; "but, after all there may be something in this. There's no smoke +without fire." + +The idea took hold of him and gripped him most powerfully. He took +Sanders' priceless maps and carefully triangulated them, consulting +every other written authority on the ship. He stopped at villages and +held palavers on this question of N'bosini and acquired a whole mass of +conflicting information. + +If you smile at Bones, you smile at the glorious spirit of enterprise +which has created Empire. Out of such dreams as ran criss-cross through +the mind of Lieutenant Tibbetts there have arisen nationalities undreamt +of and Empires Cæsar never knew. + +Now one thing is certain, that Bones, in pursuing his inquiries about +N'bosini, was really doing a most useful piece of work. + +The palavers he called had a deeper significance to the men who attended +them than purely geographical inquiries. Thus, the folk of the Isisi +planning a little raid upon certain Akasava fishermen, who had +established themselves unlawfully upon the Isisi river-line, put away +their spears and folded their hands when N'bosini was mentioned, because +Bones was unconsciously probing their excuse before they advanced it. + +Idigi, himself, who, in his caution, had prepared Hamilton for some +slight difference of opinion between his own tribe and the N'gombi of +the interior, read into the earnest inquiries of Lieutenant Tibbetts, +something more than a patient spirit of research. + +All that Hamilton had set his subordinate to accomplish Bones was doing, +though none was more in ignorance of the fact than himself, and, since +all men owed a grudge to the Ochori, palavers, which had as their object +an investigation into the origin of the N'bosini legend, invariably +ended in the suggestion rather than the statement that the only +authority upon this mysterious land, and the still more mysterious tribe +who inhabited it, was Bosambo of the Ochori. Thus, subtly, was Bosambo +saddled with all responsibility in the matter. + +Hamilton's parting injunction to Bones had been: + +"Be immensely civil to Bosambo, because he is rather sore with you and +he is a very useful man." + +Regarding him, as he did, as the final authority upon the N'bosini, +Bones made elaborate preparations to carry out his chief's commands. He +came round the river bend to the Ochori city, with flags fluttering at +his white mast, with his soldiers drawn up on deck, with his buglers +tootling, and his siren sounding, and Bosambo, ever ready to jump to the +conclusion that he was being honoured for his own sake, found that this +time, at least, he had made no mistake and rose to the occasion. + +In an emerald-green robe with twelve sox suspenders strapped about his +legs and dangling tags a-glitter--he had bought these on his visit to +the Coast--with an umbrella of state and six men carrying a canopy over +his august person, he came down to the beach to greet the +representatives of the Government. + +"Lord," said Bosambo humbly, "it gives me great pride that your lordship +should bring his beautiful presence to my country. All this month I have +sat in my hut, wondering why you came not to the Ochori, and I have not +eaten food for many days because of my sorrow and my fear that you would +not come to us." + +Bones walked under the canopy to the chief's hut. A superior palaver +occupied the afternoon on the question of taxation. Here Bones was on +safe ground. Having no power to remit taxes, but having most explicit +instructions from his chief, which admitted of no compromise, it was an +easy matter for Bones to shake his head and say in English: + +"Nothin' doing"; a phrase which, afterwards, passed into the vocabulary +of the Ochori as the equivalent of denial of privilege. + +It was on the second day that Bones broached the question of the +N'bosini. Bosambo had it on the tip of his tongue to deny all knowledge +of this tribe, was even preparing to call down destruction upon the +heads of the barbarians who gave credence to the story. Then he asked +curiously: + +"Lord, why do you speak of the land or desire knowledge upon it?" + +"Because," said Bones, firmly, "it is in mind, Bosambo, that somewhere +in this country, dwell such a people, and since all men agree that you +are wise, I have come to you to seek it." + +"_O ko_," said Bosambo, under his breath. + +He fixed his eyes upon Bones, licked his lips a little, twiddled his +fingers a great deal, and began: + +"Lord, it is written in a certain _Suru_ that wisdom comest from the +East, and that knowledge from the West, that courage comes from the +North, and sin from the South." + +"Steady the Buffs, Bosambo!" murmured Bones, reprovingly, "I come from +the South." + +He spoke in English, and Bosambo, resisting the temptation to retort in +an alien tongue, and realizing perhaps that he would need all the +strength of his more extensive vocabulary to convince his hearer, +continued in Bomongo: + +"Now I tell you," he went on solemnly, "if Sandi had come, Sandi, who +loves me better than his brother, and who knew my father and lived with +him for many years, and if Sandi spoke to me, saying 'Tell me, O +Bosambo, where is N'bosini?' I answer 'Lord, there are things which are +written and which I know cannot be told, not even to you whom I love so +dearly.'" He paused. + +Bones was impressed. He stared, wide-eyed, at the chief, tilted his +helmet back a little from his damp brow, folded his hands on his knees +and opened his mouth a little. + +"But it is you, O my lord," said Bosambo, extravagantly, "who asks this +question. You, who have suddenly come amongst us and who are brighter to +us than the moon and dearer to us than the land which grows corn; +therefore must I speak to you that which is in my heart. If I lie, +strike me down at your feet, for I am ready to die." + +He paused again, throwing out his arms invitingly, but Bones said +nothing. + +"Now this I tell you," Bosambo shook his finger impressively, "that the +N'bosini lives." + +"Where?" asked Bones, quickly. + +Already he saw himself lecturing before a crowded audience at the Royal +Geographical Society, his name in the papers, perhaps a Tibbett River or +a Francis Augustus Mountain added to the sum of geographical knowledge. + +"It is in a certain place," said Bosambo, solemnly, "which only I know, +and I have sworn a solemn oath by many sacred things which I dare not +break, by letting of blood and by rubbing in of salt, that I will not +divulge the secret." + +"O, tell me, Bosambo," demanded Bones, leaning forward and speaking +rapidly, "what manner of people are they who live in the city of +N'bosini?" + +"They are men and women," said Bosambo after a pause. + +"White or black?" asked Bones, eagerly. + +Bosambo thought a little. + +"White," he said soberly, and was immensely pleased at the impression he +created. + +"I thought so," said Bones, excitedly, and jumped up, his eyes wider +than ever, his hands trembling as he pulled his note-book from his +breast pocket. + +"I will make a book[3] of this, Bosambo," he said, almost incoherently. +"You shall speak slowly, telling me all things, for I must write in +English." + +[Footnote 3: "Book" means any written thing. A "Note" is a book.] + +He produced his pencil, squatted again, open book upon his knee, and +looked up at Bosambo to commence. + +"Lord, I cannot do this," said Bosambo, his face heavy with gloom, "for +have I not told your lordship that I have sworn such oath? Moreover," he +said carelessly, "we who know the secret, have each hidden a large bag +of silver in the ground, all in one place, and we have sworn that he who +tells the secret shall lose his share. Now, by the Prophet, +'Eye-of-the-Moon' (this was one of the names which Bones had earned, +for which his monocle was responsible), I cannot do this thing." + +"How large was this bag, Bosambo?" asked Bones, nibbling the end of his +pencil. + +"Lord, it was so large," said Bosambo. + +He moved his hands outward slowly, keeping his eyes fixed upon +Lieutenant Tibbetts till he read in them a hint of pain and dismay. Then +he stopped. + +"So large," he said, choosing the dimensions his hands had indicated +before Bones showed signs of alarm. "Lord, in the bag was silver worth a +hundred English pounds." + +Bones, continuing his meal of cedar-wood, thought the matter out. + +It was worth it. + +"Is it a large city?" he asked suddenly. + +"Larger than the whole of the Ochori," answered Bosambo impressively. + +"And tell me this, Bosambo, what manner of houses are these which stand +in the city of the N'bosini?" + +"Larger than kings' huts," said Bosambo. + +"Of stone?" + +"Lord, of rock, so that they are like mountains," replied Bosambo. + +Bones shut his book and got up. + +"This day I go back to M'ilitani, carrying word of the N'bosini," said +he, and Bosambo's jaw dropped, though Bones did not notice the fact. + +"Presently I will return, bringing with me silver of the value of a +hundred English pounds, and you shall lead us to this strange city." + +"Lord, it is a far way," faltered Bosambo, "across many swamps and over +high mountains; also there is much sickness and death, wild beasts in +the forests and snakes in the trees and terrible storms of rain." + +"Nevertheless, I will go," said Bones, in high spirits, "I, and you +also." + +"Master," said the agitated Bosambo, "say no word of this to M'ilitani; +if you do, be sure that my enemies will discover it and I shall be +killed." + +Bones hesitated and Bosambo pushed his advantage. + +"Rather, lord," said he, "give me all the silver you have and let me go +alone, carrying a message to the mighty chief of the N'bosini. Presently +I will return, bringing with me strange news, such as no white lord, not +even Sandi, has received or heard, and cunning weapons which only +N'bosini use and strange magics. Also will I bring you stories of their +river, but I will go alone, though I die, for what am I that I should +deny myself from the service of your lordship?" + +It happened that Bones had some twenty pounds on the _Zaire_, and +Bosambo condescended to come aboard to accept, with outstretched hands, +this earnest of his master's faith. + +"Lord," said he, solemnly, as he took a farewell of his benefactor, +"though I lose a great bag of silver because I have betrayed certain +men, yet I know that, upon a day to come, you will pay me all that I +desire. Go in peace." + +It was a hilarious, joyous, industrious Bones who went down the river to +headquarters, occupying his time in writing diligently upon large sheets +of foolscap in his no less large unformed handwriting, setting forth all +that Bosambo had told him, and all the conclusions he might infer from +the confidence of the Ochori king. + +He was bursting with his news. At first, he had to satisfy his chief +that he had carried out his orders. + +Fortunately, Hamilton needed little convincing; his own spies had told +him of the quietening down of certain truculent sections of his unruly +community and he was prepared to give his subordinate all the credit +that was due to him. + +It was after dinner and the inevitable rice pudding had been removed and +the pipes were puffing bluely in the big room of the Residency, when +Bones unburdened himself. + +"Sir," he began, "you think I am an ass." + +"I was not thinking so at this particular moment," said Hamilton; "but, +as a general consensus of my opinion concerning you, I have no fault to +find with it." + +"You think poor old Bones is a goop," said Lieutenant Tibbetts with a +pitying smile, "and yet the name of poor old Bones is going down to +posterity, sir." + +"That is posterity's look-out," said Hamilton, offensively; but Bones +ignored the rudeness. + +"You also imagine that there is no such land as the N'bosini, I think?" + +Bones put the question with a certain insolent assurance which was very +irritating. + +"I not only think, but I know," replied Hamilton. + +Bones laughed, a sardonic, knowing laugh. + +"We shall see," he said, mysteriously; "I hope, in the course of a few +weeks, to place a document in your possession that will not only +surprise, but which, I believe, knowing that beneath a somewhat uncouth +manner lies a kindly heart, will also please you." + +"Are you chucking up the army?" asked Hamilton with interest. + +"I have no more to say, sir," said Bones. + +He got up, took his helmet from a peg on the wall, saluted and walked +stiffly from the Residency and was swallowed up in the darkness of the +parade ground. + +A quarter of an hour later, there came a tap upon his door and Mahomet +Ali, his sergeant, entered. + +"Ah, Mah'met," said Hamilton, looking up with a smile, "all things were +quiet on the river my lord Tibbetts tells me." + +"Lord, everything was proper," said the sergeant, "and all people came +to palaver humbly." + +"What seek you now?" asked Hamilton. + +"Lord," said Mahomet, "Bosambo of the Ochori is, as you know, of my +faith, and by certain oaths we are as blood brothers. This happened +after a battle in the year of Drought when Bosambo saved my life." + +"All this I know," said Hamilton. + +"Now, lord," said Mahomet Ali, "I bring you this." + +He took from the inside of his uniform jacket a little canvas bag, +opened it slowly and emptied its golden contents upon the table. There +was a small shining heap of sovereigns and a twisted note; this latter +he placed in Hamilton's hand and the Houssa captain unfolded it. It was +a letter in Arabic in Bosambo's characteristic and angular handwriting. + + "From Bosambo, the servant of the Prophet, of the upper river in + the city of the Ochori, to M'ilitani, his master. Peace on your + house. + + "In the name of God I send you this news. My lord with the + moon-eye, making inquiries about the N'bosini, came to the Ochori + and I told him much that he wrote down in a book. Now, I tell you, + M'ilitani, that I am not to blame, because my lord with the + moon-eye wrote down these things. Also he gave me twenty English + pounds because I told him certain stories and this I send to you, + that you shall put it in with my other treasures, making a mark in + your book that this twenty pounds is the money of Bosambo of the + Ochori, and that you will send me a book, saying that this money + has come to you and is safely in your hands. Peace and felicity + upon your house. + + "Written in my city of Ochori and given to my brother, Mahomet Ali, + who shall carry it to M'ilitani at the mouth of the river." + +"Poor old Bones!" said Hamilton, as he slowly counted the money. "Poor +old Bones!" he repeated. + +He took an account book from his desk and opened it at a page marked +"Bosambo." His entry was significant. + +To a long list of credits which ran: + + Received £30. (Sale of Rubber.) + + Received £25. (Sale of Gum.) + + Received £130. (Sale of Ivory.) + +he added: + + Received £20. (Author's Fees.) + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE FETISH STICK + + +N'gori the Chief had a son who limped and lived. This was a marvellous +thing in a land where cripples are severely discouraged and malformity +is a sure passport for heaven. + +The truth is that M'fosa was born in a fishing village at a period of +time when all the energies of the Akasava were devoted to checking and +defeating the predatory raidings of the N'gombi, under that warlike +chief G'osimalino, who also kept other nations on the defensive, and +held the river basin, from the White River, by the old king's territory, +to as far south as the islands of the Lesser Isisi. + +When M'fosa was three months old, Sanders had come with a force of +soldiers, had hanged G'osimalino to a high tree, had burnt his villages +and destroyed his crops and driven the remnants of his one-time +invincible army to the little known recesses of the Itusi Forest. + +Those were the days of the Cakitas or government chiefs, and it was +under the beneficent sway of one of these that M'fosa grew to manhood, +though many attempts were made to lure him to unfrequented waterways +and blind crocodile creeks where a lame man might be lost, and no one be +any the wiser. + +Chief of the eugenists was Kobolo, the boy's uncle, and N'gori's own +brother. This dissatisfied man, with several of M'fosa's cousins, once +partially succeeded in kidnapping the lame boy, and they were on their +way to certain middle islands in the broads of the river to accomplish +their scheme--which was to put out the eyes of M'fosa and leave him to +die--when Sanders had happened along. + +He it was who set all the men of M'fosa's village to cut down a high +pine tree--at an infernal distance from the village, and had men working +for a week, trimming and planing that pine; and another week they spent +carrying the long stem through the forest (Sanders had devilishly chosen +his tree in the most inaccessible part of the woods), and yet another +week digging large holes and erecting it. + +For he was a difficult man to please. Broad backs ran sweat to pull and +push and hoist that great flagstaff (as it appeared with its strong +pulley and smooth sides) to its place. And no sooner was it up than my +lord Sandi had changed his mind and must have it in another place. +Sanders would come back at intervals to see how the work was +progressing. At last it was fixed, that monstrous pole, and the men of +the village sighed thankfully. + +"Lord, tell me," N'gori had asked, "why you put this great stick in the +ground?" + +"This," said Sanders, "is for him who injures M'fosa your son; upon this +will I hang him. And if there be more men than one who take to the work +of slaughter, behold! I will have yet another tree cut and hauled, and +put in a place and upon that will I hang the other man. All men shall +know this sign, the high stick as my fetish; and it shall watch the evil +hearts and carry me all thoughts, good and evil. And then I tell you, +that such is its magic, that if needs be, it shall draw me from the end +of the world to punish wrong." + +This is the story of the fetish stick of the Akasava and of how it came +to be in its place. + +None did hurt to M'fosa, and he grew to be a man, and as he grew and his +father became first counsellor, then petty chief, and, at last, +paramount chief of the nation, M'fosa developed in hauteur and +bitterness, for this high pole rainwashed, and sun-burnt, was a +reminder, not of the strong hand that had been stretched out to save +him, but of his own infirmity. + +And he came to hate it, and by some curious perversion to hate the man +who had set it up. + +Most curious of all to certain minds, he was the first of those who +condemned, and secretly slew, the unfortunates, who either came into the +world hampered by disfigurement, or who, by accident, were unfitted for +the great battle. + +He it was who drowned Kibusi the woodman, who lost three fingers by the +slipping of the axe; he was the leader of the young men who fell upon +the boy Sandilo-M'goma, who was crippled by fire; and though the fetish +stood a menace to all, reading thoughts and clothed with authority, yet +M'fosa defied spirits and went about his work reckless of consequence. + +When Sanders had gone home, and it seemed that law had ceased to be, +N'gori (as I have shown) became of a sudden a bold and fearless man, +furbished up his ancient grievances and might have brought trouble to +the land, but for a watchful Bosambo. + +This is certain, however, that N'gori himself was a good-enough man at +heart, and if there was evil in his actions be sure that behind him +prompting, whispering, subtly threatening him, was his malignant son, a +sinister figure with one eye half closed, and a figure that went limping +through the city with a twisted smile. + +An envoy came to the Ochori country bearing green branches of the Isisi +palm, which signifies peace, and at the head of the mission--for mission +it was--came M'fosa. + +"Lord Bosambo," said the man who limped, "N'gori the chief, my father, +has sent me, for he desires your friendship and help; also your loving +countenance at his great feast." + +"Oh, oh!" said Bosambo, drily, "what king's feast is this?" + +"Lord," rejoined the other, "it is no king's feast, but a great dance of +rejoicing, for our crops are very plentiful, and our goats have +multiplied more than a man can count; therefore my father said: Go you +to Bosambo of the Ochori, he who was once my enemy and now indeed my +friend. And say to him 'Come into my city, that I may honour you.'" + +Bosambo thought. + +"How can your lord and father feast so many as I would bring?" he asked +thoughtfully, as he sat, chin on palm, pondering the invitation, "for I +have a thousand spearmen, all young men and fond of food." + +M'fosa's face fell. + +"Yet, Lord Bosambo," said he, "if you come without your spearmen, but +with your counsellors only----" + +Bosambo looked at the limper, through half-closed eyes. "I carry spears +to a Dance of Rejoicing," he said significantly, "else I would not Dance +or Rejoice." + +M'fosa showed his teeth, and his eyes were filled with hateful fires. He +left the Ochori with bad grace, and was lucky to leave it at all, for +certain men of the country, whom he had put to torture (having captured +them fishing in unauthorized waters), would have rushed him but for +Bosambo's presence. + +His other invitation was more successful. Hamilton of the Houssas was at +the Isisi city when the deputation called upon him. + +"Here's a chance for you, Bones," he said. + +Lieutenant Tibbetts had spent a vain day, fishing in the river with a +rod and line, and was sprawling under a deck-chair under the awning of +the bridge. + +"Would you like to be the guest of honour at N'gori's little +thanksgiving service?" + +Bones sat up. + +"Shall I have to make a speech?" he asked cautiously. + +"You may have to respond for the ladies," said Hamilton. "No, my dear +chap, all you will have to do will be to sit round and look clever." + +Bones thought awhile. + +"I'll bet you're putting me on to a rotten job," he accused, "but I'll +go." + +"I wish you would," said Hamilton, seriously. "I can't get the hang of +M'fosa's mind, ever since you treated him with such leniency." + +"If you're goin' to dig up the grisly past, dear old sir," said a +reproachful Bones, "if you insist recalling events which I hoped, sir, +were hidden in oblivion, I'm going to bed." + +He got up, this lank youth, fixed his eyeglass firmly and glared at his +superior. + +"Sit down and shut up," said Hamilton, testily; "I'm not blaming you. +And I'm not blaming N'gori. It's that son of his--listen to this." + +He beckoned the three men who had come down from the Akasava as bearers +of the invitation. + +"Say again what your master desires," he said. + +"Thus speaks N'gori, and I talk with his voice," said the spokesman, +"that you shall cut down the devil-stick which Sandi planted in our +midst, for it brings shame to us, and also to M'fosa the son of our +master." + +"How may I do this?" asked Hamilton, "I, who am but the servant of +Sandi? For I remember well that he put the stick there to make a great +magic." + +"Now the magic is made," said the sullen headman; "for none of our +people have died the death since Sandi set it up." + +"And dashed lucky you've been," murmured Bones. + +"Go back to your master and tell him this," said Hamilton. "Thus says +M'ilitani, my lord Tibbetti will come on your feast day and you shall +honour him; as for the stick, it stands till Sandi says it shall not +stand. The palaver is finished." + +He paced up and down the deck when the men had gone, his hands behind +him, his brows knit in worry. + +"Four times have I been asked to cut down Sanders' pole," he mused +aloud. "I wonder what the idea is?" + +"The idea?" said Bones, "the idea, my dear old silly old fellow, isn't +it as plain as your dashed old nose? They don't want it!" + +Hamilton looked down at him. + +"What a brain you must have, Bones!" he said admiringly. "I often wonder +you don't employ it." + + +II + +By the Blue Pool in the forest there is a famous tree gifted with +certain properties. It is known in the vernacular of the land, and I +translate it literally, "The-tree-that-has-no-echo-and-eats-up-sound." +Men believe that all that is uttered beneath its twisted branches may be +remembered, but not repeated, and if one shouts in its deadening shade, +even they who stand no farther than a stride from its furthermost +stretch of branch or leaf, will hear nothing. + +Therefore is the Silent Tree much in favour for secret palaver, such as +N'gori and his limping son attended, and such as the Lesser Isisi came +to fearfully. + +N'gori, who might be expected to take a very leading part in the +discussion which followed the meeting, was, in fact, the most timorous +of those who squatted in the shadow of the huge cedar. + +Full of reservations, cautions, doubts and counsels of discretion was +N'gori till his son turned on him, grinning as his wont when in his +least pleasant mood. + +"O, my father," said he softly, "they say on the river that men who die +swiftly say no more than 'wait' with their last breath; now I tell you +that all my young men who plot secretly with me, are for chopping +you--but because I am like a god to them, they spare you." + +"My son," said N'gori uneasily, "this is a very high palaver, for many +chiefs have risen and struck at the Government, and always Sandi has +come with his soldiers, and there have been backs that have been sore +for the space of a moon, and necks that have been sore for this time," +he snapped finger, "and then have been sore no more." + +"Sandi has gone," said M'fosa. + +"Yet his fetish stands," insisted the old man; "all day and all night +his dreadful spirit watches us; for this we have all seen that the very +lightnings of M'shimba M'shamba run up that stick and do it no harm. +Also M'ilitani and Moon-in-the-Eye----" + +"They are fools," a counsellor broke in. + +"Lord M'ilitani is no fool, this I know," interrupted a fourth. + +"Tibbetti comes--and brings no soldiers. Now I tell you my mind that +Sandi's fetish is dead--as Sandi has passed from us, and this is the +sign I desire--I and my young men. We shall make a killing palaver in +the face of the killing stick, and if Sandi lives and has not lied to +us, he shall come from the end of the world as he said." + +He rose up from the ground. There was no doubt now who ruled the +Akasava. + +"The palaver is finished," he said, and led the way back to the city, +his father meekly following in the rear. + +Two days later Bones arrived at the city of the Akasava, bringing with +him no greater protection than a Houssa orderly afforded. + + +III + +On a certain night in September Mr. Commissioner Sanders was the guest +of the Colonial Secretary at his country seat in Berkshire. + +Sanders, who was no society man, either by training or by inclination, +would have preferred wandering aimlessly about the brilliantly lighted +streets of London, but the engagement was a long-standing one. In a +sense he was a lion against his will. His name was known, people had +written of his character and his sayings; he had even, to his own +amazement, delivered a lecture before the members of the Ethnological +Society on "Native Folk-lore," and had emerged from the ordeal +triumphantly. The guests of Lord Castleberry found Sanders a shy, silent +man who could not be induced to talk of the land he loved so dearly. +They might have voted him a bore, but for the fact that he so completely +effaced himself they had little opportunity for forming so definite a +judgment. + +It was on the second night of his visit to Newbury Grange that they had +cornered him in the billiard-room. It was the beautiful daughter of Lord +Castleberry who, with the audacity of youth, forced him, metaphorically +speaking, into a corner, from whence there was no escape. + +"We've been very patient, Mr. Sanders," she pouted; "we are all dying to +hear of your wonderful country, and Bosambo, and fetishes and things, +and you haven't said a word." + +"There is little to say," he smiled; "perhaps if I told you--something +about fetishes...?" + +There was a chorus of approval. + +Sanders had gained enough courage from his experience before the +Ethnological Society, and began to talk. + +"Wait," said Lady Betty; "let's have all these glaring lights out--they +limit our imagination." + +There was a click, and, save for one bracket light behind Sanders, the +room was in darkness. He was grateful to the girl, and well rewarded her +and the party that sat round on chairs, on benches around the edge of +the billiard-table, listening. He told them stories ... curious, +unbelievable; of ghost palavers, of strange rites, of mysterious +messages carried across the great space of forests. + +"Tell us about fetishes," said the girl's voice. + +Sanders smiled. There rose to his eyes the spectacle of a hot and weary +people bringing in a giant tree through the forest, inch by inch. + +And he told the story of the fetish of the Akasava. + +"And I said," he concluded, "that I would come from the end of the +world----" + +He stopped suddenly and stared straight ahead. In the faint light they +saw him stiffen like a setter. + +"What is wrong?" + +Lord Castleberry was on his feet, and somebody clicked on the lights. + +But Sanders did not notice. + +He was looking towards the end of the room, and his face was set and +hard. + +"O, M'fosa," he snarled, "O, dog!" + +They heard the strange staccato of the Bomongo tongue and wondered. + + * * * * * + +Lieutenant Tibbetts, helmetless, his coat torn, his lip bleeding, +offered no resistance when they strapped him to the smooth high pole. +Almost at his feet lay the dead Houssa orderly whom M'fosa had struck +down from behind. + +In a wide circle, their faces half revealed by the crackling fire which +burnt in the centre, the people of the Akasava city looked on +impressively. + +N'gori, the chief, his brows all wrinkled in terror, his shaking hands +at his mouth in a gesture of fear, was no more than a spectator, for his +masterful son limped from side to side, consulting his counsellors. + +Presently the men who had bound Bones stepped aside, their work +completed, and M'fosa came limping across to his prisoners. + +"Now," he mocked. "Is it hard for you this fetish stick which Sandi has +placed?" + +"You're a low cad," said Bones, dropping into English in his wrath. +"You're a low, beastly bounder, an' I'm simply disgusted with you." + +"What does he say?" they asked M'fosa. + +"He speaks to his gods in his own tongue," answered the limper; "for he +is greatly afraid." + +Lieutenant Tibbetts went on: + +"Hear," said he in fluent and vitriolic Bomongo--for he was using that +fisher dialect which he knew so much better than the more sonorous +tongue of the Upper River--"O hear, eater of fish, O lame dog, O +nameless child of a monkey!" + +M'fosa's lips went up one-sidedly. + +"Lord," said he softly, "presently you shall say no more, for I will cut +your tongue out that you shall be lame of speech ... afterwards I will +burn you and the fetish stick, so that you all tumble together." + +"Be sure you will tumble into hell," said Bones cheerfully, "and that +quickly, for you have offended Sandi's Ju-ju, which is powerful and +terrible." + +If he could gain time--time for some miraculous news to come to +Hamilton, who, blissfully unconscious of the treachery to his +second-in-command, was sleeping twenty miles downstream--unconscious, +too, of the Akasava fleet of canoes which was streaming towards his +little steamer. + +Perhaps M'fosa guessed his thoughts. + +"You die alone, Tibbetti," he said, "though I planned a great death for +you, with Bosambo at your side; and in the matter of ju-jus, behold! you +shall call for Sandi--whilst you have a tongue." + +He took from the raw-hide sheath that was strapped to the calf of his +bare leg, a short N'gombi knife, and drew it along the palm of his hand. + +"Call now, O Moon-in-the-Eye!" he scoffed. + +Bones saw the horror and braced himself to meet it. + +"O Sandi!" cried M'fosa, "O planter of ju-ju, come quickly!" + +"Dog!" + +M'fosa whipped round, the knife dropping from his hand. + +He knew the voice, was paralysed by the concentrated malignity in the +voice. + +There stood Sandi--not half a dozen paces from him. + +A Sandi in strange black clothing with a big white-breasted shirt ... +but Sandi, hard-eyed and threatening. + +"Lord, lord!" he stammered, and put up his hands to his eyes. + +He looked again--the figure had vanished. + +"Magic!" he mumbled, and lurched forward in terror and hate to finish +his work. + +Then through the crowd stalked a tall man. + +A rope of monkeys' tails covers one broad shoulder; his left arm and +hand were hidden by an oblong shield of hide. + +In one hand he held a slim throwing spear and this he balanced +delicately. + +"I am Bosambo of the Ochori," he said magnificently and unnecessarily; +"you sent for me and I have come--bringing a thousand spears." + +M'fosa blinked, but said nothing. + +"On the river," Bosambo went on, "I met many canoes that went to a +killing--behold!" + +It was the head of M'fosa's lieutenant, who had charge of the surprise +party. + +For a moment M'fosa looked, then turned to leap, and Bosambo's spear +caught him in mid-air. + +"Jolly old Bosambo!" muttered Bones, and fainted. + + * * * * * + +Four thousand miles away Sanders was offering his apologies to a +startled company. + +"I could have sworn I saw--something," he said, and he told no more +stories that night. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A FRONTIER AND A CODE + + +To understand this story you must know that at one point of Ochori +borderline, the German, French, and Belgian territories shoot three +narrow tongues that form, roughly, the segments of a half-circle. +Whether the German tongue is split in the middle by N'glili River, so +that it forms a flattened broad arrow, with the central prong the river +is a moot point. We, in Downing Street, claim that the lower angle of +this arrow is wholly ours, and that all the flat basin of the Field of +Blood (as they call it) is entitled to receive the shadow which a +flapping Union Jack may cast. + +If Downing Street were to send that frantic code-wire to "Polonius" to +Hamilton in these days he could not obey the instructions, for reasons +which I will give. As a matter of fact the code has now been changed, +Lieutenant Tibbetts being mainly responsible for the alteration. + +Hamilton, in his severest mood, wrote a letter to Bones, and it is worth +reproducing. + +That Bones was living a dozen yards from Captain Hamilton, and that they +shared a common mess-table, adds rather than distracts from the +seriousness of the correspondence. The letter ran: + + "The Residency, + "September 24th. + + "From Officer commanding Houssas detachment Headquarters, to + Officer commanding "B" company of Houssas. + + "Sir,-- + + "I have the honour to direct your attention to that paragraph of + King's regulations which directs that an officer's sole attention + should be concentrated upon executing the lawful commands of his + superior. + + "I have had occasion recently to correct a certain tendency on your + part to employing War Department property and the servants of the + Crown for your own special use. I need hardly point out to you that + such conduct on your part is subversive to discipline and directly + contrary to the spirit and letter of regulations. More especially + would I urge the impropriety of utilizing government telegraph + lines for the purpose of securing information regarding your + gambling transactions. Matters have now reached a very serious + crisis, and I feel sure that you will see the necessity for + refraining from these breaches of discipline. + + "I have the honour to be, sir, + "Your obedient servant, + "P. G. Hamilton, 'Captain.'" + +When two white men, the only specimen of their race and class within a +radius of hundreds of miles, are living together in an isolated post, +they either hate or tolerate one another. The exception must always be +found in two men of a similar service having similar objects to gain, +and infused with a common spirit of endeavour. + +Fortunately neither Lieutenant Tibbetts nor his superior were long +enough associated to get upon one another's nerves. + +Lieutenant Tibbetts received this letter while he was shaving, and came +across the parade ground outrageously attired in his pyjamas and his +helmet. Clambering up the wooden stairs, his slippers flap-flapping +across the broad verandah, he burst into the chief's bedroom, +interrupting a stern and frigid Captain Hamilton in the midst of his +early morning coffee and roll. + +"Look here, old sport," said Bones, indignantly waving a frothy shaving +brush at the other, "what the dooce is all this about?" + +He displayed a crumpled letter. + +"Lieutenant Tibbetts," said Hamilton of the Houssas severely, "have you +no sense of decency?" + +"Sense of decency, my dear old thing!" repeated Bones. "I am simply full +of it. That is why I have come." + +A terrible sight was Bones at that early hour with the open pyjama +jacket showing his scraggy neck, with his fish mouth drooping dismally, +his round, staring eyes and his hair rumpled up, one frantic tuft at +the back standing up in isolation. + +Hamilton stared at him, and it was the stern stare of a disciplinarian. +But Bones was not to be put out of countenance by so small a thing as an +icy glance. + +"There is no sense in getting peevish with me, old Ham," he said, +squatting down on the nearest chair; "this is what I call a stupid, +officious, unnecessary letter. Why this haughtiness? Why these crushing +inferences? Why this unkindness to poor old Bones?" + +"The fact of it is, Bones," said Hamilton, accepting the situation, "you +are spending too much of your time in the telegraph station." + +Bones got up slowly. + +"Captain Hamilton, sir!" he said reproachfully, "after all I have done +for you." + +"Beyond selling me one of your beastly sweepstake tickets for five +shillings," said Hamilton, unpleasantly; "a ticket which I dare say you +have taken jolly good care will not win a prize, I fail to see in what +manner you have helped me. Now, Bones, you will have to pay more +attention to your work. There is no sense in slacking; we will have +Sanders back here before we know where we are, and when he starts nosing +round there will be a lot of trouble. Besides, you are shirking." + +"Me!" gasped Bones, outraged. "Me--shirking? You forget yourself, sir!" + +Even Bones could not be dignified with a lather brush in one hand and a +half-shaven cheek, testifying to the hastiness of his departure from +his quarters. + +"I only wish to say, sir," said Bones, "that during the period I have +had the honour to serve under your command I have settled possibly more +palavers of a distressingly ominous character than the average +Commissioner is called upon to settle in the course of a year." + +"As you have created most of the palavers yourself," said Hamilton +unkindly, "I do not deny this. In other words, you have got yourself +into more tangles, and you've had to crawl out more often." + +"It is useless appealing to your better nature, sir," said Bones. + +He saluted with the hand that held the lather brush, turned about like +an automaton, tripped over the mat, recovered himself with an effort, +and preserving what dignity a man can preserve in pink-striped pyjamas +and a sun helmet, stalked majestically back to his quarters. Half-way +across he remembered something and came doubling back, clattering into +Hamilton's room unceremoniously. + +"There is one thing I forgot to say," he said, "about those sweepstake +tickets. If I happen to be killed on any future expedition that you may +send me, you will understand that the whole of my moveable property is +yours, absolutely. And I may add, sir," he said at the doorway with one +hand on the lintel ready to execute a strategic flank movement out of +range, "that with this legacy I offer you my forgiveness for the +perfectly beastly time you have given me. Good morning, sir." + +There was a commanding officer's parade of Houssas at noon. It was not +until he stalked across the square and clicked his heels together as he +reported the full strength of his company present that Hamilton saw his +subordinate again. + +The parade over, Bones went huffily to his quarters. + +He was hurt. To be told he had been shirking his duty touched a very +tender and sensitive spot of his. + +In preparation for the movement which he had expected to make he had +kept his company on the move for a fortnight. For fourteen terrible days +in all kinds of weather, he had worked like a native in the forest; with +sham fights and blank cartridge attacks upon imaginary positions, with +scaling of stockades and building of bridges--all work at which his soul +revolted--to be told at the end he had shirked his work! + +Certainly he had come down to headquarters more often perhaps than was +necessary, but then he was properly interested in the draw of a +continental sweepstake which might, with any kind of luck, place him in +the possession of a considerable fortune. Hamilton was amiable at lunch, +even communicative at dinner, and for him rather serious. + +For if the truth be told he was desperately worried. The cause was, as +it had often been with Sanders, that French-German-Belgian territory +which adjoins the Ochori country. All the bad characters, not only the +French of the Belgian Congo, but of the badly-governed German lands--all +the tax resisters, the murderers, and the criminals of every kind, but +the lawless contingents of every nation, formed a floating nomadic +population in the tree-covered hills which lay beyond the country +governed by Bosambo. + +Of late there had been a larger break-away than usual. A strong force of +rebellious natives was reported to be within a day's march of the Ochori +boundary. This much Hamilton knew. But he had known of such occurrences +before; not once, but a score of times had alarming news come from the +French border. + +He had indeed made many futile trips into the heart of the Ochori +country. + +Forced marches through little known territory, and long and tiring waits +for the invader that never came, had dulled his senses of apprehension. +He had to take a chance. The Administrator's office would warn him from +time to time, and ask him conventionally to make his arrangements to +meet all contingencies and Sanders would as conventionally reply that +the condition of affairs on the Ochori border was engaging his most +earnest attention. + +"What is the use of worrying about it now?" asked Bones at dinner. + +Hamilton shook his head. + +"There was a certain magic in old Sanders' name," he said. + +Bones' lips pursed. + +"My dear old chap," he said, "there is a bit of magic in mine." + +"I have not noticed it," said Hamilton. + +"I am getting awfully popular as a matter of fact," said Bones +complacently. "The last time I was up the river, Bosambo came ten miles +down stream to meet me and spend the day." + +"Did you lose anything?" asked Hamilton ungraciously. + +Bones thought. + +"Now you come to mention it," he said slowly, "I did lose quite a lot of +things, but dear old Bosambo wouldn't play a dirty trick on a pal. I +know Bosambo." + +"If there is one thing more evident than another," said Hamilton, "it is +that you do not know Bosambo." + +Hamilton was wakened at three in the next morning by the telegraph +operator. It was a "clear the line" message, coded from headquarters, +and half awake he went into Sanders' study and put it into plain +English. + +"Hope you are watching the Ochori border," it ran, "representations from +French Government to the effect that a crossing is imminent." + +He pulled his mosquito boots on over his pyjamas, struggled into a coat +and crossed to Lieutenant Tibbetts' quarters. + +Bones occupied a big hut at the end of the Houssa lines, and Hamilton +woke him by the simple expedient of flashing his electric hand lamp in +his face. + +"I have had a telegram," he said, and Bones leapt out of bed wide awake +in an instant. + +"I knew jolly well I would draw a horse," he said exultantly. "I had a +dream----" + +"Be serious, you feather-minded devil." + +With that Hamilton handed him the telegram. + +Bones read it carefully, and interpreted any meanings into its +construction which it could not possibly bear. + +"What are you going to do?" he asked. + +"There is only one thing to do," said Hamilton. "We shall have to take +all the men we can possibly muster, and go north at daybreak." + +"Spoken like a jolly old Hannibal," said Bones heartily, and smacked his +superior on the back. A shrill bugle call aroused the sleeping lines, +and Hamilton went back to his quarters to make preparations for the +journey. In the first grey light of dawn he flew three pigeons to +Bosambo, and the message they carried about their red legs was brief. + +"Take your fighting regiments to the edge of Frenchi land; presently I +will come with my soldiers and support you. Let no foreigner pass on +your life and on your head." + +When the rising sun tipped the tops of the palms with gold, and the wild +world was filled with the sound of the birds, the _Zaire_, her decks +alive with soldiers, began her long journey northward. + +Just before the boat left, Hamilton received a further message from the +Administrator. It was in plain English, some evidence of Sir Robert +Sanleigh's haste. + + "Confidential: This matter on the Ochori border extremely delicate. + Complete adequate arrangements to keep in touch with me." + +For one moment Hamilton conceived the idea of leaving Bones behind to +deal with the telegram and come along. A little thought, however, +convinced him of the futility of this method. For one thing he would +want every bit of assistance he could get, and although Bones had his +disadvantages he was an excellent soldier, and a loyal and gallant +comrade. + +It might be necessary for Hamilton to divide up his forces; in which +case he could hardly dispense with Lieutenant Tibbetts, and he explained +unnecessarily to Bones: + +"I think you are much better under my eye where I can see what you're +doing." + +"Sir," said Bones very seriously, "it is not what I do, it is what I +think. If you could only see my brain at work----" + +"Ha, ha!" said Hamilton rudely. + +For at least three days relations were strained between the two +officers. Bones was a man who admitted at regular intervals that he was +unduly sensitive. He had explained this disadvantage to Hamilton at +various times, but the Houssa stolidly refused to remember the fact. + +Most of the way up the river Hamilton attended to his business +navigation--he knew the stream very well--whilst Bones, in a cabin which +had been rigged up for him in the after part of the ship, played +Patience, and by a systematic course of cheating himself was able to +accomplish marvels. They found the Ochori city deserted save for a +strong guard, for Bosambo had marched the day previous; sending a war +call through the country. + +He had started with a thousand spears, and his force was growing in +snowball fashion as he progressed through the land. The great road which +Notiki, the northern chief, had started by way of punishment was +beginning to take shape. Bosambo had moved with incredible swiftness. + +Too swift, indeed, for a certain Angolian-Congo robber who had headed a +villainous pilgrimage to a land which, as he had predicted, flowed with +milk and honey; was guarded by timorous men and mainly populated by slim +and beautiful maidens. The Blue Books on this migration gave this man's +name as Kisini, but he was in fact an Angolian named Bizaro--a composite +name which smacks suspiciously of Portuguese influence. + +Many times had the unruly people and the lawless bands which occupied +the forest beyond the Ochori threatened to cross into British territory. +But the dangers of the unknown, the awful stories of a certain white +lord who was swift to avenge and monstrously inquisitive had held them. +Year after year there had grown up tribes within tribes, tiny armed +camps that had only this in common, that they were outside the laws +from which they had fled, and that somewhere to the southward and the +eastward were strong forces flying the tricolour of France or the yellow +star of the Belgian Congo, ready to belch fire at them, if they so much +as showed their flat noses. + +It would have needed a Napoleon to have combined all the conflicting +forces, to have lulled all the mutual suspicions, and to have moulded +these incompatible particles into a whole; but, Bizaro, like many +another vain and ambitious man, had sought by means of a great palaver +to produce a feeling of security sufficiently soothing to the nerves and +susceptibilities of all elements, to create something like a nationality +of these scattered remnants of the nations. + +And though he failed, he did succeed in bringing together four or five +of the camps, and it was this news carried to the French Governor by +spies, transmitted to Downing Street, and flashed back again to the +Coast, which set Hamilton and his Houssas moving; which brought a +regiment of the King's African Rifles to the Coast ready to reinforce +the earlier expedition, and which (more to the point) had put Bosambo's +war drums rumbling from one end of the Ochori to the other. + +Bizaro, mustering his force, came gaily through the sun-splashed aisles +of the forest, his face streaked hideously with camwood, his big +elephant spear twirled between his fingers, and behind him straggled his +cosmopolitan force. + +There were men from the Congo and the French Congo; men from German +lands; from Angola; wanderers from far-off Barotseland, who had drifted +on to the Congo by the swift and yellow Kasai. There were hunters from +the forests of far-off Bongindanga where the _okapi_ roams. For each +man's presence in that force there was good and sinister reason, for +these were no mere tax-evaders, poor, starved wretches fleeing from the +rule which _Bula Matadi_[4] imposed. There was a blood price on almost +every head, and in a dozen prisons at Boma, at Brazaville, and +Equatorville, and as far south as St. Paul de Loduda, there were +leg-irons which had at some time or other fitted their scarred ankles. + +[Footnote 4: The stone breaker, the native name for the Congo +Government.] + +Now there are four distinct physical features which mark the border line +between the border land and the foreign territory. Mainly the line is a +purely imaginary one, not traceable save by the most delicate +instruments--a line which runs through a tangle of forest. + +But the most noticeable crossing place is N'glili.[5] + +[Footnote 5: Probably a corruption of the word "English."] + +Here a little river, easily fordable, and not more than a dozen spear +lengths across flows from one wood into another. Between the two woods +is a clear space of thick grass and shrub. In the spring of the year the +banks of the stream are white with arum-lilies, and the field beyond, +at a later period, is red with wild anemone. + +The dour fugitives on the other side of the stream have a legend that +those who safely cross the "Field of Blood"--so they call the +anemone-sprinkled land beyond--without so much as crushing a flower may +claim sanctuary under the British flag. + +So that when Bizaro sighted the stream, and the two tall trees that +flanked the ford, from afar off and said: "To-day we will walk between +the flowers," he was signifying the definite character of his plans. + +"Master," said one of the more timid of his muster, when they had halted +for a rest in sight of the promised land, "what shall we do when we come +to these strange places?" + +"We shall defeat all manner of men," said Bizaro optimistically. +"Afterwards they shall come and sue for peace, and they shall give us a +wide land where we may build us huts and sow our corn. And they also +will give us women, and we shall settle in comfort, and I will be chief +over you. And, growing with the moons, in time I shall make you a great +nation." + +They might have crossed the stream that evening and committed themselves +irrevocably to their invasion. Bizaro was a criminal, and a lazy man, +and he decided to sleep where he was--an act fatal to the smooth +performance of his enterprise, for when in the early hours of the +morning he marched his horde to the N'glili river he found two thousand +spears lining the opposite bank, and they were under a chief who was at +once insolent and unmoved by argument. + +"O chief," said Bosambo pleasantly, "you do not cross my beautiful +flowers to-day." + +"Lord," said Bizaro humbly, "we are poor men who desire a new land." + +"That you shall have," said Bosambo grimly, "for I have sent my warriors +to dig big holes wherein you may take your rest in this land you +desire." + +An unhappy Bizaro carried his six hundred spears slowly back to the land +from whence he had come and found on return to the mixed tribes that he +had unconsciously achieved a miracle. For the news of armed men by the +N'glili river carried terror to these evil men--they found themselves +between two enemies and chose the force which they feared least. + +On the fourth day following his interview with Bosambo, Bizaro led five +thousand desperate men to the ford and there was a sanguinary battle +which lasted for the greater part of the morning and was repeated at +sundown. + +Hamilton brought his Houssas up in the nick of time, when one wing of +Bosambo's force was being thrust back and when Bizaro's desperate +adventurers had gained the Ochori bank. Hamilton came through the +clearing, and formed his men rapidly. + +Sword in hand, in advance of the glittering bayonets, Bones raced +across the red field, and after one brief and glorious mêlée the invader +was driven back, and a dropping fire from the left, as the Houssas shot +steadily at the flying enemy, completed the disaster to Bizaro's force. + +"That settles _that_!" said Hamilton. + +He had pitched his camp on the scene of his exploit, the bivouac fires +of the Houssas gleamed redly amongst the anemones. + +"Did you see me in action?" asked Bones, a little self-consciously. + +"No, I didn't notice anything particularly striking about the fight in +your side of the world," said Hamilton. + +"I suppose you did not see me bowl over a big Congo chap?" asked Bones, +carelessly, as he opened a tin of preserved tongue. "Two at once I +bowled over," he repeated. + +"What do you expect me to do?" asked Hamilton unpleasantly. "Get up and +cheer, or recommend you for the Victoria Cross or something?" + +Bones carefully speared a section of tongue from the open tin before he +replied. + +"I had not thought about the Victoria Cross, to tell you the truth," he +admitted; "but if you feel that you ought to recommend me for something +or other for conspicuous courage in the face of the enemy, do not let +your friendship stand in the way." + +"I will not," said Hamilton. + +There was a little pause, then without raising his eyes from the task in +hand which was at that precise moment the covering of a biscuit with a +large and generous layer of marmalade, Bones went on. + +"I practically saved the life of one of Bosambo's headmen. He was on the +ground and three fellows were jabbing at him. The moment they saw me +they dropped their spears and fled." + +"I expect it was your funny nose that did the trick," said Hamilton +unimpressed. + +"I stood there," Bones went on loftily ignoring the gratuitous insult, +"waiting for anything that might turn up; exposed, dear old fellow, to +every death-dealing missile, but calmly directing, if you will allow me +to say so, the tide of battle. It was," he added modestly, "one of the +bravest deeds I ever saw." + +He waited, but Hamilton had his mouth full of tongue sandwich. + +"If you mention me in dispatches," Bones went on suggestively. + +"Don't worry--I shan't," said Hamilton. + +"But if you did," persisted Lieutenant Tibbetts, poising his sticky +biscuit, "I can only say----" + +"The marmalade is running down your sleeve," said Hamilton; "shut up, +Bones, like a good chap." + +Bones sighed. + +"The fact of it is, Hamilton," he was frank enough to say, "I have been +serving so far without hope of reward and scornful of honour, but now I +have reached the age and the position in life where I feel I am entitled +to some slight recognition to solace my declining years." + +"How long have you been in the army?" asked Hamilton, curiously. + +"Eighteen months," replied Bones; "nineteen months next week, and it's a +jolly long time, I can tell you, sir." + +Leaving his dissatisfied subordinate, Hamilton made the round of the +camp. The red field, as he called it, was in reality a low-lying meadow, +which rose steeply to the bank of the river on the one side and more +steeply--since it first sloped downward in that direction--to the Ochori +forest, two miles away. He made this discovery with a little feeling of +alarm. He knew something of native tactics, and though his scouts had +reported that the enemy was effectually routed, and that the nearest +body was five miles away, he put a strong advance picquet on the other +side of the river, and threw a wide cordon of sentries about the camp. +Especially he apportioned Abiboo, his own sergeant, the task of watching +the little river which flowed swiftly between its orderly banks past the +sunken camp. For two days Abiboo watched and found nothing to report. + +Not so the spies who were keeping watch upon the moving remnants of +Bizaro's army. + +They came with the news that the main body had mysteriously disappeared. +To add to Hamilton's anxiety he received a message by way of +headquarters and the Ochori city from the Administrator. + + "Be prepared at the first urgent message from myself to fall back + on the Ochori city. German Government claim that whole of country + for two miles north of river N'glili is their territory. Most + delicate situation. International complications feared. Rely on + your discretion, but move swiftly if you receive orders." + +"Leave this to me," said Bones when Hamilton read the message out; "did +I ever tell you, sir, that I was intended for the diplomatic +service----" + + * * * * * + +The truth about the Ochori border has never been thoroughly exposed. If +you get into your mind the fact that the Imperialists of four nations +were dreaming dreams of a trans-African railway which was to tap the +resources of the interior, and if you remember that each patriotic +dreamer conceived a different kind of railway according to his +nationality and that they only agreed upon one point, namely, that the +line must point contiguous with the Ochori border, you may understand +dimly some reason for the frantic claim that that little belt of +territory, two miles wide, was part of the domain of each and every one +of the contestants. + +When the news was flashed to Europe that a party of British Houssas were +holding the banks of the N'glili river, and had inflicted a loss upon a +force of criminals, the approval which civilization should rightly have +bestowed upon Captain Hamilton and his heroic lieutenant was tempered +largely by the question as to whether Captain Hamilton and his Houssas +had any right whatever to be upon "the red field." And in consequence +the telegraph lines between Berlin and Paris and Paris and London and +London and Brussels were kept fairly busy with passionate statements of +claims couched in the stilted terminology of diplomacy. + +England could not recede from the position she had taken. This she said +in French and in German, and in her own perfidious tongue. She stated +this uncompromisingly, but at the same time sent secret orders to +withdraw the force that was the bone of contention. This order she soon +countermanded. A certain speech delivered by a too voluble Belgian +minister was responsible for the stiffening of her back, and His +Excellency the Administrator of the territory received official +instructions in the middle of the night: "Tell Hamilton to stay where he +is and hold border against all comers." + +This message was re-transmitted. + +Now there is in existence in the British Colonial Service, and in all +branches which affect the agents and the servants of the Colonial +Office, an emergency code which is based upon certain characters in +Shakespearean plays. + +I say "there is"; perhaps it would be better and more to the point if I +said "there was," since the code has been considerably amended. + +Thus, be he sub-inspector or commissioner, or chief of local native +police who receives the word "Ophelia," he knows without consulting any +book that "Ophelia" means "unrest of natives reported in your district, +please report"; or if it be "Polonius" it signifies to him--and this he +knows without confirming his knowledge--that he must move steadily +forward. Or if it be "Banquo" he reads into it, "Hold your position till +further orders." And "Banquo" was the word that the Administrator +telegraphed. + + * * * * * + +Sergeant Abiboo had sat by the flowing N'glili river without noticing +any slackening of its strength or challenging of its depth. + +There was reason for this. + +Bizaro, who was in the forest ten miles to the westward, and working +moreover upon a piece of native strategy which natives the world over +had found successful, saw that it was unnecessary to dam the river and +divert the stream. + +Nature had assisted him to a marvellous degree. He had followed the +stream through the forest until he reached a place where it was a +quarter of a mile wide, so wide and so newly spread that the water +reached half-way up the trunks of the sodden and dying trees. + +Moreover, there was a bank through which a hundred men might cut a +breach in a day or so, even though they went about their work most +leisurely, being constitutionally averse to manual labour. + +Bizaro was no engineer, but he had all the forest man's instincts of +water-levels. There was a clear run down to the meadows beyond that, as +he said, he "smelt." + +"We will drown these dogs," he said to his headman, "and afterwards we +will walk into the country and take it for our own." + +Hamilton had been alive to the danger of such an attack. He saw by +certain indications of the soil that this great shallow valley had been +inundated more than once, though probably many years had passed since +the last overflow of water. Yet he could not move from where he had +planted himself without risking the displeasure of his chief and without +also risking very serious consequences in other directions. + +Bosambo, frankly bored, was all for retiring his men to the comforts of +the Ochori city. + +"Lord, why do we sit here?" he asked, "looking at this little stream +which has no fish and at this great ugly country, when I have my +beautiful city for your lordship's reception, and dancing folk and great +feasts?" + +"A doocid sensible idea," murmured Bones. + +"I wait for a book," answered Hamilton shortly. "If you wish to go, you +may take your soldiers and leave me." + +"Lord," said Bosambo, "you put shame on me," and he looked his reproach. + +"I am really surprised at you, Hamilton," murmured Bones. + +"Keep your infernal comments to yourself," snapped his superior. "I tell +you I must wait for my instructions." + +He was a silent man for the rest of the evening, and had settled himself +down in his canvas chair to doze away the night, when a travel-stained +messenger came from the Ochori and he brought a telegram of one word. + +Hamilton looked at it, he looked too with a frown at the figures that +preceded it. + +"And what you mean," he muttered, "the Lord knows!" + +The word, however, was sufficiently explicit. A bugle call brought the +Houssas into line and the tapping of Bosambo's drums assembled his +warriors. + +Within half an hour of the receipt of the message Hamilton's force was +on the move. + +They crossed the great stretch of meadow in the darkness and were +climbing up towards the forest when a noise like thunder broke upon +their ears. + +Such a roaring, crashing, hissing of sound came nearer and nearer, +increasing in volume every second. The sky was clear, and one swift +glance told Hamilton that it was not a storm he had to fear. And then it +came upon him, and he realized what this commotion meant. + +"Run!" he cried, and with one accord naked warriors and uniformed +Houssas fled through the darkness to the higher ground. The water came +rushing about Hamilton's ankles, one man slipped back again into the +flood and was hauled out again by Bones, exclaiming loudly his own act +lest it should have escaped the attention of his superior, and the party +reached safety without the loss of a man. + +"Just in time," said Hamilton grimly. "I wonder if the Administrator +knew this was going to happen?" + +They came to the Ochori by easy marches, and Hamilton wrote a long wire +to headquarters sending it on ahead by a swift messenger. + +It was a dispatch which cleared away many difficulties, for the disputed +territory was for everlasting under water, and where the "red field" had +blazed brilliantly was a calm stretch of river two miles wide filled +with strange silent brown objects that floated and bobbed to the +movement of the tide. These were the men who in their folly had loosened +the waters and died of their rashness. Most notable of these was Bizaro. + +There was a shock waiting for Hamilton when he reached the Ochori city. +The wire from the Administrator was kindly enough and sufficiently +approving to satisfy even an exigent Bones. "But," it ran, "why did you +retire in face of stringent orders to remain? I wired you 'Banquo.'" + +Hamilton afterwards learnt that the messenger carrying this important +dispatch had passed his party in their retirement through the forest. + +"Banquo," quoted Hamilton in amazement. "I received absolute +instructions to retire." + +"Hard cheese," said Bones, sympathetically. "His dear old Excellency +wants a good talking to; but are you sure, dear old chap, that you +haven't made a mistake." + +"Here it is," he said, "but I must confess that I don't understand the +numbers." + +He handed it to Bones. It read: + + "Mercutio 17178." + +Bones looked at it a moment, then gasped. He reached out his hand +solemnly and grasped that of the astounded Hamilton. + +"Dear old fellow," he said in a broken voice, "Congratulate me, I have +drawn a runner!" + +"A runner?" + +"A runner, dear old sport," chortled Bones, "in the Cambridgeshire! You +see I've got a ticket number seventeen, seventeen eight in my pocket, +dear old friend! If Mercutio wins," he repeated solemnly, "I will stand +you the finest dinner that can be secured this side of Romano's." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SOUL OF THE NATIVE WOMAN + + +Mail day is ever a day of supreme interest for the young and for the +matter of that for the middle-aged, too. Sanders hated mail days because +the bulk of his correspondence had to do with Government, and Government +never sat down with a pen in its hand to wish Sanders many happy returns +of the day or to tell him scandalous stories about mutual friends. + +Rather the Government (by inference) told him scandalous stories about +himself--of work not completed to the satisfaction of Downing Street--a +thoroughfare given to expecting miracles. + +Hamilton had a sister who wrote wittily and charmingly every week, and +there was another girl ... Still, two letters and a bright pink paper or +two made a modest postbag by the side of Lieutenant Tibbetts' mail. + +There came to Bones every mail day a thick wad of letters and parcels +innumerable, and he could sit at the big table for hours on end, +whistling a little out of tune, mumbling incoherently. He had a trick of +commenting upon his letters aloud, which was very disconcerting for +Hamilton. Bones wouldn't open a letter and get half-way through it +before he began his commenting. + +"... poor soul ... dear! dear! ... what a silly old ass ... ah, would +you ... don't do it, Billy...." + +To Hamilton's eyes the bulk of correspondence rather increased than +diminished. + +"You must owe a lot of money," he said one day. + +"Eh!" + +"All these...!" Hamilton opened his hand to a floor littered with +discarded envelopes. "I suppose they represent demands...." + +"Dear lad," said Bones brightly, "they represent popularity--I'm +immensely popular, sir," he gulped a little as he fished out two dainty +envelopes from the pile before him; "you may not have experienced the +sensation, but I assure you, sir, it's pleasing, it's doocidly +pleasing!" + +"Complacent ass," said Hamilton, and returned to his own correspondence. + +Systematically Bones went through his letters, now and again consulting +a neat little morocco-covered note-book. (It would appear he kept a very +careful record of every letter he wrote home, its contents, the date of +its dispatch, and the reply thereto.) He had reduced letter writing to a +passion, spent most of his evenings writing long epistles to his +friends--mostly ladies of a tender age--and had incidentally acquired a +reputation in the Old Country for his brilliant powers of narrative. + +This, Hamilton discovered quite by accident. It would appear that +Hamilton's sister had been on a visit--was in fact on the visit when she +wrote one letter which so opened Hamilton's eyes--and mentioned that she +was staying with some great friends of Bones'. She did not, of course, +call him "Bones," but "Mr. Tibbetts." + +"I should awfully like to meet him," she wrote, "he must be a very +interesting man. Aggie Vernon had a letter from him yesterday wherein he +described his awful experience lion-hunting. + +"To be chased by a lion and caught and then carried to the beast's lair +must have been awful! + +"Mr. Tibbetts is very modest about it in his letter, and beyond telling +Aggie that he escaped by sticking his finger in the lion's eye he says +little of his subsequent adventure. By the way, Pat, Aggie tells me that +you had a bad bout of fever and that Mr. Tibbetts carried you for some +miles to the nearest doctor. I wish you wouldn't keep these things so +secret, it worries me dreadfully unless you tell me--even the worst +about yourself. I hope your interesting friend returned safely from his +dangerous expedition into the interior--he was on the point of leaving +when his letter was dispatched and was quite gloomy about his +prospects...." + +Hamilton read this epistle over and over again, then he sent for Bones. + +That gentleman came most cheerfully, full of fine animal spirits, +and---- + +"Just had a letter about you, Bones," said Hamilton carelessly. + +"About me, sir!" said Bones; "from the War Office--I'm not being +decorated or anything!" he asked anxiously. + +"No--nothing so tragic; it was a letter from my sister, who is staying +with the Vernons." + +"Oh!" said Bones going suddenly red. + +"What a modest devil you are," said the admiring Hamilton, "having a +lion hunt all to yourself and not saying a word about it to anybody." + +Bones made curious apologetic noises. + +"I didn't know there were any lions in the country," pursued Hamilton +remorselessly. "Liars, yes! But lions, no! I suppose you brought them +with you--and I suppose you know also, Bones, that it is considered in +lion-hunting circles awfully rude to stick your finger into a lion's +eye? It is bad sportsmanship to say the least, and frightfully painful +for the lion." + +Bones was making distressful grimaces. + +"How would you like a lion to stick his finger in _your_ eye?" asked +Hamilton severely; "and, by the way, Bones, I have to thank you." + +He rose solemnly, took the hand of his reluctant and embarrassed second +and wrung. + +"Thank you," said Hamilton, in a broken voice, "for saving my life." + +"Oh, I say, sir," began Bones feebly. + +"To carry a man eighty miles on your back is no mean accomplishment, +Bones--especially when I was unconscious----" + +"I don't say you were unconscious, sir. In fact, sir----" floundered +Lieutenant Tibbetts as red as a peony. + +"And yet I was unconscious," insisted Hamilton firmly. "I am still +unconscious, even to this day. I have no recollection of your heroic +effort, Bones, I thank you." + +"Well, sir," said Bones, "to make a clean breast of the whole +affair----" + +"And this dangerous expedition of yours, Bones, an expedition from which +you might never return--that," said Hamilton in a hushed voice, "is the +best story I have heard for years." + +"Sir," said Bones, speaking under the stress of considerable emotion, "I +am clean bowled, sir. The light-hearted fairy stories which I wrote to +cheer, so to speak, the sick-bed of an innocent child, sir, they have +recoiled upon my own head. _Peccavi, mea culpi_, an' all those jolly old +expressions that you'll find in the back pages of the dictionary." + +"Oh, Bones, Bones!" chuckled Hamilton. + +"You mustn't think I'm a perfect liar, sir," began Bones, earnestly. + +"I don't think you're a perfect liar," answered Hamilton, "I think +you're the most inefficient liar I've ever met." + +"Not even a liar, I'm a romancist, sir," Bones stiffened with dignity +and saluted, but whether he was saluting Hamilton, or the spirit of +Romance, or in sheer admiration was saluting himself, Hamilton did not +know. + +"The fact is, sir," said Bones confidentially, "I'm writing a book!" + +He stepped back as though to better observe the effect of his words. + +"What about?" asked Hamilton, curiously. + +"About things I've seen and things I know," said Bones, in his most +impressive manner. + +"Oh, I see!" said Hamilton, "one of those waistcoat pocket books." + +Bones swallowed the insult with a gulp. + +"I've been asked to write a book," he said; "my adventures an' all that +sort of thing. Of course they needn't have happened, really----" + +"In that case, Bones, I'm with you," said Hamilton; "if you're going to +write a book about things that haven't happened to you, there's no limit +to its size." + +"You're bein' a jolly cruel old officer, sir," said Bones, pained by the +cold cynicism of his chief. "But I'm very serious, sir. This country is +full of material. And everybody says I ought to write a book about +it--why, dash it, sir, I've been here nearly two months!" + +"It seems years," said Hamilton. + +Bones was perfectly serious, as he had said. He did intend preparing a +book for publication, had dreams of a great literary career, and an +ultimate membership of the Athenæum Club belike. It had come upon him +like a revelation that such a career called him. The week after he had +definitely made up his mind to utilize his gifts in this direction, his +outgoing mail was heavier than ever. For to three and twenty English and +American publishers, whose names he culled from a handy work of +reference, he advanced a business-like offer to prepare for the press a +volume "of 316 pages printed in type about the same size as enclosed," +and to be entitled: + + MY WILD LIFE AMONGST CANNIBALS. + + BY + + AUGUSTUS TIBBETTS, Lieutenant of Houssas. + + Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; Fellow of the Royal + Asiatic Society; Member of the Ethnological Society and Junior Army + Service Club. + +Bones had none of these qualifications, save the latter, but as he told +himself he'd jolly soon be made a member if his book was a howling +success. + +No sooner had his letters been posted than he changed his mind, and he +addressed three and twenty more letters to the publishers, altering the +title to: + + THE TYRANNY OF THE WILDS. + + Being Some Observations on the Habits and Customs + of Savage Peoples. + + BY + + AUGUSTUS TIBBETTS (LT.). + + With a Foreword by Captain Patrick Hamilton. + +"You wouldn't mind writing a foreword, dear old fellow?" he asked. + +"Charmed," said Hamilton. "Have you a particular preference for any +form?" + +"Just please yourself, sir," said a delighted Bones, so Hamilton covered +two sheets of foolscap with an appreciation which began: + +"The audacity of the author of this singularly uninformed work is to be +admired without necessarily being imitated. Two months' residence in a +land which offered many opportunities for acquiring inaccurate data, has +resulted in a work which must stand for all time as a monument of +murderous effort," etc. + +Bones read the appreciation very carefully. + +"Dear old sport," he said, a little troubled, as he reached the end; +"this is almost uncomplimentary." + +You couldn't depress Bones or turn him from his set purpose. He scribed +away, occupying his leisure moments with his great work. His normal +correspondence suffered cruelly, but Bones was relentless. Hamilton sent +him north to collect the hut tax, and at first Bones resented this +order, believing that it was specially designed to hamper him. + +"Of course, sir," he said, "I'll obey you, if you order me in accordance +with regulations an' all that sort of rot, but believe me, sir, you're +doin' an injury to literature. Unborn generations, sir, will demand an +explanation----" + +"Get out!" said Hamilton crossly. + +Bones found his trip a blessing that had been well disguised. There were +many points of interest on which he required first-hand information. He +carried with him to the _Zaire_ large exercise books on which he had +pasted such pregnant labels as "Native Customs," "Dances," "Ju-jus," +"Ancient Legends," "Folk-lore," etc. They were mostly blank, and +represented projected chapters of his great work. + +All might have been well with Bones. More virgin pages might easily have +been covered with his sprawling writing and the book itself, converted +into honest print, have found its way, in the course of time, into the +tuppenny boxes of the Farringdon book-mart, sharing its soiled +magnificence with the work of the best of us, but on his way Bones had a +brilliant inspiration. There was a chapter he had not thought of, a +chapter heading which had not been born to his mind until that flashing +moment of genius. + +Upon yet another exercise book, he pasted the label of a chapter which +was to eclipse all others in interest. Behold then, this enticing +announcement, boldly printed and ruled about with double lines: + + "THE SOUL OF THE NATIVE WOMAN." + +It was a fine chapter title. It was sonorous, it had dignity, it was +full of possibilities. "The Soul of the Native Woman," repeated Bones, +in an ecstasy of self-admiration, and having chosen his subject he +proceeded to find out something about it. + +Now, about this time, Bosambo of the Ochori might, had he wished and had +he the literary quality, have written many books about women, if for no +other reason than because of a certain girl named D'riti. + +She was a woman of fifteen, grown to a splendid figure, with a proud +head and a chin that tilted in contempt, for she was the daughter of +Bosambo's chief counsellor, grand-daughter of an Ochori king, and +ambitious to be wife of Bosambo himself. + +"This is a mad thing," said Bosambo when her father offered the +suggestion; "for, as you know, T'meli, I have one wife who is a thousand +wives to me." + +"Lord, I will be ten thousand," said D'riti, present at the interview +and bold; "also, Lord, it was predicted at my birth that I should marry +a king and the greater than a king." + +"That is me," said Bosambo, who was without modesty; "yet, it cannot +be." + +So they married D'riti to a chief's son who beat her till one day she +broke his thick head with an iron pot, whereupon he sent her back to her +father demanding the return of his dowry and the value of his pot. + +She had her following, for she was a dancer of fame and could twist her +lithe body into enticing shapes. She might have married again, but she +was so scornful of common men that none dare ask for her. Also the +incident of the iron pot was not forgotten, and D'riti went swaying +through the village--she walked from her hips, gracefully--a straight, +brown, girl-woman desired and unasked. + +For she knew men too well to inspire confidence in them. By some weird +intuition which certain women of all races acquire, she had probed +behind their minds and saw with their eyes, and when she spoke of men, +she spoke with a conscious authority, and such men, who were within +earshot of her vitriolic comments, squirmed uncomfortably, and called +her a woman of shame. + +So matters stood when the _Zaire_ came flashing to the Ochori city and +the heart of Bones filled with pleasant anticipation. + +Who was so competent to inform him on the matter of the souls of native +women as Bosambo of the Ochori, already a crony of Bones, and admirable, +if for no other reason, because he professed an open reverence for his +new master? At any rate, after the haggle of tax collection was +finished, Bones set about his task. + +"Bosambo," said he, "men say you are very wise. Now tell me something +about the women of the Ochori." + +Bosambo looked at Bones a little startled. + +"Lord," said he, "who knows about women? For is it not written in the +blessed Sura of the Djin that women and death are beyond +understanding?" + +"That may be true," said Bones, "yet, behold, I make a book full of wise +and wonderful things and it would be neither wise nor wonderful if there +was no word of women." + +And he explained very seriously indeed that he desired to know of the +soul of native womanhood, of her thoughts and her dreams and her high +desires. + +"Lord," said Bosambo, after a long thought, "go to your ship: presently +I will send to you a girl who thinks and speaks with great wisdom--and +if she talks with you, you shall learn more things than I can tell you." + +To the _Zaire_ at sundown came D'riti, a girl of proper height, hollow +backed, bare to the waist, with a thin skirting of fine silk cloth which +her father had brought from the Coast, wound tightly about her, yet not +so tightly that it hampered her swaying, lazy walk. She stood before a +disconcerted Bones, one small hand resting on her hip, her chin (as +usual) tilted down at him from under lashes uncommonly long for a +native. + +Also, this Bones saw, she was gifted with more delicate features than +the native woman can boast as a rule. The nose was straight and narrow, +the lips full, yet not of the negroid type. She was in fact a pure +Ochori woman, and the Ochori are related dimly to the Arabi tribes. + +"Lord, Bosambo the King has sent me to speak about women," she said +simply. + +"Doocidly awkward," said Bones to himself, and blushed. + +"O, D'riti," he stammered, "it is true I wish to speak of women, for I +make a book that all white lords will read." + +"Therefore have I come," she said. "Now listen, O my lord, whilst I tell +you of women, and of all they think, of their love for men and of the +strange way they show it. Also of children----" + +"Look here," said Bones, loudly. "I don't want any--any--private +information, my child----" + +Then realizing from her frown that she did not understand him, he +returned to Bomongo. + +"Lord, I will say what is to be said," she remarked, meekly, "for you +have a gentle face and I see that your heart is very pure." + +Then she began, and Bones listened with open mouth ... later he was to +feel his hair rise and was to utter gurgling protests, for she spoke +with primitive simplicity about things that are never spoken about at +all. He tried to check her, but she was not to be checked. + +"Goodness, gracious heavens!" gasped Bones. + +She told him of what women think of men, and of what men _think_ women +think of them, and there was a remarkable discrepancy if she spoke the +truth. He asked her if she was married. + +"Lord," she said at last, eyeing him thoughtfully, "it is written that I +shall marry one who is greater than chiefs." + +"I'll bet you will, too," thought Bones, sweating. + +At parting she took his hand and pressed it to her cheek. + +"Lord," she said, softly, "to-morrow when the sun is nearly down, I will +come again and tell you more...." + +Bones left before daybreak, having all the material he wanted for his +book and more. + +He took his time descending the river, calling at sundry places. + +At Ikan he tied up the _Zaire_ for the night, and whilst his men were +carrying the wood aboard, he settled himself to put down the gist of his +discoveries. In the midst of his labours came Abiboo. + +"Lord," said he, "there has just come by a fast canoe the woman who +spoke with you last night." + +"Jumping Moses!" said Bones, turning pale, "say to this woman that I am +gone----" + +But the woman came round the corner of the deck-house, shyly, yet with a +certain confidence. + +"Lord," she said, "behold I am here, your poor slave; there are +wonderful things about women which I have not told you----" + +"O, D'riti!" said Bones in despair, "I know all things, and it is not +lawful that you should follow me so far from your home lest evil be said +of you." + +He sent her to the hut of the chief's wife--M'lini-fo-bini of Ikan--with +instructions that she was to be returned to her home on the following +morning. Then he went back to his work, but found it strangely +distasteful. He left nothing to chance the next day. + +With the dawn he slipped down the river at full speed, never so much as +halting till day began to fail, and he was a short day's journey from +headquarters. + +"Anyhow, the poor dear won't overtake me to-day," he said--only to find +the "poor dear" had stowed herself away on the steamer in the night +behind a pile of wood. + + * * * * * + +"It's very awkward," said Hamilton, and coughed. + +Bones looked at his chief pathetically. + +"It's doocid awkward, sir," he agreed dismally. + +"You say she won't go back?" + +Bones shook his head. + +"She said I'm the moon and the sun an' all sorts of rotten things to +her, sir," he groaned and wiped his forehead. + +"Send her to me," said Hamilton. + +"Be kind to her, sir," pleaded the miserable Bones. "After all, sir, the +poor girl seems to be fond of me, sir--the human heart, sir--I don't +know why she should take a fancy to me." + +"That's what I want to know," said Hamilton, briefly; "if she _is_ mad, +I'll send her to the mission hospital along the Coast." + +"You've a hard and bitter heart," said Bones, sadly. + +D'riti came ready to flash her anger and eloquence at Hamilton; on the +verge of defiance. + +"D'riti," said Hamilton, "to-morrow I send you back to your people." + +"Lord, I stay with Tibbetti who loves women and is happy to talk of +them. Also some day I shall be his wife, for this is foretold." She shot +a tender glance at poor Bones. + +"That cannot be," said Hamilton calmly, "for Tibbetti has three wives, +and they are old and fierce----" + +"Oh, lord!" wailed Bones. + +"And they would beat you and make you carry wood and water," Hamilton +said; he saw the look of apprehension steal into the girl's face. "And +more than this, D'riti, the Lord Tibbetti is mad when the moon is in +full, he foams at the mouth and bites, uttering awful noises." + +"Oh, dirty trick!" almost sobbed Bones. + +"Go, therefore, D'riti," said Hamilton, "and I will give you a piece of +fine cloth, and beads of many colours." + +It is a matter of history that D'riti went. + +"I don't know what you think of me, sir," said Bones, humbly, "of course +I couldn't get rid of her----" + +"You didn't try," said Hamilton, searching his pockets for his pipe. +"You could have made her drop you like a shot." + +"How, sir?" + +"Stuck your finger in her eye," said Hamilton, and Bones swallowed hard. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE STRANGER WHO WALKED BY NIGHT + + +Since the day when Lieutenant Francis Augustus Tibbetts rescued from the +sacrificial trees the small brown baby whom he afterwards christened +Henry Hamilton Bones, the interests of that young officer were to a very +large extent extremely concentrated upon that absorbing problem which a +famous journal once popularized, "What shall we do with our boys?" + +As to the exact nature of the communications which Bones made to England +upon the subject, what hairbreadth escapes and desperate adventure he +detailed with that facile pen of his, who shall say? + +It is unfortunate that Hamilton's sister--that innocent purveyor of home +news--had no glimpse of the correspondence, and that other recipients of +his confidence are not in touch with the writer of these chronicles. +Whatever he wrote, with what fervour he described his wanderings in the +forest no one knows, but certainly he wrote to some purpose. + +"What the dickens are all these parcels that have come for you for?" +demanded his superior officer, eyeing with disfavour a mountain of +brown paper packages be-sealed, be-stringed, and be-stamped. + +Bones, smoking his pipe, turned them over. + +"I don't know for certain," he said, carefully; "but I shouldn't be +surprised if they aren't clothes, dear old officer." + +"Clothes?" + +"For Henry," explained Bones, and cutting the string of one and tearing +away its covering revealed a little mountain of snowy garments. Bones +turned them over one by one. + +"For Henry," he repeated; "could you tell me, sir, what these things are +for?" + +He held up a garment white and small and frilly. + +"No, sir, I can't," said Hamilton stiffly, "unless like the ass that you +are you have forgotten to mention to your friends that Henry is a +gentleman child." + +Bones looked up at the blue sky and scratched his chin. + +"I may have called him 'her,'" he confessed. + +There were, to be exact, sixteen parcels and each contained at least one +such garment, and in addition a very warm shawl, "which," said Hamilton, +"will be immensely useful when it snows." + +With the aid of his orderly, Bones sorted out the wardrobe and the +playthings (including many volumes of the +Oh-look-at-the-rat-on-the-mat-where-is-the-cat? variety), and these he +carried to his hut with such dignity as he could summon. + +That evening, Hamilton paid his subordinate a visit. Henry, pleasingly +arrayed in a pair of the misdirected garments with a large bonnet on his +head, and seated on the floor of the quarters contentedly chewing Bones' +watch, whilst Bones, accompanying himself with his banjo, was singing a +song which was chiefly remarkable for the fact that he was ignorant of +the tune and somewhat hazy concerning the words. + + "Did you ever take a tum-ty up the Nile, + Did you ever dumpty dupty in a camp, + Or dumpty dumpty on m--m---- + Or play it in a dumpty dumpty swamp." + +He rose, and saluted his senior, as Hamilton came in. + +"Exactly what is going to happen when Sanders comes back?" asked +Hamilton, and the face of Bones fell. + +"Happen, sir? I don't take you, sir--what _could_ happen--to whom, sir?" + +"To Henry," said Hamilton. + +Henry looked up at that moment with a seraphic smile. + +"Isn't he wonderful, sir?" asked Bones in hushed ecstasy; "you won't +believe what I'm going to tell you, sir--you're such a jolly old +sceptic, sir--but Henry knows me--positively recognizes me! And when you +remember that he's only four months old--why, it's unbelievable." + +"But what will you do when Sanders comes--really, Bones, I don't know +whether I ought to allow this as it is." + +"If exception is taken to Henry, sir," said Bones firmly, "I resign my +commission; if a gentleman is allowed to keep a dog, sir, he is surely +allowed to keep a baby. Between Henry and me, sir, there is a bond +stronger than steel. I may be an ass, sir, I may even be a goop, but +come between me an' my child an' all my motherly instincts--if you'll +pardon the paradox--all my paternal--that's the word--instincts are +aroused, and I will fight like a tiger, sir----" + +"What a devil you are for jaw," said Hamilton; "anyway, I've warned you. +Sanders is due in a month." + +"Henry will be five," murmured Bones. + +"Oh, blow Henry!" said Hamilton. + +Bones rose and pointed to the door. + +"May I ask you, sir," he said, "not to use that language before the +child? I hate to speak to you like this, sir, but I have a +responsible----" + +He dodged out of the open door and the loaf of bread which Hamilton had +thrown struck the lintel and rolled back to Henry's eager hands. + +The two men walked up and down the parade ground whilst Fa'ma, the wife +of Ahmet, carried the child to her quarters where he slept. + +"I'm afraid I've got to separate you from your child," said Hamilton; +"there is some curious business going on in the Lombobo, and a stranger +who walks by night, of which Ahmet the Spy writes somewhat +confusingly." + +Bones glanced round in some apprehension. + +"Oblige me, old friend," he entreated, "by never speakin' of such things +before Henry--I wouldn't have him scared for the world." + + +II + +Bosambo of the Ochori was a light sleeper, the lighter because of +certain stories which had reached him of a stranger who walks by night, +and in the middle of the night he suddenly became wide awake, conscious +that there was a man in his hut of whose coming the sentry without was +ignorant. + +Bosambo's hand went out stealthily for his short spear, but before he +could reach it, his wrist was caught in a grip of steel, strong fingers +gripped his throat, and the intruder whispered fiercely, using certain +words which left the chief helpless with wonder. + +"I am M'gani of the Night," said the voice with authoritative hauteur, +"of me you have heard, for I am known only to chiefs; and am so high +that chiefs obey and even devils go quickly from my path." + +"O, M'gani, I hear you," whispered Bosambo, "how may I serve you?" + +"Get me food," said the imperious stranger, "after, you shall make a bed +for me in your inner room, and sit before this house that none may +disturb me, for it is to my high purpose that no word shall go to +M'ilitani that I stay in your territory." + +"M'gani, I am your dog," said Bosambo, and stole forth from the hut like +a thief to obey. + +All that day he sat before his hut and even sent away the wife of his +heart and the child M'sambo, that the rest of M'gani of the N'gombi +should not be disturbed. + +That night when darkness had come and the glowing red of hut fires grew +dimmer, M'gani came from the hut. + +Bosambo had sent away the guard and accompanied his guest to the end of +the village. + +M'gani, with only a cloak of leopard skin about him, twirling two long +spears as he walked, was silent till he came to the edge of the city +where he was to take farewell of his host. + +"Tell me this, Bosambo, where are Sandi's spies that I may avoid them?" + +And Bosambo, without hesitation, told him. + +"M'gani," said he, at parting, "where do you go now? tell me that I may +send cunning men to guard you, for there is a bad spirit in this land, +especially amongst the people of Lombobo, because I have offended B'limi +Saka, the chief." + +"No soldiers do I need, O Bosambo," said the other. "Yet I tell you this +that I go to quiet places to learn that which will be best for my +people." + +He turned to go. + +"M'gani," said Bosambo, "in the day when you shall see our lord Sandi, +speak to him for me saying that I am faithful, for it seems to me, so +high a man are you that he will listen to your word when he will listen +to none other." + +"I hear," said M'gani gravely, and slipped into the shadows of the +forest. + +Bosambo stood for a long time staring in the direction which M'gani had +taken, then walked slowly back to his hut. + +In the morning came the chief of his councillors for a hut palaver. + +"Bosambo," said he, in a tone of mystery, "the Walker-of-the-Night has +been with us." + +"Who says this?" asked Bosambo. + +"Fibini, the fisherman," said the councillor, "for this he says, that +having toothache, he sat in the shadow of his hut near the warm fire and +saw the Walker pass through the village and with him, lord, one who was +like a devil, being big and very ugly." + +"Go to Fibini," said a justly annoyed Bosambo, "and beat him on the feet +till he cries--for he is a liar and a spreader of alarm." + +Yet Fibini had done his worst before the bastinado (an innovation of +Bosambo's) had performed its silencing mission, and Ochori mothers +shepherded their little flocks with greater care when the sun went down +that night, for this new terror which had come to the land, this black +ghost with the wildfire fame was reputed especially devilish. In a week +he had become famous--so swift does news carry in the territories. + +Men had seen him passing through forest paths, or speeding with +incredible swiftness along the silent river. Some said that he had no +boat and walked the waters, others that he flew like a bat with millions +of bats behind him. One had met him face to face and had sunk to the +ground before eyes "that were very hot and red and thrusting out little +lightnings." + +He had been seen in many places in the Ochori, in the N'gombi city, in +the villages of the Akasava, but mainly his hunting ground was the +narrow strip of territory which is called Lombobo. + +B'limi Saka, the chief of the land, himself a believer in devils, was +especially perturbed lest the Silent Walker should be a spy of +Government, for he had been guilty of practices which were particularly +obnoxious to the white men who were so swift to punish. + +"Yet," said he to his daughter and (to the disgust of his people, who +despised women) his chief councillor, "none know my heart save you, +Lamalana." + +Lamalana, with her man shoulders and her flat face, peered at her +grizzled father sideways. + +"Devils hear hearts," she said huskily, "and when they talk of killings +and sacrifices are not all devils pleased? Now I tell you this, my +father, that I wait for sacrifices which you swore by death you would +show me." + +B'limi Saka looked round fearfully. Though the ferocity of this chief +was afterwards revealed, though secret places in the forest held his +horrible secret killing-houses, yet he was a timid man with a certain +affection of his eyes which made him dependent upon the childless widow +who had been his strength for two years. + +The Lombobo were the cruellest of Sanders' people; their chiefs the most +treacherous. Neither akin to the N'gombi, the Isisi, the Akasava nor the +Ochori, they took on the worst attributes of each race. + +Seldom in open warfare did they challenge the Administration, but there +was a long tale of slain and mutilated enemies who floated face +downwards in the stream; of disappearance of faithful servants of +Government, and of acts of cannibalism which went unidentified and +unpunished. + +For though all the tribes, save the Ochori, had been cannibals, yet by +fire and rope, tempered with wisdom, had the Administration brought +about a newer era to the upper river. + +But reformation came not to the Lombobo. A word from Sanders, a +carelessly expressed view, and the Lombobo people would have been swept +from existence--wiped ruthlessly from the list of nations, but that was +not the way of Government, which is patient and patient and patient +again till in the end, by sheer heavy weight of patience, it crushes +opposition to its wishes. + +They called Lamalana the barren woman, the Drinker of Life, but she had +at least drunken without ostentation, and if she murdered with her own +large hands, or staked men and women from a sheer lust of cruelty, there +were none alive to speak against her. + +Outside the town of Lombobo[6] was a patch of beaten ground where no +grass grew, and this place was called "wa boma," the killing ground. + +[Footnote 6: The territories are invariably named after the principal +city, which is sometimes, perhaps, a little misleading.--E. W.] + +Here, before the white men came, sacrifices were made openly, and it was +perhaps for this association and because it was, from its very openness, +free from the danger of the eavesdropper, that Lamalana and her father +would sit by the hour, whilst he told her the story of ancient +horrors--never too horrible for the woman who swayed to and fro as she +listened as one who was hypnotized. + +"Lord," said she, "the Walker of the Night comes not alone to the +Lombobo; all people up and down the river have seen him, and to my mind +he is a sign of great fortune showing that ghosts are with us. Now, if +you are very brave, we will have a killing greater than any. Is there no +hole in the hill[7] which Bosambo dug for your shame? And, lord, do not +the people of the Ochori say that this child M'sambo is the light of his +father's life? O ko! Bosambo shall be sorry." + +[Footnote 7: _See_ "The Right of Way."] + +Later they walked in the forest speaking, for they had no fear of the +spirits which the last slanting rays of the dying sun unlocked from the +trees. And they talked and walked, and Lombobo huntsmen, returning +through the wood, gave them a wide berth, for Lamalana was possessed of +an eye which was notoriously evil. + +"Let us go back to the city," said Lamalana, "for now I see that you are +very brave and not a blind old man." + +"There will be a great palaver and who knows but M'ilitani will come +with his soldiers?" + +She laughed loudly and hoarsely, making the silent forest ring with +harsh noise. + +"O ko!" she said, then laughed no more. + +In the centre of the path was a man; in the half light she saw the +leopard skin and the strange belt of metal about his waist. + +"O Lamalana," he said softly, "laugh gently, for I have quick ears and I +smell blood." + +He pointed to the darkening forest path down which they had come. + +"Many have been sacrificed and none heard them," he said, "this I know +now. Let there be an end to killing, for I am M'gani, the Walker of the +Night, and very terrible." + +"Wa!" screamed Lamalana, and leapt at him with clawing hands and her +white teeth agrin. Then something soft and damp struck her face--full in +the mouth like a spray of water, and she fell over struggling for her +breath, and rose gasping to her feet to find the Walker had gone. + + +III + +Before Bosambo's hut Bones sat in a long and earnest conversation, and +the subject of his discourse was children. For, alarmed by the ominous +suggestion which Bones had put forward, that his superior should be +responsible for the well-being of Henry in the absence of his +foster-parent, Hamilton had yielded to the request that Henry should +accompany Bones on his visit to the north. + +And now, on a large rug before Bosambo and his lord, there sat two small +children eyeing one another with mutual distrust. + +"Lord," said Bosambo, "it is true that your lordship's child is +wonderful, but I think that M'sambo is also wonderful. If your lordship +will look with kind eyes he will see a certain cunning way which is +strange in so young a one. Also he speaks clearly so that I understand +him." + +"Yet," contested Bones, "as it seems to me, Bosambo, mine is very wise, +for see how he looks to me when I speak, raising his thumb." + +Bones made a clucking noise with his mouth, and Henry turned frowningly, +regarded his protector with cool indifference, and returned to his +scrutiny of the other strange brown animal confronting him. + +"Now," said Bones that night, "what of the Walker?" + +"Lord, I know of him," said Bosambo, "yet I cannot speak for we are +blood brothers by certain magic rites and speeches; this I know, that he +is a good man as I shall testify to Sandi when he comes back to his own +people." + +"You sit here for Government," said Bones, "and if you don't play the +game you're a jolly old rotter, Bosambo!" + +"I know 'um, I no speak 'um, sah," said Bosambo, "I be good fellah, sah, +no Yadasi fellah, sah--I be Peter feller, cut 'em ear some like, sah!" + +"You're a naughty old humbug," said Bones, and went to bed on the +_Zaire_ leaving Henry with the chief's wife.... + +In the dark hours before the dawn he led his Houssas across the beach, +revolver in hand, but came a little too late. The surprise party had +been well planned. A speared sentry lay twisting before the chief's hut, +and Bosambo's face was smothered in blood. Bones took in the situation. + +"Fire on the men who fly to the forest," he said, but Bosambo laid a +shaking hand upon his arm. + +"Lord," he said, "hold your fire, for they have taken the children, and +I fear the woman my wife is stricken." + +He went into the hut, Bones following. + +The chief's wife had a larger hut than Bosambo's own, communicating with +her lord's through a passage of wicker and clay, and the raiders had +clubbed her to silence, but Bones knew enough of surgery to see that she +was in no danger. + +In ten minutes the fighting regiments of the Ochori were sweeping +through the forest, trackers going ahead to pick up the trail. + +"Let all gods hear me," sobbed Bosambo, as he ran, "and send M'gani +swiftly to M'sambo my son." + + +IV + +"Now this is very wonderful," said Lamalana, "and it seems, O my father, +no matter for a small killing, but for a sacrifice such as all men may +see." + +It was the hour following the dawn when the world was at its sweetest, +when the chattering weaver birds went in and out of their hanging nests +gossiping loudly, and faint perfumes from little morning flowers gave +the air an unusual delicacy. + +All the Lombobo people, the warriors and the hunters, the wives and the +maidens, and even the children of tender years, lined the steep slopes +of the Cup of Sacrifice. For Lamalana, deaf and blind to reason, knew +that her hour was short, and that with the sun would come a man terrible +in his anger ... and the soldiers who eat up opposition with fire. + +"O people!" she cried. + +She was stripped to the waist, stood behind the Stone of Death as though +it were a counter, and the two squirming infants under her hands were so +much saleable stock: "Here we bring terror to all who hate us, for one +of these is the heart of Bosambo and the other is more than the heart of +the-man-who-stands-for-Sandi----" + +"O woman!" + +The intruder had passed unnoticed, almost it seemed by magic, through +the throng, and now he stood in the clear space of sacrifice. And there +was not one in the throng who had not heard of him with his leopard skin +and his belt of brass. + +He was as black as the strange Ethiopians who came sometimes to the land +with the Arabi traders, his muscular arms and legs were dull in their +blackness. + +There was a whisper of terror--"The Walker of the Night!--" and the +people fell back ... a woman screamed and fell into a fit. + +"O woman," said M'gani, "deliver to me these little children who have +done no evil." + +Open-mouthed the half-demented daughter of B'limi Saka stared at him. + +He walked forward, lifted the children in his two arms and went slowly +through the people, who parted in terror at his coming. + +He turned at the top of the basin to speak. + +"Do no wickedness," said he; then he gently stooped to put the children +on the ground, for mouthing and bellowing senseless sounds Lamalana came +furiously after him, her long, crooked knife in her hand. He thrust his +hand into the leopard skin as for a weapon, but before he could withdraw +it, a man of Lombobo, half in terror, fell upon and threw his arms about +M'gani. + +"Bo'ma!" boomed the woman, and drew back her knife for the stroke.... + +Bones, from the edge of the clearing, jerked up the rifle he carried and +fired. + + * * * * * + +"What man is this?" asked Bones. + +Bosambo looked at the stranger. + +"This is M'gani," he said, "he who walks in the night." + +"The dooce it is!" said Bones, and fixing his monocle glared at the +stranger. + +"From whence do you come?" he asked. + +"Lord, I come from the Coast," said the man, "by many strange ways, +desiring to arrive at this land secretly that I might learn the heart of +these people and understand." Then, in perfect English, "I don't think +we've ever met before, Mr. Tibbetts--my name is Sanders." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A RIGHT OF WAY + + +The Borders of Territories may be fixed by treaty, by certain +mathematical calculations, or by arbitrary proclamation. In the +territories over which Sanders ruled they were governed as between tribe +and tribe by custom and such natural lines of demarkation as a river or +a creek supplied. + +In forest land this was not possible, and there had ever been between +the Ochori and the Lombobo a feud and a grievance, touched-up border +fights, for hereabouts there is good hunting. Sanders had tried many +methods and had hit upon the red gum border as a solution to a great +difficulty. For some curious reason there were no red gum trees in the +northern fringe of the forest for five miles on the Ochori side of the +great wood; it was innocent of this beautiful tree and Sanders' fiat had +gone forth that there should be no Ochori hunting in the red gum lands, +and that settled the matter and Sanders hoped for good. + +But Bosambo set himself to enlarge his borders by a single expedient. +Wherever his hunters came upon a red gum tree they cut it down. B'limi +Saka, the chief of the sullen Lombobo, retaliated by planting red gum +saplings on the country between the forest and the river--a fact of +which Bosambo was not aware until he suddenly discovered a huge wedge of +red gum driven into his lawful territory. A wedge so definite as to cut +off nearly a thousand square miles of his territory, for beyond this +border lay the lower Ochori country. + +"How may I reach my proper villages?" he asked Sanders, who had known +something of the comedy which was being enacted. + +"You shall have canoes at the place of the young gum trees and shall row +to a place beyond them," Sanders had said. "I have given my word that +the red gum lands are the territory of B'limi Saka, and since you have +only your cunning to thank--Oh, cutter of trees--I cannot help you!" + +Bosambo would have made short work of the young saplings, but B'limisaka +established a guard not to be forced without bloodshed, and Bosambo +could do no more in that way of reprisal than instruct his people to +hurl insulting references to B'limisaka's as they passed the forbidden +ground. + +For the maddening thing was that the slip of filched territory was less +than a hundred yards wide and men of the Lombobo, who went out by night +to widen it, never came out alive--for Bosambo also had a guard. + +Sometimes the minion spies of Government would come to headquarters +with a twist of rice paper stuck in a quill, the quill inserted in the +lobes of the ear in very much the same place as the ladies wore their +earrings in the barbarous mid-Victorian period, and on the rice paper +with the briefest introduction would be inserted, in perfect Arabic, +scraps of domestic news for the information of the Government. + +Sometimes news would carry from mouth to mouth and a weary man would +squat before Hamilton and recite his lesson. + +"Efobi of the Isisi has stolen goats, and because he is the brother of +the chief's wife goes unpunished; T'mara of the Akasava has put a curse +upon the wife of O'femo the headman, and she has burnt his hut; N'kema +of the Ochori will not pay his tax, saying that he is no Ochori man, but +a true N'gombi; Bosambo's men have beaten a woodman of B'limi Saka, +because he planted trees on Ochori land; the well folk are on the edge +of the N'gomb forest, building huts and singing----" + +"How long do they stay?" interrupted Hamilton. + +"Lord, who knows?" said the man. + +"Ogibo of the Akasava has spoken evilly of his king and mightily of +himself----" + +"Make a note of that, Bones." + +"Make a note of which, sir?" + +"Ogibo--he looked like a case of sleep-sickness the last time I was in +his village--go on." + +"Ogibo also says that the father of his father was a great chief and was +lord of all the Akasava----" + +"That's sleeping sickness all right," said Hamilton bitterly. "Why the +devil doesn't he wait till Sanders is back before he goes mad?" + +"Drop him a line, sir," suggested Bones, "he's a remarkable feller--dash +it all, sir, what the dooce is the good of bein' in charge of the +district if you can't put a stop to that sort of thing?" + +"What talk is there of spears in this?" asked Hamilton of the spy. + +"Lord, much talk--as I know, for I serve in this district." + +"Go swiftly to Ogibo, and summon him to me for a high _lakimbo_,[8]" +said Hamilton; "my soldiers shall carry you in my new little ship that +burns water[9]--fly pigeons to me that I may know all that happens." + +[Footnote 8: Palaver.] + +[Footnote 9: The motor-launch.] + +"On my life," said the spy, raised his hand in salute and departed. + +"These well people you were talkin' about, sir," asked Bones, "who are +they?" + +But Hamilton could give no satisfactory answer to such a question, and, +indeed, he would have been more than ordinarily clever had he been able +to. + +The wild territories are filled with stubborn facts, bewildering +realities, and extraordinary inconsequences. Up by the N'gombi lands +lived a tribe who, for the purposes of office classification, were known +as "N'gombi (Interior)," but who were neither N'gombi nor Isisi, nor of +any known branch of the Bantu race, but known as "the people of the +well." They had remarkable legends, sayings which they ascribed to a +mythical Idoosi; also they have a song which runs: + + O well in the forest! + Which chiefs have digged; + No common men touched the earth, + But chiefs' spears and the hands of kings. + +Now there is no doubt that both the sayings of Idoosi and the song of +the well have come down from days of antiquity, and that Idoosi is none +other than the writer of the lost book of the Bible, of whom it is +written: + + "Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not + written in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy + of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the vision of Idoo the + seer?"[10].... + +[Footnote 10: Chronicles II., ix. 29.] + +And is not the Song of the Well identical with that brief extract from +the Book of Wars of the Lord--lost to us for ever--which runs: + + "Spring up, O well: sing ye unto it: The well, which the princes + digged, Which the nobles of the people delved, With the sceptre ... + with their staves."[11] + +[Footnote 11: Numbers xxi. 17.] + +Some men say that the People of the Well are one of the lost tribes, but +that is an easy solution which suggests itself to the hasty-minded. +Others say that they are descendants of the Babylonian races, or that +they came down from Egypt when Rameses II died, and there arose a new +dynasty and a Pharaoh who did not know the wise Jewish Prime Minister +who ruled so wisely, who worshipped in the little temple at Karnac, and +whose statue you may see in Cairo with a strange Egyptian name. We know +him better as "Joseph"--he who was sold into captivity. + +Whatever they were, this much is known, to the discomfort of everybody, +that they were great diggers of wells, and would, on the slightest +excuse, spend whole months, choosing, for some mad reason, the top of +hills for their operations, delving in the earth for water, though the +river was less than a hundred yards away. + +Of all the interesting solutions which have been offered with the object +of identifying the People of the Well, none are so interesting as that +which Bones put forward at the end of Hamilton's brief sketch. + +"My idea, dear old officer," he said profoundly, "that all these +Johnnies are artful old niggers who've run away from their wives in +Timbuctoo--and for this reason----" + +"Oh, shut up!" said Hamilton. + +Two nights later the bugles were ringing through the Houssa lines, and +Bones, sleepy-eyed, with an armful of personal belongings, was racing +for the _Zaire_, for Ogibo of the Akasava had secured a following. + + +II + +The chief Ogibo who held the law and kept the peace for his master, the +King of the Akasava, was bitten many times by the tsetse on a hunting +trip into the bad lands near the Utur forest. Two years afterwards, of a +sudden, he was seized with a sense of his own importance, and proclaimed +himself paramount chief of the Akasava, and all the lands adjoining. And +since it is against nature that any lunatic should be without his +following, he had no difficulty in raising all the spears that were +requisite for his immediate purpose, marched to Igili, the second most +important town in the Akasava kingdom, overthrew the defensive force, +destroyed the town, and leaving half his fighting regiment to hold the +conquered city he moved through the forest toward the Akasava city +proper. He camped in the forest, and his men spent an uncomfortable +night, for a thunderstorm broke over the river, and the dark was filled +with quick flashes and the heavens crashed noisily. There was still a +rumbling and a growling above his head when he assembled his forces in +the grey dawn, and continued his march. He had not gone half an hour +before one of his headmen came racing up to where he led his force in +majesty. + +"Lord," said he, "do you hear no sound?" + +"I hear the thunder," said Ogibo. + +"Listen!" said the headman. + +They halted, head bent. + +"It is thunder," said Ogibo, as the rumble and moan of the distant storm +came to him. Then above the grumble of the thunder came a sharper note, +a sound to be expressed in the word "blong!" + +"Lord," said the headman, "that is no thunder, rather is it the +fire-thrower of M'ilitani." + +So Ogibo in his wrath turned back to crush the insolent white men who +had dared attack the garrison he had left behind to hold Igili. + +Bones with a small force was pursuing him, totally unaware of the +strength that Ogibo mustered. A spy brought to the chief news of the +smallness of the following force. + +"Now," said Ogibo, "I will show all the world how great a chief I am, +for my bravery I will destroy all these soldiers that are sent against +me." + +He chose his ambush well--though he had need to send scampering with +squeals of terror half a hundred humble aliens who were at the moment of +interruption digging a foolish well on the top of the hill where Ogibo +was concealing his shaking force. + +Bones with his Houssas saw how the path led up a tolerably steep +hill--one of the few in the country--and groaned aloud, for he hated +hills. + +He was half-way up at the head of his men, when Ogibo on the summit gave +the order, "Boma!" said he, which means kill, and three abreast, shields +locked and spears gripped stomach high, the rebels charged down the +path. Bones saw them coming and slipped out his revolver. There was no +room to manoeuvre his men, the path was fairly narrow, dense +undergrowth masked each side. + +He heard the yell, saw above the bush, which concealed the winding way, +the dancing head-dresses of the attackers, and advanced his pistol arm. +The rustle of bare feet on the path, a louder roar than ever--then +silence. + +Bones waited, a Houssa squeezed on either side of him, but the onrushing +enemy did not appear, and only a faint whimper of sound reached him. + +"Lord! they go back!" gasped his sergeant; and Bones saw to his +amazement a little knot of men making their frantic way up the hill. + +At first he suspected an ambush within an ambush, but it was unlikely; +he could never be more at Ogibo's mercy than he had been. + +Cautiously he felt his way up the hill path, a revolver in each hand. + +He rounded a sharp corner of the path and saw.... + +A great square chasm yawned in the very centre of the pathway, the +bushes on either side were buried under the earth which the diggers of +wells had flung up, and piled one on the other, a writhing, struggling +confusion of shining bodies, were Ogibo's soldiers to the number of a +hundred, with a silent Ogibo undermost, wholly indifferent to his +embarrassing position, for his neck was broken. + +Hamilton came up in the afternoon and brought villagers to assist at the +work of rescue and afterwards he interviewed the chief of the shy and +timid Well-folk. + +"O chief," said Hamilton, "it is an order of Sandi that you shall dig no +wells near towns, and yet you have done this." + +"Bless his old heart!" murmured Bones. + +"Lord, I break the law," said the man, simply, "also I break all custom, +for to-day, by your favour, I cross the river, I and my people. This we +have never done since time was." + +"Whither do you go?" + +The chief of the wanderers, an old man remarkably gifted--for his beard +was long and white, and reached to his waist--stuck his spear head down +in the earth. + +"Lord, we go to a place which is written," he said; "for Idoosi has +said, 'Go forth to the natives at war, they that fight by the river; on +the swift water shall you go, even against the water'--many times have +we come to the river, master, but ever have we turned back; but now it +seems that the prophecy has been fulfilled, for there are bleeding men +in these holes and the sound of thunders." + +The People of the Well crossed to the Isisi, using the canoes of the +Akasava headmen, and made a slow progress through territory which gave +them no opportunity of exercising their hobby, since water lay less than +a spade's length beneath the driest ground. + +"Poor old Sanders," said Hamilton ruefully, when he was again on the +_Zaire_, "I've so mixed up his people that he'll have to get a new map +made to find them again." + +"You might tell me off to show him round, sir," suggested Bones, but +Hamilton did not jump at the offer. + +He was getting more than a little rattled. Sanders was due back in a +month, and it seemed that scarcely a week passed but some complication +arose that further entangled a situation which was already too full of +loose and straying threads for his liking. + +"I suppose the country is settled for a week at any rate," he said with +a little sigh of relief--but he reckoned without his People of the Well. + +They moved, a straggling body of men and women, with their stiff walk +and their doleful song, a wild people with strange, pinched faces and +long black hair, along the river's edge. + +A week's journeyings brought them to the Ochori country and to Bosambo, +who was holding a most important palaver. + +It was held on Ochori territory, for the forbidden strip was by this +time so thickly planted with young trees that there was no place for a +man to sit. + +"Lord," said Bosambo, "if you will return me the land which you have +stolen, so that I may pass unhindered from one part of my territory to +the other, I will give you many islands on the river." + +"That is a foolish palaver," said B'limisaka; "for you have no islands +to give." + +"Now I tell you, B'limisaka," said Bosambo, "my young men are crying out +against you, for, as you know, you have planted your trees on the high +ground, and my people, taking to their canoes, must climb down to the +water's edge a long way, so that it wearies their legs, soon, I fear, I +shall not hold them, for they are very fierce and full of arrogance." + +"Lord," said B'limisaka, significantly, "my young men are also fierce." + +The palaver was dispersing, and the last of the Lombobo councillors were +disappearing in the forest, when the Diggers of the Well came through +the forbidden territory to the place where Bosambo sat. + +"We are they of whom you have heard, O my Lord," said the old man, who +led them, "also we carry a book for you." + +He unwound the cloth about his thin middle, and with many fumblings +produced a paper which Bosambo read. + + "From M'ilitani, by Ogibo's village in the Akasava. + + "To Bosambo--may God preserve him! + + "I give this to the chief of Well diggers that you shall know they + are favoured by me, being simple people and very timid. Give them a + passage through your territory, for they seek a holy land, and find + them high places for the digging of holes, for they seek truth. Now + peace on your house, Bosambo." + + "On my ship, by channel of rocks." + +"Lord, it is true," said the old chief, "we seek a shining thing that +will stay white when it is white, and black when it is black, and the +wise Idoosi has said, 'Go down into the earth for truth, seek it in the +deeps of the earth, for it lies in secret places, in centre of the world +it lies.'" + +Bosambo thought long and rapidly, then there came to him the bright +light of an inspiration. + +"What manner of holes do you dig, old man?" + +"Lord, we dig them deep, for we are cunning workers, and do not fear +death as common men do; also we dig them straightly--into the very heart +of hills we dig them." + +Bosambo looked at the sloping ground covered with hateful gum. + +"Old man," said he softly, "here shall you dig, you and your people, for +in the heart of this hill is such a truth as you desire--my young men +shall bring you food and build huts for you, and I will place one who is +cunning in the way of hills to show you the way." + +The old man's eyes gleamed joyously, and he clasped the ankles of his +magnanimous host. + +"Lord," said he humbly, "now is the prophecy fulfilled, for it was said +by the great Idoosi, 'You shall come to a land where the barbarian +rules, and he shall be to you as a brother!'" + +"Nigger," said Bosambo in his vile English--yet with a certain hauteur, +"you shall dig 'um tunnel--you no cheek 'um, no chat 'um, you lib for +dear tunnel one time." + +He watched them as, singing the song of the well, they went to work, +women, men, and even little children undermining the Chief B'limisaka's +territory and creating for Bosambo the right of way for which his soul +craved. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE GREEN CROCODILE + + +_Cala cala_, as they say, seven brothers lived near the creek of the +Green One. It was not called the creek of the Green One in those far-off +days, for the monstrous thing had no existence. + +And the seven brothers had seven wives who were sisters, and it would +appear from the legend that these seven wives were unfaithful to their +husbands, and upon a certain night in the full of the moon, the brothers +returning from an expedition into the forest, discovered the extent of +their infamy, and they tied the sisters together, the wrists of one to +the ankles of the other, and they led them to the stream, and no sooner +had they disappeared beneath the black waters than there was almighty +splashing and bubbling of water, and there came crawling from the place +where the unfaithful wives had sunk so terrible a monster that the seven +brothers fled in fear. + +This was the Green One, with his long ugly snout, cold, vicious eyes, +and his great clawed feet. Some say that these women had been changed by +magic into the Crocodile of the Pool, and many people believe this and +speak of the Green One in the plural. + +Certain it is, that this terrible crocodile lived through the ages--none +hunting her, she was left in indisputable possession of the flat +sand-bank wherein to lay her eggs, and ranged the sandy shore of the +creek undisturbed. + +She was regarded with awe; sacrifices, living and dead, were offered to +her from time to time, and sometimes a cripple or two was knocked on the +head and left by the water's edge for her pleasure. She was indeed a +veritable scavenger of crime for the neighbouring villages about, and +earned some sort of respect, for, as the saying went: + +"Sandi does not speak the language of the Green One." + +Sometimes M'zooba would go afield, leaving the quietude of the creek and +the pool, which was her own territory, for the more adventurous life of +the river, and here one day she lay, the whole of her body submerged and +only her wicked eyes within an eighth of an inch of the water's surface, +when a timorous young roebuck came picking a cautious way through the +forest across the open plantations to the water's edge. He stopped from +time to time apprehensively, trembling in every limb at the slightest +sound, looking this way and that, then taking a few more steps and again +searching the cruel world for danger before he reached the water's edge. + +Then, after a final look round, he lowered his soft muzzle to the cool +waters. Swift as lightning the Green One flashed her long snout out of +the water, and gripped the tender head of the buck. Ruthlessly she +pulled, dragging the struggling deer after her till first its neck and +then its shoulders, then finally the last frantic waving stump of its +white tail went under the dark waters. + +Out in midstream a white little boat was moving steadily up the river +and on the awning-shaded bridge an indignant young man witnessed the +tragedy. The Green One had her larder under a large shelving rock half a +dozen feet beneath the water. Into this cavity her long hard nose flung +her dead victim, and her four powerful hands covered the entrance to the +water cave with sand and rock. More than satisfied with her morning's +work, the Green One came to the surface of the water to bask in the +glowing warmth of the morning sunlight. + +She took a survey upon the world, made up of low-lying shores and a hot +blue sky. She saw a river, broad and oily, and a strange white object +which she had seen often before smoking towards her. + +And that was the last thing she ever saw; for Bones, on the bridge of +the _Zaire_, squinted along the sights of his Express and pressed the +trigger. Struck in the head by an explosive bullet, the Green One went +out in a flurry of stormy water. + +"Thus perish all rotten old crocodiles," said Bones, immensely pleased +with himself, and he placed the rifle on the rack. + +"What the devil are you shooting at, so early in the morning?" asked +Hamilton. + +He came out in his pyjamas, sun helmet on his head, pliant mosquito +boots reaching to his knees. + +"A crocodile, sir," said Bones. + +"Why waste good ammunition on crocodiles?" asked Hamilton; "was it +something exceptional?" + +"A tremendous chap, sir," said the enthusiastic Bones, "some fifty feet +long, and as green as----" + +"As green!" repeated Hamilton quickly, "where are we?" + +He looked with a swift glance along the shore for landmarks. + +"I hope to goodness you have not shot old M'zooba," he said. + +"I don't know your friend by name," said Bones, "but why shouldn't I +shoot him?" + +"Because, you silly ass," said Hamilton, "she is a sort of sacred +crocodile." + +"She was never so sacred as she is now, sir, for: + +"She's flapping her wings in the crocodile heaven," said Bones, +flippantly; "for I'm one of those dead shots--once I draw a bead on an +animal----" + +"Get out a canoe and set the woodmen to dive for the Green One," said +Hamilton to his orderly, for a shot crocodile invariably sinks to the +bottom and can only be recovered by diving. + +They brought it to the surface, and Hamilton groaned. + +"It is M'zooba," he said in resigned exasperation. "Oh, Bones, what an +ass you are!" + +Bones said nothing, but walked to the stern of the ship and lowered the +blue ensign to half-mast--a piece of impertinence which Hamilton did not +discover till a long time afterwards. + +Now whatever might be the desire or wish of Hamilton, and however much +he might on ordinary occasions depend upon the loyalty of his warders +and his men, in this matter of the green crocodile he was entirely at +their mercy, for he could not call them together asking them to speak no +death of the Green One without magnifying the importance of Lieutenant +Tibbetts' rash act. The only attitude he could adopt was to treat the +Green One and her untimely end as something which was in the day's work +neither to be lamented nor acclaimed, and when, at the first village, a +doleful deputation, comprising a worried chief and a sulky witch doctor, +called upon him to bemoan the tragedy, he treated the matter with great +joviality. + +"For what is a crocodile more or less in this river?" he asked. + +"Lord, this was no crocodile," said the witch doctor, "but a very +reverend ghost, and it has been our Ju-ju for many years, bringing us +good crops and fair weather for our goodness, and has eaten up all the +devils and sickness which came to our villages. Now it is gone nothing +but ill fortune can come to us." + +"Bugobo," said Hamilton, "you talk like a foolish one, for how may a +crocodile who does not leave the water, and moreover is evil and old, a +stealer of women and children and dangerous to your goats, how can this +thing bring good fortune to any people?" + +"How can the river run, lord?" replied the man, "and yet it does." + +Hamilton thought for a moment. + +"Now I tell you this, and you shall say to all people who ask you, that +by my magic I will bring another green one to this stream, greater and +larger than the one who has gone, and she shall be ju-ju for all men." + +"And now," he said to Bones, when the deputation had left, "it is up to +you to go out and find a nice, respectable crocodile to take the place +of the lady you have so light-heartedly destroyed." + +Bones gasped. + +"Dear old feller," he said feebly, "the habits and customs of fauna of +this land are entirely beyond me. I will fetch you a crocodile, sir, +with the greatest of pleasure, although as far as I know there is +nothing laid down in the King's regulations of the warrants for pay and +promotion defining the catching of crocodiles as part of an officer's +duty." + +Hamilton made no further move towards replacing the lost Spirit of the +Pool until he learnt that his offer had been taken very seriously, and +that the coming of the great new Green One to the pool, was a subject of +discussion up and down the river. + +Now here is a fact which official records go to substantiate. Although +the "Reports of the Territories" take no cognizance of ghosts and +spirits and other occult influence, dealing rather with such mundane +facts as the condition of crops and the discipline of the races, yet the +reports of that particular year in this one district made gloomy reading +both for Hamilton and for the Administrator in his far-off stone house. + +Though the crops throughout the whole of the country were good that +Hamilton was apprehensive about the consequences--for men fight better +with a full larder behind them--yet in this immediate neighbourhood of +the pool, within its sphere of influence, so to speak, the crops failed +miserably, and the fish which haunt the shallow stream beneath the big +stream near the channel took it into their silly heads to migrate to +other distant waters. Here, then, was the consequence of Bones' murder +demonstrated to a most alarming extent. There was a blight in the +potatoes; the maize crop, for some unaccountable reason, was a meagre +one; there were three unexpected cases of sleeping sickness followed by +madness in an interior village, and, crowning disaster of all, one of +those sudden storms which sweep across the river came upon the village, +and lightning struck the huts. + +"My son," said Hamilton, when they brought the news to him, "you have +got to go out and find a green crocodile, quick." + +So Bones went up the river with the naphtha launch, leaving to Hamilton +the delicate task of finding a natural explanation for all the horrors +which had come upon the unfortunate people. + +Green crocodiles are rare even on the great river which had half a +million other kinds of crocodiles to its credit, for green is both a +sign of age, and by common report indicative of cannibalistic +tendencies. + +In whatever veneration the Green One of the Pool might be held, such +respect did not extend to other parts of the river, where the green ones +were sought out and slain in their early youth. Bones spent an exciting +seven days chasing, lassoing and, at tunes in self-defence, shooting at +great reptiles without getting any nearer to the object of his search. + +"Ahmet," said he, in despair, "it seems that there are no green +crocodiles on this river." + +"Lord, there are very few," admitted the man; "for the people kill green +crocodiles owing to their evil influence." + +At every village there was news for Bones which lightened his heart. +Some one had seen such a monster, it lived in a pool or lorded some +creek, generally only get-at-able in a canoe; and here Bones, with his +Houssas, would wait smoking furiously, with baited lines cunningly laid +from thick underbrush or some tethered goat, bleating invitingly on the +banks. But never once did the hunter catch so much as a glimpse of +green. There were yellow crocodiles, grey crocodiles, crocodiles the +colour of the sand, or the dark brown bed of the river, but nothing +which by any stretch of imagination could be called green. + +And urgent messages came to Bones. The _Zaire_ itself, in charge of +Abiboo, came steaming up carrying a letter filled with unnecessary +abuse, for Hamilton was getting rattled by the extraordinary +manifestations which he received every day of the potency of this slain +monster. Bones sent the sergeant back in the launch with an +insubordinate message, and commandeered the _Zaire_ with her superior +accommodation for himself. + +"There is only one thing to do," he said, "and that is to consult jolly +old Bosambo." + +So he put the head of the _Zaire_ to the Ochori country, and on the +second day arrived at the city. + +"Lord," said Bosambo, loftily, "crocodiles I have by thousands." + +"Green ones?" asked Bones anxiously. + +"Lord, of every colour," said Bosambo, "blue or green or red, even +golden crocodiles have I in my splendid river. But they will cost great +money because they are very cunning, and my hunters of crocodiles are +independent men who do not care to work." + +Bones dried up the flood of eloquence quickly. + +"O Bosambo," said he, "there is no money for this palaver, but a green +crocodile I must have because the evil people of the Lower Isisi say I +have put a spell on their land because I slew the Green One, M'zooba, +also this crocodile must I have before the moon is due. My Lord +M'ilitani has sent me many powerful messages to this effect." + +This was another matter, and Bosambo looked dubious. + +"Lord," said he, "what manner of green was this crocodile, for I never +saw it?" + +Bones looked round. + +Neither the green of the trees he saw, nor the green of the grass +underfoot, nor the green of the elephant grass growing strongly on the +river's edge, nor the tender green of the high trees above, nor the +tender green of the young Isisi palms; and yet the exact shade of green +it was necessary to secure. He ransacked all his books, turned over all +his possessions and Hamilton's too, in an endeavour to match the +crocodile. There was a suit of pyjamas of Hamilton's which had a stripe +very near, but not quite. + +"O Ahmet," said Bones at last in desperation, "go to the storeman, and +let him bring all the paints he has so that I may show Bosambo a certain +colour." + +They found the exact shade at last on a ten-pound tin of Aspinall +enamels, and Bosambo thought long. + +"Lord," said he, "I think I know where I may find just such a crocodile +as you want." + +Late that night Bones met Bosambo before his hut in a long and earnest +palaver, and an hour before dawn he went out with Bosambo and his +huntsmen, and was pulled to a certain creek in the Ochori land which is +notorious for the size and strength of its crocodiles. + + +II + +No doubt but Hamilton had a serious task before him, for although the +grievance which he had to allay was limited to the restricted area over +which the spirit of M'zooba brooded, yet the people of the crocodile +had many sympathizers who resented as bitterly as the affected parties +this interference with what Downing Street called "local religious +customs." + +A wholly unauthorized palaver was held in the forest which was attended +by delegations from the Akasava and the N'gombi, and spies brought the +news to Hamilton that the little witch doctors were going through the +villages carrying stories of desolation which had come as the result of +M'zooba's death. + +The palaver Hamilton dispensed with some brusqueness. Twenty soldiers +and a machine gun were uninvited guests to the gathering, and the +meeting retired in disorder. Two of the witch doctors Hamilton's men +caught. One he flogged with all the village looking on, and the other he +sent to the Village of Irons for twelve months. + +And all the time he spoke of the newer green one which was coming, which +his magic would invoke, and which would surely appear "tied by one leg" +to a stake near the pool, for all men to see. + +He founded a sect of new-green-one worshippers (quite unwittingly). It +needed only the corporeal presence of his novel deity to wipe out the +feelings of distrust which violence had not wholly dispelled. + +Day after day passed, but no word came from Bones, and Captain Hamilton +cursed his subordinate, his subordinate's relations, and all the cruelty +of fate which brought Bones into his command. Then, unexpectantly, the +truant arrived, arrived proud and triumphant in the early morning +before Hamilton was awake. He sneaked into the village so quietly that +even the Houssa sentry who dozed across the threshold of Hamilton's hut +was not aware of his return; and silently, with fiercely whispered +injunctions, so that the surprise should be all the more complete, Bones +landed his unruly cargo, its feet chained, his great muzzle lassoed and +bound with raw hide, its powerful and damaging tail firmly fixed between +two planks of wood (a special idea for which Bones was responsible). +Then Lieutenant Tibbetts went to the hut of his chief and woke him. + +"So here you are, are you?" said Hamilton. + +"I am here," said Bones with trembling pride, so that Hamilton knew his +subordinate had been successful; "according to your instructions, sir, I +have captured the green crocodile. He is of monstrous size, and vastly +superior to your partly-worn lady friend. Also," he said, "as per your +instructions, conveyed to me in your letter dated the twenty-third +instant, I have fastened same by right leg in the vicinity of the pool; +at least," he corrected carefully, "he was fastened, but owing to +certain technical difficulties he slipped cable, so to speak, and is +wallowing in his native element." + +"You are not rotting, Bones, are you?" asked Hamilton, busy with his +toilet. + +"Perfectly true and sound, sir, I never rot," said Bones stiffly; "give +me a job of work to do, give me a task, put me upon my metal, sir, and +with the assistance of jolly old Bosambo----" + +"Is Bosambo in this?" + +Bones hesitated. + +"He assisted me very considerably, sir," he said; "but, so to speak, the +main idea was mine." + +The chief's drum summoned the villages to the palaver house, but the +news had already filtered through the little township, and a crowd had +gathered waiting eagerly to hear the message which Hamilton had to give +them. + +"O people," he said, addressing them from the hill of palaver, "all I +have promised you I have performed. Behold now in the pool--and you +shall come with me to see this wonder--is one greater than M'zooba, a +vast and splendid spirit which shall protect your crops and be as +M'zooba was, and better than was M'zooba. All this I have done for you." + +"Lord Tibbetti has done for you," prompted Bones, in a hoarse whisper. + +"All this have I done for you," repeated Hamilton firmly, "because I +love you." + +He led the way through the broad, straggling plantation to the great +pool which begins in a narrow creek leading from the river and ends in a +sprawl of water to the east of the village. + +The whole countryside stood about watching the still water, but nothing +happened. + +"Can't you whistle him and make him come up or something?" asked +Hamilton. + +"Sir," said an indignant Bones, "I am no crocodile tamer; willing as I +am to oblige you, and clever as I am with parlour tricks, I have not +yet succeeded in inducing a crocodile to come to heel after a week's +acquaintance." + +But native people are very patient. + +They stood or squatted, watching the unmoved surface of the water for +half an hour, and then suddenly there was a stir and a little gasp of +pleasurable apprehension ran through the assembly. + +Then slowly the new one came up. He made for a sand-bank, which showed +above the water in the centre of the pool; first his snout, then his +long body emerged from the water, and Hamilton gasped. + +"Good heavens, Bones!" he said in a startled whisper, and his +astonishment was echoed from a thousand throats. + +And well might he be amazed at the spectacle which the complacent Bones +had secured for him. + +For this great reptile was more than green, he was a green so vivid that +it put the colours of the forest to shame. A bright, glittering green +and along the centre of his broad back one zig-zag splash of orange. + +"Phew," whistled Hamilton, "this is something like." + +The roar of approval from the people was unmistakable. The crocodile +turned his evil head and for a moment, as it seemed to Bones, his eyes +glinted viciously in the direction of the young and enterprising +officer. And Bones admitted after to a feeling of panic. + +Then with a malignant "woof!" like the hoarse, growling bark of a dog, +magnified a hundred times, he slid back into the water, a great living +streak of vivid green and disappeared to the cool retreat at the bottom +of the pool. + +"You have done splendidly, Bones, splendidly!" said Hamilton, and +clapped him on the back; "really you are a most enterprising devil." + +"Not at all, sir," said Bones. + +He ate his dinner on the _Zaire_, answering with monosyllables the +questions which Hamilton put to him regarding the quest and the place of +the origin of this wonderful beast. It was after dinner when they were +smoking their cigars in the gloom as the _Zaire_ was steaming across its +way to the shore where a wooding offered an excuse for a night's stay, +and Bones gave voice to his thoughts. + +And curiously enough his conversation did not deal directly or +indirectly with his discovery. + +"When was this boat decorated last, sir?" he asked. + +"About six months before Sanders left," replied Hamilton in surprise; +"just why do you ask?" + +"Nothing, sir," said Bones, and whistled light-heartedly. Then he +returned to the subject. + +"I only asked you because I thought the enamel work in the cabin and all +that sort of thing has worn very well." + +"Yes, it is good wearing stuff," said Hamilton. + +"That green paint in the bathroom is rather _chic_, isn't it? Is that +good wearing stuff?" + +"The enamel?" smiled Hamilton. "Yes, I believe that is very good +wearing. I am not a whale on domestic matters, Bones, but I should +imagine that it would last for another year without showing any sign of +wear." + +"Is it waterproof at all?" asked Bones, after another pause. + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean would it wash off if a lot of water were applied to it?" + +"No, I should not imagine it would," said Hamilton, "what makes you +ask?" + +"Oh, nothing!" said Bones carelessly and whistled, looking up to the +stars that were peeping from the sky; and the inside of Lieutenant +Tibbetts was one large expansive grin. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +HENRY HAMILTON BONES + + +Lieutenant Francis Augustus Tibbetts of the Houssas was at some +disadvantage with his chief and friend. Lieutenant F. A. Tibbetts might +take a perfectly correct attitude, might salute on every possible +occasion that a man could salute, might click his heels together in the +German fashion (he had spent a year at Heidelberg), might be stiffly +formal and so greet his superior that he contrived to combine a dutiful +recognition with the cut direct, but never could he overcome one fatal +obstacle to marked avoidance--he had to grub with Hamilton. + +Bones was hurt. Hamilton had behaved to him as no brother officer should +behave. Hamilton had spoken harshly and cruelly in the matter of a +commission with which he had entrusted his subordinate, and with which +the aforesaid subordinate had lamentably failed to cope. + +Up in the Akasava country a certain wise man named M'bisibi had +predicted the coming of a devil-child who should be born on a night when +the moon lay so on the river and certain rains had fallen in the +forest. + +And this child should be called "Ewa," which is death; and first his +mother would die and then his father; and he would grow up to be a +scourge to his people and a pestilence to his nation, and crops would +wither when he walked past them, and the fish in the river would float +belly up in stinking death, and until Ewa M'faba himself went out, +nothing but ill-fortune should come to the N'gombi-Isisi. + +Thus M'bisibi predicted, and the word went up and down the river, for +the prophet was old and accounted wise even by Bosambo of the Ochori. + +It came to Hamilton quickly enough, and he had sent Bones post-haste to +await the advent of any unfortunate youngster who was tactless enough to +put in an appearance at such an inauspicious moment as would fulfil the +prediction of M'bisibi. + +And Bones had gone to the wrong village, and that in the face of his +steersman's and his sergeant's protest that he was going wrong. +Fortunately, by reliable account, no child had been born in the village, +and the prediction was unfulfilled. + +"Otherwise," said Hamilton, "its young life would have been on your +head." + +"Yes, sir," said Bones. + +"I didn't tell you there were two villages called Inkau," Hamilton +confessed, "because I didn't realize you were chump enough to go to the +wrong one." + +"No, sir," agreed Bones, patiently. + +"Naturally," said Hamilton, "I thought the idea of saving the lives of +innocent babes would have been sufficient incentive." + +"Naturally, sir," said Bones, with forced geniality. + +"I've come to one conclusion about you, Bones," said Hamilton. + +"Yes, sir," said Bones, "that I'm an ass, sir, I think?" + +Hamilton nodded--it was too hot to speak. + +"It was an interestin' conclusion," said Bones, thoughtfully, "not +without originality--when it first occurred to you, but as a conclusion, +if you will pardon my criticism, sir, if you will forgive me for +suggestin' as much--in callin' me an ass, sir: apart from its bein' +contrary to the spirit an' letter of the Army Act--God Save the +King!--it's a bit low, sir." And he left his superior officer without +another word. For three days they sat at breakfast, tiffin and dinner, +and neither said more than: + +"May I pass you the bread, sir?" + +"Thank you, sir; have you the salt, sir?" + +Hamilton was so busy a man that he might have forgotten the feud, but +for the insistence of Bones, who never lost an opportunity of reminding +his No. 1 that he was mortally hurt. + +One night, dinner had reached the stage where two young officers of +Houssas sat primly side by side on the verandah sipping their coffee. +Neither spoke, and the séance might have ended with the conventional +"Good night" and that punctilious salute which Bones invariably gave, +and which Hamilton as punctiliously returned, but for the apparition of +a dark figure which crossed the broad space of parade ground +hesitatingly as though not certain of his way, and finally came with +dragging feet through Sanders' garden to the edge of the verandah. + +It was the figure of a small boy, very thin; Hamilton could see this +through the half-darkness. + +The boy was as naked as when he was born, and he carried in his hand a +single paddle. + +"O boy," said Hamilton, "I see you." + +"Wanda!" said the boy in a frightened tone, and hesitated, as though he +were deciding whether it would be better to bolt, or to conclude his +desperate enterprise. + +"Come up to me," said Hamilton, kindly. + +He recognized by the dialect that the visitor had come a long way, as +indeed he had, for his old canoe was pushed up amongst the elephant +grass a mile away from headquarters, and he had spent three days and +nights upon the river. He came up, an embarrassed and a frightened lad, +and stood twiddling his toes on the unaccustomed smoothness of the big +stoep. + +"Where do you come from, and why have you come?" asked Hamilton. + +"Lord, I have come from the village of M'bisibi," said the boy; "my +mother has sent me because she fears for her life, my father being away +on a great hunt. As for me," he went on, "my name is Tilimi-N'kema." + +"Speak on, Tilimi the Monkey," said Hamilton, "tell me why the woman +your mother fears for her life." + +The boy was silent for a spell; evidently he was trying to recall the +exact formula which had been dinned into his unreceptive brain, and to +repeat word for word the lesson which he had learned parrotwise. + +"Thus says the woman my mother," he said at last, with the blank, +monotonous delivery peculiar to all small boys who have been rehearsed +in speech, "on a certain day when the moon was at full and the rain was +in the forest so that we all heard it in the village, my mother bore a +child who is my own brother, and, lord, because she feared things which +the old man M'bisibi had spoken she went into the forest to a certain +witch doctor, and there the child was born. To my mind," said the lad, +with a curious air of wisdom which is the property of the youthful +native from whom none of the mysteries of life or death are hidden, "it +is better she did this, for they would have made a sacrifice of her +child. Now when she came back, and they spoke to her, she said that the +boy was dead. But this is the truth, lord, that she had left this child +with the witch doctor, and now----" he hesitated again. + +"And now?" repeated Hamilton. + +"Now, lord," said the boy, "this witch doctor, whose name is Bogolono, +says she must bring him rich presents at the full of every moon, because +her son and my brother is the devil-child whom M'bisibi has predicted. +And if she brings no rich presents he will take the child to the +village, and there will be an end." + +Hamilton called his orderly. + +"Give this boy some chop," he said; "to-morrow we will have a longer +palaver." + +He waited till the man and his charge were out of earshot, then he +turned to Bones. + +"Bones," he said, seriously, "I think you had better leave unobtrusively +for M'bisibi's village, find the woman, and bring her to safety. You +will know the village," he added, unnecessarily, "it is the one you +didn't find last time." + +Bones left insubordinately and made no response. + + * * * * * + + +II + +Bosambo, with his arms folded across his brawny chest, looked curiously +at the deputation which had come to him. + +"This is a bad palaver," said Bosambo, "for it seems to me that when +little chiefs do that which is wrong, it is an ill thing; but when great +kings, such as your master Iberi, stand at the back of such wrongdoings, +that is the worst thing of all, and though this M'bisibi is a wise man, +as we all know, and indeed the only wise man of your people, has brought +out this devil-child, and makes a killing palaver, then M'ilitani will +come very quickly with his soldiers and there will be an end to little +chiefs and big chiefs alike." + +"Lord, that will be so," said the messenger, "unless all chiefs in the +land stand in brotherhood together. And because we know Sandi loves you, +and M'ilitani also, and that Tibbetti himself is as tender to you as a +brother, M'bisibi sent this word saying, 'Go to Bosambo, and say +M'bisibi, the wise man, bids him come to a great and fearful palaver +touching the matter of several devils. Tell him also that great evil +will come to this land, to his land and to mine, to his wife and the +wives of his counsellors, and to his children and theirs, unless we make +an end to certain devils.'" + +Bosambo, chin on clenched fist, looked thoughtfully at the other. + +"This cannot be," said he in a troubled voice; "for though I die and all +that is wonderful to me shall pass out of this world, yet I must do no +thing which is unlawful in the eyes of Sandi, my master, and of the +great ones he has left behind to fulfil the law. Say this to M'bisibi +from me, that I think he is very wise and understands ghosts and +such-like palavers. Also say that if he puts curses upon my huts I will +come with my spearmen to him, and if aught follows I will hang him by +the ears from a high tree, though he sleeps with ghosts and commands +whole armies of devils; this palaver is finished." + +The messenger carried the word back to M'bisibi and the council of the +chiefs and the eldermen who sat in the palaver house, and old as he was +and wise by all standards, M'bisibi shivered, for, as he explained, that +which Bosambo said would he do. For this is peculiar to no race or +colour, that old men love life dearer than young. + +"Bogolono, you shall bring the child," he said, turning to one who sat +at his side, string upon string of human teeth looped about his neck and +his eyes circled with white ashes, "and it shall be sacrificed according +to the custom, as it was in the days of my fathers and of their +fathers." + +They chose a spot in the forest, where four young trees stood at corners +of a rough square. With their short bush knives they lopped the tender +branches away, leaving four pliant poles that bled stickily. With great +care they drew down the tops of these trees until they nearly met, +cutting the heads so that there was no overlapping. To these four ends +they fastened ropes, one for each arm and for each ankle of the devil +child, and with other ropes they held the saplings to their place. + +"Now this is the magic of it," said M'bisibi, "that when the moon is +full to-night we shall sacrifice first a goat, and then a fowl, casting +certain parts into the fire which shall be made of white gum, and I will +make certain marks upon the child's face and upon his belly, and then I +will cut these ropes so that to the four ends of the world we shall cast +forth this devil, who will no longer trouble us." + +That night came many chiefs, Iberi of the Akasava, Tilini of the Lesser +Isisi, Efele (the Tornado) of the N'gombi, Lisu (the Seer) of the Inner +Territories, but Lilongo[12] (as they called Bosambo of the Ochori), did +not come. + +[Footnote 12: "Lilongo" is from the noun "balongo"--blood, and means +literally "he-who-breaks-blood-friendships."--E. W.] + + * * * * * + + +III + +Bones reached the village two hours before the time of sacrifice and +landed a force of twenty Houssas and a small Maxim gun. The village was +peaceable, and there was no sign of anything untoward. Save this. The +village was given over to old people and children. M'bisibi was an +hour--two hours--four hours in the forest. He had gone +north--east--south--none knew whither. + +The very evasiveness of the replies put Bones into a fret. He scouted +the paths and found indications of people having passed over all three. + +He sent his gun back to the _Zaire_, divided his party into three, and +accompanied by half a dozen men, he himself took the middle path. + +For an hour he trudged, losing his way, and finding it again. He came +upon a further division of paths and split up his little force again. + +In the end he found himself alone, struggling over the rough ground in a +darkness illuminated only by the electric lamp he carried, and making +for a faint gleam of red light which showed through the trees ahead. + +M'bisibi held the child on his outstretched hands, a fat little child, +with large, wondering eyes that stared solemnly at the dancing flames, +and sucked a small brown thumb contentedly. + +"Behold this child, oh chiefs and people," said M'bisibi, "who was born +as I predicted, and is filled with devils!" + +The baby turned his head so that his fat little neck was all rolled and +creased, and said "Ah!" to the pretty fire, and chuckled. + +"Even now the devils speak," said M'bisibi, "but presently you shall +hear them screaming through the world because I have scattered them," +and he made his way to the bowed saplings. + +Bones, his face scratched and bleeding, his uniform torn in a dozen +places, came swiftly after him. + +"My bird, I think," said Bones, and caught the child unscientifically. + +Picture Bones with a baby under his arm--a baby indignant, outraged, +infernally uncomfortable, and grimacing a yell into being. + +"Lord," said M'bisibi, breathing quickly, "what do you seek?" + +"That which I have," said Bones, waving him off with the black muzzle of +his automatic Colt. "Tomorrow you shall answer for many crimes." + +He backed quickly to the cover of the woods, scenting the trouble that +was coming. + +He heard the old man's roar. + +"O people ... this white man will loose devils upon the land!" + +Then a throwing spear snicked the trunk of a tree, and another, for +there were no soldiers, and this congregation of exorcisers were mad +with wrath at the thought of the evil which Tibbetti was preparing for +them. + +"Snick!" + +A spear struck Bones' boot. + +"Shut your eyes, baby," said Bones, and fired into the brown. Then he +ran for his life. Over roots and fallen trees he fell and stumbled, his +tiny passenger yelling desperately. + +"Oh, shut up!" snarled Bones, "what the dickens are you shouting +about--hey? Haven't I saved your young life, you ungrateful little +devil?" + +Now and again he would stop to consult his illuminated compass. That the +pursuit continued he knew, but he had the dubious satisfaction of +knowing, too, that he had left the path and was in the forest. + +Then he heard a faint shot, and another, and another, and grinned. + +His pursuers had stumbled upon a party of Houssas. + +From sheer exhaustion the baby had fallen asleep. Babies were +confoundedly heavy--Bones had never observed the fact before, but with +the strap of his sword belt he fashioned a sling that relieved him of +some of the weight. + +He took it easier now, for he knew M'bisibi's men would be frightened +off. He rested for half an hour on the ground, and then came a snuffling +leopard walking silently through the forest, betraying his presence +only by the two green danger-lamps of his eyes. + +Bones sat up and flourished his lamp upon the startled beast, which +growled in fright, and went scampering through the forest like the great +cat that he was. + +The growl woke Bones' charge, and he awoke hungry and disinclined to +further sleep without that inducement and comfort which his nurse was in +no position to offer, whereupon Bones snuggled the whimpering child. + +"He's a wicked old leopard!" he said, "to come and wake a child at this +time of the night." + +The knuckle of Bones' little finger soothed the baby, though it was a +poor substitute for the nutriment it had every right to expect, and it +whimpered itself to sleep. + +Lieutenant Tibbetts looked at his compass again. He had located the +shots to eastward, but he did not care to make a bee-line in that +direction for fear of falling upon some of the enemy, whom he knew would +be, at this time, making their way to the river. + +For two hours before dawn he snatched a little sleep, and was awakened +by a fierce tugging at his nose. He got up, laid the baby on the soft +ground, and stood with arms akimbo, and his monocle firmly fixed, +surveying his noisy companion. + +"What the dooce are you making all this row about?" he asked +indignantly. "Have a little patience, young feller, exercise a little +_suaviter in modo_, dear old baby!" + +But still the fat little morsel on the ground continued his noisy +monologue, protesting in a language which is of an age rather than of a +race, against the cruelty and the thoughtlessness and the distressing +lack of consideration which his elder and better was showing him. + +"I suppose you want some grub," said Bones, in dismay; and looked round +helplessly. + +He searched the pocket of his haversack, and had the good fortune to +find a biscuit; his vacuum flask had just half a cup of warm tea. He fed +the baby with soaked biscuit and drank the tea himself. + +"You ought to have a bath or something," said Bones, severely; but it +was not until an hour later that he found a forest pool in which to +perform the ablution. + +At three o'clock in the afternoon, as near as he could judge, for his +watch had stopped, he struck a path, and would have reached the village +before sundown, but for the fact that he again missed the path, and +learnt of this fact about the same time he discovered he had lost his +compass. + +Bones looked dismally at the wide-awake child. + +"Dear old companion in arms," he said, gloomily, "we are lost." + +The baby's face creased in a smile. + +"It's nothing to laugh about, you silly ass," said Bones. + + +IV + +"Master, of our Lord Tibbetti I do not know," said M'bisibi sullenly. + +"Yet you shall know before the sun is black," said Hamilton, "and your +young men shall find him, or there is a tree for you, old man, a quick +death by _Ewa_!" + +"I have sought, my lord," said M'bisibi, "all my hunters have searched +the forest, yet we have not found him. A certain devil-pot is here." + +He fumbled under a native cloth and drew forth Bones' compass. + +"This only could we find on the forest path that leads to Inilaki." + +"And the child is with him?" + +"So men say," said M'bisibi, "though by my magic I know that the child +will die, for how can a white man who knows nothing of little children +give him life and comfort? Yet," he amended carefully, since it was +necessary to preserve the character of the intended victim, "if this +child is indeed a devil child, as I believe, he will lead my lord +Tibbetti to terrible places and return himself unharmed." + +"He will lead you to a place more terrible," said M'ilitani, +significantly, and sent a nimble climber into the trees to fasten a +block and tackle to a stout branch, and thread a rope through. + +It was so effective that M'bisibi, an old man, became most energetically +active. _Lokali_ and swift messengers sent his villages to the search. +Every half-hour the Hotchkiss gun of the _Zaire_ banged noisily; and +Hamilton, tramping through the woods, felt his heart sink as hour after +hour passed without news of his comrade. + +"I tell you this, lord," said the headman, who accompanied him, "that I +think Tibbetti is dead and the child also. For this wood is filled with +ghosts and savage beasts, also many strong and poisonous snakes. See, +lord!" He pointed. + +They had reached a clearing where the grass was rich and luxuriant, +where overshadowing branches formed an idealic bower, where heavy white +waxen flowers were looped from branch to branch holding the green boughs +in their parasitical clutch. Hamilton followed the direction of his +eyes. In the middle of the clearing a long, sinuous shape, dark brown, +and violently coloured with patches of green and vermillion, that was +swaying backward and forward, hissing angrily at some object before it. + +"Good God!" said Hamilton, and dropped his hand on his revolver, but +before it was clear of his holster, there came a sharp crack, and the +snake leapt up and fell back as a bullet went snip-snapping through the +undergrowth. Then Hamilton saw Bones. Bones in his shirtsleeves, +bareheaded, his big pipe in his mouth, who came hurriedly through the +trees pistol in hand. + +"Naughty boy!" he said, reproachfully, and stooping, picked up a +squalling brown object from the ground. "Didn't Daddy tell you not to +go near those horrid snakes? Daddy spank you----" + +Then he caught sight of the amazed Hamilton, clutched the baby in one +hand, and saluted with the other. + +"Baby present and correct, sir," he said, formally. + + * * * * * + +"What are you going to do with it?" asked Hamilton, after Bones had +indulged in the luxury of a bath and had his dinner. + +"Do with what, sir?" asked Bones. + +"With this?" + +Hamilton pointed to a crawling morsel who was at that moment looking up +to Bones for approval. + +"What do you expect me to do, sir?" asked Bones, stiffly; "the mother is +dead and he has no father. I feel a certain amount of responsibility +about Henry." + +"And who the dickens is Henry?" asked Hamilton. + +Bones indicated the child with a fine gesture. + +"Henry Hamilton Bones, sir," he said grandly. "The child of the +regiment," he went on; "adopted by me to be a prop for my declining +years, sir." + +"Heaven and earth!" said Hamilton, breathlessly. + +He went aft to recover his nerve, and returned to become an unseen +spectator to a purely domestic scene, for Bones had immersed the +squalling infant in his own india-rubber bath, and was gingerly cleaning +him with a mop. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +BONES AT M'FA + + +Hamilton of the Houssas coming down to headquarters met Bosambo by +appointment at the junction of the rivers. + +"O Bosambo," said Hamilton, "I have sent for you to make a _likambo_ +because of certain things which my other eyes have seen and my other +ears have heard." + +To some men this hint of report from the spies of Government might bring +dismay and apprehension, but to Bosambo, whose conscience was clear, +they awakened only curiosity. + +"Lord, I am your eyes in the Ochori," he said with truth, "and God knows +I report faithfully." + +Hamilton nodded. He was yellow with fever, and the hand that filled the +briar pipe shook with ague. All this Bosambo saw. + +"It is not of you I speak, nor of your people, but of the Akasava and +the N'gombi and the evil little men who live in the forest--now is it +true that they speak mockingly of my lord Tibbetti?" + +Bosambo hesitated. + +"Lord," said he, "what dogs are they, that they should speak of the +mighty? Yet I will not lie to you, M'ilitani: they mock Tibbetti, +because he is young and his heart is pure." + +Hamilton nodded again, and stuck out his jaw in troubled meditation. + +"I am a sick man," he said, "and I must rest, sending Tibbetti to watch +the river, because the crops are good and there is fish for all men, and +because the people are prosperous, for, Bosambo, in such times there is +much boastfulness, and the tribes are ripe for foolish deeds deserving +to appear wonderful in the eyes of woman." + +"All this I know, M'ilitani," said Bosambo, "and because you are sick, +my heart and my stomach are sore. For though I do not love you as I love +Sandi, who is more clever than you, yet I love you well enough to +grieve. And Tibbetti also----" + +He paused. + +"He is young," said Hamilton, "and not yet grown to himself--now you, +Bosambo, shall check men who are insolent to his face, and be to him as +a strong right hand." + +"On my head and my life," said Bosambo, "yet, lord M'ilitani, I think +that his day will find him, for it is written in the Sura of the Djin +that all men are born three times, and the day will come when Bonzi will +be born again." + +He was in his canoe before Hamilton realized what he had said. + +"Tell me, Bosambo," said he, leaning over the side of the _Zaire_, +"what name did you call my lord Tibbetti?" + +"Bonzi," said Bosambo, innocently, "for such I have heard you call him." + +"Oh, dog of a thief!" stormed Hamilton. "If you speak without respect of +Tibbetti, I will break your head." + +Bosambo looked up with a glint in his big, black eyes. + +"Lord," he said, softly, "it is said on the river 'speak only the words +which high ones speak, and you can say no wrong,' and if you, who are +wiser than any, call my lord 'Bonzi'--what goat am I that I should not +call him 'Bonzi' also?" + +Hamilton saw the canoe drift round, saw the flashing paddles dip +regularly, and the chant of the Ochori boat song came fainter and +fainter as Bosambo's state canoe began its long journey northward. + +Hamilton reached headquarters with a temperature of 105, and declined +Bones' well-meant offers to look after him. + +"What you want, dear old officer," said Bones, fussing around, "is +careful nursin'. Trust old Bones and he'll pull you back to health, sir. +Keep up your pecker, sir, an' I'll bring you back so to speak from the +valley of the shadow--go to bed an' I'll have a mustard plaster on your +chest in half a jiffy." + +"If you come anywhere near me with a mustard plaster," said Hamilton, +pardonably annoyed, "I'll brain you!" + +"Don't you think!" asked Bones anxiously, "that you ought to put your +feet in mustard and water, sir--awfully good tonic for a feller, sir. +Bucks you up an' all that sort of thing, sir; uncle of mine who used to +take too much to drink----" + +"The only chance for me," said Hamilton, "is for you to clear out and +leave me alone. Bones--quit fooling: I'm a sick man, and you've any +amount of responsibility. Go up to the Isisi and watch things--it's +pretty hard to say this to you, but I'm in your hands." + +Bones said nothing. + +He looked down at the fever-stricken man and thrust his hands in his +pockets. + +"You see, old Bones," said Hamilton, and now his friend heard the +weariness and the weakness in his voice, "Sanders has a hold on these +chaps that I haven't quite got ... and ... and ... well, you haven't got +at all. I don't want to hurt your feelings, but you're young, Bones, and +these devils know how amiable you are." + +"I'm an ass, sir," muttered Bones, shakily, "an' somehow I understand +that this is the time in my jolly old career when I oughtn't to be an +ass.... I'm sorry, sir." + +Hamilton smiled up at him. + +"It isn't for Sanders' sake or mine or your own, Bones--but for--well, +for the whole crowd of us--white folk. You'll have to do your best, old +man." + +Bones took the other's hand, snivelled a bit despite his fierce effort +of restraint, and went aboard the _Zaire_. + + * * * * * + +"Tell all men," said B'chumbiri, addressing his impassive relatives, +"that I go to a great day and to many strange lands." + +He was tall and knobby-kneed, spoke with a squeak at the end of his +deeper sentences, and about his tired eyes he had made a red circle with +camwood. Round his head he had twisted a wire so tightly that it all but +cut the flesh: this was necessary, for B'chumbiri had a headache which +never left him day or night. + +Now he stood, his lank body wrapped in a blanket, and he looked with +dull eyes from face to face. + +"I see you," he said at last, and repeated his motto which had something +to do with monkeys. + +They watched him go down the street towards the beech where the easiest +canoe in the village was moored. + +"It is better if we go after him and put out his eyes," said his elder +brother; "else who knows what damage he will do for which we must pay?" + +Only B'chumbiri's mother looked after him with a mouth that drooped at +the side, for he was her only son, all the others being by other wives +of Mochimo. + +His father and his uncle stood apart and whispered, and presently when, +with a great waving of arms, B'chumbiri had embarked, they went out of +the village by the forest path and ran tirelessly till they struck the +river at its bend. + +"Here we will wait," panted the uncle, "and when B'chumbiri comes we +will call him to land, for he has the sickness _mongo_." + +"What of Sandi?" asked the father, who was no gossip. + +"Sandi is gone," replied the other, "and there is no law." + +Presently B'chumbiri came sweeping round the bend, singing in his poor, +cracked voice about a land and a people and treasures ... he turned his +canoe at his father's bidding, and came obediently to land.... + +Overhead the sky was a vivid blue, and the water which moved quickly +between the rocky channel of the Lower Isisi caught something of the +blue, though the thick green of elephant grass by the water's edge and +the overhanging spread of gum trees took away from the clarity of +reflection. + +There was, too, a gentle breeze and a pleasing absence of flies, so that +a man might get under the red and white striped awning of the _Zaire_ +and think or read or dream dreams, and find life a pleasant experience, +and something to be thankful for. + +Such a day does not often come upon the river, but if it does, the deep +channel of the Isisi focuses all the joy of it. Here the river runs as +straight as a canal for six miles, the current swifter and stronger +between the guiding banks than elsewhere. There are rocks, charted and +known, for the bed of the river undergoes no change, the swift waters +carry no sands to choke the fairway, navigation is largely a matter of +engine power and rule of thumb. Going slowly up stream a little more +than two knots an hour, the _Zaire_ was for once a pleasure steamer. Her +long-barrelled Hotchkiss guns were hidden in their canvas jackets, the +Maxims were lashed to the side of the bridge out of sight, and +Lieutenant Augustus Tibbetts, who sprawled in a big wicker-work chair +with an illustrated paper on his knees, a nasal-toned phonograph at his +feet, and a long glass of lemon squash at his elbow, had little to do +but pass the pleasant hours in the most pleasant occupation he could +conceive, which was the posting of a diary, which he hoped on some +future occasion to publish. + +A shout, quick and sharp, brought him to his feet, a stiffly +outstretched hand pointed to the waters. + +"What the dooce----" demanded Bones indignantly, and looked over the +side.... He saw the pitiful thing that rolled slowly in the swift +current, and the homely face of Bones hardened. + +"Damn," he said, and the wheel of the _Zaire_ spun, and the little boat +came broadside to the stream before the threshing wheel got purchase on +the water. + +It was Bones' sinewy hand that gripped the poor arm and brought the body +to the side of the canoe into which he had jumped as the boat came +round. + +"Um," said Bones, seeing what he saw; "who knows this man?" + +"Lord," said a wooding man, "this is B'chumbiri who was mad, and he +lived in the village near by." + +"There will we go," said Bones, very gravely. + +Now all the people of M'fa knew that the father of B'chumbiri and his +uncle had put away the tiresome youth with his headache and his silly +talk, and when there came news that the _Zaire_ was beating her way to +the village there was a hasty _likambo_ of the eldermen. + +"Since this is neither Sandi nor M'ilitani who comes," said the chief, +an old man, N'jela ("the Bringer"), "but Moon-in-the-Eye, who is a +child, let us say that B'chumbiri fell into the water so that the +crocodiles had him, and if he asks us who slew B'chumbiri--for it may be +that he knows--let none speak, and afterwards we will tell M'ilitani +that we did not understand him." + +With this arrangement all agreed; for surely here was a palaver not to +be feared. + +Bones came with his escort of Houssas. + +From the dark interiors of thatched huts men and women watched his thin +figure going up the street, and laughed. + +Nor did they laugh softly. Bones heard the chuckles of unseen people, +divined that contempt, and his lips trembled. He felt an immense +loneliness--all the weight of government was pressed down upon his head, +it overwhelmed, it smothered him. + +Yet he kept a tight hold upon himself, and by a supreme effort of will +showed no sign of his perturbation. + +The palaver was of little value to Bones; the village was blandly +innocent of murder or knowledge of murder. More than this, all men +stoutly swore that the thing that lay upon the foreshore for +identification, surrounded by a crowd of frowning and frightened little +boys lured by the very gruesomeness of the spectacle, was unknown, and +laughed openly at the suggestion that it was B'chumbiri, who (said they) +had gone a Journey into the forest. + +There was little short of open mockery and defiance when they pointed +out certain indications that went to prove that this man was not of the +Akasava, but of the higher Isisi. + +So Bones' visit was fruitless. + +He dismissed the palaver and walked back to his ship, and worked the +river, village by village, with no more satisfactory result. That night +in the little town of M'fa there was a dance and a jubilation to +celebrate the cunning of a people who had outwitted and overawed the +lords of the land, but the next day came Bosambo, who had established a +system of espionage more far-reaching, and possibly more effective, than +the service which the Government had instituted. + +Liberties they might take with Bones; but they sat discomforted in +palaver before this alien chief, swathed in monkey tails, his shield in +one hand, and his bunch of spears in the other. + +"All things I know," said Bosambo, when they told him what they had to +tell, "and it has come to me that you have spoken lightly of Tibbetti, +who is my friend and my master, and is well beloved of Sandi. Also they +tell me that you smiled at him. Now I tell you there will come a day +when you will not smile, and that day is near at hand." + +"Lord," said the chief, "he made with us a foolish palaver, believing +that we had put away B'chumbiri." + +"And he shall return to that foolish palaver," said Bosambo grimly, "and +if he goes away unsatisfied, behold I will come, and I will take your +old men, and I will hang them by hooks into a tree and roast their feet. +For if there is no Sandi and no law, behold I am Sandi and I law, doing +the will of a certain bearded king, Togi-tani." + +He left the village of M'fa a little unhappy for the space of a day, +when, native-like, they forgot all that he had said. + +In the meantime, up and down the river went Bones, palavers which lasted +from sunrise to sunset being his portion. + +He had in his mind one vital fact, that for the honour of his race and +for the credit of his administration he must bring to justice the man +who slew the thing which he had found in the river. Chiefs and elders +met him with scarcely concealed scorn, and waited expectantly to hear +his strong, foreign language. But in this they were disappointed, for +Bones spoke nothing but the language of the river, and little of it. + +He went on board the _Zaire_ on the ninth night after his discovery, +dispirited and sick at heart. + +"It seems to me, Ahmet," he said to the Houssa sergeant who stood +waiting silently by the table where his meagre dinner was laid, "that no +man speaks the truth in this cursed land, and that they do not fear me +as they fear Sandi." + +"Lord, it is so," said Ahmet; "for, as your lordship knows, Sandi was +very terrible, and then, O Tibbetti, he is an older man, very wise in +the ways of these people, and very cunning to see their heart. All great +trees grow slowly, O my lord! and that which springs up in a night dies +in a day." + +Bones pondered this for a while, then: + +"Wake me at dawn," he said. "I go back to M'fa for the last palaver, and +if this palaver be a bad one, be sure you shall not see my face again +upon the river." + +Bones spoke truly, his resignation, written in his sprawling hand, lay +enveloped and sealed in his cabin ready for dispatch. He stopped his +steamer at a village six miles from M'fa, and sent a party of Houssas to +the village with a message. + +The chief was to summon all eldermen, and all men responsible to the +Government, the wearers of medals and the holders of rights, all landmen +and leaders of hunters, the captains of spears, and the first headmen. +Even to the witch doctors he called together. + +"O soldier!" said the chief, dubiously, "what happens to me if I do not +obey his commands? For my men are weary, having hunted in the forest, +and my chiefs do not like long palavers concerning law." + +"That may be," said Ahmet, calmly. "But when my lord calls you to +palaver you must obey, otherwise I take you, I and my strong men, to the +Village of Irons, there to rest for a while to my lord's pleasure." + +So the chief sent messengers and rattled his _lokali_ to some purpose, +bringing headmen and witch doctors, little and great chiefs, and +spearmen of quality, to squat about the palaver house on the little hill +to the east of the village. + +Bones came with an escort of four men. He walked slowly up the cut steps +in the hillside and sat upon the stool to the chief's right; and no +sooner had he seated himself than, without preliminary, he began to +speak. And he spoke of Sanders, of his splendour and his power; of his +love for all people and his land, and also M'ilitani, who these men +respected because of his devilish blue eyes. + +At first he spoke slowly, because he found a difficulty in breathing, +and then as he found himself, grew more and more lucid and took a larger +grasp of the language. + +"Now," said he, "I come to you, being young in the service of the +Government, and unworthy to tread in my lord Sandi's way. Yet I hold the +laws in my two hands even as Sandi held them, for laws do not change +with men, neither does the sun change whatever be the land upon which +it shines. Now, I say to you and to all men, deliver to me the slayer of +B'chumbiri that I may deal with him according to the law." + +There was a dead silence, and Bones waited. + +Then the silence grew into a whisper, from a whisper into a babble of +suppressed talk, and finally somebody laughed. Bones stood up, for this +was his supreme moment. + +"Come out to me, O killer!" he said softly, "for who am I that I can +injure you? Did I not hear some voice say _g'la_, and is not _g'la_ the +name of a fool? O, wise and brave men of the Akasava who sit there +quietly, daring not so much as to hit a finger before one who is a +fool!" + +Again the silence fell. Bones, his helmet on the back of his head, his +hands thrust into his pockets, came a little way down the hill towards +the semi-circle of waiting eldermen. + +"O, brave men!" he went on, "O, wonderful seeker of danger! Behold! I, +_g'la_, a fool, stand before you and yet the killer of B'chumbiri sits +trembling and will not rise before me, fearing my vengeance. Am I so +terrible?" + +His wide open eyes were fixed upon the uncle of B'chumbiri, and the old +man returned the gaze defiantly. + +"Am I so terrible?" Bones went on, gently. "Do men fear me when I walk? +Or run to their huts at the sound of my puc-a-puc? Do women wring their +hands when I pass?" + +Again there was a little titter, but M'gobo, the uncle of B'chumbiri, +grimacing now in his rage, was not amongst the laughers. + +"Yet the brave one who slew----" + +M'gobo sprang to his feet. + +"Lord," he said harshly, "why do you put all men to shame for your +sport?" + +"This is no sport, M'gobo," answered Bones quickly. "This is a palaver, +a killing palaver. Was it a woman who slew B'chumbiri? so that she is +not present at this palaver. Lo, then I go to hold council with women!" + +M'gobo's face was all distorted like a man stricken with paralysis. + +"Tibbetti!" he said, "I slew B'chumbiri--according to custom--and I will +answer to Sandi, who is a man, and understands such palavers." + +"Think well," said Bones, deathly white, "think well, O man, before you +say this." + +"I killed him, O fool," said M'gobo loudly, "though his father turned +woman at the last--with these hands I cut him, using two knives----" + +"Damn you!" said Bones, and shot him dead. + + * * * * * + +Hamilton, so far convalescent that he could smoke a cigarette, heard the +account without interruption. + +"So there you are, sir," said Bones at the side. "An' I felt like a +jolly old murderer, but, dear old officer, what was I to do?" + +Still Hamilton said nothing, and Bones shifted uncomfortably. + +"For goodness gracious sake don't sit there like a bally old owl," he +said, fretfully. "Was I wrong?" + +Hamilton smiled. + +"You're a jolly old commissioner, sir," he mimicked, "and for two pins +I'd mention you in dispatches." + +Bones examined the piping of his khaki jacket and extracted the pins. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE MAN WHO DID NOT SLEEP + + +No doubt whatever but that Lieutenant Tibbetts of the Houssas had a +pretty taste for romance. It led him to exercise certain latent powers +of imagination and to garnish his voluminous correspondence with details +of happenings which had no very solid foundation in fact. + +On one occasion he had called down the heavy sarcasm of his superior +officer by a reference to lions--a reference which Hamilton's sister had +seen and, in the innocence of her heart, had referred to in a letter to +her brother. + +Whereupon Bones swore to himself that he would carefully avoid +corresponding with any person who might have the remotest acquaintance +with the remotest of Hamilton's relatives. + +Every mail night Captain Hamilton underwent a cross-examination which at +once baffled and annoyed him. + +Picture a great room, the walls of varnished match-boarding, the bare +floor covered in patches by skins. There are twelve windows covered +with fine mesh wire and looking out to the broad verandah which runs +round the bungalow. The furniture is mainly wicker work, a table or two +bearing framed photographs (one has been cleared for the huge gramophone +which Bones has introduced to the peaceful life of headquarters). There +are no pictures on the walls save the inevitable five--Queen Victoria, +King Edward, Queen Alexandra, and in a place of honour above the door +the King and his Consort. + +A great oil lamp hangs from the centre of the boarded ceiling, and under +this the big solid table at either side of which two officers write +silently and industriously, for the morrow brings the mail boat. + +Silent until Bones looked up thoughtfully. + +"Do you know the Gripps, of Beckstead, dear old fellow?" + +"No." + +"None of your people know 'em?" hopefully. + +"No--how the dickens do I know?" + +"Don't get chuffy, dear old chap." + +Then would follow another silence, until---- + +"Do you happen to be acquainted with the Lomands of Fife?" + +"No." + +"I suppose none of your people know 'em?" + +Hamilton would put down his pen, resignation on his face. + +"I have never heard of the Lomands--unless you refer to the Loch +Lomonds; nor to the best of my knowledge and belief are any of my +relations in blood or in law in any way acquainted with them." + +"Cheer oh!" said Bones, gratefully. + +Another ten minutes, and then: + +"You don't know the Adamses of Oxford, do you, sir?" + +Hamilton, in the midst of his weekly report, chucked down his pen. + +"No; nor the Eves of Cambridge, nor the Serpents of Eton, nor the Angels +of Harrow." + +"I suppose----" began Bones. + +"Nor are my relations on speaking terms with them. They don't know the +Adamses, nor the Cains, nor the Abels, nor the Moseses, nor the Noahs." + +"That's all I wanted to know, sir," said an injured Bones. "There's no +need to peeve, sir." + +Step by step Bones was compiling a directory of people to whom he might +write without restraint, providing he avoided mythical lion hunts and +confined himself to anecdotes which were suggestively complimentary to +himself. + +Thus he wrote to one pal of his at Biggestow to the effect that he was +known to the natives as "The-Man-Who-Never-Sleeps," meaning thereby that +he was a most vigilant and relentless officer, and the recipients of +this information, fired with a sort of local patriotism, sent the +remarkable statement to the _Biggestow Herald and Observer and Hindhead +Guardian_, thereby upsetting all Bones' artful calculations. + +"What the devil does 'Man-Who-Never-Sleeps' mean?" asked a puzzled +Hamilton. + +"Dear old fellow," said Bones, incoherently, "don't let's discuss it ... +I can't understand how these things get into the bally papers." + +"If," said Hamilton, turning the cutting over in his hand, "if they +called you 'The-Man-Who-Jaws-So-Much-That-Nobody-Can-Sleep,' I'd +understand it, or if they called you +'The-Man-Sleeps-With-His-Mouth-Open-Emitting-Hideous-Noises,' I could +understand it." + +"The fact is, sir," said Bones, in a moment of inspiration, "I'm an +awfully light sleeper--in fact, sir, I'm one of those chaps who can get +along with a couple of hours' sleep--I can sleep anywhere at any +time--dear old Wellin'ton was similarly gifted--in fact, sir, there are +one or two points of resemblance between Wellington and I, which you +might have noticed, sir." + +"Speak no ill of the dead," reproved Hamilton; "beyond your eccentric +noses I see no points of resemblance." + +It was on a morning following the dispatch of the mail that Hamilton +took a turn along the firm sands to settle in his mind the problem of a +certain Middle Island. + +Middle Islands, that is to say the innumerable patches of land which +sprinkle the river in its broad places, were a never-ending problem to +Sanders and his successor. Upon these Middle Islands the dead were laid +to rest--from the river you saw the graves with fluttering ragged flags +of white cloth planted about them--and the right of burial was a matter +of dispute when the mainland at one side of the river was Isisi land, +and Akasava the other. Also some of the larger Middle Islands were +colonized. + +Hamilton had news of a coming palaver in relation to one of these. + +Now, on the river, it is customary for all who desire inter-tribal +palavers to announce their intention loudly and insistently. And if +Sanders had no objection he made no move, if he did not think the +palaver desirable he stopped it. It was a simple arrangement, and it +worked. + +Hamilton came back from his four-mile constitutional satisfied in his +mind that the palaver should be held. Moreover, they had, on this +occasion, asked permission. He could grant this with an easy mind, being +due in the neighbourhood of the disputed territory in the course of a +week. + +It seemed that an Isisi fisherman had been spearing in Akasava waters, +and had, moreover, settled, he and his family to the number of forty, on +Akasava territory. Whereupon an Akasava fishing community, whose rights +the intruder had violated, rose up in its wrath and beat Issmeri with +sticks. + +Then the king of the Isisi sent a messenger to the king of Akasava +begging him to stay his hand "against my lawful people, for know this, +Iberi, that I have a thousand spears and young men eager for fire." + +And Iberi replied with marked unpleasantness that there were in the +Akasava territory two thousand spears no less inclined to slaughter. + +In a moment of admirable moderation, significant of the change which Mr. +Commissioner Sanders had wrought in these warlike peoples, they accepted +Hamilton's suggestion--sent by special envoy--and held a "small +palaver," agreeing that the question of the disputed fishing ground +should be settled by a third person. + +And they chose Bosambo, paramount and magnificent chief of the Ochori, +as arbitrator. Now, it was singularly unfortunate that the question was +ever debatable. And yet it was, for the fishing ground in question was +off one of the many Middle Islands. In this case the island was occupied +by Akasava fishermen on the one shore and by the intruding Isisi on the +other. If you can imagine a big "Y" and over it a little "o" and over +that again an inverted "Y" thus "+" and drawing this you prolong the +four prongs of the Y's, you have a rough idea of the topography of the +place. To the left of the lower "Y" mark the word "Isisi," to the right +the word "Akasava" until you reach a place where the two right hand +prongs meet, and here you draw a line and call all above it "Ochori." +The "o" in the centre is the middle island--set in a shallow lake +through which the river (the stalk, of the Y's) runs. + +Bosambo came down in state with ten canoes filled with counsellors and +bodyguard. He camped on the disputed ground, and was met thereon by the +chiefs affected. + +"O, Iberi and T'lingi!" said he, as he stepped ashore, "I come in peace, +bringing all my wonderful counsellors, that I may make you as brothers, +for as you know I have a white man's way of knowing all their magic, and +being a brother in blood to our Lord Tibbetti, Moon-in-the-Eye." + +"This we know, Bosambo," said Iberi, looking askance at the size of +Bosambo's retinue, "and my stomach is proud that you bring so vast an +army of high men to us, for I see that you have brought rich food for +them." + +He saw nothing of the sort, but he wanted things made plain at the +beginning. + +"Lord Iberi," said Bosambo, loftily, "I bring no food, for that would +have been shameful, and men would have said: 'Iberi is a mean man who +starves the guests of his house.' But only one half of my wise people +shall sit in your huts, Iberi, and the other half will rest with T'lingi +of the Akasava, and feed according to law. And behold, chiefs and +headmen, I am a very just man not to be turned this way or that by the +giving of gifts or by kindness shown to my people. Yet my heart is so +human and so filled with tenderness for my people, that I ask you not to +feed them too richly or give them presents of beauty, lest my noble mind +be influenced." + +Whereupon his forces were divided, and each chief ransacked his land for +delicacies to feed them. + +It was a long palaver--too long for the chiefs. + +Was the island Akasava or Isisi? Old men of either nation testified with +oaths and swearings of death and other high matters that it was both. + +From dawn to sunset Bosambo sat in the thatched palaver house, and on +either side of him was a brass pot into which he tossed from time to +time a grain of corn. + +And every grain stood for a successful argument in favour of one or the +other of the contestants--the pot to the right being for the Akasava, +and that to the left for the Isisi. + +And the night was given up to festivity, to the dancing of girls and the +telling of stories and other noble exercises. + +On the tenth day Iberi met T'lingi secretly. + +"T'lingi," said Iberi, "it seems to me that this island is not worth the +keeping if we have to feast this thief Bosambo and search our lands for +his pleasure." + +"Lord Iberi," agreed his rival, "that is also in my mind--let us go to +this robber of our food and say the palaver shall finish to-morrow, for +I do not care whether the island is yours or mine if we can send Bosambo +back to his land." + +"You speak my mind," said Iberi, and on the morrow they were blunt to +the point of rudeness. + +Whereupon Bosambo delivered judgment. + +"Many stories have been told," said he, "also many lies, and in my +wisdom I cannot tell which is lie and which is truth. Moreover, the +grains of corn are equal in each pot. Now, this I say, in the name of +my uncle Sandi, and my brother Tibbetti (who is secretly married to my +sister's cousin), that neither Akasava nor Isisi shall sit in this +island for a hundred years." + +"Lord, you are wise," said the Akasava chief, well satisfied, and Iberi +was no less cheered, but asked: "Who shall keep this island free from +Akasava or Isisi? For men may come and there will be other palavers and +perhaps fighting?" + +"That I have thought of," said Bosambo, "and so I will raise a village +of my own people on this island, and put a guard of a hundred men--all +this I will do because I love you both--the palaver is finished." + +He rose in his stately way, and with his drums beating and the bright +spearheads of his young men a-glitter in the evening sunlight, embarked +in his ten canoes, having expanded his territory without loss to himself +like the Imperialist he was. + +For two days the chiefs of the Akasava and the Isisi were satisfied with +the justice of an award which robbed them both without giving an +advantage to either. Then an uneasy realization of their loss dawned +upon them. Then followed a swift exchange of messages and Bosambo's +colonization scheme was unpleasantly checked. + +Hamilton was on the little lake which is at the end of the N'gini River +when he heard of the trouble, and from the high hills at the far end of +the lake sent a helio message staring and blinking across the waste. + +Bones, fishing in the river below Ikan, picked up the instructions, and +went flying up the river as fast as the new naphtha launch could carry +him. + +He arrived in time to cover the shattered remnants of Bosambo's fleet as +they were being swept northward from whence they came. + +Bones went inshore to the island, the water jacket of a Maxim gun +exposed over the bow, but there was no opposition. + +"What the dooce is all this about--hey?" demanded Lieutenant Tibbetts +fiercely, and Iberi, doubly uneasy at the sound of an unaccustomed +language, stood on one leg in his embarrassment. + +"Lord, the thief Bosambo----" he began, and told the story. + +"Lord," he concluded humbly, "I say all this though Bosambo is your +relation since you have secretly married his sister's cousin." + +Whereupon Bones went very red and stammered and spluttered in such a way +that the chief knew for sure that Bosambo had spoken the truth. + +Bones, as I have said before, was no fool. He confirmed Bosambo's order +for the evacuation of the island, but left a Houssa guard to hold it. + +Then he hurried north to the Ochori. + +Bosambo formed his royal procession, but there was no occasion for it, +for Bones was in no processional mood. + +"What the dooce do you mean, sir?" demanded a glaring and threatening +Bones, his helmet over his neck, his arms akimbo. "What do you mean, +sir, by saying I'm married to your infernal aunt?" + +"Sah," said Bosambo, virtuous and innocent, "I no savvy you--I no +compreney, sah! You lib for my house--I give you fine t'ings. I make um +moosic, sah----" + +"You're a jolly old rotter, Bosambo!" said Bones, shaking his finger in +the chief's face. "I could punish you awfully for telling wicked +stories, Bosambo. I'm disgusted with you, I am indeed." + +"Lord who never sleeps," began Bosambo, humbly. + +"Hey?" + +Bones stared at the other in amazement, suspicion, hope, and +gratification in his face. + +"O, Bosambo," said he mildly, and speaking in the native tongue, "why do +you call me by that name?" + +Now, Bosambo in his innocence had used a phrase (_M'wani-m'wani_) which +signifies "the sleepless one," and also stands in the vernacular for +"busy-body," or one who is eternally concerned with other people's +business. + +"Lord," said Bosambo, hastily, "by this name are you known from the +mountains to the sea. Thus all men speak of you, saying: 'This is he who +does not sleep but watches all the time.'" + +Bones was impressed, he was flattered, and he ran his finger between the +collar of his uniform jacket and his scraggy neck as one will do who is +embarrassed by praise and would appear unconcerned under the ordeal. + +"So men call me, Bosambo," said he carelessly "though my lord M'ilitani +does not know this--therefore in the day when M'ilitani comes, speak of +me as _M'wani-m'wani_ that he may know of whom men speak when they say +'the sleepless one.'" + +Everybody knows that _Cala cala_ great chiefs had stored against the +hour of their need certain stocks of ivory. + +Dead ivory it is called because it had been so long cut, but good cow +ivory, closer in grain than the bull elephant brought to the hunter, +more turnable, and of greater value. + +There is no middle island on the river about which some legend or buried +treasure does not float. + +Hamilton, hurrying forward to the support of his second-in-command, +stopped long enough to interview two sulky chiefs. + +"What palaver is this?" he demanded of Iberi, "that you carry your +spears to a killing? For is not the river big enough for all, and are +there no burying-places for your old men that you should fight so +fiercely?" + +"Lord," confessed Iberi, "upon that island is a treasure which has been +hidden from the beginning of time, and that is the truth--N'Yango!" + +Now, no man swears by his mother unless he is speaking straightly, and +Hamilton understood. + +"Never have I spoken of this to the Chief of the Isisi," Iberi went on, +"nor he to me, yet we know because of certain wise sayings that the +treasure stays and young men of our houses have searched very diligently +though secretly. Also Bosambo knows, for he is a cunning man, and when +we found he had put his warriors to the seeking we fought him, lord, for +though the treasure may be Isisi or Akasava, of this I am sure it is not +of the Ochori." + +Hamilton came to the Ochori city to find a red-eyed Bones stalking +majestically up and down the beach. + +"What is the matter with you?" demanded Hamilton. "Fever?" + +"Not at all," replied Bones, huskily; but with a fine carelessness. + +"You look as if you hadn't had a sleep for months," said Hamilton. + +Bones shrugged his shoulders. + +"Dear old fellow," said he, "it isn't for nothing that I'm called 'the +sleepless one'--don't make sceptical noises, dear old officer, but +pursue your inquiries among the indigenous natives, especially +Bosambo--an hour is all I want--just a bit of a snooze and a bath and +I'm bright an' vigilant." + +"Take your hour," said Hamilton briefly. "You'll need it." + +His interview with Bosambo was short and, for Bosambo, painful. +Nevertheless he unbent in the end to give the chief a job after his +heart. + +Launch and steamer turned their noses down the stream, and at sunset +came to the island. In the morning, Hamilton conducted a search which +extended from shore to shore and he came upon the cairn unexpectedly +after a two hours' search. He uncovered two tons of ivory, wrapped in +rotten native cloth. + +"There will be trouble over this," he said, thoughtfully, surveying the +yellow tusks. "I'll go downstream to the Isisi and collect information, +unless these beggars can establish their claim we will bag this lot for +government." + +He left Bones and one orderly on the island. + +"I shall be gone two days," he said. "I must send the launch to bring +Iberi to me; keep your eyes peeled." + +"Sir," said Bones, blinking and suppressing a yawn with difficulty, "you +can trust the sleepless one." + +He had his tent pitched before the cairn, and in the shade of a great +gum he seated himself in his canvas chair.... He looked up and struggled +to his feet. He was half dead with weariness, for the whole of the +previous night, while Bosambo snored in his hut, Bones, pinching +himself, had wandered up and down the street of the city qualifying for +his title. + +Now, as he rose unsteadily to his feet, it was to confront +Bosambo--Bosambo with four canoes grounded on the sandy beach of the +island. + +"Hello, Bosambo!" yawned Bones. + +"O Sleepless One," said Bosambo humbly, "though I came in silence yet +you heard me, and your bright eyes saw me in the little-light." + +"Little-light" it was, for the sun had gone down. + +"Go now, Bosambo," said Bones, "for it is not lawful that you should be +here." + +He looked around for Ahmet, his orderly, but Ahmet was snoring like a +pig. + +"Lord, that I know," said Bosambo, "yet I came because my heart is sad +and I have sorrow in my stomach. For did I not say that you had married +my aunt?" + +"Now listen whilst I tell you the full story of my wickedness, and of my +aunt who married a white lord----" + +Bones sat down in his chair and laid back his head, listening with +closed eyes. + +"My aunt, O Sleepless One," began Bosambo, and Bones heard the story in +fragments. "... Coast woman ... great lord ... fine drier of cloth...." + +Bosambo droned on in a monotonous tone, and Bones, open-mouthed, his +head rolling from side to side, breathed regularly. + +At a gesture from Bosambo, the man who sat in the canoe slipped lightly +ashore. Bosambo pointed to the cairn, but he himself did not move, nor +did he check his fluent narrative. + +Working with feverish, fervent energy, the men of Bosambo's party loaded +the great tusks in the canoes. At last all the work was finished and +Bosambo rose. + + * * * * * + +"Wake up, Bones." + +Lieutenant Tibbetts stumbled to his feet glaring and grimacing wildly. + +"Parade all correct, sir," he said, "the mail boat has just come in, an' +there's a jolly old salmon for supper." + +"Wake up, you dreaming devil," said Hamilton. + +Bones looked around. In the bright moonlight he saw the _Zaire_ moored +to the shelving beach, saw Hamilton, and turned his head to the empty +cairn. + +"Good Lord!" he gasped. + +"O Sleepless One!" said Hamilton softly, "O bright eyes!" + +Bones went blundering to the cairn, made a closer inspection, and came +slowly back. + +"There's only one thing for me to do, sir," he said, saluting. "As an +officer an' a gentleman, I must blow my brains out." + +"Brains!" said Hamilton scornfully. + + * * * * * + +"As a matter of fact I sent Bosambo to collect the ivory which I shall +divide amongst the three chiefs--it's perished ivory, anyhow; and he had +my written authority to take it, but being a born thief he preferred to +steal it; you'll find it stacked in your cabin, Bones." + +"In my cabin, sir!" said an indignant Bones; "there isn't room in my +cabin, sir. How the dickens am I going to sleep?" + + + THE END + + + + + POPULAR NOVELS + + BY + + EDGAR WALLACE + + PUBLISHED BY + + WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED. + + _In Various Editions_. + + SANDERS OF THE RIVER + BONES + BOSAMBO OF THE RIVER + BONES IN LONDON + THE KEEPERS OF THE KING'S PEACE + THE COUNCIL OF JUSTICE + THE DUKE IN THE SUBURBS + THE PEOPLE OF THE RIVER + DOWN UNDER DONOVAN + PRIVATE SELBY + THE ADMIRABLE CARFEW + THE MAN WHO BOUGHT LONDON + THE JUST MEN OF CORDOVA + THE SECRET HOUSE + KATE, PLUS TEN + LIEUTENANT BONES + THE ADVENTURES OF HEINE + JACK O' JUDGMENT + THE DAFFODIL MYSTERY + THE NINE BEARS + THE BOOK OF ALL POWER + MR. JUSTICE MAXELL + THE BOOKS OF BART + THE DARK EYES OF LONDON + CHICK + SANDI, THE KING-MAKER + THE THREE OAK MYSTERY + THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE FROG + BLUE HAND + GREY TIMOTHY + A DEBT DISCHARGED + THOSE FOLK OF BULBORO' + THE MAN WHO WAS NOBODY + THE GREEN RUST + THE FOURTH PLAGUE + THE RIVER OF STARS + + _Made and Printed in Great Britain by_ + WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED, LONDON. + + TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + +Every effort has been made to remain true to the original text; minor +changes have been made to regularize spelling and hyphenation within the +book. The _ character has been used to indicate that the enclosed +word(s) were originally typeset as italic font; on line 7136, where an +inverted "Y" was present in the original text, this character has been +replaced with a "+". + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bones, by Edgar Wallace + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BONES *** + +***** This file should be named 24450-8.txt or 24450-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/4/5/24450/ + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +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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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: Bones + Being Further Adventures in Mr. Commissioner Sanders' Country + +Author: Edgar Wallace + +Release Date: January 29, 2008 [EBook #24450] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BONES *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"></a></span></p> +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<h1>"BONES"</h1> + +<h2>being</h2> + +<h2>Further Adventures in</h2> +<h2>Mr. Commissioner Sanders' Country</h2> + +<p class="smallgap"> </p> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>EDGAR WALLACE</h2> + +<h4>Author of "Sanders of the River," etc.</h4> + +<p class="biggap"> </p> + +<p class="center"> +WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED<br /> +LONDON AND MELBOURNE<br /> +</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="To" id="To"></a>To</h2> + +<h2>Isabel Thorn</h2> + +<p class="center">WHO WAS LARGELY RESPONSIBLE</p> + +<p class="center">FOR BRINGING SANDERS</p> + +<p class="center">INTO BEING</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">This Book is Dedicated</span></p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="CONTENTS"> + +<tr> +<td>CHAP.</td> +<td align="left"> </td> +<td align="right">PAGE</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Prologue</span></td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Sanders—C.M.G.</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">I</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Hamilton of the Houssas</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_52">52</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">II</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Disciplinarians</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">III</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Lost N'Bosini</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_88">88</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">IV</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Fetish Stick</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_108">108</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">V</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Frontier and a Code</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">VI</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Soul of the Native Woman</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">VII</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Stranger who Walked by Night</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_164">164</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">VIII</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Right of Way</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_180">180</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">IX</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Green Crocodile</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">X</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Henry Hamilton Bones</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XI</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Bones at M'Fa</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_225">225</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">XII</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Man Who Did Not Sleep</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#Page_240">240</a></td></tr> + +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="BONES" id="BONES"></a>"BONES"</h2> + +<h2>PROLOGUE</h2> + +<h2>SANDERS—C.M.G.</h2> + + +<h3>I</h3> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">Y</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">ou</span> +will never know from the perusal of the Blue Book the true +inwardness of the happenings in the Ochori country in the spring of the +year of Wish. Nor all the facts associated with the disappearance of the +Rt. Hon. Joseph Blowter, Secretary of State for the Colonies.</p> + +<p>We know (though this is not in the Blue Books) that Bosambo called +together all his petty chiefs and his headmen, from one end of the +country to the other, and assembled them squatting expectantly at the +foot of the little hillock, where sat Bosambo in his robes of office +(unauthorized but no less magnificent), their upturned faces charged +with pride and confidence, eloquent of the hold this sometime Liberian +convict had upon the wayward and fearful folk of the Ochori.</p> + +<p>Now no man may call a palaver of all small chiefs unless he notifies the +government of his intention, for the government is jealous of +self-appointed <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>parliaments, for when men meet together in public +conference, however innocent may be its first cause, talk invariably +drifts to war, just as when they assemble and talk in private it drifts +womanward.</p> + +<p>And since a million and odd square miles of territory may only be +governed by a handful of ragged soldiers so long as there is no +concerted action against authority, extemporized and spontaneous +palavers are severely discouraged.</p> + +<p>But Bosambo was too cheery and optimistic a man to doubt that his action +would incur the censorship of his lord, and, moreover, he was so filled +with his own high plans and so warm and generous at heart at the thought +of the benefits he might be conferring upon his patron that the +illegality of the meeting did not occur to him, or if it occurred was +dismissed as too preposterous for consideration.</p> + +<p>And so there had come by the forest paths, by canoe, from fishing +villages, from far-off agricultural lands near by the great mountains, +from timber cuttings in the lower forest, higher chiefs and little +chiefs, headmen and lesser headmen, till they made a respectable crowd, +too vast for the comfort of the Ochori elders who must needs provide +them with food and lodgings.</p> + +<p>"Noble chiefs of the Ochori," began Bosambo, and Notiki nudged his +neighbour with a sharp elbow, for Notiki was an old man of forty-three, +and thin.</p> + +<p>"Our lord desires us to give him something," he said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p><p>He was a bitter man this Notiki, a relative of former chiefs of the +Ochori, and now no more than over-head of four villages.</p> + +<p>"Wa!" said his neighbour, with his shining face turned to Bosambo.</p> + +<p>Notiki grunted but said no more.</p> + +<p>"I have assembled you here," said Bosambo, "because I love to see you, +and because it is good that I should meet those who are in authority +under me to administer the laws which the King my master has set for +your guidance."</p> + +<p>Word for word it was a paraphrase of an address which Sanders himself +had delivered three months ago. His audience may have forgotten the +fact, but Notiki at least recognized the plagiarism and said "Oh, ho!" +under his breath and made a scornful noise.</p> + +<p>"Now I must go from you," said Bosambo.</p> + +<p>There was a little chorus of dismay, but Notiki's voice did not swell +the volume.</p> + +<p>"The King has called me to the coast, and for the space of two moons I +shall be as dead to you, though my fetish will watch you and my spirit +will walk these streets every night with big ears to listen to evil +talk, and great big eyes to see the hearts of men. Yea, from this city +to the very end of my dominions over to Kalala." His accusing eyes fixed +Notiki, and the thin man wriggled uncomfortably.</p> + +<p>"This man is a devil," he muttered under his breath, "he hears and sees +all things."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span></p><p>"And if you ask me why I go," Bosambo went on, "I tell you this: +swearing you all to secrecy that this word shall not go beyond your +huts" (there were some two thousand people present to share the +mystery), "my lord Sandi has great need of me. For who of us is so wise +that he can look into the heart and understand the sorrow-call which +goes from brother to brother and from blood to blood. I say no more save +my lord desires me, and since I am the King of the Ochori, a nation +great amongst all nations, must I go down to the coast like a dog or +like the headman of a fisher-village?"</p> + +<p>He paused dramatically, and there was a faint—a very faint—murmur +which he might interpret as an expression of his people's wish that he +should travel in a state bordering upon magnificence.</p> + +<p>Faint indeed was that murmur, because there was a hint of taxation in +the business, a promise of levies to be extracted from an unwilling +peasantry; a suggestion of lazy men leaving the comfortable shade of +their huts to hurry perspiring in the forest that gum and rubber and +similar offerings should be laid at the complacent feet of their +overlord.</p> + +<p>Bosambo heard the murmur and marked its horrid lack of heartiness and +was in no sense put out of countenance.</p> + +<p>"As you say," said he approvingly, "it is proper that I should journey +to my lord and to the strange people beyond the coast—to the land where +even slaves wear trousers—carrying with me most wonderful presents that +the name of the Ochori <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>shall be as thunder upon the waters and even +great kings shall speak in pride of you," he paused again.</p> + +<p>Now it was a dead silence which greeted his peroration. Notably +unenthusiastic was this gathering, twiddling its toes and blandly +avoiding his eye. Two moons before he had extracted something more than +his tribute—a tribute which was the prerogative of government.</p> + +<p>Yet then, as Notiki said under his breath, or openly, or by innuendo as +the sentiment of his company demanded, four and twenty canoes laden with +the fruits of taxation had come to the Ochori city, and five only of +those partly filled had paddled down to headquarters to carry the Ochori +tribute to the overlord of the land.</p> + +<p>"I will bring back with me new things," said Bosambo enticingly; +"strange devil boxes, large magics which will entrance you, things that +no common man has seen, such as I and Sandi alone know in all this land. +Go now, I tell thee, to your people in this country, telling them all +that I have spoken to you, and when the moon is in a certain quarter +they will come in joy bearing presents in both hands, and these ye shall +bring to me."</p> + +<p>"But, lord!" it was the bold Notiki who stood in protest, "what shall +happen to such of us headmen who come without gifts in our hands for +your lordship, saying 'Our people are stubborn and will give nothing'?"</p> + +<p>"Who knows?" was all the satisfaction he got from Bosambo, with the +additional significant <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>hint, "I shall not blame you, knowing that it is +not because of your fault but because your people do not love you, and +because they desire another chief over them. The palaver is finished."</p> + +<p>Finished it was, so far as Bosambo was concerned. He called a council of +his headmen that night in his hut.</p> + +<p>Bosambo made his preparations at leisure. There was much to avoid before +he took his temporary farewell of the tribe. Not the least to be counted +amongst those things to be done was the extraction, to its uttermost +possibility, of the levy which he had quite improperly instituted.</p> + +<p>And of the things to avoid, none was more urgent or called for greater +thought than the necessity for so timing his movements that he did not +come upon Sanders or drift within the range of his visible and audible +influence.</p> + +<p>Here fortune may have been with Bosambo, but it is more likely that he +had carefully thought out every detail of his scheme. Sanders at the +moment was collecting hut tax along the Kisai river and there was also, +as Bosambo well knew, a murder trial of great complexity waiting for his +decision at Ikan. A headman was suspected of murdering his chief wife, +and the only evidence against him was that of the under wives to whom +she displayed much hauteur and arrogance.</p> + +<p>The people of the Ochori might be shocked at the exorbitant demands +which their lord put upon them, but they were too wise to deny him his +wishes. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>There had been a time in the history of the Ochori when demands +were far heavier, and made with great insolence by a people who bore the +reputation of being immensely fearful. It had come to be a by-word of +the people when they discussed their lord with greater freedom than he +could have wished, the tyranny of Bosambo was better than the tyranny of +Akasava.</p> + +<p>Amongst the Ochori chiefs, greater and lesser, only one was conspicuous +by his failure to carry proper offerings to his lord. When all the gifts +were laid on sheets of native cloth in the great space before Bosambo's +hut, Notiki's sheet was missing and with good reason as he sent his son +to explain.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said this youth, lank and wild, "my father has collected for you +many beautiful things, such as gum and rubber and the teeth of +elephants. Now he would have brought these and laid them at your lovely +feet, but the roads through the forest are very evil, and there have +been floods in the northern country and he cannot pass the streams. Also +the paths through the forest are thick and tangled and my father fears +for his carriers."</p> + +<p>Bosambo looked at him, thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"Go back to your father, N'gobi," he said gently, "and tell him that +though there come no presents from him to me, I, his master and chief, +knowing he loves me, understand all things well."</p> + +<p>N'gobi brightened visibly. He had been ready to bolt, understanding +something of Bosambo's dexterity with a stick and fearing that the chief +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>would loose upon him the vengeance his father had called down upon his +own hoary head.</p> + +<p>"Of the evil roads I know," said Bosambo; "now this you shall say to +your father: Bosambo the chief goes away from this city and upon a long +journey; for two moons he will be away doing the business of his cousin +and friend Sandi. And when my lord Bim-bi has bitten once at the third +moon I will come back and I will visit your father. But because the +roads are bad," he went on, "and the floods come even in this dry +season," he said significantly, "and the forest is so entangled that he +cannot bring his presents, sending only the son of his wife to me, he +shall make against my coming such a road as shall be in width, the +distance between the King's hut and the hut of the King's wife; and he +shall clear from this road all there are of trees, and he shall bridge +the strong stream and dig pits for the floods. And to this end he shall +take every man of his kingdom and set them to labour, and as they work +they shall sing a song which goes:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i6">"We are doing Notiki's work,</span> +<span class="i6">The work Notiki set us to do,</span> +<span class="i6">Rather than send to the lord his King</span> +<span class="i6">The presents which Bosambo demanded.</span></div> + +<p>"The palaver is finished."</p> + +<p>This is the history, or the beginning of the history, of the straight +road which cuts through the heart of the Ochori country from the edge of +the river by the cataracts, even to the mountains of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>great King, a +road famous throughout Africa and imperishably associated with Bosambo's +name—this by the way.</p> + +<p>On the first day following the tax palaver Bosambo went down the river +with four canoes, each canoe painted beautifully with camwood and gum, +and with twenty-four paddlers.</p> + +<p>It was by a fluke that he missed Sanders. As it happened, the +Commissioner had come back to the big river to collect the evidence of +the murdered woman's brother who was a petty headman of an Isisi fishing +village. The <i>Zaire</i> came into the river almost as the last of Bosambo's +canoes went round the bend out of sight, and since a legend existed on +the river, a legend for the inception of which Bosambo himself was +mainly responsible, that he was in some way related to Mr. Commissioner +Sanders, no man spoke of Bosambo's passing.</p> + +<p>The chief came to headquarters on the third day after his departure from +his city. His subsequent movements are somewhat obscure, even to +Sanders, who has been at some pains to trace them.</p> + +<p>It is known that he drew a hundred and fifty pounds in English gold from +Sanders' storekeeper—he had piled up a fairly extensive credit during +the years of his office—that he embarked with one headman and his wife +on a coasting boat due for Sierra Leone, and that from that city came a +long-winded demand in Arabic by a ragged messenger for a further +instalment of one hundred pounds. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>Sanders heard the news on his return +to headquarters and was a little worried.</p> + +<p>"I wonder if the devil is going to desert his people?" he said.</p> + +<p>Hamilton the Houssa laughed.</p> + +<p>"He is more likely to desert his people than to desert a balance of four +hundred pounds which now stands to his credit here," he said. "Bosambo +has felt the call of civilization. I suppose he ought to have secured +your permission to leave his territory?"</p> + +<p>"He has given his people work to keep them busy," Sanders said a little +gravely. "I have had a passionate protest from Notiki, one of his chiefs +in the north. Bosambo has set him to build a road through the forest, +and Notiki objects."</p> + +<p>The two men were walking across the yellow parade ground past the +Houssas hut in the direction of headquarters' bungalow.</p> + +<p>"What about your murderer?" asked Hamilton, after a while, as they +mounted the broad wooden steps which led to the bungalow stoep.</p> + +<p>Sanders shook his head.</p> + +<p>"Everybody lied," he said briefly. "I can do no less than send the man +to the Village. I could have hung him on clear evidence, but the lady +seemed to have been rather unpopular and the murderer quite a person to +be commended in the eyes of the public. The devil of it is," he said as +he sank into his big chair with a sigh, "that had I hanged him it would +not have been necessary <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>to write three foolscap sheets of report. I +dislike these domestic murderers intensely—give me a ravaging brigand +with the hands of all people against him."</p> + +<p>"You'll have one if you don't touch wood," said Hamilton seriously.</p> + +<p>Hamilton came of Scottish stock—and the Scots are notorious prophets.</p> + + +<h3>II</h3> + +<p>Now the truth may be told of Bosambo, and all his movements may be +explained by this revelation of his benevolence. In the silence of his +hut had he planned his schemes. In the dark aisles of the forests, under +starless skies when his fellow-huntsmen lay deep in the sleep which the +innocent and the barbarian alone enjoy; in drowsy moments when he sat +dispensing justice, what time litigants had droned monotonously he had +perfected his scheme.</p> + +<p>Imagination is the first fruit of civilization and when the reverend +fathers of the coast taught Bosambo certain magics, they were also +implanting in him the ability to picture possibilities, and shape from +his knowledge of human affairs the eventual consequences of his actions. +This is imagination somewhat elaborately and clumsily defined.</p> + +<p>To one person only had Bosambo unburdened himself of his schemes.</p> + +<p>In the privacy of his great hut he had sat with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>his wife, a steaming +dish of fish between them, for however lax Bosambo might be, his wife +was an earnest follower of the Prophet and would tolerate no such +abomination as the flesh of the cloven-hoofed goat.</p> + +<p>He had told her many things.</p> + +<p>"Light of my heart," said he, "our lord Sandi is my father and my +mother, a giver of riches, and a plentiful provider of pence. Now it +seems to me, that though he is a just man and great, having neither fear +of his enemies nor soft words for his friends, yet the lords of his land +who live so very far away do him no honour."</p> + +<p>"Master," said the woman quietly, "is it no honour that he should be +placed as a king over us?"</p> + +<p>Bosambo beamed approvingly.</p> + +<p>"Thou hast spoken the truth, oh my beloved!" said he, in the +extravagance of his admiration. "Yet I know much of the white folk, for +I have lived along this coast from Dacca to Mossomedes. Also I have +sailed to a far place called Madagascar, which is on the other side of +the world, and I know the way of white folk. Even in Benguella there is +a governor who is not so great as Sandi, and about his breast are all +manner of shining stars that glitter most beautifully in the sun, and he +wears ribbons about him and bright coloured sashes and swords." He +wagged his finger impressively. "Have I not said that he is not so great +as Sandi. When saw you my lord with stars or cross or sash or a sword?</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p><p>"Also at Decca, where the Frenchi live. At certain places in the Togo, +which is Allamandi,<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> I have seen men with this same style of +ornaments, for thus it is that the white folk do honour to their kind."</p> + +<p>He was silent a long time and his brown-eyed wife looked at him +curiously.</p> + +<p>"Yet what can you do, my lord?" she asked. "Although you are very +powerful, and Sandi loves you, this is certain, that none will listen to +<i>you</i> and do honour to Sandi at your word—though I do not know the ways +of the white people, yet of this I am sure."</p> + +<p>Again Bosambo's large mouth stretched from ear to ear, and his two rows +of white teeth gleamed pleasantly.</p> + +<p>"You are as the voice of wisdom and the very soul of cleverness," he +said, "for you speak that which is true. Yet I know ways, for I am very +cunning and wise, being a holy man and acquainted with blessed apostles +such as Paul and the blessed Peter, who had his ear cut off because a +certain dancing woman desired it. Also by magic it was put on again +because he could not hear the cocks crow. All this and similar things I +have here." He touched his forehead.</p> + +<p>Wise woman that she was, she had made no attempt to pry into her +husband's business, but spent the days preparing for the journey, she +and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>the nut-brown sprawling child of immense girth, who was the apple +of Bosambo's eye.</p> + +<p>So Bosambo had passed down the river as has been described, and four +days after he left there disappeared from the Ochori village ten +brothers in blood of his, young hunting men who had faced all forms of +death for the very love of it, and these vanished from the land and none +knew where they went save that they did not follow on their master's +trail.</p> + +<p>Tukili, the chief of the powerful eastern island Isisi, or, as it is +contemptuously called, the N'gombi-Isisi by the riverain folk, went +hunting one day, and ill fortune led him to the border of the Ochori +country. Ill fortune was it for one Fimili, a straight maid of fourteen, +beautiful by native standard, who was in the forest searching for roots +which were notorious as a cure for "boils" which distressed her +unamiable father.</p> + +<p>Tukili saw the girl and desired her, and that which Tukili desired he +took. She offered little opposition to being carried away to the Isisi +city when she discovered that her life would be spared, and possibly was +no worse off in the harem of Tukili than she would have been in the hut +of the poor fisherman for whom her father had designed her. A few years +before, such an incident would have passed almost unnoticed.</p> + +<p>The Ochori were so used to being robbed of women and of goats, so meek +in their acceptance of wrongs that would have set the spears of any +other <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>nation shining, that they would have accepted the degradation and +preserved a sense of thankfulness that the robber had limited his +raiding to one girl, and that a maid. But with the coming of Bosambo +there had arrived a new spirit in the Ochori. They had learnt their +strength, incidentally they had learnt their rights. The father of the +girl went hot-foot to his over-chief, Notiki, and covered himself with +ashes at the door of the chief's hut.</p> + +<p>"This is a bad palaver," said Notiki, "and since Bosambo has deserted us +and is making our marrows like water that we should build him a road, +and there is none in this land whom I may call chief or who may speak +with authority, it seems by my age and by relationship to the kings of +this land, I must do that which is desirable."</p> + +<p>So he gathered together two thousand men who were working on the road +and were very pleased indeed to carry something lighter than rocks and +felled trees, and with these spears he marched into the Isisi forest, +burning and slaying whenever he came upon a little village which offered +no opposition. Thus he took to himself the air and title of conqueror +with as little excuse as a flamboyant general ever had.</p> + +<p>Had it occurred on the river, this warlike expedition must have +attracted the attention of Sanders. The natural roadway of the territory +is a waterway. It is only when operations are begun against the internal +tribes who inhabit the bush, and whose armies can move under the cloak +of the forest <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>(and none wiser) that Sanders found himself at a +disadvantage.</p> + +<p>Tukili himself heard nothing of the army that was being led against him +until it was within a day's march of his gates. Then he sallied forth +with a force skilled in warfare and practised in the hunt. The combat +lasted exactly ten minutes and all that was left of Notiki's spears made +the best of their way homeward, avoiding, as far as possible, those +villages which they had visited en route with such disastrous results to +the unfortunate inhabitants.</p> + +<p>Now it is impossible that one conqueror shall be sunk to oblivion +without his victor claiming for himself the style of his victim. Tukili +had defeated his adversary, and Tukili was no exception to the general +rule, and from being a fairly well-disposed king, amiable—too amiable +as we have shown—and kindly, and just, he became of a sudden a menace +to all that part of Sanders' territory which lies between the French +land and the river.</p> + +<p>It was such a situation as this as only Bosambo might deal with, and +Sanders heartily cursed his absent chief and might have cursed him with +greater fervour had he had an inkling of the mission to which Bosambo +had appointed himself.</p> + + +<h3>III</h3> + +<p>His Excellency the Administrator of the period had his office at a +prosperous city of stone which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>we will call Koombooli, though that is +not its name.</p> + +<p>He was a stout, florid man, patient and knowledgeable. He had been sent +to clear up the mess which two incompetent administrators made, who had +owed their position rather to the constant appearance of their friends +and patrons in the division lobbies than to their acquaintance with the +native mind, and it is eloquent of the regard in which His Excellency +was held that, although he was a Knight Commander of St. Michael and St. +George, a Companion of a Victorian Order, a Commander of the Bath, and +the son of a noble house, he was known familiarly along the coast to all +administrators, commissioners, even to the deputy inspectors, as "Bob."</p> + +<p>Bosambo came to the presence with an inward quaking. In a sense he had +absconded from his trust, and he did not doubt that Sanders had made all +men acquainted with the suddenness and the suspicious character of his +disappearance.</p> + +<p>And the first words of His Excellency the Administrator confirmed all +Bosambo's worst fears.</p> + +<p>"O! chief," said Sir Robert with a little twinkle in his eye, "are you +so fearful of your people that you run away from them?"</p> + +<p>"Mighty master," answered Bosambo, humbly, "I do not know fear, for as +your honour may have heard, I am a very brave man, fearing nothing save +my lord Sanders' displeasure."</p> + +<p>A ghost of a smile played about the corners of Sir Robert's mouth.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span></p><p>"That you have earned, my friend," said he. "Now you shall tell me why +you came away secretly, also why you desired this palaver with me. And +do not lie, Bosambo," he said, "for I am he who hung three chiefs on +Gallows Hill above Grand Bassam because they spoke falsely."</p> + +<p>This was one of the fictions which was current on the coast, and was +implicitly believed in by the native population. The truth will be +recounted at another time, but it is sufficient to say that Bosambo was +one of those who did not doubt the authenticity of the legend.</p> + +<p>"Now I will speak to you, O my lord," he said earnestly, "and I speak by +all oaths, both the oaths of my own people——"</p> + +<p>"Spare me the oaths of the Kroo folk," protested Sir Robert, and raised +a warning hand.</p> + +<p>"Then by Markie and Lukie will I swear," said Bosambo, fervently; "those +fine fellows of whom Your Excellency knows. I have sat long in the +country of the Ochori, and I have ruled wisely according to my +abilities. And over me at all times was Sandi, who was a father to his +people and so beautiful of mind and countenance that when he came to us +even the dead folk would rise up to speak to him. This is a miracle," +said Bosambo profoundly but cautiously, "which I have heard but which I +have not seen. Now this I ask you who see all things, and here is the +puzzle which I will set to your honour. If Sandi is so great and so +wise, and is so loved by the greater King, how comes it that he stays +for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>ever in one place, having no beautiful stars about his neck nor +wonderful ribbons around his stomach such as the great Frenchiman—and +the great Allamandi men, and even the Portuguesi men wear who are +honoured by their kings?"</p> + +<p>It was a staggering question, and Sir Robert Sanleigh sat up and stared +at the solemn face of the man before him.</p> + +<p>Bosambo, an unromantic figure in trousers, jacket, and shirt—he was +collarless—had thrust his hands deeply into unaccustomed pockets, +ignorant of the disrespect which such an attitude displayed, and was +staring back at the Administrator.</p> + +<p>"O! chief," asked the puzzled Sir Robert, "this is a strange palaver you +make—who gave you these ideas?"</p> + +<p>"Lord, none gave me this idea save my own bright mind," said Bosambo. +"Yes, many nights have I laid thinking of these things for I am just and +I have faith."</p> + +<p>His Excellency kept his unwavering eye upon the other. He had heard of +Bosambo, knew him as an original, and at this moment was satisfied in +his own mind of the other's sincerity.</p> + +<p>A smaller man than he, his predecessor for example, might have dismissed +the preposterous question as an impertinence and given the questioner +short shrift. But Sir Robert understood his native.</p> + +<p>"These are things too high for me, Bosambo," he said. "What dog am I +that I should question <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>the mind of my lords? In their wisdom they give +honour and they punish. It is written."</p> + +<p>Bosambo nodded.</p> + +<p>"Yet, lord," he persisted, "my own cousin who sweeps your lordship's +stables told me this morning that on the days of big palavers you also +have stars and beautiful things upon your breast, and noble ribbons +about your lordship's stomach. Now your honour shall tell me by whose +favour these things come about."</p> + +<p>Sir Robert chuckled.</p> + +<p>"Bosambo," he said solemnly, "they gave these things to me because I am +an old man. Now when your lord Sandi becomes old these honours also will +he receive."</p> + +<p>He saw Bosambo's face fall and went on:</p> + +<p>"Also much may happen that will bring Sandi to their lordships' eyes, +they who sit above us. Some great deed that he may do, some high service +he may offer to his king. All these happenings bring nobility and +honour. Now," he went on kindly, "go back to your people, remembering +that I shall think of you and of Sandi, and that I shall know that you +came because of your love for him, and that on a day which is written I +will send a book to my masters speaking well of Sandi, for his sake and +for the sake of the people who love him. The palaver is finished."</p> + +<p>Bosambo went out of the Presence a dissatisfied man, passed through the +hall where a dozen commissioners and petty chiefs were waiting audience, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>skirted the great white building and came in time to his own cousin, +who swept the stables of His Excellency the Administrator. And here, in +the coolness of the stone-walled mews, he learnt much about the +Administrator; little tit-bits of information which were unlikely to be +published in the official gazette. Also he acquired a considerable +amount of data concerning the giving of honours, and after a long +examination and cross-examination of his wearied relative he left him as +dry as a sucked orange, but happy in the possession of a new +five-shilling piece which Bosambo had magnificently pressed upon him, +and which subsequently proved to be bad.</p> + + +<h3>IV</h3> + +<p>By the River of Spirits is a deep forest which stretches back and back +in a dense and chaotic tangle of strangled sapling and parasitic weed to +the edge of the Pigmy forest. No man—white or brown or black—has +explored the depth of the Forbidden Forest, for here the wild beasts +have their lairs and rear their young; and here are mosquito in dense +clouds. Moreover, and this is important, a certain potent ghost named +Bim-bi stalks restlessly from one border of the forest to the other. +Bim-bi is older than the sun and more terrible than any other ghost. For +he feeds on the moon, and at nights you may see how the edge of the +desert world is bitten by his great mouth until it becomes, first, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>the +half of a moon, then the merest slither, and then no moon at all. And on +the very dark nights, when the gods are hastily making him a new meal, +the ravenous Bim-bi calls to his need the stars; and you may watch, as +every little boy of the Akasava has watched, clutching his father's hand +tightly in his fear, the hot rush of meteors across the velvet sky to +the rapacious and open jaws of Bim-bi.</p> + +<p>He was a ghost respected by all peoples—Akasava, Ochori, Isisi, +N'gombi, and Bush folk. By the Bolengi, the Bomongo, and even the +distant Upper Congo people feared him. Also all the chiefs for +generations upon generations had sent tribute of corn and salt to the +edge of the forest for his propitiation, and it is a legend that when +the Isisi fought the Akasava in the great war, the envoy of the Isisi +was admitted without molestation to the enemy's lines in order to lay an +offering at Bim-bi's feet. Only one man in the world, so far as the +People of the River know, has ever spoken slightingly of Bim-bi, and +that man was Bosambo of the Ochori, who had no respect for any ghosts +save of his own creation.</p> + +<p>It is the custom on the Akasava district to hold a ghost palaver to +which the learned men of all tribes are invited, and the palaver takes +place in the village of Ookos by the edge of the forest.</p> + +<p>On a certain day in the year of the floods and when Bosambo was gone a +month from his land, there came messengers chance-found and walking in +terror to all the principal cities and villages of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>Akasava, of the +Isisi, and of the N'gombi-Isisi carrying this message:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Mimbimi, son of Simbo Sako, son of Ogi, has opened his house to +his friends on the night when Bim-bi has swallowed the moon."</p></div> + +<p>A summons to such a palaver in the second name of Bim-bi was not one +likely to be ignored, but a summons from Mimbimi was at least to be +wondered at and to be speculated upon, for Mimbimi was an unknown +quantity, though some gossips professed to know him as the chief of one +of the Nomadic tribes which ranged the heart of the forest, preying on +Akasava and Isisi with equal discrimination. But these gossips were of a +mind not peculiar to any nationality or to any colour. They were those +jealous souls who either could not or would not confess that they were +ignorant on the topic of the moment.</p> + +<p>Be he robber chief, or established by law and government, this much was +certain. Mimbimi had called for his secret palaver and the most noble +and arrogant of chiefs must obey, even though the obedience spelt +disaster for the daring man who had summoned them to conference.</p> + +<p>Tuligini, a victorious captain, not lightly to be summoned, might have +ignored the invitation, but for the seriousness of his eldermen, who, +versed in the conventions of Bim-bi and those who invoked his name, +stood aghast at the mere suggestion <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>that this palaver should be +ignored. Tuligini demanded, and with reason:</p> + +<p>"Who was this who dare call the vanquisher of Bosambo to a palaver? for +am I not the great buffalo of the forest? and do not all men bow down to +me in fear?"</p> + +<p>"Lord, you speak the truth," said his trembling councillor, "yet this is +a ghost palaver and all manner of evils come to those who do not obey."</p> + +<p>Sanders, through his spies, heard of the summons in the name of Bim-bi, +and was a little troubled. There was nothing too small to be serious in +the land over which he ruled.</p> + +<p>As for instance: Some doubt existed in the Lesser N'gombi country as to +whether teeth filed to a point were more becoming than teeth left as +Nature placed them. Tombini, the chief of N'gombi, held the view that +Nature's way was best, whilst B'limbini, his cousin, was the chief +exponent of the sharpened form.</p> + +<p>It took two battalions of King Coast Rifles, half a battery of artillery +and Sanders to settle the question, which became a national one.</p> + +<p>"I wish Bosambo were to the devil before he left his country," said +Sanders, irritably. "I should feel safe if that oily villain was sitting +in the Ochori."</p> + +<p>"What is the trouble?" asked Hamilton, looking up from his task—he was +making cigarettes with a new machine which somebody had sent him from +home.</p> + +<p>"An infernal Bim-bi palaver," said Sanders; <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>"the last time that +happened, if I remember rightly, I had to burn crops on the right bank +of the river for twenty miles to bring the Isisi to a sense of their +unimportance."</p> + +<p>"You will be able to burn crops on the left side this time," said +Hamilton, cheerfully, his nimble fingers twiddling the silver rollers of +his machine.</p> + +<p>"I thought I had the country quiet," said Sanders, a little bitterly, +"and at this moment I especially wanted it so."</p> + +<p>"Why at this particular moment?" asked the other in surprise.</p> + +<p>Sanders took out of the breast pocket of his uniform jacket a folded +paper, and passed it across the table.</p> + +<p>Hamilton read:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">Sir</span>,—I have the honour to inform you that the Rt. Hon. Mr. James +Bolzer, his Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, is +expected to arrive at your station on the thirtieth inst. I trust +you will give the Right Honourable gentleman every facility for +studying on the spot the problems upon which he is such an +authority. I have to request you to instruct all Sub-Commissioners, +Inspectors, and Officers commanding troops in your division to make +adequate arrangements for Mr. Bolzer's comfort and protection.</p></div> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i6">"I have the honour to be, etc."</span></div> + +<p>Hamilton read the letter twice.</p> + +<p>"To study on the spot those questions upon which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>he is such an +authority," he repeated. He was a sarcastic devil when he liked.</p> + +<p>"The thirtieth is to-morrow," Hamilton went on, "and I suppose I am one +of the officers commanding troops who must school my ribald soldiery in +the art of protecting the Rt. Hon. gent."</p> + +<p>"To be exact," said Sanders, "you are the only officer commanding troops +in the territory; do what you can. You wouldn't believe it," he smiled a +little shamefacedly, "I had applied for six months' leave when this +came."</p> + +<p>"Good Lord!" said Hamilton, for somehow he never associated Sanders with +holidays.</p> + +<p>What Hamilton did was very simple, because Hamilton always did things in +the manner which gave him the least trouble. A word to his orderly +conveyed across the parade ground, roused the sleepy bugler of the +guard, and the air was filled with the "Assembly." Sixty men of the +Houssas paraded in anticipation of a sudden call northwards.</p> + +<p>"My children," said Hamilton, whiffling his pliant cane, "soon there +will come here a member of government who knows nothing. Also he may +stray into the forest and lose himself as the bride-groom's cow strays +from the field of his father-in-law, not knowing his new surroundings. +Now it is to you we look for his safety—I and the government. Also +Sandi, our lord. You shall not let this stranger out of your sight, nor +shall you allow approach him any such evil men as the N'gombi iron +sellers or the fishing men of N'gar or makers of wooden charms, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>for the +government has said this man must not be robbed, but must be treated +well, and you of the guard shall all salute him, also, when the time +arrives."</p> + +<p>Hamilton meant no disrespect in his graphic illustration. He was dealing +with a simple people who required vivid word-pictures to convince them. +And certainly they found nothing undignified in the right honourable +gentleman when he arrived next morning.</p> + +<p>He was above the medium height, somewhat stout, very neat and orderly, +and he twirled a waxed moustache, turning grey. He had heavy and bilious +eyes, and a certain pompousness of manner distinguished him. Also an +effervescent geniality which found expression in shaking hands with +anybody who happened to be handy, in mechanically agreeing with all +views that were put before him and immediately afterwards contradicting +them; in a painful desire to be regarded as popular. In fact, in all the +things which got immediately upon Sanders' nerves, this man was a sealed +pattern of a bore.</p> + +<p>He wanted to know things, but the things he wanted to know were of no +importance, and the information he extracted could not be of any +assistance to him. His mind was largely occupied in such vital problems +as what happened to the brooms which the Houssas used to keep their +quarters clean when they were worn out, and what would be the effect of +an increased ration of lime juice upon the morals and discipline of the +troops under Hamilton's <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>command. Had he been less of a trial Sanders +would not have allowed him to go into the interior without a stronger +protest. As it was, Sanders had turned out of his own bedroom, and had +put all his slender resources at the disposal of the Cabinet Minister +(taking his holiday, by the way, during the long recess), and had +wearied himself in order to reach some subject of interest where he and +his guest could meet on common ground.</p> + +<p>"I shall have to let him go," he said to Hamilton, when the two had met +one night after Mr. Blowter had retired to bed, "I spent the whole of +this afternoon discussing the comparative values of mosquito nets, and +he is such a perfect ass that you cannot snub him. If he had only had +the sense to bring a secretary or two he would have been easier to +handle."</p> + +<p>Hamilton laughed.</p> + +<p>"When a man like that travels," he said, "he ought to bring somebody who +knows the ways and habits of the animal. I had a bright morning with him +going into the question of boots."</p> + +<p>"But what of Mimbimi?"</p> + +<p>"Mimbimi is rather a worry to me. I do not know him at all," said +Sanders with a puzzled frown. "Ahmet, the spy, has seen one of the +chiefs who attended the palaver, which apparently was very impressive. +Up to now nothing has happened which would justify a movement against +him; the man is possibly from the French Congo."</p> + +<p>"Any news of Bosambo?" asked Hamilton.</p> + +<p>Sanders shook his head.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span></p><p>"So far as I can learn," he said grimly, "he has gone on <i>Cape Coast +Castle</i> for a real aboriginal jag. There will be trouble for Bosambo +when he comes back."</p> + +<p>"What a blessing it would be now," sighed Hamilton, "if we could turn +old man Blowter into his tender keeping." And the men laughed +simultaneously.</p> + + +<h3>V</h3> + +<p>There was a time, years and years ago, when the Ochori people set a +great stake on the edge of the forest by the Mountain. This they smeared +with a paint made by the admixture of camwood and copal gum.</p> + +<p>It was one of the few intelligent acts which may be credited to the +Ochori in those dull days, for the stake stood for danger. It marked the +boundary of the N'gombi lands beyond which it was undesirable that any +man of the Ochori should go.</p> + +<p>It was not erected without consideration. A palaver which lasted from +the full of one moon to the waning of the next, sacrifices of goats and +sprinkling of blood, divinations, incantations, readings of devil marks +on sandy foreshores; all right and proper ceremonies were gone through +before there came a night of bright moonlight when the whole Ochori +nation went forth and planted that post.</p> + +<p>Then, I believe, the people of the Ochori, having <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>invested the post +with qualities which it did not possess, went back to their homes and +forgot all about it. Yet if they forgot there were nations who regarded +the devil sign with some awe, and certainly Mimbimi, the newly-arisen +ranger of the forest, who harried the Akasava and the Isisi, and even +the N'gombi-Isisi, must have had full faith in its potency, for he never +moved beyond that border. Once, so legend said, he brought his terrible +warriors to the very edge of the land and paid homage to the innocent +sign-post which Sanders had set up and which announced no more, in plain +English, than trespassers will be prosecuted. Having done his <i>devoir</i> +he retired to his forest lair. His operations were not to go without an +attempted reprisal. Many parties went out against him, notably that +which Tumbilimi the chief of Isisi led. He took a hundred picked men to +avenge the outrage which this intruder had put upon him in daring to +summons him to palaver.</p> + +<p>Now Sugini was an arrogant man, for had he not routed the army of +Bosambo? That Bosambo was not in command made no difference and did not +tarnish the prestige in Tumbilimi's eyes, and though the raids upon his +territory by Mimbimi had been mild, the truculent chief, disdaining the +use of his full army, marched with his select column to bring in the +head and the feet of the man who had dared violate his territory.</p> + +<p>Exactly what happened to Tumbilimi's party is not known; all the men who +escaped from the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>ambush in which Mimbimi lay give a different account, +and each account creditable to themselves, though the only thing which +stands in their favour is that they did certainly save their lives. +Certainly Tumbilimi, he of the conquering spears, came back no more, and +those parts which he had threatened to detach from his enemy were in +fact detached from him and were discovered one morning at the very gates +of his city for his horrified subjects to marvel at. When warlike +discussions arose, as they did at infrequent intervals, it was the +practice of the people to send complaints to Sanders and leave him to +deal with the matter. You cannot, however, lead an army against a dozen +guerrilla chiefs with any profit to the army as we once discovered in a +country somewhat south of Sanders' domains. Had Mimbimi's sphere of +operations been confined to the river Sanders would have laid him by the +heels quickly enough, because the river brigand is easy to catch since +he would starve in the forest, and if he took to the bush would +certainly come back to the gleaming water for very life.</p> + +<p>But here was a forest man obviously, who needed no river for himself, +but was content to wait watchfully in the dim recesses of the woods.</p> + +<p>Sanders sent three spies to locate him, and gave his attention to the +more immediate problem of his Right Honourable guest. Mr. Joseph Blowter +had decided to make a trip into the interior and the <i>Zaire</i> had been +placed at his disposal. A heaven-sent riot in the bushland, sixty miles +west of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>Residency, had relieved both Sanders and Hamilton from the +necessity of accompanying the visitor, and he departed by steamer with a +bodyguard of twenty armed Houssas; more than sufficient in these +peaceful times.</p> + +<p>"What about Mimbimi?" asked Hamilton under his breath as they stood on a +little concrete quay, and watched the <i>Zaire</i> beating out to midstream.</p> + +<p>"Mimbimi is evidently a bushman," said Sanders briefly. "He will not +come to the river. Besides, he is giving the Ochori a wide berth, and it +is to the Ochori that our friend is going. I cannot see how he can +possibly dump himself into mischief."</p> + +<p>Nevertheless, as a matter of precaution, Sanders telegraphed to the +Administration not only the departure, but the precautions he had taken +for the safety of the Minister, and the fact that neither he nor +Hamilton were accompanying him on his tour of inspection "to study on +the spot those problems with which he was so well acquainted."</p> + +<p>"O.K." flashed Bob across the wires, and that was sufficient for +Sanders. Of Mr. Blowter's adventures it is unnecessary to tell in +detail. How he mistook every village for a city, and every city for a +nation, of how he landed wherever he could and spoke long and eloquently +on the blessing of civilization, and the glories of the British +flag—all this through an interpreter—of how he went into the question +of basket-making and fly-fishing, and of how he demonstrated to the +fishermen of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>little river a method of catching fish by fly, and how +he did not catch anything. All these matters might be told in great +detail with no particular credit to the subject of the monograph.</p> + +<p>In course of time he came to the Ochori land and was welcomed by Notiki, +who had taken upon himself, on the strength of his rout, the position of +chieftainship. This he did with one eye on the river, ready to bolt the +moment Bosambo's canoe came sweeping round the bend.</p> + +<p>Now Sanders had particularly warned Mr. Blowter that under no +circumstances should he sleep ashore. He gave a variety of reasons, such +as the prevalence of Beri-Beri, the insidious spread of sleeping +sickness, the irritation of malaria-bearing mosquitoes, and of other +insects which it would be impolite to mention in the pages of a family +journal.</p> + +<p>But Notiki had built a new hut as he said especially for his guest, and +Mr. Blowter, no doubt, honoured by the attention which was shown to him, +broke the restricting rule that Sanders had laid down, quitted the +comfortable cabin which had been his home on the river journey, and +slept in the novel surroundings of a native hut.</p> + +<p>How long he slept cannot be told; he was awakened by a tight hand +grasping his throat, and a fierce voice whispering into his ear +something which he rightly understood to be an admonition, a warning and +a threat.</p> + +<p>At any rate, he interpreted it as a request on the part of his captor +that he should remain silent, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>and to this Mr. Blowter in a blue funk +passively agreed. Three men caught him and bound him deftly with native +rope, a gag was put into his mouth, and he was dragged cautiously +through a hole which the intruders had cut in the walls of Notiki's +dwelling of honour. Outside the hut door was a Houssa sentry and it must +be confessed that he was not awake at the moment of Mr. Blowter's +departure.</p> + +<p>His captors spirited him by back ways to the river, dumped him into a +canoe and paddled with frantic haste to the other shore.</p> + +<p>They grounded their canoe, pulled him—inwardly quaking—to land, and +hurried him to the forest. On their way they met a huntsman who had been +out overnight after a leopard, and in the dark of the dawn the chief of +those who had captured Mr. Blowter addressed the startled man.</p> + +<p>"Go you to the city of Ochori," he said, "and say 'Mimbimi, the high +chief who is lord of the forest of Bim-bi, sends word that he has taken +the fat white lord to his keeping, and he shall hold him for his +pleasure.'"</p> + +<h3>VI</h3> + +<p>It would appear from all the correspondence which was subsequently +published that Sanders had particularly warned Mr. Blowter against +visiting the interior, that Sir Robert, that amiable man, had <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>also +expressed a warning, and that the august Government itself had sent a +long and expensive telegram from Downing Street suggesting that a trip +to the Ochori country was inadvisable in the present state of public +feeling.</p> + +<p>The hasty disposition on the part of certain Journals to blame Mr. +Commissioner Sanders and his immediate superior for the kidnapping of so +important a person as a Cabinet Minister was obviously founded upon an +ignorance of the circumstances.</p> + +<p>Yet Sanders felt himself at fault, as a conscientious man always will, +if he has had the power to prevent a certain happening.</p> + +<p>Those loyal little servants of Government, carrier pigeons—went +fluttering east, south and north, a missionary steamer was hastily +requisitioned, and Sanders embarked for the scene of the disappearance.</p> + +<p>Before he left he telegraphed to every likely coast town for Bosambo.</p> + +<p>"If that peregrinating devil had not left his country this would not +have happened," said Sanders irritably; "he must come back and help me +find the lost one."</p> + +<p>Before any answer could come to his telegrams he had embarked, and it is +perhaps as well that he did not wait, since none of the replies were +particularly satisfactory. Bosambo was evidently un-get-at-able, and the +most alarming rumour of all was that which came from Sierra Leone and +was to the effect that Bosambo had embarked for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>England with the +expressed intention of seeking an interview with a very high personage +indeed.</p> + +<p>Now it is the fact that had Sanders died in the execution of his duty, +died either from fever or as the result of scientific torturing at the +hands of Akasava braves, less than a couple of lines in the London Press +would have paid tribute to the work he had done or the terrible manner +of his passing.</p> + +<p>But a Cabinet Minister, captured by a cannibal tribe, offers in addition +to alliterative possibilities in the headline department, a certain +novelty particularly appealing to the English reader who loves above all +things to have a shock or two with his breakfast bacon. England was +shocked to its depths by the unusual accident which had occurred to the +Right Honourable gentleman, partly because it is unusual for Cabinet +Ministers to find themselves in a cannibal's hands, and partly because +Mr. Blowter himself occupied a very large place in the eye of the public +at home. For the first time in its history the eyes of the world were +concentrated on Sanders' territory, and the Press of the world devoted +important columns to dealing not only with the personality of the man +who had been stolen, because they knew him well, but more or less +inaccurately with the man who was charged with his recovery.</p> + +<p>They also spoke of Bosambo "now on his way to England," and it is a fact +that a small fleet of motor-boats containing pressmen awaited the +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>incoming coast mail at Plymouth only to discover that their man was not +on board.</p> + +<p>Happily, Sanders was in total ignorance of the stir which the +disappearance created. He knew, of course, that there would be talk +about it, and had gloomy visions of long reports to be written. He would +have felt happier in his mind if he could have identified Mimbimi with +any of the wandering chiefs he had met or had known from time to time. +Mimbimi was literally a devil he did not know.</p> + +<p>Nor could any of the cities or villages which had received a visitation +give the Commissioner more definite data than he possessed. Some there +were who said that Mimbimi was a tall man, very thin, knobbly at the +knees, and was wounded in the foot, so that he limped. Others that he +was short and very ugly, with a large head and small eyes, and that when +he spoke it was in a voice of thunder.</p> + +<p>Sanders wasted no time in useless inquiries. He threw a cloud of spies +and trackers into the forest of Bim-bi and began a scientific search; +snatching a few hours sleep whenever the opportunity offered. But though +the wings of his beaters touched the border line of the Ochori on the +right and the Isisi on the left, and though he passed through places +which hitherto had been regarded as impenetrable on account of divers +devils, yet he found no trace of the cunning kidnapper, who, if the +truth be told, had broken through the lines in the night, dragging an +unwilling and exasperated <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>member of the British Government at the end +of a rope fastened about his person.</p> + +<p>Then messages began to reach Sanders, long telegrams sent up from +headquarters by swift canoe or rewritten on paper as fine as cigarette +paper and sent in sections attached to the legs of pigeons.</p> + +<p>They were irritating, hectoring, worrying, frantic messages. Not only +from the Government, but from the kidnapped man's friends and relatives; +for it seemed that this man had accumulated, in addition to a great deal +of unnecessary information, quite a large and respectable family circle. +Hamilton came up with a reinforcement of Houssas without achieving any +notable result.</p> + +<p>"He has disappeared as if the ground had opened and swallowed him," said +Sanders bitterly. "O! Mimbimi, if I could have you now," he said with +passionate intensity.</p> + +<p>"I am sure you would be very rude to him," said Hamilton soothingly. "He +must be somewhere, my dear chap; do you think he has killed the poor old +bird?"</p> + +<p>Sanders shook his head.</p> + +<p>"The lord knows what he has done or what has happened to him," he said.</p> + +<p>It was at that moment that the messenger came. The <i>Zaire</i> was tied to +the bank of the Upper Isisi on the edge of the forest of Bim-bi, and the +Houssas were bivouacked on the bank, their red fires gleaming in the +gathering darkness.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span></p><p>The messenger came from the forest boldly; he showed no fear of Houssas, +but walked through their lines, waving his long stick as a bandmaster +will flourish his staff. And when the sentry on the plank that led to +the boat had recovered from the shock of seeing the unexpected +apparition, the man was seized and led before the Commissioner.</p> + +<p>"O, man," said Sanders, "who are you and where do you come from? Tell me +what news you bring."</p> + +<p>"Lord," said the man glibly, "I am Mimbimi's own headman."</p> + +<p>Sanders jumped up from his chair.</p> + +<p>"Mimbimi!" he said quickly; "tell me what message you bring from that +thief!"</p> + +<p>"Lord," said the man, "he is no thief, but a high prince."</p> + +<p>Sanders was peering at him searchingly.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me," he said, "that you are of the Ochori."</p> + +<p>"Lord, I was of the Ochori," said the messenger, "but now I am with +Mimbimi,—his headman, following him through all manners of danger. +Therefore I have no people or nation—wa! Lord, here is my message."</p> + +<p>Sanders nodded.</p> + +<p>"Go on," he said, "messenger of Mimbimi, and let your news be good for +me."</p> + +<p>"Master," said the man, "I come from the great one of the forest who +holds all lives in his two hands, and fears not anything that lives or +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>moves, neither devil nor Bim-bi nor the ghosts that walk by night nor +the high dragons in the trees——"</p> + +<p>"Get to your message, my man," said Sanders, unpleasantly; "for I have a +whip which bites sharper than the dragons in the trees and moves more +swiftly than m'shamba."</p> + +<p>The man nodded.</p> + +<p>"Thus says Mimbimi," he resumed. "Go you to the place near the Crocodile +River where Sandi sits, say Mimbimi the chief loves him, and because of +his love Mimbimi will do a great thing. Also he said," the man went on, +"and this is the greatest message of all. Before I speak further you +must make a book of my words."</p> + +<p>Sanders frowned. It was an unusual request from a native, for his offer +to be set down in writing. "You might take a note of this, Hamilton," he +said aside, "though why the deuce he wants a note of this made I cannot +for the life of me imagine. Go on, messenger," he said more mildly; "for +as you see my lord Hamilton makes a book."</p> + +<p>"Thus says my lord Mimbimi," resumed the man, "that because of his love +for Sandi he would give you the fat white lord whom he has taken, asking +for no rods or salt in repayment, but doing this because of his love for +Sandi and also because he is a just and a noble man; therefore do I +deliver the fat one into your hands."</p> + +<p>Sanders gasped.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span></p><p>"Do you speak the truth?" he asked incredulously.</p> + +<p>The man nodded his head.</p> + +<p>"Where is the fat lord?" asked Sanders. This was no time for ceremony or +for polite euphemistic descriptions even of Cabinet Ministers.</p> + +<p>"Master, he is in the forest, less than the length of the village from +here, I have tied him to a tree."</p> + +<p>Sanders raced across the plank and through the Houssa lines, dragging +the messenger by the arm, and Hamilton, with a hastily summoned guard, +followed. They found Joseph Blowter tied scientifically to a gum-tree, a +wedge of wood in his mouth to prevent him speaking, and he was a +terribly unhappy man. Hastily the bonds were loosed, and the gag +removed, and the groaning Cabinet Minister led, half carried to the +<i>Zaire</i>.</p> + +<p>He recovered sufficiently to take dinner that night, was full of his +adventures, inclined perhaps to exaggerate his peril, pardonably +exasperated against the man who had led him through so many dangers, +real and imaginary. But, above all things, he was grateful to Sanders.</p> + +<p>He acknowledged that he had got into his trouble through no fault of the +Commissioner.</p> + +<p>"I cannot tell you how sorry I am all this has occurred," said Sanders.</p> + +<p>It was after dinner, and Mr. Blowter in a spotless white suit—shaved, +looking a little more healthy from his enforced exercise, and certainly +considerably <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>thinner, was in the mood to take an amused view of his +experience.</p> + +<p>"One thing I have learnt, Mr. Sanders," he said, "and that is the +extraordinary respect in which you are held in this country. I never +spoke of you to this infernal rascal but that he bowed low, and all his +followers with him; why, they almost worship you!"</p> + +<p>If Mr. Blowter had been surprised by this experience no less surprised +was Sanders to learn of it.</p> + +<p>"This is news to me," he said dryly.</p> + +<p>"That is your modesty, my friend," said the Cabinet Minister with a +benign smile. "I, at any rate, appreciate the fact that but for your +popularity I should have had short shrift from this murderous +blackguard."</p> + +<p>He went down stream the next morning, the <i>Zaire</i> overcrowded with +Houssas.</p> + +<p>"I should have liked to have left a party in the forest," said Sanders; +"I shall not rest until we get this thief Mimbimi by the ear."</p> + +<p>"I should not bother," said Hamilton dryly; "the sobering influence of +your name seems to be almost as potent as my Houssas."</p> + +<p>"Please do not be sarcastic," said Sanders sharply, he was unduly +sensitive on the question of such matters as these. Nevertheless, he was +happy at the end of the adventure, though somewhat embarrassed by the +telegrams of congratulation which were poured upon him not only from the +Administrator but from England.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span></p><p>"If I had done anything to deserve it I would not mind," he said.</p> + +<p>"That is the beauty of reward," smiled Hamilton; "if you deserve things +you do not get them, if you do not deserve them they come in cartloads, +you have to take the thick with the thin. Think of the telegrams which +ought to have come and did not."</p> + +<p>They took farewell of Mr. Blowter on the beach, the surf-boat waiting to +carry him to a mail steamer decorated for the occasion with strings of +flags.</p> + +<p>"There is one question which I would like to ask you," said Sanders, +"and it is one which for some reason I have forgotten to ask before—can +you describe Mimbimi to me so that I may locate him? He is quite unknown +to us."</p> + +<p>Mr. Blowter frowned thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"He is difficult to describe! all natives are alike to me," he said +slowly. "He is rather tall, well-made, good-looking for a native, and +talkative."</p> + +<p>"Talkative!" said Sanders quickly.</p> + +<p>"In a way; he can speak a little English," said the Cabinet Minister, +"and evidently has some sort of religious training, because he spoke of +Mark, and Luke, and the various Apostles as one who had studied possibly +at a missionary school."</p> + +<p>"Mark and Luke," almost whispered Sanders, a great light dawning upon +him. "Thank you very much. I think you said he always bowed when my name +was mentioned?"</p> + +<p>"Invariably," smiled the Cabinet Minister.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, sir." Sanders shook hands.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p><p>"O! by the way, Mr. Sanders," said Blowter, turning back from the boat, +"I suppose you know that you have been gazetted C.M.G.?"</p> + +<p>Sanders flushed red and stammered "C.M.G."</p> + +<p>"It is an indifferent honour for one who has rendered such service to +the country as you," said the complacent Mr. Blowter profoundly; "but +the Government feel that it is the least they can do for you after your +unusual effort on my behalf and they have asked me to say to you that +they will not be unmindful of your future."</p> + +<p>He left Sanders standing as though frozen to the spot.</p> + +<p>Hamilton was the first to congratulate him.</p> + +<p>"My dear chap, if ever a man deserved the C.M.G. it is you," he said.</p> + +<p>It would be absurd to say that Sanders was not pleased. He was certainly +not pleased at the method by which it came, but he should have known, +being acquainted with the ways of Governments, that this was the reward +of cumulative merit. He walked back in silence to the Residency, +Hamilton keeping pace by his side.</p> + +<p>"By the way, Sanders," he said, "I have just had a pigeon-post from the +river—Bosambo is back in the Ochori country. Have you any idea how he +arrived there?"</p> + +<p>"I think I have," said Sanders, with a grim little smile, "and I think I +shall be calling on Bosambo very soon."</p> + +<p>But that was a threat he was never destined <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>to put into execution. That +same evening came a wire from Bob.</p> + +<p>"Your leave is granted: Hamilton is to act as Commissioner in your +temporary absence. I am sending Lieutenant Francis Augustus Tibbetts to +take charge of Houssas."</p> + +<p>"And who the devil is Francis Augustus Tibbetts?" said Sanders and +Hamilton with one voice.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I</h2> + +<h2>HAMILTON OF THE HOUSSAS</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">S</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">anders</span> +turned to the rail and cast a wistful glance at the low-lying +shore. He saw one corner of the white Residency, showing through the +sparse <i>isisi</i> palm at the end of the big garden—a smudge of green on +yellow from this distance.</p> + +<p>"I hate going—even for six months," he said.</p> + +<p>Hamilton of the Houssas, with laughter in his blue eyes, and his +fumed-oak face—lean and wholesome it was—all a-twitch, whistled with +difficulty.</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes, I shall come back again," said Sanders, answering the question +in the tune. "I hope things will go well in my absence."</p> + +<p>"How can they go well?" asked Hamilton, gently. "How can the Isisi live, +or the Akasava sow his barbarous potatoes, or the sun shine, or the +river run when Sandi Sitani is no longer in the land?"</p> + +<p>"I wouldn't have worried," Sanders went on, ignoring the insult, "if +they'd put a good man in charge; but to give a pudden-headed +soldier——"</p> + +<p>"We thank you!" bowed Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"——with little or no experience——"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span></p><p>"An insolent lie—and scarcely removed from an unqualified lie!" +murmured Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"To put him in my place!" apostrophized Sanders, tilting back his helmet +the better to appeal to the heavens.</p> + +<p>"'Orrible! 'Orrible!" said Hamilton; "and now I seem to catch the +accusing eye of the chief officer, which means that he wants me to hop. +God bless you, old man!"</p> + +<p>His sinewy paw caught the other's in a grip that left both hands numb at +the finish.</p> + +<p>"Keep well," said Sanders in a low voice, his hand on Hamilton's back, +as they walked to the gangway. "Watch the Isisi and sit on +Bosambo—especially Bosambo, for he is a mighty slippery devil."</p> + +<p>"Leave me to deal with Bosambo," said Hamilton firmly, as he skipped +down the companion to the big boat that rolled and tumbled under the +coarse skin of the ship.</p> + +<p>"I <i>am</i> leaving you," said Sanders, with a chuckle.</p> + +<p>He watched the Houssa pick a finnicking way to the stern of the boat; +saw the solemn faces of his rowmen as they bent their naked backs, +gripping their clumsy oars. And to think that they and Hamilton were +going back to the familiar life, to the dear full days he knew! Sanders +coughed and swore at himself.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Sandi!" called the headman of the boat, as she went lumbering over +the clear green swell, "remember us, your servants!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span></p><p>"I will remember, man," said Sanders, a-choke, and turned quickly to his +cabin.</p> + +<p>Hamilton sat in the stern of the surf-boat, humming a song to himself; +but he felt awfully solemn, though in his pocket reposed a commission +sealed redly and largely on parchment and addressed to: "Our +well-beloved Patrick George Hamilton, Lieutenant, of our 133rd 1st Royal +Hertford Regiment. Seconded for service in our 9th Regiment of +Houssas—Greeting...."</p> + +<p>"Master," said his Kroo servant, who waited his landing, "you lib for +dem big house?"</p> + +<p>"I lib," said Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"Dem big house," was the Residency, in which a temporarily appointed +Commissioner must take up his habitation, if he is to preserve the +dignity of his office.</p> + +<p>"Let us pray!" said Hamilton earnestly, addressing himself to a small +snapshot photograph of Sanders, which stood on a side table. "Let us +pray that the barbarian of his kindness will sit quietly till you +return, my Sanders—for the Lord knows what trouble I'm going to get +into before you return!"</p> + +<p>The incoming mail brought Francis Augustus Tibbetts, Lieutenant of the +Houssas, raw to the land, but as cheerful as the devil—a straight stick +of a youth, with hair brushed back from his forehead, a sun-peeled nose, +a wonderful collection of baggage, and all the gossip of London.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid you'll find I'm rather an ass, sir," <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>he said, saluting +stiffly. "I've only just arrived on the Coast an' I'm simply bubbling +over with energy, but I'm rather short in the brain department."</p> + +<p>Hamilton, glaring at his subordinate through his monocle, grinned +sympathetically.</p> + +<p>"I'm not a whale of erudition myself," he confessed. "What is your name, +sir?"</p> + +<p>"Francis Augustus Tibbetts, sir."</p> + +<p>"I shall call you Bones," said Hamilton, decisively.</p> + +<p>Lieut. Tibbetts saluted. "They called me Conk at Sandhurst, sir," he +suggested.</p> + +<p>"Bones!" said Hamilton, definitely.</p> + +<p>"Bones it is, skipper," said Mr. Tibbetts; "an' now all this beastly +formality is over we'll have a bottle to celebrate things." And a bottle +they had.</p> + +<p>It was a splendid evening they spent, dining on chicken and palm-oil +chop, rice pudding and sweet potatoes. Hamilton sang, "Who wouldn't be a +soldier in the Army?" and—by request—in his shaky falsetto baritone, +"My heart is in the Highlands"; and Lieut. Tibbetts gave a lifelike +imitation of Frank Tinney, which convulsed, not alone his superior +officer, but some two-and-forty men of the Houssas who were unauthorized +spectators through various windows and door cracks and ventilating +gauzes.</p> + +<p>Bones was the son of a man who had occupied a position of some +importance on the Coast, and though the young man's upbringing had been +in England, he had the inestimable advantage of a very thorough +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>grounding in the native dialect, not only from Tibbetts, senior, but +from the two native servants with whom the boy had grown up.</p> + +<p>"I suppose there is a telegraph line to headquarters?" asked Bones that +night before they parted.</p> + +<p>"Certainly, my dear lad," replied Hamilton. "We had it laid down when we +heard you were coming."</p> + +<p>"Don't flither!" pleaded Bones, giggling convulsively; "but the fact is +I've got a couple of dozen tickets in the Cambridgeshire Sweepstake, an' +a dear pal of mine—chap named Goldfinder, a rare and delicate bird—has +sworn to wire me if I've drawn a horse. D'ye think I'll draw a horse?"</p> + +<p>"I shouldn't think you could draw a cow," said Hamilton. "Go to bed."</p> + +<p>"Look here, Ham——" began Lieut. Bones.</p> + +<p>"To bed! you insubordinate devil!" said Hamilton, sternly.</p> + +<p>In the meantime there was trouble in the Akasava country.</p> + + +<h3>II</h3> + +<p>Scarcely had Sanders left the land, when the <i>lokali</i> of the Lower Isisi +sent the news thundering in waves of sound.</p> + +<p>Up and down the river and from village to village, from town to town, +across rivers, penetrating dimly to the quiet deeps of the forest the +story was flung. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>N'gori, the Chief of the Akasava, having some +grievance against the Government over a question of fine for failure to +collect according to the law, waited for no more than this intelligence +of Sandi's going. His swift loud drums called his people to a +dance-of-many-days. A dance-of-many-days spells "spears" and spears +spell trouble. Bosambo heard the message in the still of the early +night, gathered five hundred fighting men, swept down on the Akasava +city in the drunken dawn, and carried away two thousand spears of the +sodden N'gori.</p> + +<p>A sobered Akasava city woke up and rubbed its eyes to find strange +Ochori sentinels in the street and Bosambo in a sky-blue table-cloth, +edged with golden fringe, stalking majestically through the high places +of the city.</p> + +<p>"This I do," said Bosambo to a shocked N'gori, "because my lord Sandi +placed me here to hold the king's peace."</p> + +<p>"Lord Bosambo," said the king sullenly, "what peace do I break when I +summon my young men and maidens to dance?"</p> + +<p>"Your young men are thieves, and it is written that the maidens of the +Akasava are married once in ten thousand moons," said Bosambo calmly; +"and also, N'gori, you speak to a wise man who knows that +clockety-clock-clock on a drum spells war."</p> + +<p>There was a long and embarrassing silence.</p> + +<p>"Now, Bosambo," said N'gori, after a while, "you have my spears and your +young men hold <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>the streets and the river. What will you do? Do you sit +here till Sandi returns and there is law in the land?"</p> + +<p>This was the one question which Bosambo had neither the desire nor the +ability to answer. He might swoop down upon a warlike people, surprising +them to their abashment, rendering their armed forces impotent, but +exactly what would happen afterwards he had not foreseen.</p> + +<p>"I go back to my city," he said.</p> + +<p>"And my spears?"</p> + +<p>"Also they go with me," said Bosambo.</p> + +<p>They eyed each other: Bosambo straight and muscular, a perfect figure of +a man, N'gori grizzled and skinny, his brow furrowed with age.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said N'gori mildly, "if you take my spears you leave me bound to +my enemies. How may I protect my villages against oppression by evil men +of Isisi?"</p> + +<p>Bosambo sniffed—a sure sign of mental perturbation. All that N'gori +said was true. Yet if he left the spears there would be trouble for him. +Then a bright thought flicked:</p> + +<p>"If bad men come you shall send for me and I will bring my fine young +soldiers. The palaver is finished."</p> + +<p>With this course N'gori must feign agreement. He watched the departing +army—paddlers sitting on swathes of filched spears. Once Bosambo was +out of sight, N'gori collected all the convertible property of his city +and sent it in ten canoes to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>the edge of the N'gombi country, for +N'gombi folk are wonderful makers of spears and have a saleable stock +hidden against emergency.</p> + +<p>For the space of a month there was enacted a comedy of which Hamilton +was ignorant. Three days after Bosambo had returned in triumph to his +city, there came a frantic call for succour—a rolling, terrified +rat-a-plan of sound which the <i>lokali</i> man of the Ochori village read.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said he, waking Bosambo in the dead of night, "there has come +down a signal from the Akasava, who are pressed by their enemies and +have no spears."</p> + +<p>Bosambo was in the dark street instanter, his booming war-drum calling +urgently. Twenty canoes filled with fighting men, paddling desperately +with the stream, raced to the aid of the defenceless Akasava.</p> + +<p>At dawn, on the beach of the city, N'gori met his ally. "I thank all my +little gods you have come, my lord," said he, humbly; "for in the night +one of my young men saw an Isisi army coming against us."</p> + +<p>"Where is the army?" demanded a weary Bosambo.</p> + +<p>"Lord, it has not come," said N'gori, glibly; "for hearing of your +lordship and your swift canoes, I think it had run away."</p> + +<p>Bosambo's force paddled back to the Ochori city the next day. Two nights +after, the call was repeated—this time with greater detail. An <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>N'gombi +force of countless spears had seized the village of Doozani and was +threatening the capital.</p> + +<p>Again Bosambo carried his spears to a killing, and again was met by an +apologetic N'gori.</p> + +<p>"Lord, it was a lie which a sick maiden spread," he explained, "and my +stomach is filled with sorrow that I should have brought the mighty +Bosambo from his wife's bed on such a night." For the dark hours had +been filled with rain and tempest, and Bosambo had nearly lost one canoe +by wreck.</p> + +<p>"Oh, fool!" said he, justly exasperated, "have I nothing to do—I, who +have all Sandi's high and splendid business in hand—but I must come +through the rain because a sick maiden sees visions?"</p> + +<p>"Bosambo, I am a fool," agreed N'gori, meekly, and again his rescuer +returned home.</p> + +<p>"Now," said N'gori, "we will summon a secret palaver, sending messengers +for all men to assemble at the rise of the first moon. For the N'gombi +have sent me new spears, and when next the dog Bosambo comes, weary with +rowing, we will fall upon him and there will be no more Bosambo left; +for Sandi is gone and there is no law in the land."</p> + + +<h3>III</h3> + +<p>Curiously enough, at that precise moment, the question of law was a very +pressing one with two young Houssa officers who sat on either side of +Sanders' big table, wet towels about their heads, mastering the +intricacies of the military code; for <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>Tibbetts was entering for an +examination and Hamilton, who had only passed his own by a fluke, had +rashly offered to coach him.</p> + +<p>"I hope you understand this, Bones," said Hamilton, staring up at his +subordinate and running his finger along the closely printed pages of +the book before him.</p> + +<p>"'Any person subject to military law,'" read Hamilton impressively, +"'who strikes or ill-uses his superior officer shall, if an officer, +suffer death or such less punishment as in this Act mentioned.' Which +means," said Hamilton, wisely, "that if you and I are in action and you +call me a liar, and I give you a whack on the jaw——"</p> + +<p>"You get shot," said Bones, admiringly, "an' a rippin' good idea, too!"</p> + +<p>"If, on the other hand," Hamilton went on, "I called you a liar—which I +should be justified in doing—and you give me a whack on the jaw, I'd +make you sorry you were ever born."</p> + +<p>"That's military law, is it?" asked Bones, curiously.</p> + +<p>"It is," said Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"Then let's chuck it," said Bones, and shut up his book with a bang. "I +don't want any book to teach me what to do with a feller that calls me a +liar. I'll go you one game of picquet, for nuts."</p> + +<p>"You're on," said Hamilton.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"My nuts I think, sir."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p><p>Bones carefully counted the heap which his superior had pushed over, +"And—hullo! what the dooce do you want?"</p> + +<p>Hamilton followed the direction of the other's eyes. A man stood in the +doorway, naked but for the wisp of skirt at his waist. Hamilton got up +quickly, for he recognized the chief of Sandi's spies.</p> + +<p>"O Kelili," said Hamilton in his easy Bomongo tongue, "why do you come +and from whence?"</p> + +<p>"From the island over against the Ochori, Lord," croaked the man, +dry-throated. "Two pigeons I sent, but these the hawks took—a fisherman +saw one taken by the Kasai, and my own brother, who lives in the Village +of Irons, saw the other go—though he flew swiftly."</p> + +<p>Hamilton's grave face set rigidly, for he smelt trouble. You do not send +pleasant news by pigeons.</p> + +<p>"Speak," he said.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said Kelili, "there is to be a killing palaver between the +Ochori and the Akasava on the first rise of the full moon, for N'gori +speaks of Bosambo evilly, and says that the Chief has raided him. In +what manner these things will come about," Kelili went on, with the +lofty indifference of one who had done his part of the business, so that +he had left no room for carelessness, "I do not know, but I have warned +all eyes of the Government to watch."</p> + +<p>Bones followed the conversation without difficulty.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span></p><p>"What do people say?" asked Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"Lord, they say that Sandi has gone and there is no law."</p> + +<p>Hamilton of the Houssas grinned. "Oh, ain't there?" said he, in English, +vilely.</p> + +<p>"Ain't there?" repeated an indignant Bones, "we'll jolly well show old +Thinggumy what's what."</p> + +<p>Bosambo received an envoy from the Chief of the Akasava, and the envoy +brought with him presents of dubious value and a message to the effect +that N'gori spent much of his waking moments in wondering how he might +best serve his brother Bosambo, "The right arm on which I and my people +lean and the bright eyes through which I see beauty."</p> + +<p>Bosambo returned the messenger, with presents more valueless, and an +assurance of friendship more sonorous, more complete in rhetoric and +aptness of hyperbole, and when the messenger had gone Bosambo showed his +appreciation of N'gori's love by doubling the guard about the Ochori +city and sending a strong picket under his chief headman to hold the +river bend.</p> + +<p>"Because," said this admirable philosopher, "life is like certain roots: +some that taste sweet and are bitter in the end, and some that are vile +to the lips and pleasant to the stomach."</p> + +<p>It was a wild night, being in the month of rains. M'shimba M'shamba was +abroad, walking with his devastating feet through the forest, plucking +up <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>great trees by their roots and tossing them aside as though they +were so many canes. There was a roaring of winds and a crashing of +thunders, and the blue-white lightning snicked in and out of the forest +or tore sprawling cracks in the sky. In the Ochori city they heard the +storm grumbling across the river and were awakened by the incessant +lightning—so incessant that the weaver birds who lived in palms that +fringed the Ochori streets came chattering to life.</p> + +<p>It was too loud a noise, that M'shimba M'shamba made for the <i>lokali</i> +man of the Ochori to hear the message that N'gori sent—the +panic-message designed to lure Bosambo to the newly-purchased spears.</p> + +<p>Bones heard it—Bones, standing on the bridge of the <i>Zaire</i> pounding +away upstream, steaming past the Akasava city in a sheet of rain.</p> + +<p>"Wonder what the jolly old row is?" he muttered to himself, and summoned +his sergeant. "Ali," said he, in faultless Arabic, "what beating of +drums are these?"</p> + +<p>"Lord," said the sergeant, uneasily, "I do not know, unless they be to +warn us not to travel at night. I am your man, Master," said he in a +fret, "yet never have I travelled with so great a fear: even our Lord +Sandi does not move by night, though the river is his own child."</p> + +<p>"It is written," said Bones, cheerfully, and as the sergeant saluted and +turned away, the reckless Houssa made a face at the darkness. "If old +man <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>Ham would give me a month or two on the river," he mused, "I'd set +'em alight, by Jove!"</p> + +<p>By the miraculous interposition of Providence Bones reached the Ochori +village in the grey clouded dawn, and Bosambo, early astir, met the lank +figure of the youth, his slick sword dangling, his long revolver holster +strapped to his side, and his helmet on the back of his head, an eager +warrior looking for trouble.</p> + +<p>"Lord, of you I have heard," said Bosambo, politely; "here in the Ochori +country we talk of no other thing than the new, thin Lord whose +beautiful nose is like the red flowers of the forest."</p> + +<p>"Leave my nose alone," said Bones, unpleasantly, "and tell me, Chief, +what killing palaver is this I hear? I come from Government to right all +wrongs—this is evidently his nibs, Bosambo." The last passage was in +his own native tongue and Bosambo beamed.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sah!" said he in the English of the Coast. "I be Bosambo, good +chap, fine chap; you, sah, you look um—you see um—Bosambo!"</p> + +<p>He slapped his chest and Bones unbent.</p> + +<p>"Look here, old sport," he said affably: "what the dooce is all this +shindy about—hey?"</p> + +<p>"No shindy, sah!" said Bosambo—being sure that all people of his city +were standing about at a respectful distance, awe-stricken by the sight +of their chief on equal terms with this new white lord.</p> + +<p>"Dem feller he lib for Akasava, sah—he be bad <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>feller: I be good +feller, sah—C'istian, sah! Matt'ew, Marki, Luki, Johni—I savvy dem +fine."</p> + +<p>Happily, Bones continued the conversation in the tongue of the land. +Then he learned of the dance which Bosambo had frustrated, of the spears +taken, and these he saw stacked in three huts.</p> + +<p>Bones, despite the character he gave himself, was no fool, and, +moreover, he had the advantage of knowing of the new N'gombi spears that +were going out to the Akasava day by day; and when Bosambo told of the +midnight summons that had come to him, Bones did the rapid exercise of +mental figuring which is known as putting two and two together.</p> + +<p>He wagged his head when Bosambo had finished his recital, did this +general of twenty-one. "You're a jolly old sportsman, Bosambo," he said +very seriously, "and you're in the dooce of a hole, if you only knew it. +But you trust old Bones—he'll see you through. By Gad!"</p> + +<p>Bosambo, bewildered but resourceful, hearing, without understanding, +replied: "I be fine feller, sah!"</p> + +<p>"You bet your life you are, old funnyface," agreed Bones, and screwed +his eyeglass in the better to survey his protégé.</p> + +<h3>IV</h3> + +<p>Chief N'gori organized a surprise party for Bosambo, and took so much +trouble with the details, that, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>because of his sheer thoroughness, he +deserved to have succeeded. <i>Lokali</i> men concealed in the bush were +waiting to announce the coming of the rescue party, when N'gori sent his +cry for help crashing across the world. Six hundred spearmen stood ready +to embark in fifty canoes, and five hundred more waited on either bank +ready to settle with any survivors of the Ochori who found their way to +land.</p> + +<p>The best of plans are subject to the banal reservation, "weather +permitting," and the signal intended to bring Bosambo to his destruction +was swallowed up in the bellowings of the storm.</p> + +<p>"This night being fine," said N'gori, showing his teeth, "Bosambo will +surely come."</p> + +<p>His Chief Counsellor, an ancient man of the royal tribe,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> had +unexpected warnings to offer. A man had seen a man, who had caught a +glimpse of the <i>Zaire</i> butting her way upstream in the dead of night. +Was it wise, when the devil Sandi waited to smite, and so close at hand, +to engage in so high an adventure?</p> + +<p>"Old man, there is a hut in the forest for you," said N'gori, with +significance, and the Counsellor wilted, because the huts in the forest +are for the sick, the old, and the mad, and here they are left to starve +and die; "for," N'gori went on, "all men know that Sandi has gone to his +people across the black waters, and the M'ilitani rules. Also, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>in +nights of storms there are men who see even devils."</p> + +<p>With more than ordinary care he prepared for the final settling with +Bosambo the Robber, and there is a suggestion that he was encouraged by +the chiefs of other lands, who had grown jealous of the Ochori and their +offensive rectitude. Be that as it may, all things were made ready, even +to the knives of sacrifice and the young saplings which had not been +employed by the Akasava for their grisly work since the Year of +Hangings.</p> + +<p>At an hour before midnight the tireless <i>lokali</i> sent out its call:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="CONTENTS"> + +<tr> +<td align="left">"We of the Akasava"</td> +<td align="left">(four long rolls and a quick +succession of taps)</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">"Danger threatens"</td> +<td align="left">(a long roll, a short roll, +and a triple tap-tap)</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">"Isisi fighting"</td> +<td align="left"> (rolls punctuated by shorter +tattoos)</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">"Come to me"</td> +<td align="left">(a long crescendo roll and +patter of taps)</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">"Ochori"</td> +<td align="left">(nine rolls, curiously like +the yelping of a dog)</td></tr> + +</table></div> + +<p>So the message went out: every village heard and repeated. The Isisi +threw the call northward; the N'gombi village, sent it westward, and +presently first the Isisi, then the N'gombi, heard the faint answer: +"Coming—the Breaker of Lives," and returned the message to N'gori.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span></p><p>"Now I shall also break lives," said N'gori, and sacrificed a goat to +his success.</p> + +<p>Sixteen hundred fighting men waited for the signal from the hidden +<i>lokali</i> player, on the far side of the river bend. At the first hollow +rattle of his sticks, N'gori pushed off in his royal canoe.</p> + +<p>"Kill!" he roared, and went out in the white light of dawn to greet ten +Ochori canoes, riding in fanshape formation, having as their centre a +white and speckless <i>Zaire</i> alive with Houssas and overburdened with the +slim muzzles of Hotchkiss guns.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Ko!" said N'gori dismally, "this is a bad palaver!"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>In the centre of his city, before a reproving squad of Houssas, a dumb +man, taken in the act of armed aggression, N'gori stood.</p> + +<p>"You're a naughty boy," said Bones, reproachfully, "and if jolly old +Sanders were here—my word, you'd catch it!"</p> + +<p>N'gori listened to the unknown tongue, worried by its mystery. "Lord, +what happens to me?" he asked.</p> + +<p>Bones looked very profound and scratched his head. He looked at the +Chief, at Bosambo, at the river all aglow in the early morning sunlight, +at the <i>Zaire</i>, with her sinister guns a-glitter, and then back at the +Chief. He was not well versed in the dialect of the Akasava, and Bosambo +must be his interpreter.</p> + +<p>"Very serious offence, old friend," said Bones, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>solemnly; "awfully +serious—muckin' about with spears and all that sort of thing. I'll have +to make a dooce of an example of you—yes, by Heaven!"</p> + +<p>Bosambo heard and imperfectly understood. He looked about for a likely +tree where an unruly chief might sway with advantage to the community.</p> + +<p>"You're a bad, bad boy," said Bones, shaking his head; "tell him."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sah!" said Bosambo.</p> + +<p>"Tell him he's fined ten dollars."</p> + +<p>But Bosambo did not speak: there are moments too full for words and this +was one of them.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II</h2> + +<h2>THE DISCIPLINARIANS</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">L</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">ieutenant</span> +Augustus Tibbetts of the Houssas stood at attention before +his chief. He stood as straight as a ramrod, his hands to his sides, his +eyeglass jammed in his eye, and Hamilton of the Houssas looked at him +sorrowfully.</p> + +<p>"Bones, you're an ass!" he said at last.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," said Bones.</p> + +<p>"I sent you to Ochori to prevent a massacre, you catch a chief in the +act of ambushing an enemy and instead of chucking him straight into the +Village of Iron you fine him ten dollars."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," said Bones.</p> + +<p>There was a painful pause.</p> + +<p>"Well, you're an ass!" said Hamilton, who could think of nothing better +to say.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," said Bones; "I think you're repeating yourself, sir. I seem +to have heard a similar observation before."</p> + +<p>"You've made Bosambo and the whole of the Ochori as sick as monkeys, and +you've made me look a fool."</p> + +<p>"Hardly my responsibility, sir," said Bones, gently.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span></p><p>"I hardly know what to do with you," said Hamilton, drawing his pipe +from his pocket and slowly charging it. "Naturally, Bones, I can never +let you loose again on the country." He lit his pipe and puffed +thoughtfully. "And of course——"</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, sir," said Bones, still uncomfortably erect, "this is +intended to be a sort of official inquiry an' all that sort of thing, +isn't it?"</p> + +<p>"It is," said Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"Well, sir," said Bones, "may I ask you not to smoke? When a chap's +honour an' reputation an' all that sort of thing is being weighed in the +balance, sir, believe me, smokin' isn't decent—it isn't really, sir."</p> + +<p>Hamilton looked round for something to throw at his critic and found a +tolerably heavy book, but Bones dodged and fielded it dexterously. "And +if you must chuck things at me, sir," he added, as he examined the title +on the back of the missile, "will you avoid as far as possible usin' the +sacred volumes of the Army List? It hurts me to tell you this, sir, but +I've been well brought up."</p> + +<p>"What's the time?" asked Hamilton, and his second-in-command examined +his watch.</p> + +<p>"Ten to tiffin," he said. "Good Lord, we've been gassin' an hour. Any +news from Sanders?"</p> + +<p>"He's in town—that's all I know—but don't change the serious subject, +Bones. Everybody is awfully disgusted with you—Sanders would have at +least brought him to trial."</p> + +<p>"I couldn't do it, sir," said Bones, firmly. "Poor <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>old bird! He looked +such an ass, an' moreover reminded me so powerfully of an aunt of mine +that I simply couldn't do it."</p> + +<p>No doubt but that Lieut. Francis Augustus Tibbetts of the Houssas, with +his sun-burnt nose, his large saucer eyes, and his air of solemn +innocence, had shaken the faith of the impressionable folk. This much +Hamilton was to learn: for Tibbetts had been sent with a party of +Houssas to squash effectively an incipient rebellion in the Akasava, and +having caught N'gori in the very act of most treacherously and most +damnably preparing an ambush for a virtuous Bosambo, Chief of the +Ochori, had done no more than fine him ten dollars.</p> + +<p>And this was in a land where even the Spanish dollar had never been seen +save by Bosambo, who was reported to have more than his share of silver +in a deep hole beneath the floor of his hut.</p> + +<p>Small wonder that Captain Hamilton held an informal court-martial of +one, the closing stages of which I have described, and sentenced his +wholly inefficient subordinate to seven days' field exercise in the +forest with half a company of Houssas.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dash it, you don't mean that?" asked Bones in dismay when the +finding of the court was conveyed to him at lunch.</p> + +<p>"I do," said Hamilton firmly. "I'd be failing in my job of work if I +didn't make you realize what a perfect ass you are."</p> + +<p>"Perfect—yes," protested Bones, "ass—no. Fact is, dear old fellow, +I've a temperament. You aren't <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>going to make me go about in that +beastly forest diggin' rifle pits an' pitchin' tents an' all that sort +of dam' nonsense; it's too grisly to think about."</p> + +<p>"None the less," said Hamilton, "you will do it whilst I go north to sit +on the heads of all who endeavour to profit by your misguided leniency. +I shall be back in time for the Administration Inspection—don't for the +love of heaven forget that His Excellency——"</p> + +<p>"Bless his jolly old heart!" murmured Bones.</p> + +<p>"That His Excellency is paying his annual visit on the twenty-first."</p> + +<p>A ray of hope shot through the gloom of Lieut. Tibbetts' mind.</p> + +<p>"Under the circumstances, dear old friend, don't you think it would be +best to chuck that silly idea of field training? What about sticking up +a board and gettin' the chaps to paint, 'Welcome to the United +Territories,' or 'God bless our Home,' or something."</p> + +<p>Hamilton withered him with a glance.</p> + +<p>His last words, shouted from the bridge of the <i>Zaire</i> as her stern +wheel went threshing ahead, were, "Remember, Bones! No shirking!"</p> + +<p><i>"Honi soit qui mal y pense</i>!" roared Bones.</p> + + +<h3>II</h3> + +<p>Hamilton had evidence enough of the effect which the leniency of his +subordinate had produced. <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>News travels fast, and the Akasava are great +talkers. Hamilton, coming to the Isisi city on his way up the river, +found a crowd on the beach to watch his mooring, their arms folded +hugging their sides—sure gesture of indifferent idleness—but neither +the paramount chief, nor his son, nor any of his counsellors awaited the +steamer to pay their respects.</p> + +<p>Hamilton sent for them and still they did not come, sending a message +that they were sick. So Hamilton went striding through the street of the +city, his long sword flapping at his side, four Houssas padding swiftly +in his rear at their curious jog-trot. B'sano, the young chief of the +Isisi, came out lazily from his hut and stood with outstretched feet and +arms akimbo watching the nearing Houssa, and he had no fear, for it was +said that now Sandi was away from the country no man had the authority +to punish.</p> + +<p>And the counsellors behind B'sano had their bunched spears and their +wicker-work shields, contrary to all custom—as Sanders had framed the +custom.</p> + +<p>"O chief," said Hamilton, with that ready smile of his, "I waited for +you and you did not come."</p> + +<p>"Soldier," said B'sano, insolently, "I am the king of these people and +answerable to none save my lord Sandi, who, as you know, is gone from +us."</p> + +<p>"That I know," said the patient Houssa, "and because it is in my heart +to show all people what manner of law Sandi has left behind, I fine you +and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>your city ten thousand <i>matakos</i> that you shall remember that the +law lives, though Sandi is in the moon, though all rulers change and +die."</p> + +<p>A slow gleam of contempt came to the chief's eyes.</p> + +<p>"Soldier," said he, "I do not pay <i>matako—wa</i>!"</p> + +<p>He stumbled back, his mouth agape with fear. The long barrel of +Hamilton's revolver rested coldly on his bare stomach.</p> + +<p>"We will have a fire," said Hamilton, and spoke to his sergeant in +Arabic. "Here in the centre of the city we will make a fire of proud +shields and unlawful spears."</p> + +<p>One by one the counsellors dropped their wicker shields upon the fire +which the Houssa sergeant had kindled, and as they dropped them, the +sergeant scientifically handcuffed the advisers of the Isisi chief in +couples.</p> + +<p>"You shall find other counsellors, B'sano," said Hamilton, as the men +were led to the <i>Zaire</i>. "See that I do not come bringing with me a new +chief."</p> + +<p>"Lord," said the chief humbly, "I am your dog."</p> + +<p>Not alone was B'sano at fault. Up and down the road old grievances +awaited settlement: there were scores to adjust, misunderstandings to +remove. Mostly these misunderstandings had to do with important +questions of tribal superiority and might only be definitely tested by +sanguinary combat.</p> + +<p>Also picture a secret order, ruthlessly suppressed by Sanders, and +practised by trembling men, each afraid of the other despite their +oaths; and the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>fillip it received when the news went forth—"Sandi has +gone—there is no law."</p> + +<p>This was a fine time for the dreamers of dreams and for the men who saw +portends and understood the wisdom of Ju-jus.</p> + +<p>Bemebibi, chief of the Lesser Isisi, was too fat a man for a dreamer, +for visions run with countable ribs and a cough. Nor was he tall nor +commanding by any standard. He had broad shoulders and a short neck. His +head was round, and his eyes were cunning and small. He was an irritable +man, had a trick of beating his counsellors when they displeased him, +and was a ready destroyer of men.</p> + +<p>Some say that he practised sacrifice in the forests, he and the members +of his society, but none spoke with any certainty or authority, for +Bemebibi was chief, alike of a community and an order. In the Lesser +Isisi alone, the White Ghosts had flourished in spite of every effort of +the Administration to stamp them out.</p> + +<p>It was a society into which the hazardous youth of the Isisi were +initiated joyfully, for there is little difference in the temperament of +youth, whether it wears a cloth about its loins or lavender spats upon +its feet.</p> + +<p>Thus it came about that one-half of the adult male population of the +Lesser Isisi, had sworn by the letting of blood and the rubbing of salt:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i6">(1) To hop upon one foot for a spear's length every night and morning.</span></div> + +<div class="poem"><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> +<span class="i6">(2) To love all ghosts and speak gently of devils.</span></div> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i6">(3) To be dumb and blind and to throw spears swiftly for the love of the +White Ghosts.</span></div> + +<p>One night Bemebibi went into the forest with six highmen of his order. +They came to a secret place at a pool, and squatted in a circle, each +man laying his hands on the soles of his feet in the prescribed fashion.</p> + +<p>"Snakes live in holes," said Bemebibi conventionally. "Ghosts dwell by +water and all devils sit in the bodies of little birds."</p> + +<p>This they repeated after him, moving their heads from side to side +slowly.</p> + +<p>"This is a good night," said the chief, when the ritual was ended, "for +now I see the end of our great thoughts. Sandi is gone and M'ilitini is +by the place where the three rivers meet, and he has come in fear. Also +by magic I have learnt that he is terrified because he knows me to be an +awful man. Now, I think, it is time for all ghosts to strike swiftly."</p> + +<p>He spoke with emotion, swaying his body from side to side after the +manner of orators. His voice grew thick and husky as the immensity of +his design grew upon him.</p> + +<p>"There is no law in the land," he sang. "Sandi has gone, and only a +little, thin man punishes in fear. M'ilitini has blood like water—let +us sacrifice."</p> + +<p>One of his highmen disappeared into the dark forest and came back soon, +dragging a half-witted youth, named Ko'so, grinning and mumbling <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>and +content till the curved N'gombi knife, that his captor wielded, came +"snack" to his neck and then he spoke no more.</p> + +<p>Too late Hamilton came through the forest with his twenty Houssas. +Bemebibi saw the end and was content to make a fight for it, as were his +partners in crime.</p> + +<p>"Use your bayonets," said Hamilton briefly, and flicked out his long, +white sword. Bemebibi lunged at him with his stabbing spear, and +Hamilton caught the poisoned spearhead on the steel guard, touched it +aside, and drove forward straight and swiftly from his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"Bury all these men," said Hamilton, and spent a beastly night in the +forest.</p> + +<p>So passed Bemebibi, and his people gave him up to the ghosts, him and +his highmen.</p> + +<p>There were other problems less tragic, to be dealt with, a Bosambo +rather grieved than sulking, a haughty N'gori to be kicked to a sense of +his unimportance, chiefs, major and minor, to be brought into a +condition of penitence.</p> + +<p>Hamilton went zigzagging up the river swiftly. He earned for himself in +those days the name of "Dragon-fly," or its native equivalent, and the +illustration was apt, for it seemed that the <i>Zaire</i> would poise, +buzzing angrily, then dart off in unexpected directions, and the spirit +of complacency which had settled upon the land gave place to one of +apprehension, which, in the old days, followed the arrival of Sanders in +a mood of reprisal.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p><p>Hamilton sent a letter by canoe to his second-in-command. It started +simply:</p> + +<p>"Bones—I will not call you 'dear Bones,'" it went on with a hint of the +rancour in the writer's heart, "for you are not dear to me. I am +striving to clear up the mess you have made so that when His Excellency +arrives I shall be able to show him a law-abiding country. I have missed +you, Bones, but had you been near on more occasion than one, I should +not have missed you. Bones, were you ever kicked as a boy? Did any good +fellow ever get you by the scruff of your neck and the seat of your +trousers and chuck you into an evil-smelling pond? Try to think and send +me the name of the man who did this, that I may send him a letter of +thanks.</p> + +<p>"Your absurd weakness has kept me on the move for days. Oh, Bones, +Bones! I am in a sweat, lest even now you are tampering with the +discipline of my Houssas—lest you are handing round tea and cake to the +Alis and Ahmets and Mustaphas of my soldiers; lest you are brightening +their evenings with imitations of Frank Tinney and fanning the flies +from their sleeping forms," the letter went on.</p> + +<p>"Cad!" muttered Bones, as he read this bit.</p> + +<p>There were six pages couched in this strain, and at the end six more of +instruction. Bones was in the forest when the letter came to him, +unshaven, weary, and full of trouble.</p> + +<p>He hated work, he loathed field exercise, he <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>regarded bridge-building +over imaginary streams, and the whole infernal curriculum of military +training, as being peculiarly within the province of the boy scouts and +wholly beneath the dignity of an officer of the Houssas. And he felt +horribly guilty as he read Hamilton's letter, for the night before it +came he had most certainly entertained his company with a banjo +rendering of the Soldiers' Chorus from "Faust."</p> + +<p>He rumpled his beautiful hair, jammed down his helmet, squared his +shoulders, and, with a fiendish expression on his face—an expression +intended by Bones to represent a stern, unbending devotion to duty, he +stepped forth from his tent determined to undo what mischief he had +done, and earn, if not the love, at least the respect of his people.</p> + +<h3>III</h3> + +<p>There is in all services a subtle fear and hope. They have to do less +with material consequence than with a sense of harmony which rejects the +discordance of failure. Also Hamilton was a human man, who, whilst he +respected Sanders and had a profound regard for his qualities, nourished +a secret faith that he might so carry on the work of the heaven-born +Commissioner without demanding the charity of his superiors.</p> + +<p>He wished—not unnaturally—to spread a triumphant palm to his country +and say "Behold! <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>There are the talents that Sanders left—I have +increased them, by my care, twofold."</p> + +<p>He came down stream in some haste having completed the work of +pacification and stopped at the Village of Irons long enough to hand to +the Houssa warder four unhappy counsellors of the Isisi king.</p> + +<p>"Keep these men for service against our lord Sandi's return."</p> + +<p>At Bosinkusu he was delayed by a storm, a mad, whirling brute of a storm +that lashed the waters of the river and swept the <i>Zaire</i> broadside on +towards the shore. At M'idibi, the villagers, whose duty it was to cut +and stack wood for the Government steamers, had gone into a forest to +meet a celebrated witch doctor, gambling on the fact that there was +another wooding village ten miles down stream and that Hamilton would +choose that for the restocking of his boat.</p> + +<p>So that beyond a thin skeleton pile of logs on the river's edge—set up +to deceive the casual observer as he passed and approved of their +industry—there was no wood and Hamilton had to set his men to +wood-cutting.</p> + +<p>He had nearly completed the heart-breaking work when the villagers +returned in a body, singing an unmusical song and decked about with +ropes of flowers.</p> + +<p>"Now," explained the headman, "we have been to a palaver with a holy man +and he has promised us that some day there will come to us <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>a great +harvest of corn which will be reaped by magic and laid at our doors +whilst we sleep."</p> + +<p>"And I," said the exasperated Houssa, "promise you a great harvest of +whips that, so far from coming in your sleep, will keep you awake."</p> + +<p>"Master, we did not know that you would come so soon," said the humble +headman; "also there was a rumour that your lordship had been drowned in +the storm and your <i>puc-a-puc</i> sunk, and my young men were happy because +there would be no more wood to cut."</p> + +<p>The <i>Zaire</i>, fuel replenished, slipped down the river, Hamilton leaning +over the rail promising unpleasant happenings as the boat drifted out +from the faithless village. He had cut things very fine, and could do no +more than hope that he would reach headquarters an hour or so before the +Administrator arrived by the mail-boat. If Bones could be trusted there +would be no cause for worry. Bones should have the men's quarters +whitewashed, the parade ground swept and garnished, and stores in +excellent order for inspection, and all the books on hand for the +Accountant-General to glance over.</p> + +<p>But Bones!</p> + +<p>Hamilton writhed internally at the thought of Francis Augustus and his +inefficiency.</p> + +<p>He had sent his second the most elaborate instructions, but if he knew +his man, the languid Bones would do no more than pass those instructions +on to a subordinate.</p> + +<p>It was ten o'clock on the morning of the inspection <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>that the <i>Zaire</i> +came paddling furiously to the tiny concrete quay, and Hamilton gave a +sigh of relief. For there, awaiting him, stood Lieutenant Tibbetts in +the glory of his raiment—helmet sparkling white, steel hilt of sword +a-glitter, khaki uniform, spotless and well-fitting.</p> + +<p>"Everything is all right, sir," said Bones, saluting, and Hamilton +thought he detected a gruffer and more robust note in the tone.</p> + +<p>"Mail-boat's just in, sir," Bones went on with unusual fierceness. +"You're in time to meet His Excellency. Stores all laid out, books in +trim, parade ground and quarters whitewashed as per your jolly old +orders, sir."</p> + +<p>He saluted again, his eyes bulging, his face a veritable mask of +ferocity, and, turning on his heel, he led the way to the beach.</p> + +<p>"Here, hold hard!" said Hamilton; "what the dickens is the matter with +you?"</p> + +<p>"Seen the error of my ways, sir," growled Bones, again saluting +punctiliously. "I've been an ass, sir—too lenient—given you a lot of +trouble—shan't occur again."</p> + +<p>There was not time to ask any further questions.</p> + +<p>The two men had to run to reach the landing place in time, for the surf +boats were at that moment rolling to the yellow beach.</p> + +<p>Sir Robert Sanleigh, in spotless white, was carried ashore, and his +staff followed.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Hamilton," said the great Bob, "everything all right?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span></p><p>"Yes, your Excellency," said Hamilton, "there have been one or two +serious killing palavers on which I will report."</p> + +<p>Sir Robert nodded.</p> + +<p>"You were bound to have a little trouble as soon as Sanders went," he +said.</p> + +<p>He was a methodical man and had little time for the work at hand, for +the mail-boat was waiting to carry him to another station. Books, +quarters, and stores were in apple-pie order, and inwardly Hamilton +raised his voice in praise of the young man, who strode silently and +fiercely by his side, his face still distorted with a new-found +fierceness.</p> + +<p>"The Houssas are all right, I suppose?" asked Sir Robert. "Discipline +good—no crime?"</p> + +<p>"The discipline is excellent, sir," replied Hamilton, heartily, "and we +haven't had any serious crime for years."</p> + +<p>Sir Robert Sanleigh fixed his <i>pince-nez</i> upon his nose and looked round +the parade ground. A dozen Houssas in two ranks stood at attention in +the centre.</p> + +<p>"Where are the rest of your men?" asked the Administrator.</p> + +<p>"In gaol, sir." It was Bones who answered the question.</p> + +<p>Hamilton gasped.</p> + +<p>"In gaol—I'm sorry—but I knew nothing for this. I've just arrived from +the interior, your Excellency."</p> + +<p>They walked across to the little party.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p><p>"Where is Sergeant Abiboo?" asked Hamilton suddenly.</p> + +<p>"In gaol, sir," said Bones, promptly, "sentenced to death—scratchin' +his leg on parade after bein' warned repeatedly by me to give up the +disgusting habit."</p> + +<p>"Where is Corporal Ahmet, Bones?" asked the frantic Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"In gaol, sir," said Bones. "I gave him twenty years for talkin' in the +ranks an' cheekin' me when I told him to shut up. There's a whole lot of +them, sir," he went on casually. "I sentenced two chaps to death for +fightin' in the lines, an' gave another feller ten years for——"</p> + +<p>"I think that will do," said Sir Robert, tactfully. "A most excellent +inspection, Captain Hamilton—now, I think, I'll get back to my ship."</p> + +<p>He took Hamilton aside on the beach.</p> + +<p>"What did you call that young man?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Bones, your Excellency," said Hamilton miserably.</p> + +<p>"I should call him Blood and Bones," smiled His Excellency, as he shook +hands.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"What's the good of bullyin' me, dear old chap?" asked Bones +indignantly. "If I let a chap off, I'm kicked, an' if I punish him I'm +kicked—it's enough to make a feller give up bein' judicial——"</p> + +<p>"Bones, you're a goop," said Hamilton, in despair.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p><p>"A goop, sir?—if you'd be kind enough to explain——?"</p> + +<p>"There's an ass," said Hamilton, ticking off one finger; "and there's a +silly ass," he ticked off the second; "and there's a silly ass who is +such a silly ass that he doesn't know what a silly ass he is: we call +him a goop."</p> + +<p>"Thank you, sir," said Bones, without resentment, "and which is the +goop, you or——?"</p> + +<p>Hamilton dropped his hand on his revolver butt, and for a moment there +was murder in his eyes.</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III</h2> + +<h2>THE LOST N'BOSINI</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">M</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">'ilitani,</span> +there is a bad palaver in the N'bosini country," said the +gossip-chief of the Lesser Isisi, and wagged his head impressively.</p> + +<p>Hamilton of the Houssas rose up from his camp chair and stretched +himself to his full six feet. His laughing eyes—terribly blue they +looked in the mahogany setting of his lean face—quizzed the chief, and +his clean-shaven lips twitched ever so slightly.</p> + +<p>Chief Idigi looked at him curiously. Idigi was squat and fat, but wise. +None the less he gossiped, for, as they say on the river, "Even the wise +<i>oochiri</i> is a chatterer."</p> + +<p>"O, laughing Lord," said Idigi, almost humble in his awe—for blue eyes +in a brown face are a great sign of devilry, "this is no smiling +palaver, for they say——"</p> + +<p>"Idigi," interrupted Hamilton, "I smile when you speak of the N'bosini, +because there is no such land. Even Sandi, who has wisdom greater than +<i>ju-ju</i>, he says that there is no N'bosini, but that it is the foolish +talk of men who cannot see whence <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>come their troubles and must find a +land and a people and a king out of their mad heads. Go back to your +village, Idigi, telling all men that I sit here for a spell in the place +of my lord Sandi, and if there be, not one king of N'bosini, but a +score, and if he lead, not one army, but three and three and three, I +will meet him with my soldiers and he shall go the way of the bad king."</p> + +<p>Idigi, unconvinced, shaking his head, said a doubtful "<i>Wa!</i>" and would +continue upon his agreeable subject—for he was a lover of ghosts.</p> + +<p>"Now," said he, impressively, "it is said that on the night before the +moon came, there was seen, on the edge of the lake-forest, ten warriors +of the N'bosini, with spears of fire and arrows tipped with stars, +also——"</p> + +<p>"Go to the devil!" said Hamilton, cheerfully. "The palaver is finished."</p> + +<p>Later, he watched Idigi—so humble a man that he never travelled with +more than four paddlers—winding his slow way up stream—and Hamilton +was not laughing.</p> + +<p>He went back to his canvas chair before the Residency, and sat for half +an hour, alternately pinching and rubbing his bare arms—he was in his +shirt sleeves—in a reverie which was not pleasant.</p> + +<p>Here Lieutenant Augustus Tibbetts, returning from an afternoon's +fishing, with a couple of weird-looking fish as his sole catch, found +him and would have gone on with a little salute.</p> + +<p>"Bones!" called Hamilton, softly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p><p>Bones swung round. "Sir!" he said stiffly.</p> + +<p>"Come off your horse, Bones," coaxed Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"Not me," replied Bones; "I've finished with you, dear old fellow; as an +officer an' a gentleman you've treated me rottenly—you have, indeed. +Give me an order—I'll obey it. Tell me to lead a forlorn hope or go to +bed at ten—I'll carry out instructions accordin' to military law, but +outside of duty you're a jolly old rotter. I'm hurt, Ham, doocidly hurt. +I think——"</p> + +<p>"Oh shut up and sit down!" interrupted his chief, irritably. "You jaw +and jaw till my head aches."</p> + +<p>Reluctantly Lieutenant Tibbetts walked back, depositing his catch with +the greatest care on the ground.</p> + +<p>"What on earth have you got there?" asked Hamilton, curiously.</p> + +<p>"I don't know whether it's cod or turbot," said the cautious Bones, "but +I'll have 'em cooked and find out."</p> + +<p>Hamilton grinned. "To be exact, they're catfish, and poisonous," he +said, and whistled his orderly. "Oh, Ahmet," he said in Arabic, "take +these fish and throw them away."</p> + +<p>Bones fixed his monocle, and his eyes followed his catch till they were +out of sight.</p> + +<p>"Of course, sir," he said with resignation, "if you like to commandeer +my fish it's not for me to question you."</p> + +<p>"I'm a little worried, Bones," began Hamilton.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p><p>"A conscience, sir," said Bones, smugly, "is a pretty rotten thing for a +feller to have. I remember years ago——"</p> + +<p>"There's a little unrest up there"—Hamilton waved his hand towards the +dark green forest, sombre in the shadows of the evening—"a palaver I +don't quite get the hang of. If I could only trust you, Bones!"</p> + +<p>Lieutenant Tibbetts rose. He readjusted his monocle and stiffened +himself to attention—a heroic pose which invariably accompanied his +protests. But Hamilton gave him no opportunity.</p> + +<p>"Anyway, I have to trust you, Bones," he said, "whether I like it or +not. You get ready to clear out. Take twenty men and patrol the river +between the Isisi and the Akasava."</p> + +<p>In as few words as possible he explained the legend of the N'bosini. "Of +course, there is no such place," he said; "it is a mythical land like +the lost Atlantis—the home of the mysterious and marvellous tribes, +populated by giants and filled with all the beautiful products of the +world."</p> + +<p>"I know, sir," said Bones, nodding his head. "It is like one of those +building estate advertisements you read in the American papers: +Young-man-go-west-an'-buy-Dudville Corner Blocks——"</p> + +<p>"You have a horrible mind," said Hamilton. "However, get ready. I will +have steam in the <i>Zaire</i> against your departure."</p> + +<p>"There is one thing I should like to ask you about," said Bones, +standing hesitatingly first on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>one leg and then on the other. "I think +I have told you before that I have tickets in a Continental sweepstake. +I should be awfully obliged——"</p> + +<p>"Go away!" snarled Hamilton.</p> + +<p>Bones went cheerfully enough.</p> + +<p>He loved the life on the <i>Zaire</i>, the comfort of Sanders' cabin, the +electric reading lamp and the fine sense of authority. He would stand +upon the bridge for hours, with folded arms and impassive face, staring +ahead as the oily waters moved slowly under the bow of the +stern-wheeler. Now and again he would turn to give a fierce order to the +steersman or to the patient Yoka, the squat black <i>Krooman</i> who knew +every inch of the river, and who stood all the time, his hand upon the +lever of the telegraph ready to "slow" at the first sign of a new +sand-bank.</p> + +<p>For, in parts, the river was less than two or three feet deep and the +bed was constantly changing. The sounding boys, who stood on the bow of +the steamer, whirling their long canes and singing the depth +monotonously, would shout a warning cry, but long before their lips had +framed a caution, Yoka would have pulled the telegraph over to "stop." +His eyes would have detected the tiny ripple on the waters ahead which +denoted a new "bank."</p> + +<p>To Bones, the river was a deep, clear stream. He had no idea as to the +depth and never troubled to inquire. These short, stern orders of his +that he barked to left and right from time to time, nobody took the +slightest notice of, and Bones <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>would have been considerably embarrassed +if they had. Observing that the steamer was tacking from shore to shore, +a proceeding which, to Bones' orderly mind, seemed inconsistent with the +dignity of the Government boat, he asked the reason.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said the steersman, one Ebibi, "there are many banks hereabout, +large sands, which silt up in a night, therefore we must make a passage +for the <i>puc-a-puc</i>, by going from shore to shore."</p> + +<p>"You're a silly ass," said Bones, "and let it go at that."</p> + +<p>Yet, for all his irresponsibility, for all his wild and unknowledgeable +conspectus of the land and its people, there was instilled in the heart +of Lieutenant Tibbetts something of the spirit of dark romance and +adventure-loving, which association with the Coast alone can bring.</p> + +<p>In the big house at Dorking where he had spent his childhood, the +ten-acre estate, where his father had lorded (himself a one-time +Commissioner), he had watered the seed of desire which heredity had +irradicably sown in his bosom; a desire not to be shaped by words, or +confirmed in phrase, but best described as the discovery-lust, which +send men into dark, unknown places of the world to joyously sacrifice +life and health that their names might be associated with some scrap of +sure fact for the better guidance of unborn generations.</p> + +<p>Bones was a dreamer of dreams.</p> + +<p>On the bridge of the <i>Zaire</i> he was a Nelson taking the <i>Victory</i> into +action, a Stanley, a Columbus, a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>Sir Garnet Wolseley forcing the +passages of the Nile.</p> + +<p>Small wonder that he turned from time to time to the steersman with a +sharp "Put her to starboard," or "Port your helm a little."</p> + +<p>Less wonder that the wholly uncomprehending steersman went on with his +work as though Bones had no separate or tangible existence.</p> + +<p>On the fourth evening after leaving headquarters, Bones summoned to his +cabin Mahomet Ali, the sergeant in charge of his soldiers.</p> + +<p>"O, Mahomet," said he, "tell me of this N'bosini of which men speak, and +in which all native people believe, for my lord M'ilitani has said that +there is no such place and that it is the dream of mad people."</p> + +<p>"Master, that I also believe," said Mahomet Ali; "these people of the +river are barbarians, having no God and being foredoomed for all time to +hell, and it is my belief that his idea of N'bosini is no more than the +Paradise of the faithful, of which the barbarians have heard and +converted in their wild way."</p> + +<p>"Tell me, who talks of N'bosini," said Bones, crossing his legs and +leaning back in his chair, his hands behind his head; "for, remember +that I am a stranger amongst you, Mahomet Ali, coming from a far land +and having seen such marvels as——"</p> + +<p>He paused, seeking the Arabic for "gramaphone" and "motor-'bus," then he +went on wisely: "Such marvels as you cannot imagine."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span></p><p>"This I know of N'bosini," said the sergeant, "that all men along this +river believe in it; all save Bosambo of the Ochori who, as is well +known, believes in nothing, since he is a follower of the Prophet and +the one God."</p> + +<p>Mahomet Ali salaamed devoutly.</p> + +<p>"And men say that this land lies at the back of the N'gombi country; and +others that it lies near the territories of the old King; and some +others who say that it is a far journey beyond the French's territory, +farther than man can walk, that its people have wings upon their +shoulders and can fly, and that their eyes are so fierce that trees burn +when they look upon them. This only we know, lord, we, of your soldiers, +who have followed Sandi through all his high adventures, that when men +talk of N'bosini, there is trouble, for they are seeking something to +excuse their own wickedness."</p> + +<p>All night long, as Bones turned from side to side in his hot cabin, +listening to the ineffectual buzzings of the flies that sought, +unsuccessfully, to reach the interior of the cabin through a fine meshed +screen, the problem of N'bosini revolved in his mind.</p> + +<p>Was it likely, thought Bones, cunningly, that men should invent a +country, even erring men, seeking an excuse? Did not all previous +experience go to the support of the theory that N'bosini had some +existence? In other words that, planted in the secret heart of some +forest in the territory, barred from communication with the world by +swift <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>rivers of the high tangle of forests, there was, in being, a +secret tribe of which only rumours had been heard—a tribe of white men, +perhaps!</p> + +<p>Bones had read of such things in books; he knew his "Solomon's Mines" +and was well acquainted with his "Allan Quatermain." Who knows but that +through the forest was a secret path held, perchance, by armoured +warriors, which led to the mountains at the edge of the Old King's +territory, where in the folds of the inaccessible hills, there might be +a city of stone, peopled and governed by stern white-bearded men, and +streets filled with beautiful maidens garbed in the style of ancient +Greece!</p> + +<p>"It is all dam' nonsense of course," said Bones to himself, though +feebly; "but, after all there may be something in this. There's no smoke +without fire."</p> + +<p>The idea took hold of him and gripped him most powerfully. He took +Sanders' priceless maps and carefully triangulated them, consulting +every other written authority on the ship. He stopped at villages and +held palavers on this question of N'bosini and acquired a whole mass of +conflicting information.</p> + +<p>If you smile at Bones, you smile at the glorious spirit of enterprise +which has created Empire. Out of such dreams as ran criss-cross through +the mind of Lieutenant Tibbetts there have arisen nationalities undreamt +of and Empires Cæsar never knew.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p><p>Now one thing is certain, that Bones, in pursuing his inquiries about +N'bosini, was really doing a most useful piece of work.</p> + +<p>The palavers he called had a deeper significance to the men who attended +them than purely geographical inquiries. Thus, the folk of the Isisi +planning a little raid upon certain Akasava fishermen, who had +established themselves unlawfully upon the Isisi river-line, put away +their spears and folded their hands when N'bosini was mentioned, because +Bones was unconsciously probing their excuse before they advanced it.</p> + +<p>Idigi, himself, who, in his caution, had prepared Hamilton for some +slight difference of opinion between his own tribe and the N'gombi of +the interior, read into the earnest inquiries of Lieutenant Tibbetts, +something more than a patient spirit of research.</p> + +<p>All that Hamilton had set his subordinate to accomplish Bones was doing, +though none was more in ignorance of the fact than himself, and, since +all men owed a grudge to the Ochori, palavers, which had as their object +an investigation into the origin of the N'bosini legend, invariably +ended in the suggestion rather than the statement that the only +authority upon this mysterious land, and the still more mysterious tribe +who inhabited it, was Bosambo of the Ochori. Thus, subtly, was Bosambo +saddled with all responsibility in the matter.</p> + +<p>Hamilton's parting injunction to Bones had been:</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p><p>"Be immensely civil to Bosambo, because he is rather sore with you and +he is a very useful man."</p> + +<p>Regarding him, as he did, as the final authority upon the N'bosini, +Bones made elaborate preparations to carry out his chief's commands. He +came round the river bend to the Ochori city, with flags fluttering at +his white mast, with his soldiers drawn up on deck, with his buglers +tootling, and his siren sounding, and Bosambo, ever ready to jump to the +conclusion that he was being honoured for his own sake, found that this +time, at least, he had made no mistake and rose to the occasion.</p> + +<p>In an emerald-green robe with twelve sox suspenders strapped about his +legs and dangling tags a-glitter—he had bought these on his visit to +the Coast—with an umbrella of state and six men carrying a canopy over +his august person, he came down to the beach to greet the +representatives of the Government.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said Bosambo humbly, "it gives me great pride that your lordship +should bring his beautiful presence to my country. All this month I have +sat in my hut, wondering why you came not to the Ochori, and I have not +eaten food for many days because of my sorrow and my fear that you would +not come to us."</p> + +<p>Bones walked under the canopy to the chief's hut. A superior palaver +occupied the afternoon on the question of taxation. Here Bones was on +safe ground. Having no power to remit taxes, but having most explicit +instructions from his chief, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>which admitted of no compromise, it was an +easy matter for Bones to shake his head and say in English:</p> + +<p>"Nothin' doing"; a phrase which, afterwards, passed into the vocabulary +of the Ochori as the equivalent of denial of privilege.</p> + +<p>It was on the second day that Bones broached the question of the +N'bosini. Bosambo had it on the tip of his tongue to deny all knowledge +of this tribe, was even preparing to call down destruction upon the +heads of the barbarians who gave credence to the story. Then he asked +curiously:</p> + +<p>"Lord, why do you speak of the land or desire knowledge upon it?"</p> + +<p>"Because," said Bones, firmly, "it is in mind, Bosambo, that somewhere +in this country, dwell such a people, and since all men agree that you +are wise, I have come to you to seek it."</p> + +<p>"<i>O ko</i>," said Bosambo, under his breath.</p> + +<p>He fixed his eyes upon Bones, licked his lips a little, twiddled his +fingers a great deal, and began:</p> + +<p>"Lord, it is written in a certain <i>Suru</i> that wisdom comest from the +East, and that knowledge from the West, that courage comes from the +North, and sin from the South."</p> + +<p>"Steady the Buffs, Bosambo!" murmured Bones, reprovingly, "I come from +the South."</p> + +<p>He spoke in English, and Bosambo, resisting the temptation to retort in +an alien tongue, and realizing perhaps that he would need all the +strength of his <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>more extensive vocabulary to convince his hearer, +continued in Bomongo:</p> + +<p>"Now I tell you," he went on solemnly, "if Sandi had come, Sandi, who +loves me better than his brother, and who knew my father and lived with +him for many years, and if Sandi spoke to me, saying 'Tell me, O +Bosambo, where is N'bosini?' I answer 'Lord, there are things which are +written and which I know cannot be told, not even to you whom I love so +dearly.'" He paused.</p> + +<p>Bones was impressed. He stared, wide-eyed, at the chief, tilted his +helmet back a little from his damp brow, folded his hands on his knees +and opened his mouth a little.</p> + +<p>"But it is you, O my lord," said Bosambo, extravagantly, "who asks this +question. You, who have suddenly come amongst us and who are brighter to +us than the moon and dearer to us than the land which grows corn; +therefore must I speak to you that which is in my heart. If I lie, +strike me down at your feet, for I am ready to die."</p> + +<p>He paused again, throwing out his arms invitingly, but Bones said +nothing.</p> + +<p>"Now this I tell you," Bosambo shook his finger impressively, "that the +N'bosini lives."</p> + +<p>"Where?" asked Bones, quickly.</p> + +<p>Already he saw himself lecturing before a crowded audience at the Royal +Geographical Society, his name in the papers, perhaps a Tibbett River or +a Francis Augustus Mountain added to the sum of geographical knowledge.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p><p>"It is in a certain place," said Bosambo, solemnly, "which only I know, +and I have sworn a solemn oath by many sacred things which I dare not +break, by letting of blood and by rubbing in of salt, that I will not +divulge the secret."</p> + +<p>"O, tell me, Bosambo," demanded Bones, leaning forward and speaking +rapidly, "what manner of people are they who live in the city of +N'bosini?"</p> + +<p>"They are men and women," said Bosambo after a pause.</p> + +<p>"White or black?" asked Bones, eagerly.</p> + +<p>Bosambo thought a little.</p> + +<p>"White," he said soberly, and was immensely pleased at the impression he +created.</p> + +<p>"I thought so," said Bones, excitedly, and jumped up, his eyes wider +than ever, his hands trembling as he pulled his note-book from his +breast pocket.</p> + +<p>"I will make a book<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> of this, Bosambo," he said, almost incoherently. +"You shall speak slowly, telling me all things, for I must write in +English."</p> + +<p>He produced his pencil, squatted again, open book upon his knee, and +looked up at Bosambo to commence.</p> + +<p>"Lord, I cannot do this," said Bosambo, his face heavy with gloom, "for +have I not told your lordship that I have sworn such oath? Moreover," he +said carelessly, "we who know the secret, have each hidden a large bag +of silver in the ground, all in one place, and we have sworn that he who +tells the secret shall lose his share. Now, by the Prophet, +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>'Eye-of-the-Moon' (this was one of the names which Bones had earned, +for which his monocle was responsible), I cannot do this thing."</p> + +<p>"How large was this bag, Bosambo?" asked Bones, nibbling the end of his +pencil.</p> + +<p>"Lord, it was so large," said Bosambo.</p> + +<p>He moved his hands outward slowly, keeping his eyes fixed upon +Lieutenant Tibbetts till he read in them a hint of pain and dismay. Then +he stopped.</p> + +<p>"So large," he said, choosing the dimensions his hands had indicated +before Bones showed signs of alarm. "Lord, in the bag was silver worth a +hundred English pounds."</p> + +<p>Bones, continuing his meal of cedar-wood, thought the matter out.</p> + +<p>It was worth it.</p> + +<p>"Is it a large city?" he asked suddenly.</p> + +<p>"Larger than the whole of the Ochori," answered Bosambo impressively.</p> + +<p>"And tell me this, Bosambo, what manner of houses are these which stand +in the city of the N'bosini?"</p> + +<p>"Larger than kings' huts," said Bosambo.</p> + +<p>"Of stone?"</p> + +<p>"Lord, of rock, so that they are like mountains," replied Bosambo.</p> + +<p>Bones shut his book and got up.</p> + +<p>"This day I go back to M'ilitani, carrying word of the N'bosini," said +he, and Bosambo's jaw dropped, though Bones did not notice the fact.</p> + +<p>"Presently I will return, bringing with me silver <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>of the value of a +hundred English pounds, and you shall lead us to this strange city."</p> + +<p>"Lord, it is a far way," faltered Bosambo, "across many swamps and over +high mountains; also there is much sickness and death, wild beasts in +the forests and snakes in the trees and terrible storms of rain."</p> + +<p>"Nevertheless, I will go," said Bones, in high spirits, "I, and you +also."</p> + +<p>"Master," said the agitated Bosambo, "say no word of this to M'ilitani; +if you do, be sure that my enemies will discover it and I shall be +killed."</p> + +<p>Bones hesitated and Bosambo pushed his advantage.</p> + +<p>"Rather, lord," said he, "give me all the silver you have and let me go +alone, carrying a message to the mighty chief of the N'bosini. Presently +I will return, bringing with me strange news, such as no white lord, not +even Sandi, has received or heard, and cunning weapons which only +N'bosini use and strange magics. Also will I bring you stories of their +river, but I will go alone, though I die, for what am I that I should +deny myself from the service of your lordship?"</p> + +<p>It happened that Bones had some twenty pounds on the <i>Zaire</i>, and +Bosambo condescended to come aboard to accept, with outstretched hands, +this earnest of his master's faith.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said he, solemnly, as he took a farewell of his benefactor, +"though I lose a great bag of silver because I have betrayed certain +men, yet I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>know that, upon a day to come, you will pay me all that I +desire. Go in peace."</p> + +<p>It was a hilarious, joyous, industrious Bones who went down the river to +headquarters, occupying his time in writing diligently upon large sheets +of foolscap in his no less large unformed handwriting, setting forth all +that Bosambo had told him, and all the conclusions he might infer from +the confidence of the Ochori king.</p> + +<p>He was bursting with his news. At first, he had to satisfy his chief +that he had carried out his orders.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, Hamilton needed little convincing; his own spies had told +him of the quietening down of certain truculent sections of his unruly +community and he was prepared to give his subordinate all the credit +that was due to him.</p> + +<p>It was after dinner and the inevitable rice pudding had been removed and +the pipes were puffing bluely in the big room of the Residency, when +Bones unburdened himself.</p> + +<p>"Sir," he began, "you think I am an ass."</p> + +<p>"I was not thinking so at this particular moment," said Hamilton; "but, +as a general consensus of my opinion concerning you, I have no fault to +find with it."</p> + +<p>"You think poor old Bones is a goop," said Lieutenant Tibbetts with a +pitying smile, "and yet the name of poor old Bones is going down to +posterity, sir."</p> + +<p>"That is posterity's look-out," said Hamilton, offensively; but Bones +ignored the rudeness.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p><p>"You also imagine that there is no such land as the N'bosini, I think?"</p> + +<p>Bones put the question with a certain insolent assurance which was very +irritating.</p> + +<p>"I not only think, but I know," replied Hamilton.</p> + +<p>Bones laughed, a sardonic, knowing laugh.</p> + +<p>"We shall see," he said, mysteriously; "I hope, in the course of a few +weeks, to place a document in your possession that will not only +surprise, but which, I believe, knowing that beneath a somewhat uncouth +manner lies a kindly heart, will also please you."</p> + +<p>"Are you chucking up the army?" asked Hamilton with interest.</p> + +<p>"I have no more to say, sir," said Bones.</p> + +<p>He got up, took his helmet from a peg on the wall, saluted and walked +stiffly from the Residency and was swallowed up in the darkness of the +parade ground.</p> + +<p>A quarter of an hour later, there came a tap upon his door and Mahomet +Ali, his sergeant, entered.</p> + +<p>"Ah, Mah'met," said Hamilton, looking up with a smile, "all things were +quiet on the river my lord Tibbetts tells me."</p> + +<p>"Lord, everything was proper," said the sergeant, "and all people came +to palaver humbly."</p> + +<p>"What seek you now?" asked Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said Mahomet, "Bosambo of the Ochori is, as you know, of my +faith, and by certain oaths we are as blood brothers. This happened +after a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>battle in the year of Drought when Bosambo saved my life."</p> + +<p>"All this I know," said Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"Now, lord," said Mahomet Ali, "I bring you this."</p> + +<p>He took from the inside of his uniform jacket a little canvas bag, +opened it slowly and emptied its golden contents upon the table. There +was a small shining heap of sovereigns and a twisted note; this latter +he placed in Hamilton's hand and the Houssa captain unfolded it. It was +a letter in Arabic in Bosambo's characteristic and angular handwriting.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"From Bosambo, the servant of the Prophet, of the upper river in +the city of the Ochori, to M'ilitani, his master. Peace on your +house.</p> + +<p>"In the name of God I send you this news. My lord with the +moon-eye, making inquiries about the N'bosini, came to the Ochori +and I told him much that he wrote down in a book. Now, I tell you, +M'ilitani, that I am not to blame, because my lord with the +moon-eye wrote down these things. Also he gave me twenty English +pounds because I told him certain stories and this I send to you, +that you shall put it in with my other treasures, making a mark in +your book that this twenty pounds is the money of Bosambo of the +Ochori, and that you will send me a book, saying that this money +has come to you and is safely in your hands. Peace and felicity +upon your house.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>"Written in my city of Ochori and given to my brother, Mahomet Ali, +who shall carry it to M'ilitani at the mouth of the river."</p></div> + +<p>"Poor old Bones!" said Hamilton, as he slowly counted the money. "Poor +old Bones!" he repeated.</p> + +<p>He took an account book from his desk and opened it at a page marked +"Bosambo." His entry was significant.</p> + +<p>To a long list of credits which ran:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="Received"> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Received £30.</td> +<td align="left">(Sale of Rubber.)</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Received £25.</td> +<td align="left">(Sale of Gum.)</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Received £130.</td> +<td align="left">(Sale of Ivory.)</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<p>he added:</p> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="70%" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="1" summary="Received2"> + +<tr> +<td align="left">Received £20.</td> +<td align="left">(Author's Fees.)</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV</h2> + +<h2>THE FETISH STICK</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">N</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">'gori</span> +the Chief had a son who limped and lived. This was a marvellous +thing in a land where cripples are severely discouraged and malformity +is a sure passport for heaven.</p> + +<p>The truth is that M'fosa was born in a fishing village at a period of +time when all the energies of the Akasava were devoted to checking and +defeating the predatory raidings of the N'gombi, under that warlike +chief G'osimalino, who also kept other nations on the defensive, and +held the river basin, from the White River, by the old king's territory, +to as far south as the islands of the Lesser Isisi.</p> + +<p>When M'fosa was three months old, Sanders had come with a force of +soldiers, had hanged G'osimalino to a high tree, had burnt his villages +and destroyed his crops and driven the remnants of his one-time +invincible army to the little known recesses of the Itusi Forest.</p> + +<p>Those were the days of the Cakitas or government chiefs, and it was +under the beneficent sway of one of these that M'fosa grew to manhood, +though <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>many attempts were made to lure him to unfrequented waterways +and blind crocodile creeks where a lame man might be lost, and no one be +any the wiser.</p> + +<p>Chief of the eugenists was Kobolo, the boy's uncle, and N'gori's own +brother. This dissatisfied man, with several of M'fosa's cousins, once +partially succeeded in kidnapping the lame boy, and they were on their +way to certain middle islands in the broads of the river to accomplish +their scheme—which was to put out the eyes of M'fosa and leave him to +die—when Sanders had happened along.</p> + +<p>He it was who set all the men of M'fosa's village to cut down a high +pine tree—at an infernal distance from the village, and had men working +for a week, trimming and planing that pine; and another week they spent +carrying the long stem through the forest (Sanders had devilishly chosen +his tree in the most inaccessible part of the woods), and yet another +week digging large holes and erecting it.</p> + +<p>For he was a difficult man to please. Broad backs ran sweat to pull and +push and hoist that great flagstaff (as it appeared with its strong +pulley and smooth sides) to its place. And no sooner was it up than my +lord Sandi had changed his mind and must have it in another place. +Sanders would come back at intervals to see how the work was +progressing. At last it was fixed, that monstrous pole, and the men of +the village sighed thankfully.</p> + +<p>"Lord, tell me," N'gori had asked, "why you put this great stick in the +ground?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span></p><p>"This," said Sanders, "is for him who injures M'fosa your son; upon this +will I hang him. And if there be more men than one who take to the work +of slaughter, behold! I will have yet another tree cut and hauled, and +put in a place and upon that will I hang the other man. All men shall +know this sign, the high stick as my fetish; and it shall watch the evil +hearts and carry me all thoughts, good and evil. And then I tell you, +that such is its magic, that if needs be, it shall draw me from the end +of the world to punish wrong."</p> + +<p>This is the story of the fetish stick of the Akasava and of how it came +to be in its place.</p> + +<p>None did hurt to M'fosa, and he grew to be a man, and as he grew and his +father became first counsellor, then petty chief, and, at last, +paramount chief of the nation, M'fosa developed in hauteur and +bitterness, for this high pole rainwashed, and sun-burnt, was a +reminder, not of the strong hand that had been stretched out to save +him, but of his own infirmity.</p> + +<p>And he came to hate it, and by some curious perversion to hate the man +who had set it up.</p> + +<p>Most curious of all to certain minds, he was the first of those who +condemned, and secretly slew, the unfortunates, who either came into the +world hampered by disfigurement, or who, by accident, were unfitted for +the great battle.</p> + +<p>He it was who drowned Kibusi the woodman, who lost three fingers by the +slipping of the axe; he was the leader of the young men who fell upon +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>the boy Sandilo-M'goma, who was crippled by fire; and though the fetish +stood a menace to all, reading thoughts and clothed with authority, yet +M'fosa defied spirits and went about his work reckless of consequence.</p> + +<p>When Sanders had gone home, and it seemed that law had ceased to be, +N'gori (as I have shown) became of a sudden a bold and fearless man, +furbished up his ancient grievances and might have brought trouble to +the land, but for a watchful Bosambo.</p> + +<p>This is certain, however, that N'gori himself was a good-enough man at +heart, and if there was evil in his actions be sure that behind him +prompting, whispering, subtly threatening him, was his malignant son, a +sinister figure with one eye half closed, and a figure that went limping +through the city with a twisted smile.</p> + +<p>An envoy came to the Ochori country bearing green branches of the Isisi +palm, which signifies peace, and at the head of the mission—for mission +it was—came M'fosa.</p> + +<p>"Lord Bosambo," said the man who limped, "N'gori the chief, my father, +has sent me, for he desires your friendship and help; also your loving +countenance at his great feast."</p> + +<p>"Oh, oh!" said Bosambo, drily, "what king's feast is this?"</p> + +<p>"Lord," rejoined the other, "it is no king's feast, but a great dance of +rejoicing, for our crops are very plentiful, and our goats have +multiplied more than a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>man can count; therefore my father said: Go you +to Bosambo of the Ochori, he who was once my enemy and now indeed my +friend. And say to him 'Come into my city, that I may honour you.'"</p> + +<p>Bosambo thought.</p> + +<p>"How can your lord and father feast so many as I would bring?" he asked +thoughtfully, as he sat, chin on palm, pondering the invitation, "for I +have a thousand spearmen, all young men and fond of food."</p> + +<p>M'fosa's face fell.</p> + +<p>"Yet, Lord Bosambo," said he, "if you come without your spearmen, but +with your counsellors only——"</p> + +<p>Bosambo looked at the limper, through half-closed eyes. "I carry spears +to a Dance of Rejoicing," he said significantly, "else I would not Dance +or Rejoice."</p> + +<p>M'fosa showed his teeth, and his eyes were filled with hateful fires. He +left the Ochori with bad grace, and was lucky to leave it at all, for +certain men of the country, whom he had put to torture (having captured +them fishing in unauthorized waters), would have rushed him but for +Bosambo's presence.</p> + +<p>His other invitation was more successful. Hamilton of the Houssas was at +the Isisi city when the deputation called upon him.</p> + +<p>"Here's a chance for you, Bones," he said.</p> + +<p>Lieutenant Tibbetts had spent a vain day, fishing in the river with a +rod and line, and was sprawling <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>under a deck-chair under the awning of +the bridge.</p> + +<p>"Would you like to be the guest of honour at N'gori's little +thanksgiving service?"</p> + +<p>Bones sat up.</p> + +<p>"Shall I have to make a speech?" he asked cautiously.</p> + +<p>"You may have to respond for the ladies," said Hamilton. "No, my dear +chap, all you will have to do will be to sit round and look clever."</p> + +<p>Bones thought awhile.</p> + +<p>"I'll bet you're putting me on to a rotten job," he accused, "but I'll +go."</p> + +<p>"I wish you would," said Hamilton, seriously. "I can't get the hang of +M'fosa's mind, ever since you treated him with such leniency."</p> + +<p>"If you're goin' to dig up the grisly past, dear old sir," said a +reproachful Bones, "if you insist recalling events which I hoped, sir, +were hidden in oblivion, I'm going to bed."</p> + +<p>He got up, this lank youth, fixed his eyeglass firmly and glared at his +superior.</p> + +<p>"Sit down and shut up," said Hamilton, testily; "I'm not blaming you. +And I'm not blaming N'gori. It's that son of his—listen to this."</p> + +<p>He beckoned the three men who had come down from the Akasava as bearers +of the invitation.</p> + +<p>"Say again what your master desires," he said.</p> + +<p>"Thus speaks N'gori, and I talk with his voice," said the spokesman, +"that you shall cut down the devil-stick which Sandi planted in our +midst, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>for it brings shame to us, and also to M'fosa the son of our +master."</p> + +<p>"How may I do this?" asked Hamilton, "I, who am but the servant of +Sandi? For I remember well that he put the stick there to make a great +magic."</p> + +<p>"Now the magic is made," said the sullen headman; "for none of our +people have died the death since Sandi set it up."</p> + +<p>"And dashed lucky you've been," murmured Bones.</p> + +<p>"Go back to your master and tell him this," said Hamilton. "Thus says +M'ilitani, my lord Tibbetti will come on your feast day and you shall +honour him; as for the stick, it stands till Sandi says it shall not +stand. The palaver is finished."</p> + +<p>He paced up and down the deck when the men had gone, his hands behind +him, his brows knit in worry.</p> + +<p>"Four times have I been asked to cut down Sanders' pole," he mused +aloud. "I wonder what the idea is?"</p> + +<p>"The idea?" said Bones, "the idea, my dear old silly old fellow, isn't +it as plain as your dashed old nose? They don't want it!"</p> + +<p>Hamilton looked down at him.</p> + +<p>"What a brain you must have, Bones!" he said admiringly. "I often wonder +you don't employ it."</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p> +<h3>II</h3> + +<p>By the Blue Pool in the forest there is a famous tree gifted with +certain properties. It is known in the vernacular of the land, and I +translate it literally, "The-tree-that-has-no-echo-and-eats-up-sound." +Men believe that all that is uttered beneath its twisted branches may be +remembered, but not repeated, and if one shouts in its deadening shade, +even they who stand no farther than a stride from its furthermost +stretch of branch or leaf, will hear nothing.</p> + +<p>Therefore is the Silent Tree much in favour for secret palaver, such as +N'gori and his limping son attended, and such as the Lesser Isisi came +to fearfully.</p> + +<p>N'gori, who might be expected to take a very leading part in the +discussion which followed the meeting, was, in fact, the most timorous +of those who squatted in the shadow of the huge cedar.</p> + +<p>Full of reservations, cautions, doubts and counsels of discretion was +N'gori till his son turned on him, grinning as his wont when in his +least pleasant mood.</p> + +<p>"O, my father," said he softly, "they say on the river that men who die +swiftly say no more than 'wait' with their last breath; now I tell you +that all my young men who plot secretly with me, are for chopping +you—but because I am like a god to them, they spare you."</p> + +<p>"My son," said N'gori uneasily, "this is a very <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>high palaver, for many +chiefs have risen and struck at the Government, and always Sandi has +come with his soldiers, and there have been backs that have been sore +for the space of a moon, and necks that have been sore for this time," +he snapped finger, "and then have been sore no more."</p> + +<p>"Sandi has gone," said M'fosa.</p> + +<p>"Yet his fetish stands," insisted the old man; "all day and all night +his dreadful spirit watches us; for this we have all seen that the very +lightnings of M'shimba M'shamba run up that stick and do it no harm. +Also M'ilitani and Moon-in-the-Eye——"</p> + +<p>"They are fools," a counsellor broke in.</p> + +<p>"Lord M'ilitani is no fool, this I know," interrupted a fourth.</p> + +<p>"Tibbetti comes—and brings no soldiers. Now I tell you my mind that +Sandi's fetish is dead—as Sandi has passed from us, and this is the +sign I desire—I and my young men. We shall make a killing palaver in +the face of the killing stick, and if Sandi lives and has not lied to +us, he shall come from the end of the world as he said."</p> + +<p>He rose up from the ground. There was no doubt now who ruled the +Akasava.</p> + +<p>"The palaver is finished," he said, and led the way back to the city, +his father meekly following in the rear.</p> + +<p>Two days later Bones arrived at the city of the Akasava, bringing with +him no greater protection than a Houssa orderly afforded.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span></p> +<h3>III</h3> + +<p>On a certain night in September Mr. Commissioner Sanders was the guest +of the Colonial Secretary at his country seat in Berkshire.</p> + +<p>Sanders, who was no society man, either by training or by inclination, +would have preferred wandering aimlessly about the brilliantly lighted +streets of London, but the engagement was a long-standing one. In a +sense he was a lion against his will. His name was known, people had +written of his character and his sayings; he had even, to his own +amazement, delivered a lecture before the members of the Ethnological +Society on "Native Folk-lore," and had emerged from the ordeal +triumphantly. The guests of Lord Castleberry found Sanders a shy, silent +man who could not be induced to talk of the land he loved so dearly. +They might have voted him a bore, but for the fact that he so completely +effaced himself they had little opportunity for forming so definite a +judgment.</p> + +<p>It was on the second night of his visit to Newbury Grange that they had +cornered him in the billiard-room. It was the beautiful daughter of Lord +Castleberry who, with the audacity of youth, forced him, metaphorically +speaking, into a corner, from whence there was no escape.</p> + +<p>"We've been very patient, Mr. Sanders," she pouted; "we are all dying to +hear of your wonderful country, and Bosambo, and fetishes and things, +and you haven't said a word."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p><p>"There is little to say," he smiled; "perhaps if I told you—something +about fetishes...?"</p> + +<p>There was a chorus of approval.</p> + +<p>Sanders had gained enough courage from his experience before the +Ethnological Society, and began to talk.</p> + +<p>"Wait," said Lady Betty; "let's have all these glaring lights out—they +limit our imagination."</p> + +<p>There was a click, and, save for one bracket light behind Sanders, the +room was in darkness. He was grateful to the girl, and well rewarded her +and the party that sat round on chairs, on benches around the edge of +the billiard-table, listening. He told them stories ... curious, +unbelievable; of ghost palavers, of strange rites, of mysterious +messages carried across the great space of forests.</p> + +<p>"Tell us about fetishes," said the girl's voice.</p> + +<p>Sanders smiled. There rose to his eyes the spectacle of a hot and weary +people bringing in a giant tree through the forest, inch by inch.</p> + +<p>And he told the story of the fetish of the Akasava.</p> + +<p>"And I said," he concluded, "that I would come from the end of the +world——"</p> + +<p>He stopped suddenly and stared straight ahead. In the faint light they +saw him stiffen like a setter.</p> + +<p>"What is wrong?"</p> + +<p>Lord Castleberry was on his feet, and somebody clicked on the lights.</p> + +<p>But Sanders did not notice.</p> + +<p>He was looking towards the end of the room, and his face was set and +hard.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span></p><p>"O, M'fosa," he snarled, "O, dog!"</p> + +<p>They heard the strange staccato of the Bomongo tongue and wondered.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Lieutenant Tibbetts, helmetless, his coat torn, his lip bleeding, +offered no resistance when they strapped him to the smooth high pole. +Almost at his feet lay the dead Houssa orderly whom M'fosa had struck +down from behind.</p> + +<p>In a wide circle, their faces half revealed by the crackling fire which +burnt in the centre, the people of the Akasava city looked on +impressively.</p> + +<p>N'gori, the chief, his brows all wrinkled in terror, his shaking hands +at his mouth in a gesture of fear, was no more than a spectator, for his +masterful son limped from side to side, consulting his counsellors.</p> + +<p>Presently the men who had bound Bones stepped aside, their work +completed, and M'fosa came limping across to his prisoners.</p> + +<p>"Now," he mocked. "Is it hard for you this fetish stick which Sandi has +placed?"</p> + +<p>"You're a low cad," said Bones, dropping into English in his wrath. +"You're a low, beastly bounder, an' I'm simply disgusted with you."</p> + +<p>"What does he say?" they asked M'fosa.</p> + +<p>"He speaks to his gods in his own tongue," answered the limper; "for he +is greatly afraid."</p> + +<p>Lieutenant Tibbetts went on:</p> + +<p>"Hear," said he in fluent and vitriolic Bomongo—for he was using that +fisher dialect which he knew so much better than the more sonorous +tongue of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>the Upper River—"O hear, eater of fish, O lame dog, O +nameless child of a monkey!"</p> + +<p>M'fosa's lips went up one-sidedly.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said he softly, "presently you shall say no more, for I will cut +your tongue out that you shall be lame of speech ... afterwards I will +burn you and the fetish stick, so that you all tumble together."</p> + +<p>"Be sure you will tumble into hell," said Bones cheerfully, "and that +quickly, for you have offended Sandi's Ju-ju, which is powerful and +terrible."</p> + +<p>If he could gain time—time for some miraculous news to come to +Hamilton, who, blissfully unconscious of the treachery to his +second-in-command, was sleeping twenty miles downstream—unconscious, +too, of the Akasava fleet of canoes which was streaming towards his +little steamer.</p> + +<p>Perhaps M'fosa guessed his thoughts.</p> + +<p>"You die alone, Tibbetti," he said, "though I planned a great death for +you, with Bosambo at your side; and in the matter of ju-jus, behold! you +shall call for Sandi—whilst you have a tongue."</p> + +<p>He took from the raw-hide sheath that was strapped to the calf of his +bare leg, a short N'gombi knife, and drew it along the palm of his hand.</p> + +<p>"Call now, O Moon-in-the-Eye!" he scoffed.</p> + +<p>Bones saw the horror and braced himself to meet it.</p> + +<p>"O Sandi!" cried M'fosa, "O planter of ju-ju, come quickly!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span></p><p>"Dog!"</p> + +<p>M'fosa whipped round, the knife dropping from his hand.</p> + +<p>He knew the voice, was paralysed by the concentrated malignity in the +voice.</p> + +<p>There stood Sandi—not half a dozen paces from him.</p> + +<p>A Sandi in strange black clothing with a big white-breasted shirt ... +but Sandi, hard-eyed and threatening.</p> + +<p>"Lord, lord!" he stammered, and put up his hands to his eyes.</p> + +<p>He looked again—the figure had vanished.</p> + +<p>"Magic!" he mumbled, and lurched forward in terror and hate to finish +his work.</p> + +<p>Then through the crowd stalked a tall man.</p> + +<p>A rope of monkeys' tails covers one broad shoulder; his left arm and +hand were hidden by an oblong shield of hide.</p> + +<p>In one hand he held a slim throwing spear and this he balanced +delicately.</p> + +<p>"I am Bosambo of the Ochori," he said magnificently and unnecessarily; +"you sent for me and I have come—bringing a thousand spears."</p> + +<p>M'fosa blinked, but said nothing.</p> + +<p>"On the river," Bosambo went on, "I met many canoes that went to a +killing—behold!"</p> + +<p>It was the head of M'fosa's lieutenant, who had charge of the surprise +party.</p> + +<p>For a moment M'fosa looked, then turned to leap, and Bosambo's spear +caught him in mid-air.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p><p>"Jolly old Bosambo!" muttered Bones, and fainted.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Four thousand miles away Sanders was offering his apologies to a +startled company.</p> + +<p>"I could have sworn I saw—something," he said, and he told no more +stories that night.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V</h2> + +<h2>A FRONTIER AND A CODE</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">o</span> +understand this story you must know that at one point of Ochori +borderline, the German, French, and Belgian territories shoot three +narrow tongues that form, roughly, the segments of a half-circle. +Whether the German tongue is split in the middle by N'glili River, so +that it forms a flattened broad arrow, with the central prong the river +is a moot point. We, in Downing Street, claim that the lower angle of +this arrow is wholly ours, and that all the flat basin of the Field of +Blood (as they call it) is entitled to receive the shadow which a +flapping Union Jack may cast.</p> + +<p>If Downing Street were to send that frantic code-wire to "Polonius" to +Hamilton in these days he could not obey the instructions, for reasons +which I will give. As a matter of fact the code has now been changed, +Lieutenant Tibbetts being mainly responsible for the alteration.</p> + +<p>Hamilton, in his severest mood, wrote a letter to Bones, and it is worth +reproducing.</p> + +<p>That Bones was living a dozen yards from Captain Hamilton, and that they +shared a common mess-table, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>adds rather than distracts from the +seriousness of the correspondence. The letter ran:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i20">"The Residency,</span></div> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i22">"September 24th.</span></div> + +<div class="blockquot"> +<p>"From Officer commanding Houssas detachment Headquarters, to +Officer commanding "B" company of Houssas.</p> + +<p>"Sir,—</p> + +<p>"I have the honour to direct your attention to that paragraph of +King's regulations which directs that an officer's sole attention +should be concentrated upon executing the lawful commands of his +superior.</p> + +<p>"I have had occasion recently to correct a certain tendency on your +part to employing War Department property and the servants of the +Crown for your own special use. I need hardly point out to you that +such conduct on your part is subversive to discipline and directly +contrary to the spirit and letter of regulations. More especially +would I urge the impropriety of utilizing government telegraph +lines for the purpose of securing information regarding your +gambling transactions. Matters have now reached a very serious +crisis, and I feel sure that you will see the necessity for +refraining from these breaches of discipline.</p></div> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i2">"I have the honour to be, sir,</span></div> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i4">"Your obedient servant,</span></div> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i6">"<span class="smcap">P. G. Hamilton</span>, 'Captain.'"</span></div> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span></p><p>When two white men, the only specimen of their race and class within a +radius of hundreds of miles, are living together in an isolated post, +they either hate or tolerate one another. The exception must always be +found in two men of a similar service having similar objects to gain, +and infused with a common spirit of endeavour.</p> + +<p>Fortunately neither Lieutenant Tibbetts nor his superior were long +enough associated to get upon one another's nerves.</p> + +<p>Lieutenant Tibbetts received this letter while he was shaving, and came +across the parade ground outrageously attired in his pyjamas and his +helmet. Clambering up the wooden stairs, his slippers flap-flapping +across the broad verandah, he burst into the chief's bedroom, +interrupting a stern and frigid Captain Hamilton in the midst of his +early morning coffee and roll.</p> + +<p>"Look here, old sport," said Bones, indignantly waving a frothy shaving +brush at the other, "what the dooce is all this about?"</p> + +<p>He displayed a crumpled letter.</p> + +<p>"Lieutenant Tibbetts," said Hamilton of the Houssas severely, "have you +no sense of decency?"</p> + +<p>"Sense of decency, my dear old thing!" repeated Bones. "I am simply full +of it. That is why I have come."</p> + +<p>A terrible sight was Bones at that early hour with the open pyjama +jacket showing his scraggy neck, with his fish mouth drooping dismally, +his round, staring eyes and his hair rumpled up, one <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>frantic tuft at +the back standing up in isolation.</p> + +<p>Hamilton stared at him, and it was the stern stare of a disciplinarian. +But Bones was not to be put out of countenance by so small a thing as an +icy glance.</p> + +<p>"There is no sense in getting peevish with me, old Ham," he said, +squatting down on the nearest chair; "this is what I call a stupid, +officious, unnecessary letter. Why this haughtiness? Why these crushing +inferences? Why this unkindness to poor old Bones?"</p> + +<p>"The fact of it is, Bones," said Hamilton, accepting the situation, "you +are spending too much of your time in the telegraph station."</p> + +<p>Bones got up slowly.</p> + +<p>"Captain Hamilton, sir!" he said reproachfully, "after all I have done +for you."</p> + +<p>"Beyond selling me one of your beastly sweepstake tickets for five +shillings," said Hamilton, unpleasantly; "a ticket which I dare say you +have taken jolly good care will not win a prize, I fail to see in what +manner you have helped me. Now, Bones, you will have to pay more +attention to your work. There is no sense in slacking; we will have +Sanders back here before we know where we are, and when he starts nosing +round there will be a lot of trouble. Besides, you are shirking."</p> + +<p>"Me!" gasped Bones, outraged. "Me—shirking? You forget yourself, sir!"</p> + +<p>Even Bones could not be dignified with a lather brush in one hand and a +half-shaven cheek, testifying <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>to the hastiness of his departure from +his quarters.</p> + +<p>"I only wish to say, sir," said Bones, "that during the period I have +had the honour to serve under your command I have settled possibly more +palavers of a distressingly ominous character than the average +Commissioner is called upon to settle in the course of a year."</p> + +<p>"As you have created most of the palavers yourself," said Hamilton +unkindly, "I do not deny this. In other words, you have got yourself +into more tangles, and you've had to crawl out more often."</p> + +<p>"It is useless appealing to your better nature, sir," said Bones.</p> + +<p>He saluted with the hand that held the lather brush, turned about like +an automaton, tripped over the mat, recovered himself with an effort, +and preserving what dignity a man can preserve in pink-striped pyjamas +and a sun helmet, stalked majestically back to his quarters. Half-way +across he remembered something and came doubling back, clattering into +Hamilton's room unceremoniously.</p> + +<p>"There is one thing I forgot to say," he said, "about those sweepstake +tickets. If I happen to be killed on any future expedition that you may +send me, you will understand that the whole of my moveable property is +yours, absolutely. And I may add, sir," he said at the doorway with one +hand on the lintel ready to execute a strategic flank movement out of +range, "that with this legacy <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>I offer you my forgiveness for the +perfectly beastly time you have given me. Good morning, sir."</p> + +<p>There was a commanding officer's parade of Houssas at noon. It was not +until he stalked across the square and clicked his heels together as he +reported the full strength of his company present that Hamilton saw his +subordinate again.</p> + +<p>The parade over, Bones went huffily to his quarters.</p> + +<p>He was hurt. To be told he had been shirking his duty touched a very +tender and sensitive spot of his.</p> + +<p>In preparation for the movement which he had expected to make he had +kept his company on the move for a fortnight. For fourteen terrible days +in all kinds of weather, he had worked like a native in the forest; with +sham fights and blank cartridge attacks upon imaginary positions, with +scaling of stockades and building of bridges—all work at which his soul +revolted—to be told at the end he had shirked his work!</p> + +<p>Certainly he had come down to headquarters more often perhaps than was +necessary, but then he was properly interested in the draw of a +continental sweepstake which might, with any kind of luck, place him in +the possession of a considerable fortune. Hamilton was amiable at lunch, +even communicative at dinner, and for him rather serious.</p> + +<p>For if the truth be told he was desperately worried. The cause was, as +it had often been with Sanders, that French-German-Belgian territory +which adjoins <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>the Ochori country. All the bad characters, not only the +French of the Belgian Congo, but of the badly-governed German lands—all +the tax resisters, the murderers, and the criminals of every kind, but +the lawless contingents of every nation, formed a floating nomadic +population in the tree-covered hills which lay beyond the country +governed by Bosambo.</p> + +<p>Of late there had been a larger break-away than usual. A strong force of +rebellious natives was reported to be within a day's march of the Ochori +boundary. This much Hamilton knew. But he had known of such occurrences +before; not once, but a score of times had alarming news come from the +French border.</p> + +<p>He had indeed made many futile trips into the heart of the Ochori +country.</p> + +<p>Forced marches through little known territory, and long and tiring waits +for the invader that never came, had dulled his senses of apprehension. +He had to take a chance. The Administrator's office would warn him from +time to time, and ask him conventionally to make his arrangements to +meet all contingencies and Sanders would as conventionally reply that +the condition of affairs on the Ochori border was engaging his most +earnest attention.</p> + +<p>"What is the use of worrying about it now?" asked Bones at dinner.</p> + +<p>Hamilton shook his head.</p> + +<p>"There was a certain magic in old Sanders' name," he said.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span></p><p>Bones' lips pursed.</p> + +<p>"My dear old chap," he said, "there is a bit of magic in mine."</p> + +<p>"I have not noticed it," said Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"I am getting awfully popular as a matter of fact," said Bones +complacently. "The last time I was up the river, Bosambo came ten miles +down stream to meet me and spend the day."</p> + +<p>"Did you lose anything?" asked Hamilton ungraciously.</p> + +<p>Bones thought.</p> + +<p>"Now you come to mention it," he said slowly, "I did lose quite a lot of +things, but dear old Bosambo wouldn't play a dirty trick on a pal. I +know Bosambo."</p> + +<p>"If there is one thing more evident than another," said Hamilton, "it is +that you do not know Bosambo."</p> + +<p>Hamilton was wakened at three in the next morning by the telegraph +operator. It was a "clear the line" message, coded from headquarters, +and half awake he went into Sanders' study and put it into plain +English.</p> + +<p>"Hope you are watching the Ochori border," it ran, "representations from +French Government to the effect that a crossing is imminent."</p> + +<p>He pulled his mosquito boots on over his pyjamas, struggled into a coat +and crossed to Lieutenant Tibbetts' quarters.</p> + +<p>Bones occupied a big hut at the end of the Houssa lines, and Hamilton +woke him by the simple expedient <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>of flashing his electric hand lamp in +his face.</p> + +<p>"I have had a telegram," he said, and Bones leapt out of bed wide awake +in an instant.</p> + +<p>"I knew jolly well I would draw a horse," he said exultantly. "I had a +dream——"</p> + +<p>"Be serious, you feather-minded devil."</p> + +<p>With that Hamilton handed him the telegram.</p> + +<p>Bones read it carefully, and interpreted any meanings into its +construction which it could not possibly bear.</p> + +<p>"What are you going to do?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"There is only one thing to do," said Hamilton. "We shall have to take +all the men we can possibly muster, and go north at daybreak."</p> + +<p>"Spoken like a jolly old Hannibal," said Bones heartily, and smacked his +superior on the back. A shrill bugle call aroused the sleeping lines, +and Hamilton went back to his quarters to make preparations for the +journey. In the first grey light of dawn he flew three pigeons to +Bosambo, and the message they carried about their red legs was brief.</p> + +<p>"Take your fighting regiments to the edge of Frenchi land; presently I +will come with my soldiers and support you. Let no foreigner pass on +your life and on your head."</p> + +<p>When the rising sun tipped the tops of the palms with gold, and the wild +world was filled with the sound of the birds, the <i>Zaire</i>, her decks +alive with soldiers, began her long journey northward.</p> + +<p>Just before the boat left, Hamilton received a <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>further message from the +Administrator. It was in plain English, some evidence of Sir Robert +Sanleigh's haste.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Confidential: This matter on the Ochori border extremely delicate. +Complete adequate arrangements to keep in touch with me."</p></div> + +<p>For one moment Hamilton conceived the idea of leaving Bones behind to +deal with the telegram and come along. A little thought, however, +convinced him of the futility of this method. For one thing he would +want every bit of assistance he could get, and although Bones had his +disadvantages he was an excellent soldier, and a loyal and gallant +comrade.</p> + +<p>It might be necessary for Hamilton to divide up his forces; in which +case he could hardly dispense with Lieutenant Tibbetts, and he explained +unnecessarily to Bones:</p> + +<p>"I think you are much better under my eye where I can see what you're +doing."</p> + +<p>"Sir," said Bones very seriously, "it is not what I do, it is what I +think. If you could only see my brain at work——"</p> + +<p>"Ha, ha!" said Hamilton rudely.</p> + +<p>For at least three days relations were strained between the two +officers. Bones was a man who admitted at regular intervals that he was +unduly sensitive. He had explained this disadvantage to Hamilton at +various times, but the Houssa stolidly refused to remember the fact.</p> + +<p>Most of the way up the river Hamilton attended <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>to his business +navigation—he knew the stream very well—whilst Bones, in a cabin which +had been rigged up for him in the after part of the ship, played +Patience, and by a systematic course of cheating himself was able to +accomplish marvels. They found the Ochori city deserted save for a +strong guard, for Bosambo had marched the day previous; sending a war +call through the country.</p> + +<p>He had started with a thousand spears, and his force was growing in +snowball fashion as he progressed through the land. The great road which +Notiki, the northern chief, had started by way of punishment was +beginning to take shape. Bosambo had moved with incredible swiftness.</p> + +<p>Too swift, indeed, for a certain Angolian-Congo robber who had headed a +villainous pilgrimage to a land which, as he had predicted, flowed with +milk and honey; was guarded by timorous men and mainly populated by slim +and beautiful maidens. The Blue Books on this migration gave this man's +name as Kisini, but he was in fact an Angolian named Bizaro—a composite +name which smacks suspiciously of Portuguese influence.</p> + +<p>Many times had the unruly people and the lawless bands which occupied +the forest beyond the Ochori threatened to cross into British territory. +But the dangers of the unknown, the awful stories of a certain white +lord who was swift to avenge and monstrously inquisitive had held them. +Year after year there had grown up tribes within tribes, tiny armed +camps that had only this in common, that <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>they were outside the laws +from which they had fled, and that somewhere to the southward and the +eastward were strong forces flying the tricolour of France or the yellow +star of the Belgian Congo, ready to belch fire at them, if they so much +as showed their flat noses.</p> + +<p>It would have needed a Napoleon to have combined all the conflicting +forces, to have lulled all the mutual suspicions, and to have moulded +these incompatible particles into a whole; but, Bizaro, like many +another vain and ambitious man, had sought by means of a great palaver +to produce a feeling of security sufficiently soothing to the nerves and +susceptibilities of all elements, to create something like a nationality +of these scattered remnants of the nations.</p> + +<p>And though he failed, he did succeed in bringing together four or five +of the camps, and it was this news carried to the French Governor by +spies, transmitted to Downing Street, and flashed back again to the +Coast, which set Hamilton and his Houssas moving; which brought a +regiment of the King's African Rifles to the Coast ready to reinforce +the earlier expedition, and which (more to the point) had put Bosambo's +war drums rumbling from one end of the Ochori to the other.</p> + +<p>Bizaro, mustering his force, came gaily through the sun-splashed aisles +of the forest, his face streaked hideously with camwood, his big +elephant spear twirled between his fingers, and behind him straggled his +cosmopolitan force.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span></p><p>There were men from the Congo and the French Congo; men from German +lands; from Angola; wanderers from far-off Barotseland, who had drifted +on to the Congo by the swift and yellow Kasai. There were hunters from +the forests of far-off Bongindanga where the <i>okapi</i> roams. For each +man's presence in that force there was good and sinister reason, for +these were no mere tax-evaders, poor, starved wretches fleeing from the +rule which <i>Bula Matadi</i><a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> imposed. There was a blood price on almost +every head, and in a dozen prisons at Boma, at Brazaville, and +Equatorville, and as far south as St. Paul de Loduda, there were +leg-irons which had at some time or other fitted their scarred ankles.</p> + +<p>Now there are four distinct physical features which mark the border line +between the border land and the foreign territory. Mainly the line is a +purely imaginary one, not traceable save by the most delicate +instruments—a line which runs through a tangle of forest.</p> + +<p>But the most noticeable crossing place is N'glili.<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + +<p>Here a little river, easily fordable, and not more than a dozen spear +lengths across flows from one wood into another. Between the two woods +is a clear space of thick grass and shrub. In the spring of the year the +banks of the stream are white with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>arum-lilies, and the field beyond, +at a later period, is red with wild anemone.</p> + +<p>The dour fugitives on the other side of the stream have a legend that +those who safely cross the "Field of Blood"—so they call the +anemone-sprinkled land beyond—without so much as crushing a flower may +claim sanctuary under the British flag.</p> + +<p>So that when Bizaro sighted the stream, and the two tall trees that +flanked the ford, from afar off and said: "To-day we will walk between +the flowers," he was signifying the definite character of his plans.</p> + +<p>"Master," said one of the more timid of his muster, when they had halted +for a rest in sight of the promised land, "what shall we do when we come +to these strange places?"</p> + +<p>"We shall defeat all manner of men," said Bizaro optimistically. +"Afterwards they shall come and sue for peace, and they shall give us a +wide land where we may build us huts and sow our corn. And they also +will give us women, and we shall settle in comfort, and I will be chief +over you. And, growing with the moons, in time I shall make you a great +nation."</p> + +<p>They might have crossed the stream that evening and committed themselves +irrevocably to their invasion. Bizaro was a criminal, and a lazy man, +and he decided to sleep where he was—an act fatal to the smooth +performance of his enterprise, for when in the early hours of the +morning he marched <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>his horde to the N'glili river he found two thousand +spears lining the opposite bank, and they were under a chief who was at +once insolent and unmoved by argument.</p> + +<p>"O chief," said Bosambo pleasantly, "you do not cross my beautiful +flowers to-day."</p> + +<p>"Lord," said Bizaro humbly, "we are poor men who desire a new land."</p> + +<p>"That you shall have," said Bosambo grimly, "for I have sent my warriors +to dig big holes wherein you may take your rest in this land you +desire."</p> + +<p>An unhappy Bizaro carried his six hundred spears slowly back to the land +from whence he had come and found on return to the mixed tribes that he +had unconsciously achieved a miracle. For the news of armed men by the +N'glili river carried terror to these evil men—they found themselves +between two enemies and chose the force which they feared least.</p> + +<p>On the fourth day following his interview with Bosambo, Bizaro led five +thousand desperate men to the ford and there was a sanguinary battle +which lasted for the greater part of the morning and was repeated at +sundown.</p> + +<p>Hamilton brought his Houssas up in the nick of time, when one wing of +Bosambo's force was being thrust back and when Bizaro's desperate +adventurers had gained the Ochori bank. Hamilton came through the +clearing, and formed his men rapidly.</p> + +<p>Sword in hand, in advance of the glittering <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>bayonets, Bones raced +across the red field, and after one brief and glorious mêlée the invader +was driven back, and a dropping fire from the left, as the Houssas shot +steadily at the flying enemy, completed the disaster to Bizaro's force.</p> + +<p>"That settles <i>that</i>!" said Hamilton.</p> + +<p>He had pitched his camp on the scene of his exploit, the bivouac fires +of the Houssas gleamed redly amongst the anemones.</p> + +<p>"Did you see me in action?" asked Bones, a little self-consciously.</p> + +<p>"No, I didn't notice anything particularly striking about the fight in +your side of the world," said Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you did not see me bowl over a big Congo chap?" asked Bones, +carelessly, as he opened a tin of preserved tongue. "Two at once I +bowled over," he repeated.</p> + +<p>"What do you expect me to do?" asked Hamilton unpleasantly. "Get up and +cheer, or recommend you for the Victoria Cross or something?"</p> + +<p>Bones carefully speared a section of tongue from the open tin before he +replied.</p> + +<p>"I had not thought about the Victoria Cross, to tell you the truth," he +admitted; "but if you feel that you ought to recommend me for something +or other for conspicuous courage in the face of the enemy, do not let +your friendship stand in the way."</p> + +<p>"I will not," said Hamilton.</p> + +<p>There was a little pause, then without raising his eyes from the task in +hand which was at that precise <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>moment the covering of a biscuit with a +large and generous layer of marmalade, Bones went on.</p> + +<p>"I practically saved the life of one of Bosambo's headmen. He was on the +ground and three fellows were jabbing at him. The moment they saw me +they dropped their spears and fled."</p> + +<p>"I expect it was your funny nose that did the trick," said Hamilton +unimpressed.</p> + +<p>"I stood there," Bones went on loftily ignoring the gratuitous insult, +"waiting for anything that might turn up; exposed, dear old fellow, to +every death-dealing missile, but calmly directing, if you will allow me +to say so, the tide of battle. It was," he added modestly, "one of the +bravest deeds I ever saw."</p> + +<p>He waited, but Hamilton had his mouth full of tongue sandwich.</p> + +<p>"If you mention me in dispatches," Bones went on suggestively.</p> + +<p>"Don't worry—I shan't," said Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"But if you did," persisted Lieutenant Tibbetts, poising his sticky +biscuit, "I can only say——"</p> + +<p>"The marmalade is running down your sleeve," said Hamilton; "shut up, +Bones, like a good chap."</p> + +<p>Bones sighed.</p> + +<p>"The fact of it is, Hamilton," he was frank enough to say, "I have been +serving so far without hope of reward and scornful of honour, but now I +have reached the age and the position in life where I feel I am entitled +to some slight recognition to solace my declining years."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p><p>"How long have you been in the army?" asked Hamilton, curiously.</p> + +<p>"Eighteen months," replied Bones; "nineteen months next week, and it's a +jolly long time, I can tell you, sir."</p> + +<p>Leaving his dissatisfied subordinate, Hamilton made the round of the +camp. The red field, as he called it, was in reality a low-lying meadow, +which rose steeply to the bank of the river on the one side and more +steeply—since it first sloped downward in that direction—to the Ochori +forest, two miles away. He made this discovery with a little feeling of +alarm. He knew something of native tactics, and though his scouts had +reported that the enemy was effectually routed, and that the nearest +body was five miles away, he put a strong advance picquet on the other +side of the river, and threw a wide cordon of sentries about the camp. +Especially he apportioned Abiboo, his own sergeant, the task of watching +the little river which flowed swiftly between its orderly banks past the +sunken camp. For two days Abiboo watched and found nothing to report.</p> + +<p>Not so the spies who were keeping watch upon the moving remnants of +Bizaro's army.</p> + +<p>They came with the news that the main body had mysteriously disappeared. +To add to Hamilton's anxiety he received a message by way of +headquarters and the Ochori city from the Administrator.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Be prepared at the first urgent message from myself to fall back +on the Ochori city. German <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>Government claim that whole of country +for two miles north of river N'glili is their territory. Most +delicate situation. International complications feared. Rely on +your discretion, but move swiftly if you receive orders."</p></div> + +<p>"Leave this to me," said Bones when Hamilton read the message out; "did +I ever tell you, sir, that I was intended for the diplomatic +service——"</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>The truth about the Ochori border has never been thoroughly exposed. If +you get into your mind the fact that the Imperialists of four nations +were dreaming dreams of a trans-African railway which was to tap the +resources of the interior, and if you remember that each patriotic +dreamer conceived a different kind of railway according to his +nationality and that they only agreed upon one point, namely, that the +line must point contiguous with the Ochori border, you may understand +dimly some reason for the frantic claim that that little belt of +territory, two miles wide, was part of the domain of each and every one +of the contestants.</p> + +<p>When the news was flashed to Europe that a party of British Houssas were +holding the banks of the N'glili river, and had inflicted a loss upon a +force of criminals, the approval which civilization should rightly have +bestowed upon Captain Hamilton and his heroic lieutenant was tempered +largely by the question as to whether Captain Hamilton and his Houssas +had any right whatever to be upon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>"the red field." And in consequence +the telegraph lines between Berlin and Paris and Paris and London and +London and Brussels were kept fairly busy with passionate statements of +claims couched in the stilted terminology of diplomacy.</p> + +<p>England could not recede from the position she had taken. This she said +in French and in German, and in her own perfidious tongue. She stated +this uncompromisingly, but at the same time sent secret orders to +withdraw the force that was the bone of contention. This order she soon +countermanded. A certain speech delivered by a too voluble Belgian +minister was responsible for the stiffening of her back, and His +Excellency the Administrator of the territory received official +instructions in the middle of the night: "Tell Hamilton to stay where he +is and hold border against all comers."</p> + +<p>This message was re-transmitted.</p> + +<p>Now there is in existence in the British Colonial Service, and in all +branches which affect the agents and the servants of the Colonial +Office, an emergency code which is based upon certain characters in +Shakespearean plays.</p> + +<p>I say "there is"; perhaps it would be better and more to the point if I +said "there was," since the code has been considerably amended.</p> + +<p>Thus, be he sub-inspector or commissioner, or chief of local native +police who receives the word "Ophelia," he knows without consulting any +book that "Ophelia" means "unrest of natives reported <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>in your district, +please report"; or if it be "Polonius" it signifies to him—and this he +knows without confirming his knowledge—that he must move steadily +forward. Or if it be "Banquo" he reads into it, "Hold your position till +further orders." And "Banquo" was the word that the Administrator +telegraphed.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Sergeant Abiboo had sat by the flowing N'glili river without noticing +any slackening of its strength or challenging of its depth.</p> + +<p>There was reason for this.</p> + +<p>Bizaro, who was in the forest ten miles to the westward, and working +moreover upon a piece of native strategy which natives the world over +had found successful, saw that it was unnecessary to dam the river and +divert the stream.</p> + +<p>Nature had assisted him to a marvellous degree. He had followed the +stream through the forest until he reached a place where it was a +quarter of a mile wide, so wide and so newly spread that the water +reached half-way up the trunks of the sodden and dying trees.</p> + +<p>Moreover, there was a bank through which a hundred men might cut a +breach in a day or so, even though they went about their work most +leisurely, being constitutionally averse to manual labour.</p> + +<p>Bizaro was no engineer, but he had all the forest man's instincts of +water-levels. There was a clear run down to the meadows beyond that, as +he said, he "smelt."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span></p><p>"We will drown these dogs," he said to his headman, "and afterwards we +will walk into the country and take it for our own."</p> + +<p>Hamilton had been alive to the danger of such an attack. He saw by +certain indications of the soil that this great shallow valley had been +inundated more than once, though probably many years had passed since +the last overflow of water. Yet he could not move from where he had +planted himself without risking the displeasure of his chief and without +also risking very serious consequences in other directions.</p> + +<p>Bosambo, frankly bored, was all for retiring his men to the comforts of +the Ochori city.</p> + +<p>"Lord, why do we sit here?" he asked, "looking at this little stream +which has no fish and at this great ugly country, when I have my +beautiful city for your lordship's reception, and dancing folk and great +feasts?"</p> + +<p>"A doocid sensible idea," murmured Bones.</p> + +<p>"I wait for a book," answered Hamilton shortly. "If you wish to go, you +may take your soldiers and leave me."</p> + +<p>"Lord," said Bosambo, "you put shame on me," and he looked his reproach.</p> + +<p>"I am really surprised at you, Hamilton," murmured Bones.</p> + +<p>"Keep your infernal comments to yourself," snapped his superior. "I tell +you I must wait for my instructions."</p> + +<p>He was a silent man for the rest of the evening, and had settled himself +down in his canvas chair <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>to doze away the night, when a travel-stained +messenger came from the Ochori and he brought a telegram of one word.</p> + +<p>Hamilton looked at it, he looked too with a frown at the figures that +preceded it.</p> + +<p>"And what you mean," he muttered, "the Lord knows!"</p> + +<p>The word, however, was sufficiently explicit. A bugle call brought the +Houssas into line and the tapping of Bosambo's drums assembled his +warriors.</p> + +<p>Within half an hour of the receipt of the message Hamilton's force was +on the move.</p> + +<p>They crossed the great stretch of meadow in the darkness and were +climbing up towards the forest when a noise like thunder broke upon +their ears.</p> + +<p>Such a roaring, crashing, hissing of sound came nearer and nearer, +increasing in volume every second. The sky was clear, and one swift +glance told Hamilton that it was not a storm he had to fear. And then it +came upon him, and he realized what this commotion meant.</p> + +<p>"Run!" he cried, and with one accord naked warriors and uniformed +Houssas fled through the darkness to the higher ground. The water came +rushing about Hamilton's ankles, one man slipped back again into the +flood and was hauled out again by Bones, exclaiming loudly his own act +lest it should have escaped the attention of his superior, and the party +reached safety without the loss of a man.</p> + +<p>"Just in time," said Hamilton grimly. "I <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>wonder if the Administrator +knew this was going to happen?"</p> + +<p>They came to the Ochori by easy marches, and Hamilton wrote a long wire +to headquarters sending it on ahead by a swift messenger.</p> + +<p>It was a dispatch which cleared away many difficulties, for the disputed +territory was for everlasting under water, and where the "red field" had +blazed brilliantly was a calm stretch of river two miles wide filled +with strange silent brown objects that floated and bobbed to the +movement of the tide. These were the men who in their folly had loosened +the waters and died of their rashness. Most notable of these was Bizaro.</p> + +<p>There was a shock waiting for Hamilton when he reached the Ochori city. +The wire from the Administrator was kindly enough and sufficiently +approving to satisfy even an exigent Bones. "But," it ran, "why did you +retire in face of stringent orders to remain? I wired you 'Banquo.'"</p> + +<p>Hamilton afterwards learnt that the messenger carrying this important +dispatch had passed his party in their retirement through the forest.</p> + +<p>"Banquo," quoted Hamilton in amazement. "I received absolute +instructions to retire."</p> + +<p>"Hard cheese," said Bones, sympathetically. "His dear old Excellency +wants a good talking to; but are you sure, dear old chap, that you +haven't made a mistake."</p> + +<p>"Here it is," he said, "but I must confess that I don't understand the +numbers."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span></p><p>He handed it to Bones. It read:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i6">"Mercutio 17178."</span></div> + +<p>Bones looked at it a moment, then gasped. He reached out his hand +solemnly and grasped that of the astounded Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"Dear old fellow," he said in a broken voice, "Congratulate me, I have +drawn a runner!"</p> + +<p>"A runner?"</p> + +<p>"A runner, dear old sport," chortled Bones, "in the Cambridgeshire! You +see I've got a ticket number seventeen, seventeen eight in my pocket, +dear old friend! If Mercutio wins," he repeated solemnly, "I will stand +you the finest dinner that can be secured this side of Romano's."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI</h2> + +<h2>THE SOUL OF THE NATIVE WOMAN</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">M</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">ail</span> +day is ever a day of supreme interest for the young and for the +matter of that for the middle-aged, too. Sanders hated mail days because +the bulk of his correspondence had to do with Government, and Government +never sat down with a pen in its hand to wish Sanders many happy returns +of the day or to tell him scandalous stories about mutual friends.</p> + +<p>Rather the Government (by inference) told him scandalous stories about +himself—of work not completed to the satisfaction of Downing Street—a +thoroughfare given to expecting miracles.</p> + +<p>Hamilton had a sister who wrote wittily and charmingly every week, and +there was another girl ... Still, two letters and a bright pink paper or +two made a modest postbag by the side of Lieutenant Tibbetts' mail.</p> + +<p>There came to Bones every mail day a thick wad of letters and parcels +innumerable, and he could sit at the big table for hours on end, +whistling a little out of tune, mumbling incoherently. He had a trick of +commenting upon his letters aloud, which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>was very disconcerting for +Hamilton. Bones wouldn't open a letter and get half-way through it +before he began his commenting.</p> + +<p>"... poor soul ... dear! dear! ... what a silly old ass ... ah, would +you ... don't do it, Billy...."</p> + +<p>To Hamilton's eyes the bulk of correspondence rather increased than +diminished.</p> + +<p>"You must owe a lot of money," he said one day.</p> + +<p>"Eh!"</p> + +<p>"All these...!" Hamilton opened his hand to a floor littered with +discarded envelopes. "I suppose they represent demands...."</p> + +<p>"Dear lad," said Bones brightly, "they represent popularity—I'm +immensely popular, sir," he gulped a little as he fished out two dainty +envelopes from the pile before him; "you may not have experienced the +sensation, but I assure you, sir, it's pleasing, it's doocidly +pleasing!"</p> + +<p>"Complacent ass," said Hamilton, and returned to his own correspondence.</p> + +<p>Systematically Bones went through his letters, now and again consulting +a neat little morocco-covered note-book. (It would appear he kept a very +careful record of every letter he wrote home, its contents, the date of +its dispatch, and the reply thereto.) He had reduced letter writing to a +passion, spent most of his evenings writing long epistles to his +friends—mostly ladies of a tender age—and had incidentally acquired a +reputation in the Old Country for his brilliant powers of narrative.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span></p><p>This, Hamilton discovered quite by accident. It would appear that +Hamilton's sister had been on a visit—was in fact on the visit when she +wrote one letter which so opened Hamilton's eyes—and mentioned that she +was staying with some great friends of Bones'. She did not, of course, +call him "Bones," but "Mr. Tibbetts."</p> + +<p>"I should awfully like to meet him," she wrote, "he must be a very +interesting man. Aggie Vernon had a letter from him yesterday wherein he +described his awful experience lion-hunting.</p> + +<p>"To be chased by a lion and caught and then carried to the beast's lair +must have been awful!</p> + +<p>"Mr. Tibbetts is very modest about it in his letter, and beyond telling +Aggie that he escaped by sticking his finger in the lion's eye he says +little of his subsequent adventure. By the way, Pat, Aggie tells me that +you had a bad bout of fever and that Mr. Tibbetts carried you for some +miles to the nearest doctor. I wish you wouldn't keep these things so +secret, it worries me dreadfully unless you tell me—even the worst +about yourself. I hope your interesting friend returned safely from his +dangerous expedition into the interior—he was on the point of leaving +when his letter was dispatched and was quite gloomy about his +prospects...."</p> + +<p>Hamilton read this epistle over and over again, then he sent for Bones.</p> + +<p>That gentleman came most cheerfully, full of fine animal spirits, +and——</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span></p><p>"Just had a letter about you, Bones," said Hamilton carelessly.</p> + +<p>"About me, sir!" said Bones; "from the War Office—I'm not being +decorated or anything!" he asked anxiously.</p> + +<p>"No—nothing so tragic; it was a letter from my sister, who is staying +with the Vernons."</p> + +<p>"Oh!" said Bones going suddenly red.</p> + +<p>"What a modest devil you are," said the admiring Hamilton, "having a +lion hunt all to yourself and not saying a word about it to anybody."</p> + +<p>Bones made curious apologetic noises.</p> + +<p>"I didn't know there were any lions in the country," pursued Hamilton +remorselessly. "Liars, yes! But lions, no! I suppose you brought them +with you—and I suppose you know also, Bones, that it is considered in +lion-hunting circles awfully rude to stick your finger into a lion's +eye? It is bad sportsmanship to say the least, and frightfully painful +for the lion."</p> + +<p>Bones was making distressful grimaces.</p> + +<p>"How would you like a lion to stick his finger in <i>your</i> eye?" asked +Hamilton severely; "and, by the way, Bones, I have to thank you."</p> + +<p>He rose solemnly, took the hand of his reluctant and embarrassed second +and wrung.</p> + +<p>"Thank you," said Hamilton, in a broken voice, "for saving my life."</p> + +<p>"Oh, I say, sir," began Bones feebly.</p> + +<p>"To carry a man eighty miles on your back is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>no mean accomplishment, +Bones—especially when I was unconscious——"</p> + +<p>"I don't say you were unconscious, sir. In fact, sir——" floundered +Lieutenant Tibbetts as red as a peony.</p> + +<p>"And yet I was unconscious," insisted Hamilton firmly. "I am still +unconscious, even to this day. I have no recollection of your heroic +effort, Bones, I thank you."</p> + +<p>"Well, sir," said Bones, "to make a clean breast of the whole +affair——"</p> + +<p>"And this dangerous expedition of yours, Bones, an expedition from which +you might never return—that," said Hamilton in a hushed voice, "is the +best story I have heard for years."</p> + +<p>"Sir," said Bones, speaking under the stress of considerable emotion, "I +am clean bowled, sir. The light-hearted fairy stories which I wrote to +cheer, so to speak, the sick-bed of an innocent child, sir, they have +recoiled upon my own head. <i>Peccavi, mea culpi</i>, an' all those jolly old +expressions that you'll find in the back pages of the dictionary."</p> + +<p>"Oh, Bones, Bones!" chuckled Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"You mustn't think I'm a perfect liar, sir," began Bones, earnestly.</p> + +<p>"I don't think you're a perfect liar," answered Hamilton, "I think +you're the most inefficient liar I've ever met."</p> + +<p>"Not even a liar, I'm a romancist, sir," Bones stiffened with dignity +and saluted, but whether he was saluting Hamilton, or the spirit of +Romance, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>or in sheer admiration was saluting himself, Hamilton did not +know.</p> + +<p>"The fact is, sir," said Bones confidentially, "I'm writing a book!"</p> + +<p>He stepped back as though to better observe the effect of his words.</p> + +<p>"What about?" asked Hamilton, curiously.</p> + +<p>"About things I've seen and things I know," said Bones, in his most +impressive manner.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I see!" said Hamilton, "one of those waistcoat pocket books."</p> + +<p>Bones swallowed the insult with a gulp.</p> + +<p>"I've been asked to write a book," he said; "my adventures an' all that +sort of thing. Of course they needn't have happened, really——"</p> + +<p>"In that case, Bones, I'm with you," said Hamilton; "if you're going to +write a book about things that haven't happened to you, there's no limit +to its size."</p> + +<p>"You're bein' a jolly cruel old officer, sir," said Bones, pained by the +cold cynicism of his chief. "But I'm very serious, sir. This country is +full of material. And everybody says I ought to write a book about +it—why, dash it, sir, I've been here nearly two months!"</p> + +<p>"It seems years," said Hamilton.</p> + +<p>Bones was perfectly serious, as he had said. He did intend preparing a +book for publication, had dreams of a great literary career, and an +ultimate membership of the Athenæum Club belike. It had come upon him +like a revelation that such a career <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>called him. The week after he had +definitely made up his mind to utilize his gifts in this direction, his +outgoing mail was heavier than ever. For to three and twenty English and +American publishers, whose names he culled from a handy work of +reference, he advanced a business-like offer to prepare for the press a +volume "of 316 pages printed in type about the same size as enclosed," +and to be entitled:</p> + +<p class="center">MY WILD LIFE AMONGST CANNIBALS.</p> + +<p class="center">BY</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Augustus Tibbetts</span>, Lieutenant of Houssas.</p> + +<p class="center">Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; Fellow<br />of the Royal +Asiatic Society; Member of the<br />Ethnological Society and Junior Army +Service Club.</p> + +<p>Bones had none of these qualifications, save the latter, but as he told +himself he'd jolly soon be made a member if his book was a howling +success.</p> + +<p>No sooner had his letters been posted than he changed his mind, and he +addressed three and twenty more letters to the publishers, altering the +title to:</p> + +<p class="center">THE TYRANNY OF THE WILDS.</p> + +<p class="center">Being Some Observations on the Habits and Customs<br /> +of Savage Peoples.</p> + +<p class="center">BY</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Augustus Tibbetts (Lt.)</span>.</p> + +<p class="center">With a Foreword by Captain Patrick Hamilton.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span></p><p>"You wouldn't mind writing a foreword, dear old fellow?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Charmed," said Hamilton. "Have you a particular preference for any +form?"</p> + +<p>"Just please yourself, sir," said a delighted Bones, so Hamilton covered +two sheets of foolscap with an appreciation which began:</p> + +<p>"The audacity of the author of this singularly uninformed work is to be +admired without necessarily being imitated. Two months' residence in a +land which offered many opportunities for acquiring inaccurate data, has +resulted in a work which must stand for all time as a monument of +murderous effort," etc.</p> + +<p>Bones read the appreciation very carefully.</p> + +<p>"Dear old sport," he said, a little troubled, as he reached the end; +"this is almost uncomplimentary."</p> + +<p>You couldn't depress Bones or turn him from his set purpose. He scribed +away, occupying his leisure moments with his great work. His normal +correspondence suffered cruelly, but Bones was relentless. Hamilton sent +him north to collect the hut tax, and at first Bones resented this +order, believing that it was specially designed to hamper him.</p> + +<p>"Of course, sir," he said, "I'll obey you, if you order me in accordance +with regulations an' all that sort of rot, but believe me, sir, you're +doin' an injury to literature. Unborn generations, sir, will demand an +explanation——"</p> + +<p>"Get out!" said Hamilton crossly.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span></p><p>Bones found his trip a blessing that had been well disguised. There were +many points of interest on which he required first-hand information. He +carried with him to the <i>Zaire</i> large exercise books on which he had +pasted such pregnant labels as "Native Customs," "Dances," "Ju-jus," +"Ancient Legends," "Folk-lore," etc. They were mostly blank, and +represented projected chapters of his great work.</p> + +<p>All might have been well with Bones. More virgin pages might easily have +been covered with his sprawling writing and the book itself, converted +into honest print, have found its way, in the course of time, into the +tuppenny boxes of the Farringdon book-mart, sharing its soiled +magnificence with the work of the best of us, but on his way Bones had a +brilliant inspiration. There was a chapter he had not thought of, a +chapter heading which had not been born to his mind until that flashing +moment of genius.</p> + +<p>Upon yet another exercise book, he pasted the label of a chapter which +was to eclipse all others in interest. Behold then, this enticing +announcement, boldly printed and ruled about with double lines:</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i6">"THE SOUL OF THE NATIVE WOMAN."</span></div> + +<p>It was a fine chapter title. It was sonorous, it <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>had dignity, it was +full of possibilities. "The Soul of the Native Woman," repeated Bones, +in an ecstasy of self-admiration, and having chosen his subject he +proceeded to find out something about it.</p> + +<p>Now, about this time, Bosambo of the Ochori might, had he wished and had +he the literary quality, have written many books about women, if for no +other reason than because of a certain girl named D'riti.</p> + +<p>She was a woman of fifteen, grown to a splendid figure, with a proud +head and a chin that tilted in contempt, for she was the daughter of +Bosambo's chief counsellor, grand-daughter of an Ochori king, and +ambitious to be wife of Bosambo himself.</p> + +<p>"This is a mad thing," said Bosambo when her father offered the +suggestion; "for, as you know, T'meli, I have one wife who is a thousand +wives to me."</p> + +<p>"Lord, I will be ten thousand," said D'riti, present at the interview +and bold; "also, Lord, it was predicted at my birth that I should marry +a king and the greater than a king."</p> + +<p>"That is me," said Bosambo, who was without modesty; "yet, it cannot +be."</p> + +<p>So they married D'riti to a chief's son who beat her till one day she +broke his thick head with an iron pot, whereupon he sent her back to her +father demanding the return of his dowry and the value of his pot.</p> + +<p>She had her following, for she was a dancer of fame and could twist her +lithe body into enticing <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>shapes. She might have married again, but she +was so scornful of common men that none dare ask for her. Also the +incident of the iron pot was not forgotten, and D'riti went swaying +through the village—she walked from her hips, gracefully—a straight, +brown, girl-woman desired and unasked.</p> + +<p>For she knew men too well to inspire confidence in them. By some weird +intuition which certain women of all races acquire, she had probed +behind their minds and saw with their eyes, and when she spoke of men, +she spoke with a conscious authority, and such men, who were within +earshot of her vitriolic comments, squirmed uncomfortably, and called +her a woman of shame.</p> + +<p>So matters stood when the <i>Zaire</i> came flashing to the Ochori city and +the heart of Bones filled with pleasant anticipation.</p> + +<p>Who was so competent to inform him on the matter of the souls of native +women as Bosambo of the Ochori, already a crony of Bones, and admirable, +if for no other reason, because he professed an open reverence for his +new master? At any rate, after the haggle of tax collection was +finished, Bones set about his task.</p> + +<p>"Bosambo," said he, "men say you are very wise. Now tell me something +about the women of the Ochori."</p> + +<p>Bosambo looked at Bones a little startled.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said he, "who knows about women? For is it not written in the +blessed Sura of the Djin <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>that women and death are beyond +understanding?"</p> + +<p>"That may be true," said Bones, "yet, behold, I make a book full of wise +and wonderful things and it would be neither wise nor wonderful if there +was no word of women."</p> + +<p>And he explained very seriously indeed that he desired to know of the +soul of native womanhood, of her thoughts and her dreams and her high +desires.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said Bosambo, after a long thought, "go to your ship: presently +I will send to you a girl who thinks and speaks with great wisdom—and +if she talks with you, you shall learn more things than I can tell you."</p> + +<p>To the <i>Zaire</i> at sundown came D'riti, a girl of proper height, hollow +backed, bare to the waist, with a thin skirting of fine silk cloth which +her father had brought from the Coast, wound tightly about her, yet not +so tightly that it hampered her swaying, lazy walk. She stood before a +disconcerted Bones, one small hand resting on her hip, her chin (as +usual) tilted down at him from under lashes uncommonly long for a +native.</p> + +<p>Also, this Bones saw, she was gifted with more delicate features than +the native woman can boast as a rule. The nose was straight and narrow, +the lips full, yet not of the negroid type. She was in fact a pure +Ochori woman, and the Ochori are related dimly to the Arabi tribes.</p> + +<p>"Lord, Bosambo the King has sent me to speak about women," she said +simply.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span></p><p>"Doocidly awkward," said Bones to himself, and blushed.</p> + +<p>"O, D'riti," he stammered, "it is true I wish to speak of women, for I +make a book that all white lords will read."</p> + +<p>"Therefore have I come," she said. "Now listen, O my lord, whilst I tell +you of women, and of all they think, of their love for men and of the +strange way they show it. Also of children——"</p> + +<p>"Look here," said Bones, loudly. "I don't want any—any—private +information, my child——"</p> + +<p>Then realizing from her frown that she did not understand him, he +returned to Bomongo.</p> + +<p>"Lord, I will say what is to be said," she remarked, meekly, "for you +have a gentle face and I see that your heart is very pure."</p> + +<p>Then she began, and Bones listened with open mouth ... later he was to +feel his hair rise and was to utter gurgling protests, for she spoke +with primitive simplicity about things that are never spoken about at +all. He tried to check her, but she was not to be checked.</p> + +<p>"Goodness, gracious heavens!" gasped Bones.</p> + +<p>She told him of what women think of men, and of what men <i>think</i> women +think of them, and there was a remarkable discrepancy if she spoke the +truth. He asked her if she was married.</p> + +<p>"Lord," she said at last, eyeing him thoughtfully, "it is written that I +shall marry one who is greater than chiefs."</p> + +<p>"I'll bet you will, too," thought Bones, sweating.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p><p>At parting she took his hand and pressed it to her cheek.</p> + +<p>"Lord," she said, softly, "to-morrow when the sun is nearly down, I will +come again and tell you more...."</p> + +<p>Bones left before daybreak, having all the material he wanted for his +book and more.</p> + +<p>He took his time descending the river, calling at sundry places.</p> + +<p>At Ikan he tied up the <i>Zaire</i> for the night, and whilst his men were +carrying the wood aboard, he settled himself to put down the gist of his +discoveries. In the midst of his labours came Abiboo.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said he, "there has just come by a fast canoe the woman who +spoke with you last night."</p> + +<p>"Jumping Moses!" said Bones, turning pale, "say to this woman that I am +gone——"</p> + +<p>But the woman came round the corner of the deck-house, shyly, yet with a +certain confidence.</p> + +<p>"Lord," she said, "behold I am here, your poor slave; there are +wonderful things about women which I have not told you——"</p> + +<p>"O, D'riti!" said Bones in despair, "I know all things, and it is not +lawful that you should follow me so far from your home lest evil be said +of you."</p> + +<p>He sent her to the hut of the chief's wife—M'lini-fo-bini of Ikan—with +instructions that she was to be returned to her home on the following +morning. Then he went back to his work, but found it strangely +distasteful. He left nothing to chance the next day.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span></p><p>With the dawn he slipped down the river at full speed, never so much as +halting till day began to fail, and he was a short day's journey from +headquarters.</p> + +<p>"Anyhow, the poor dear won't overtake me to-day," he said—only to find +the "poor dear" had stowed herself away on the steamer in the night +behind a pile of wood.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"It's very awkward," said Hamilton, and coughed.</p> + +<p>Bones looked at his chief pathetically.</p> + +<p>"It's doocid awkward, sir," he agreed dismally.</p> + +<p>"You say she won't go back?"</p> + +<p>Bones shook his head.</p> + +<p>"She said I'm the moon and the sun an' all sorts of rotten things to +her, sir," he groaned and wiped his forehead.</p> + +<p>"Send her to me," said Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"Be kind to her, sir," pleaded the miserable Bones. "After all, sir, the +poor girl seems to be fond of me, sir—the human heart, sir—I don't +know why she should take a fancy to me."</p> + +<p>"That's what I want to know," said Hamilton, briefly; "if she <i>is</i> mad, +I'll send her to the mission hospital along the Coast."</p> + +<p>"You've a hard and bitter heart," said Bones, sadly.</p> + +<p>D'riti came ready to flash her anger and eloquence at Hamilton; on the +verge of defiance.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span></p><p>"D'riti," said Hamilton, "to-morrow I send you back to your people."</p> + +<p>"Lord, I stay with Tibbetti who loves women and is happy to talk of +them. Also some day I shall be his wife, for this is foretold." She shot +a tender glance at poor Bones.</p> + +<p>"That cannot be," said Hamilton calmly, "for Tibbetti has three wives, +and they are old and fierce——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, lord!" wailed Bones.</p> + +<p>"And they would beat you and make you carry wood and water," Hamilton +said; he saw the look of apprehension steal into the girl's face. "And +more than this, D'riti, the Lord Tibbetti is mad when the moon is in +full, he foams at the mouth and bites, uttering awful noises."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dirty trick!" almost sobbed Bones.</p> + +<p>"Go, therefore, D'riti," said Hamilton, "and I will give you a piece of +fine cloth, and beads of many colours."</p> + +<p>It is a matter of history that D'riti went.</p> + +<p>"I don't know what you think of me, sir," said Bones, humbly, "of course +I couldn't get rid of her——"</p> + +<p>"You didn't try," said Hamilton, searching his pockets for his pipe. +"You could have made her drop you like a shot."</p> + +<p>"How, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Stuck your finger in her eye," said Hamilton, and Bones swallowed hard.</p> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII</h2> + +<h2>THE STRANGER WHO WALKED BY NIGHT</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">S</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">ince</span> +the day when Lieutenant Francis Augustus Tibbetts rescued from the +sacrificial trees the small brown baby whom he afterwards christened +Henry Hamilton Bones, the interests of that young officer were to a very +large extent extremely concentrated upon that absorbing problem which a +famous journal once popularized, "What shall we do with our boys?"</p> + +<p>As to the exact nature of the communications which Bones made to England +upon the subject, what hairbreadth escapes and desperate adventure he +detailed with that facile pen of his, who shall say?</p> + +<p>It is unfortunate that Hamilton's sister—that innocent purveyor of home +news—had no glimpse of the correspondence, and that other recipients of +his confidence are not in touch with the writer of these chronicles. +Whatever he wrote, with what fervour he described his wanderings in the +forest no one knows, but certainly he wrote to some purpose.</p> + +<p>"What the dickens are all these parcels that have come for you for?" +demanded his superior <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>officer, eyeing with disfavour a mountain of +brown paper packages be-sealed, be-stringed, and be-stamped.</p> + +<p>Bones, smoking his pipe, turned them over.</p> + +<p>"I don't know for certain," he said, carefully; "but I shouldn't be +surprised if they aren't clothes, dear old officer."</p> + +<p>"Clothes?"</p> + +<p>"For Henry," explained Bones, and cutting the string of one and tearing +away its covering revealed a little mountain of snowy garments. Bones +turned them over one by one.</p> + +<p>"For Henry," he repeated; "could you tell me, sir, what these things are +for?"</p> + +<p>He held up a garment white and small and frilly.</p> + +<p>"No, sir, I can't," said Hamilton stiffly, "unless like the ass that you +are you have forgotten to mention to your friends that Henry is a +gentleman child."</p> + +<p>Bones looked up at the blue sky and scratched his chin.</p> + +<p>"I may have called him 'her,'" he confessed.</p> + +<p>There were, to be exact, sixteen parcels and each contained at least one +such garment, and in addition a very warm shawl, "which," said Hamilton, +"will be immensely useful when it snows."</p> + +<p>With the aid of his orderly, Bones sorted out the wardrobe and the +playthings (including many volumes of the +Oh-look-at-the-rat-on-the-mat-where-is-the-cat? variety), and these he +carried to his hut with such dignity as he could summon.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span></p><p>That evening, Hamilton paid his subordinate a visit. Henry, pleasingly +arrayed in a pair of the misdirected garments with a large bonnet on his +head, and seated on the floor of the quarters contentedly chewing Bones' +watch, whilst Bones, accompanying himself with his banjo, was singing a +song which was chiefly remarkable for the fact that he was ignorant of +the tune and somewhat hazy concerning the words.</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<span class="i6">"Did you ever take a tum-ty up the Nile,</span> +<span class="i6">Did you ever dumpty dupty in a camp,</span> +<span class="i6">Or dumpty dumpty on m—m——</span> +<span class="i6">Or play it in a dumpty dumpty swamp."</span> +</div> + +<p>He rose, and saluted his senior, as Hamilton came in.</p> + +<p>"Exactly what is going to happen when Sanders comes back?" asked +Hamilton, and the face of Bones fell.</p> + +<p>"Happen, sir? I don't take you, sir—what <i>could</i> happen—to whom, sir?"</p> + +<p>"To Henry," said Hamilton.</p> + +<p>Henry looked up at that moment with a seraphic smile.</p> + +<p>"Isn't he wonderful, sir?" asked Bones in hushed ecstasy; "you won't +believe what I'm going to tell you, sir—you're such a jolly old +sceptic, sir—but Henry knows me—positively recognizes me! And when you +remember that he's only four months old—why, it's unbelievable."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span></p><p>"But what will you do when Sanders comes—really, Bones, I don't know +whether I ought to allow this as it is."</p> + +<p>"If exception is taken to Henry, sir," said Bones firmly, "I resign my +commission; if a gentleman is allowed to keep a dog, sir, he is surely +allowed to keep a baby. Between Henry and me, sir, there is a bond +stronger than steel. I may be an ass, sir, I may even be a goop, but +come between me an' my child an' all my motherly instincts—if you'll +pardon the paradox—all my paternal—that's the word—instincts are +aroused, and I will fight like a tiger, sir——"</p> + +<p>"What a devil you are for jaw," said Hamilton; "anyway, I've warned you. +Sanders is due in a month."</p> + +<p>"Henry will be five," murmured Bones.</p> + +<p>"Oh, blow Henry!" said Hamilton.</p> + +<p>Bones rose and pointed to the door.</p> + +<p>"May I ask you, sir," he said, "not to use that language before the +child? I hate to speak to you like this, sir, but I have a +responsible——"</p> + +<p>He dodged out of the open door and the loaf of bread which Hamilton had +thrown struck the lintel and rolled back to Henry's eager hands.</p> + +<p>The two men walked up and down the parade ground whilst Fa'ma, the wife +of Ahmet, carried the child to her quarters where he slept.</p> + +<p>"I'm afraid I've got to separate you from your child," said Hamilton; +"there is some curious business going on in the Lombobo, and a stranger +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>who walks by night, of which Ahmet the Spy writes somewhat +confusingly."</p> + +<p>Bones glanced round in some apprehension.</p> + +<p>"Oblige me, old friend," he entreated, "by never speakin' of such things +before Henry—I wouldn't have him scared for the world."</p> + + +<h3>II</h3> + +<p>Bosambo of the Ochori was a light sleeper, the lighter because of +certain stories which had reached him of a stranger who walks by night, +and in the middle of the night he suddenly became wide awake, conscious +that there was a man in his hut of whose coming the sentry without was +ignorant.</p> + +<p>Bosambo's hand went out stealthily for his short spear, but before he +could reach it, his wrist was caught in a grip of steel, strong fingers +gripped his throat, and the intruder whispered fiercely, using certain +words which left the chief helpless with wonder.</p> + +<p>"I am M'gani of the Night," said the voice with authoritative hauteur, +"of me you have heard, for I am known only to chiefs; and am so high +that chiefs obey and even devils go quickly from my path."</p> + +<p>"O, M'gani, I hear you," whispered Bosambo, "how may I serve you?"</p> + +<p>"Get me food," said the imperious stranger, "after, you shall make a bed +for me in your inner room, and sit before this house that none may +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>disturb me, for it is to my high purpose that no word shall go to +M'ilitani that I stay in your territory."</p> + +<p>"M'gani, I am your dog," said Bosambo, and stole forth from the hut like +a thief to obey.</p> + +<p>All that day he sat before his hut and even sent away the wife of his +heart and the child M'sambo, that the rest of M'gani of the N'gombi +should not be disturbed.</p> + +<p>That night when darkness had come and the glowing red of hut fires grew +dimmer, M'gani came from the hut.</p> + +<p>Bosambo had sent away the guard and accompanied his guest to the end of +the village.</p> + +<p>M'gani, with only a cloak of leopard skin about him, twirling two long +spears as he walked, was silent till he came to the edge of the city +where he was to take farewell of his host.</p> + +<p>"Tell me this, Bosambo, where are Sandi's spies that I may avoid them?"</p> + +<p>And Bosambo, without hesitation, told him.</p> + +<p>"M'gani," said he, at parting, "where do you go now? tell me that I may +send cunning men to guard you, for there is a bad spirit in this land, +especially amongst the people of Lombobo, because I have offended B'limi +Saka, the chief."</p> + +<p>"No soldiers do I need, O Bosambo," said the other. "Yet I tell you this +that I go to quiet places to learn that which will be best for my +people."</p> + +<p>He turned to go.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p><p>"M'gani," said Bosambo, "in the day when you shall see our lord Sandi, +speak to him for me saying that I am faithful, for it seems to me, so +high a man are you that he will listen to your word when he will listen +to none other."</p> + +<p>"I hear," said M'gani gravely, and slipped into the shadows of the +forest.</p> + +<p>Bosambo stood for a long time staring in the direction which M'gani had +taken, then walked slowly back to his hut.</p> + +<p>In the morning came the chief of his councillors for a hut palaver.</p> + +<p>"Bosambo," said he, in a tone of mystery, "the Walker-of-the-Night has +been with us."</p> + +<p>"Who says this?" asked Bosambo.</p> + +<p>"Fibini, the fisherman," said the councillor, "for this he says, that +having toothache, he sat in the shadow of his hut near the warm fire and +saw the Walker pass through the village and with him, lord, one who was +like a devil, being big and very ugly."</p> + +<p>"Go to Fibini," said a justly annoyed Bosambo, "and beat him on the feet +till he cries—for he is a liar and a spreader of alarm."</p> + +<p>Yet Fibini had done his worst before the bastinado (an innovation of +Bosambo's) had performed its silencing mission, and Ochori mothers +shepherded their little flocks with greater care when the sun went down +that night, for this new terror which had come to the land, this black +ghost with the wildfire fame was reputed especially devilish. In a week +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>he had become famous—so swift does news carry in the territories.</p> + +<p>Men had seen him passing through forest paths, or speeding with +incredible swiftness along the silent river. Some said that he had no +boat and walked the waters, others that he flew like a bat with millions +of bats behind him. One had met him face to face and had sunk to the +ground before eyes "that were very hot and red and thrusting out little +lightnings."</p> + +<p>He had been seen in many places in the Ochori, in the N'gombi city, in +the villages of the Akasava, but mainly his hunting ground was the +narrow strip of territory which is called Lombobo.</p> + +<p>B'limi Saka, the chief of the land, himself a believer in devils, was +especially perturbed lest the Silent Walker should be a spy of +Government, for he had been guilty of practices which were particularly +obnoxious to the white men who were so swift to punish.</p> + +<p>"Yet," said he to his daughter and (to the disgust of his people, who +despised women) his chief councillor, "none know my heart save you, +Lamalana."</p> + +<p>Lamalana, with her man shoulders and her flat face, peered at her +grizzled father sideways.</p> + +<p>"Devils hear hearts," she said huskily, "and when they talk of killings +and sacrifices are not all devils pleased? Now I tell you this, my +father, that I wait for sacrifices which you swore by death you would +show me."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span></p><p>B'limi Saka looked round fearfully. Though the ferocity of this chief +was afterwards revealed, though secret places in the forest held his +horrible secret killing-houses, yet he was a timid man with a certain +affection of his eyes which made him dependent upon the childless widow +who had been his strength for two years.</p> + +<p>The Lombobo were the cruellest of Sanders' people; their chiefs the most +treacherous. Neither akin to the N'gombi, the Isisi, the Akasava nor the +Ochori, they took on the worst attributes of each race.</p> + +<p>Seldom in open warfare did they challenge the Administration, but there +was a long tale of slain and mutilated enemies who floated face +downwards in the stream; of disappearance of faithful servants of +Government, and of acts of cannibalism which went unidentified and +unpunished.</p> + +<p>For though all the tribes, save the Ochori, had been cannibals, yet by +fire and rope, tempered with wisdom, had the Administration brought +about a newer era to the upper river.</p> + +<p>But reformation came not to the Lombobo. A word from Sanders, a +carelessly expressed view, and the Lombobo people would have been swept +from existence—wiped ruthlessly from the list of nations, but that was +not the way of Government, which is patient and patient and patient +again till in the end, by sheer heavy weight of patience, it crushes +opposition to its wishes.</p> + +<p>They called Lamalana the barren woman, the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>Drinker of Life, but she had +at least drunken without ostentation, and if she murdered with her own +large hands, or staked men and women from a sheer lust of cruelty, there +were none alive to speak against her.</p> + +<p>Outside the town of Lombobo<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> was a patch of beaten ground where no +grass grew, and this place was called "wa boma," the killing ground.</p> + +<p>Here, before the white men came, sacrifices were made openly, and it was +perhaps for this association and because it was, from its very openness, +free from the danger of the eavesdropper, that Lamalana and her father +would sit by the hour, whilst he told her the story of ancient +horrors—never too horrible for the woman who swayed to and fro as she +listened as one who was hypnotized.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said she, "the Walker of the Night comes not alone to the +Lombobo; all people up and down the river have seen him, and to my mind +he is a sign of great fortune showing that ghosts are with us. Now, if +you are very brave, we will have a killing greater than any. Is there no +hole in the hill<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> which Bosambo dug for your shame? And, lord, do not +the people of the Ochori say that this child M'sambo is the light of his +father's life? O ko! Bosambo shall be sorry."</p> + +<p>Later they walked in the forest speaking, for they had no fear of the +spirits which the last slanting <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>rays of the dying sun unlocked from the +trees. And they talked and walked, and Lombobo huntsmen, returning +through the wood, gave them a wide berth, for Lamalana was possessed of +an eye which was notoriously evil.</p> + +<p>"Let us go back to the city," said Lamalana, "for now I see that you are +very brave and not a blind old man."</p> + +<p>"There will be a great palaver and who knows but M'ilitani will come +with his soldiers?"</p> + +<p>She laughed loudly and hoarsely, making the silent forest ring with +harsh noise.</p> + +<p>"O ko!" she said, then laughed no more.</p> + +<p>In the centre of the path was a man; in the half light she saw the +leopard skin and the strange belt of metal about his waist.</p> + +<p>"O Lamalana," he said softly, "laugh gently, for I have quick ears and I +smell blood."</p> + +<p>He pointed to the darkening forest path down which they had come.</p> + +<p>"Many have been sacrificed and none heard them," he said, "this I know +now. Let there be an end to killing, for I am M'gani, the Walker of the +Night, and very terrible."</p> + +<p>"Wa!" screamed Lamalana, and leapt at him with clawing hands and her +white teeth agrin. Then something soft and damp struck her face—full in +the mouth like a spray of water, and she fell over struggling for her +breath, and rose gasping to her feet to find the Walker had gone.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span></p> +<h3>III</h3> + +<p>Before Bosambo's hut Bones sat in a long and earnest conversation, and +the subject of his discourse was children. For, alarmed by the ominous +suggestion which Bones had put forward, that his superior should be +responsible for the well-being of Henry in the absence of his +foster-parent, Hamilton had yielded to the request that Henry should +accompany Bones on his visit to the north.</p> + +<p>And now, on a large rug before Bosambo and his lord, there sat two small +children eyeing one another with mutual distrust.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said Bosambo, "it is true that your lordship's child is +wonderful, but I think that M'sambo is also wonderful. If your lordship +will look with kind eyes he will see a certain cunning way which is +strange in so young a one. Also he speaks clearly so that I understand +him."</p> + +<p>"Yet," contested Bones, "as it seems to me, Bosambo, mine is very wise, +for see how he looks to me when I speak, raising his thumb."</p> + +<p>Bones made a clucking noise with his mouth, and Henry turned frowningly, +regarded his protector with cool indifference, and returned to his +scrutiny of the other strange brown animal confronting him.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Bones that night, "what of the Walker?"</p> + +<p>"Lord, I know of him," said Bosambo, "yet I cannot speak for we are +blood brothers by certain magic rites and speeches; this I know, that he +is <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>a good man as I shall testify to Sandi when he comes back to his own +people."</p> + +<p>"You sit here for Government," said Bones, "and if you don't play the +game you're a jolly old rotter, Bosambo!"</p> + +<p>"I know 'um, I no speak 'um, sah," said Bosambo, "I be good fellah, sah, +no Yadasi fellah, sah—I be Peter feller, cut 'em ear some like, sah!"</p> + +<p>"You're a naughty old humbug," said Bones, and went to bed on the +<i>Zaire</i> leaving Henry with the chief's wife....</p> + +<p>In the dark hours before the dawn he led his Houssas across the beach, +revolver in hand, but came a little too late. The surprise party had +been well planned. A speared sentry lay twisting before the chief's hut, +and Bosambo's face was smothered in blood. Bones took in the situation.</p> + +<p>"Fire on the men who fly to the forest," he said, but Bosambo laid a +shaking hand upon his arm.</p> + +<p>"Lord," he said, "hold your fire, for they have taken the children, and +I fear the woman my wife is stricken."</p> + +<p>He went into the hut, Bones following.</p> + +<p>The chief's wife had a larger hut than Bosambo's own, communicating with +her lord's through a passage of wicker and clay, and the raiders had +clubbed her to silence, but Bones knew enough of surgery to see that she +was in no danger.</p> + +<p>In ten minutes the fighting regiments of the Ochori were sweeping +through the forest, trackers going ahead to pick up the trail.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span></p><p>"Let all gods hear me," sobbed Bosambo, as he ran, "and send M'gani +swiftly to M'sambo my son."</p> + +<h3>IV</h3> + +<p>"Now this is very wonderful," said Lamalana, "and it seems, O my father, +no matter for a small killing, but for a sacrifice such as all men may +see."</p> + +<p>It was the hour following the dawn when the world was at its sweetest, +when the chattering weaver birds went in and out of their hanging nests +gossiping loudly, and faint perfumes from little morning flowers gave +the air an unusual delicacy.</p> + +<p>All the Lombobo people, the warriors and the hunters, the wives and the +maidens, and even the children of tender years, lined the steep slopes +of the Cup of Sacrifice. For Lamalana, deaf and blind to reason, knew +that her hour was short, and that with the sun would come a man terrible +in his anger ... and the soldiers who eat up opposition with fire.</p> + +<p>"O people!" she cried.</p> + +<p>She was stripped to the waist, stood behind the Stone of Death as though +it were a counter, and the two squirming infants under her hands were so +much saleable stock: "Here we bring terror to all who hate us, for one +of these is the heart of Bosambo and the other is more than the heart of +the-man-who-stands-for-Sandi——"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span></p><p>"O woman!"</p> + +<p>The intruder had passed unnoticed, almost it seemed by magic, through +the throng, and now he stood in the clear space of sacrifice. And there +was not one in the throng who had not heard of him with his leopard skin +and his belt of brass.</p> + +<p>He was as black as the strange Ethiopians who came sometimes to the land +with the Arabi traders, his muscular arms and legs were dull in their +blackness.</p> + +<p>There was a whisper of terror—"The Walker of the Night!—" and the +people fell back ... a woman screamed and fell into a fit.</p> + +<p>"O woman," said M'gani, "deliver to me these little children who have +done no evil."</p> + +<p>Open-mouthed the half-demented daughter of B'limi Saka stared at him.</p> + +<p>He walked forward, lifted the children in his two arms and went slowly +through the people, who parted in terror at his coming.</p> + +<p>He turned at the top of the basin to speak.</p> + +<p>"Do no wickedness," said he; then he gently stooped to put the children +on the ground, for mouthing and bellowing senseless sounds Lamalana came +furiously after him, her long, crooked knife in her hand. He thrust his +hand into the leopard skin as for a weapon, but before he could withdraw +it, a man of Lombobo, half in terror, fell upon and threw his arms about +M'gani.</p> + +<p>"Bo'ma!" boomed the woman, and drew back her knife for the stroke....</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span></p><p>Bones, from the edge of the clearing, jerked up the rifle he carried and +fired.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"What man is this?" asked Bones.</p> + +<p>Bosambo looked at the stranger.</p> + +<p>"This is M'gani," he said, "he who walks in the night."</p> + +<p>"The dooce it is!" said Bones, and fixing his monocle glared at the +stranger.</p> + +<p>"From whence do you come?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Lord, I come from the Coast," said the man, "by many strange ways, +desiring to arrive at this land secretly that I might learn the heart of +these people and understand." Then, in perfect English, "I don't think +we've ever met before, Mr. Tibbetts—my name is Sanders."</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII</h2> + +<h2>A RIGHT OF WAY</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">he</span> +Borders of Territories may be fixed by treaty, by certain +mathematical calculations, or by arbitrary proclamation. In the +territories over which Sanders ruled they were governed as between tribe +and tribe by custom and such natural lines of demarkation as a river or +a creek supplied.</p> + +<p>In forest land this was not possible, and there had ever been between +the Ochori and the Lombobo a feud and a grievance, touched-up border +fights, for hereabouts there is good hunting. Sanders had tried many +methods and had hit upon the red gum border as a solution to a great +difficulty. For some curious reason there were no red gum trees in the +northern fringe of the forest for five miles on the Ochori side of the +great wood; it was innocent of this beautiful tree and Sanders' fiat had +gone forth that there should be no Ochori hunting in the red gum lands, +and that settled the matter and Sanders hoped for good.</p> + +<p>But Bosambo set himself to enlarge his borders <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>by a single expedient. +Wherever his hunters came upon a red gum tree they cut it down. B'limi +Saka, the chief of the sullen Lombobo, retaliated by planting red gum +saplings on the country between the forest and the river—a fact of +which Bosambo was not aware until he suddenly discovered a huge wedge of +red gum driven into his lawful territory. A wedge so definite as to cut +off nearly a thousand square miles of his territory, for beyond this +border lay the lower Ochori country.</p> + +<p>"How may I reach my proper villages?" he asked Sanders, who had known +something of the comedy which was being enacted.</p> + +<p>"You shall have canoes at the place of the young gum trees and shall row +to a place beyond them," Sanders had said. "I have given my word that +the red gum lands are the territory of B'limi Saka, and since you have +only your cunning to thank—Oh, cutter of trees—I cannot help you!"</p> + +<p>Bosambo would have made short work of the young saplings, but B'limisaka +established a guard not to be forced without bloodshed, and Bosambo +could do no more in that way of reprisal than instruct his people to +hurl insulting references to B'limisaka's as they passed the forbidden +ground.</p> + +<p>For the maddening thing was that the slip of filched territory was less +than a hundred yards wide and men of the Lombobo, who went out by night +to widen it, never came out alive—for Bosambo also had a guard.</p> + +<p>Sometimes the minion spies of Government would <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>come to headquarters +with a twist of rice paper stuck in a quill, the quill inserted in the +lobes of the ear in very much the same place as the ladies wore their +earrings in the barbarous mid-Victorian period, and on the rice paper +with the briefest introduction would be inserted, in perfect Arabic, +scraps of domestic news for the information of the Government.</p> + +<p>Sometimes news would carry from mouth to mouth and a weary man would +squat before Hamilton and recite his lesson.</p> + +<p>"Efobi of the Isisi has stolen goats, and because he is the brother of +the chief's wife goes unpunished; T'mara of the Akasava has put a curse +upon the wife of O'femo the headman, and she has burnt his hut; N'kema +of the Ochori will not pay his tax, saying that he is no Ochori man, but +a true N'gombi; Bosambo's men have beaten a woodman of B'limi Saka, +because he planted trees on Ochori land; the well folk are on the edge +of the N'gomb forest, building huts and singing——"</p> + +<p>"How long do they stay?" interrupted Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"Lord, who knows?" said the man.</p> + +<p>"Ogibo of the Akasava has spoken evilly of his king and mightily of +himself——"</p> + +<p>"Make a note of that, Bones."</p> + +<p>"Make a note of which, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Ogibo—he looked like a case of sleep-sickness the last time I was in +his village—go on."</p> + +<p>"Ogibo also says that the father of his father was a great chief and was +lord of all the Akasava——"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span></p><p>"That's sleeping sickness all right," said Hamilton bitterly. "Why the +devil doesn't he wait till Sanders is back before he goes mad?"</p> + +<p>"Drop him a line, sir," suggested Bones, "he's a remarkable feller—dash +it all, sir, what the dooce is the good of bein' in charge of the +district if you can't put a stop to that sort of thing?"</p> + +<p>"What talk is there of spears in this?" asked Hamilton of the spy.</p> + +<p>"Lord, much talk—as I know, for I serve in this district."</p> + +<p>"Go swiftly to Ogibo, and summon him to me for a high <i>lakimbo</i>,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a>" +said Hamilton; "my soldiers shall carry you in my new little ship that +burns water<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a>—fly pigeons to me that I may know all that happens."</p> + +<p>"On my life," said the spy, raised his hand in salute and departed.</p> + +<p>"These well people you were talkin' about, sir," asked Bones, "who are +they?"</p> + +<p>But Hamilton could give no satisfactory answer to such a question, and, +indeed, he would have been more than ordinarily clever had he been able +to.</p> + +<p>The wild territories are filled with stubborn facts, bewildering +realities, and extraordinary inconsequences. Up by the N'gombi lands +lived a tribe who, for the purposes of office classification, were known +as "N'gombi (Interior)," but who were <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>neither N'gombi nor Isisi, nor of +any known branch of the Bantu race, but known as "the people of the +well." They had remarkable legends, sayings which they ascribed to a +mythical Idoosi; also they have a song which runs:</p> + +<p> +O well in the forest!<br /> +Which chiefs have digged;<br /> +No common men touched the earth,<br /> +But chiefs' spears and the hands of kings.<br /> +</p> + +<p>Now there is no doubt that both the sayings of Idoosi and the song of +the well have come down from days of antiquity, and that Idoosi is none +other than the writer of the lost book of the Bible, of whom it is +written:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not +written in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy +of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the vision of Idoo the +seer?"<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a>....</p></div> + +<p>And is not the Song of the Well identical with that brief extract from +the Book of Wars of the Lord—lost to us for ever—which runs:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"Spring up, O well: sing ye unto it: The well, which the princes +digged, Which the nobles of the people delved, With the sceptre ... +with their staves."<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></p></div> + +<p>Some men say that the People of the Well are one of the lost tribes, but +that is an easy solution which suggests itself to the hasty-minded. +Others say <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>that they are descendants of the Babylonian races, or that +they came down from Egypt when Rameses II died, and there arose a new +dynasty and a Pharaoh who did not know the wise Jewish Prime Minister +who ruled so wisely, who worshipped in the little temple at Karnac, and +whose statue you may see in Cairo with a strange Egyptian name. We know +him better as "Joseph"—he who was sold into captivity.</p> + +<p>Whatever they were, this much is known, to the discomfort of everybody, +that they were great diggers of wells, and would, on the slightest +excuse, spend whole months, choosing, for some mad reason, the top of +hills for their operations, delving in the earth for water, though the +river was less than a hundred yards away.</p> + +<p>Of all the interesting solutions which have been offered with the object +of identifying the People of the Well, none are so interesting as that +which Bones put forward at the end of Hamilton's brief sketch.</p> + +<p>"My idea, dear old officer," he said profoundly, "that all these +Johnnies are artful old niggers who've run away from their wives in +Timbuctoo—and for this reason——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, shut up!" said Hamilton.</p> + +<p>Two nights later the bugles were ringing through the Houssa lines, and +Bones, sleepy-eyed, with an armful of personal belongings, was racing +for the <i>Zaire</i>, for Ogibo of the Akasava had secured a following.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span></p> +<h3>II</h3> + +<p>The chief Ogibo who held the law and kept the peace for his master, the +King of the Akasava, was bitten many times by the tsetse on a hunting +trip into the bad lands near the Utur forest. Two years afterwards, of a +sudden, he was seized with a sense of his own importance, and proclaimed +himself paramount chief of the Akasava, and all the lands adjoining. And +since it is against nature that any lunatic should be without his +following, he had no difficulty in raising all the spears that were +requisite for his immediate purpose, marched to Igili, the second most +important town in the Akasava kingdom, overthrew the defensive force, +destroyed the town, and leaving half his fighting regiment to hold the +conquered city he moved through the forest toward the Akasava city +proper. He camped in the forest, and his men spent an uncomfortable +night, for a thunderstorm broke over the river, and the dark was filled +with quick flashes and the heavens crashed noisily. There was still a +rumbling and a growling above his head when he assembled his forces in +the grey dawn, and continued his march. He had not gone half an hour +before one of his headmen came racing up to where he led his force in +majesty.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said he, "do you hear no sound?"</p> + +<p>"I hear the thunder," said Ogibo.</p> + +<p>"Listen!" said the headman.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span></p><p>They halted, head bent.</p> + +<p>"It is thunder," said Ogibo, as the rumble and moan of the distant storm +came to him. Then above the grumble of the thunder came a sharper note, +a sound to be expressed in the word "blong!"</p> + +<p>"Lord," said the headman, "that is no thunder, rather is it the +fire-thrower of M'ilitani."</p> + +<p>So Ogibo in his wrath turned back to crush the insolent white men who +had dared attack the garrison he had left behind to hold Igili.</p> + +<p>Bones with a small force was pursuing him, totally unaware of the +strength that Ogibo mustered. A spy brought to the chief news of the +smallness of the following force.</p> + +<p>"Now," said Ogibo, "I will show all the world how great a chief I am, +for my bravery I will destroy all these soldiers that are sent against +me."</p> + +<p>He chose his ambush well—though he had need to send scampering with +squeals of terror half a hundred humble aliens who were at the moment of +interruption digging a foolish well on the top of the hill where Ogibo +was concealing his shaking force.</p> + +<p>Bones with his Houssas saw how the path led up a tolerably steep +hill—one of the few in the country—and groaned aloud, for he hated +hills.</p> + +<p>He was half-way up at the head of his men, when Ogibo on the summit gave +the order, "Boma!" said he, which means kill, and three abreast, shields +locked and spears gripped stomach high, the rebels charged down the +path. Bones saw them coming and slipped out his revolver. There was no +room to <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>manœuvre his men, the path was fairly narrow, dense +undergrowth masked each side.</p> + +<p>He heard the yell, saw above the bush, which concealed the winding way, +the dancing head-dresses of the attackers, and advanced his pistol arm. +The rustle of bare feet on the path, a louder roar than ever—then +silence.</p> + +<p>Bones waited, a Houssa squeezed on either side of him, but the onrushing +enemy did not appear, and only a faint whimper of sound reached him.</p> + +<p>"Lord! they go back!" gasped his sergeant; and Bones saw to his +amazement a little knot of men making their frantic way up the hill.</p> + +<p>At first he suspected an ambush within an ambush, but it was unlikely; +he could never be more at Ogibo's mercy than he had been.</p> + +<p>Cautiously he felt his way up the hill path, a revolver in each hand.</p> + +<p>He rounded a sharp corner of the path and saw....</p> + +<p>A great square chasm yawned in the very centre of the pathway, the +bushes on either side were buried under the earth which the diggers of +wells had flung up, and piled one on the other, a writhing, struggling +confusion of shining bodies, were Ogibo's soldiers to the number of a +hundred, with a silent Ogibo undermost, wholly indifferent to his +embarrassing position, for his neck was broken.</p> + +<p>Hamilton came up in the afternoon and brought villagers to assist at the +work of rescue and afterwards he interviewed the chief of the shy and +timid Well-folk.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span></p><p>"O chief," said Hamilton, "it is an order of Sandi that you shall dig no +wells near towns, and yet you have done this."</p> + +<p>"Bless his old heart!" murmured Bones.</p> + +<p>"Lord, I break the law," said the man, simply, "also I break all custom, +for to-day, by your favour, I cross the river, I and my people. This we +have never done since time was."</p> + +<p>"Whither do you go?"</p> + +<p>The chief of the wanderers, an old man remarkably gifted—for his beard +was long and white, and reached to his waist—stuck his spear head down +in the earth.</p> + +<p>"Lord, we go to a place which is written," he said; "for Idoosi has +said, 'Go forth to the natives at war, they that fight by the river; on +the swift water shall you go, even against the water'—many times have +we come to the river, master, but ever have we turned back; but now it +seems that the prophecy has been fulfilled, for there are bleeding men +in these holes and the sound of thunders."</p> + +<p>The People of the Well crossed to the Isisi, using the canoes of the +Akasava headmen, and made a slow progress through territory which gave +them no opportunity of exercising their hobby, since water lay less than +a spade's length beneath the driest ground.</p> + +<p>"Poor old Sanders," said Hamilton ruefully, when he was again on the +<i>Zaire</i>, "I've so mixed up his people that he'll have to get a new map +made to find them again."</p> + +<p>"You might tell me off to show him round, sir," <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>suggested Bones, but +Hamilton did not jump at the offer.</p> + +<p>He was getting more than a little rattled. Sanders was due back in a +month, and it seemed that scarcely a week passed but some complication +arose that further entangled a situation which was already too full of +loose and straying threads for his liking.</p> + +<p>"I suppose the country is settled for a week at any rate," he said with +a little sigh of relief—but he reckoned without his People of the Well.</p> + +<p>They moved, a straggling body of men and women, with their stiff walk +and their doleful song, a wild people with strange, pinched faces and +long black hair, along the river's edge.</p> + +<p>A week's journeyings brought them to the Ochori country and to Bosambo, +who was holding a most important palaver.</p> + +<p>It was held on Ochori territory, for the forbidden strip was by this +time so thickly planted with young trees that there was no place for a +man to sit.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said Bosambo, "if you will return me the land which you have +stolen, so that I may pass unhindered from one part of my territory to +the other, I will give you many islands on the river."</p> + +<p>"That is a foolish palaver," said B'limisaka; "for you have no islands +to give."</p> + +<p>"Now I tell you, B'limisaka," said Bosambo, "my young men are crying out +against you, for, as you know, you have planted your trees on the high +ground, and my people, taking to their canoes, must climb down to the +water's edge a long way, so <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>that it wearies their legs, soon, I fear, I +shall not hold them, for they are very fierce and full of arrogance."</p> + +<p>"Lord," said B'limisaka, significantly, "my young men are also fierce."</p> + +<p>The palaver was dispersing, and the last of the Lombobo councillors were +disappearing in the forest, when the Diggers of the Well came through +the forbidden territory to the place where Bosambo sat.</p> + +<p>"We are they of whom you have heard, O my Lord," said the old man, who +led them, "also we carry a book for you."</p> + +<p>He unwound the cloth about his thin middle, and with many fumblings +produced a paper which Bosambo read.</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>"From M'ilitani, by Ogibo's village in the Akasava.</p> + +<p>"To Bosambo—may God preserve him!</p> + +<p>"I give this to the chief of Well diggers that you shall know they +are favoured by me, being simple people and very timid. Give them a +passage through your territory, for they seek a holy land, and find +them high places for the digging of holes, for they seek truth. Now +peace on your house, Bosambo."</p> + +<p>"On my ship, by channel of rocks."</p></div> + +<p>"Lord, it is true," said the old chief, "we seek a shining thing that +will stay white when it is white, and black when it is black, and the +wise Idoosi has said, 'Go down into the earth for truth, seek it in the +deeps of the earth, for it lies in secret places, in centre of the world +it lies.'"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span></p><p>Bosambo thought long and rapidly, then there came to him the bright +light of an inspiration.</p> + +<p>"What manner of holes do you dig, old man?"</p> + +<p>"Lord, we dig them deep, for we are cunning workers, and do not fear +death as common men do; also we dig them straightly—into the very heart +of hills we dig them."</p> + +<p>Bosambo looked at the sloping ground covered with hateful gum.</p> + +<p>"Old man," said he softly, "here shall you dig, you and your people, for +in the heart of this hill is such a truth as you desire—my young men +shall bring you food and build huts for you, and I will place one who is +cunning in the way of hills to show you the way."</p> + +<p>The old man's eyes gleamed joyously, and he clasped the ankles of his +magnanimous host.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said he humbly, "now is the prophecy fulfilled, for it was said +by the great Idoosi, 'You shall come to a land where the barbarian +rules, and he shall be to you as a brother!'"</p> + +<p>"Nigger," said Bosambo in his vile English—yet with a certain hauteur, +"you shall dig 'um tunnel—you no cheek 'um, no chat 'um, you lib for +dear tunnel one time."</p> + +<p>He watched them as, singing the song of the well, they went to work, +women, men, and even little children undermining the Chief B'limisaka's +territory and creating for Bosambo the right of way for which his soul +craved.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX</h2> + +<h2>THE GREEN CROCODILE</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;"><i>C</i></span><span style="margin-left:0%;"><i>ala</i></span> +<i>cala</i>, as they say, seven brothers lived near the creek of the +Green One. It was not called the creek of the Green One in those far-off +days, for the monstrous thing had no existence.</p> + +<p>And the seven brothers had seven wives who were sisters, and it would +appear from the legend that these seven wives were unfaithful to their +husbands, and upon a certain night in the full of the moon, the brothers +returning from an expedition into the forest, discovered the extent of +their infamy, and they tied the sisters together, the wrists of one to +the ankles of the other, and they led them to the stream, and no sooner +had they disappeared beneath the black waters than there was almighty +splashing and bubbling of water, and there came crawling from the place +where the unfaithful wives had sunk so terrible a monster that the seven +brothers fled in fear.</p> + +<p>This was the Green One, with his long ugly snout, cold, vicious eyes, +and his great clawed feet. Some say that these women had been changed by +magic into the Crocodile of the Pool, and many people <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>believe this and +speak of the Green One in the plural.</p> + +<p>Certain it is, that this terrible crocodile lived through the ages—none +hunting her, she was left in indisputable possession of the flat +sand-bank wherein to lay her eggs, and ranged the sandy shore of the +creek undisturbed.</p> + +<p>She was regarded with awe; sacrifices, living and dead, were offered to +her from time to time, and sometimes a cripple or two was knocked on the +head and left by the water's edge for her pleasure. She was indeed a +veritable scavenger of crime for the neighbouring villages about, and +earned some sort of respect, for, as the saying went:</p> + +<p>"Sandi does not speak the language of the Green One."</p> + +<p>Sometimes M'zooba would go afield, leaving the quietude of the creek and +the pool, which was her own territory, for the more adventurous life of +the river, and here one day she lay, the whole of her body submerged and +only her wicked eyes within an eighth of an inch of the water's surface, +when a timorous young roebuck came picking a cautious way through the +forest across the open plantations to the water's edge. He stopped from +time to time apprehensively, trembling in every limb at the slightest +sound, looking this way and that, then taking a few more steps and again +searching the cruel world for danger before he reached the water's edge.</p> + +<p>Then, after a final look round, he lowered his soft muzzle to the cool +waters. Swift as lightning the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>Green One flashed her long snout out of +the water, and gripped the tender head of the buck. Ruthlessly she +pulled, dragging the struggling deer after her till first its neck and +then its shoulders, then finally the last frantic waving stump of its +white tail went under the dark waters.</p> + +<p>Out in midstream a white little boat was moving steadily up the river +and on the awning-shaded bridge an indignant young man witnessed the +tragedy. The Green One had her larder under a large shelving rock half a +dozen feet beneath the water. Into this cavity her long hard nose flung +her dead victim, and her four powerful hands covered the entrance to the +water cave with sand and rock. More than satisfied with her morning's +work, the Green One came to the surface of the water to bask in the +glowing warmth of the morning sunlight.</p> + +<p>She took a survey upon the world, made up of low-lying shores and a hot +blue sky. She saw a river, broad and oily, and a strange white object +which she had seen often before smoking towards her.</p> + +<p>And that was the last thing she ever saw; for Bones, on the bridge of +the <i>Zaire</i>, squinted along the sights of his Express and pressed the +trigger. Struck in the head by an explosive bullet, the Green One went +out in a flurry of stormy water.</p> + +<p>"Thus perish all rotten old crocodiles," said Bones, immensely pleased +with himself, and he placed the rifle on the rack.</p> + +<p>"What the devil are you shooting at, so early in the morning?" asked +Hamilton.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span></p><p>He came out in his pyjamas, sun helmet on his head, pliant mosquito +boots reaching to his knees.</p> + +<p>"A crocodile, sir," said Bones.</p> + +<p>"Why waste good ammunition on crocodiles?" asked Hamilton; "was it +something exceptional?"</p> + +<p>"A tremendous chap, sir," said the enthusiastic Bones, "some fifty feet +long, and as green as——"</p> + +<p>"As green!" repeated Hamilton quickly, "where are we?"</p> + +<p>He looked with a swift glance along the shore for landmarks.</p> + +<p>"I hope to goodness you have not shot old M'zooba," he said.</p> + +<p>"I don't know your friend by name," said Bones, "but why shouldn't I +shoot him?"</p> + +<p>"Because, you silly ass," said Hamilton, "she is a sort of sacred +crocodile."</p> + +<p>"She was never so sacred as she is now, sir, for:</p> + +<p>"She's flapping her wings in the crocodile heaven," said Bones, +flippantly; "for I'm one of those dead shots—once I draw a bead on an +animal——"</p> + +<p>"Get out a canoe and set the woodmen to dive for the Green One," said +Hamilton to his orderly, for a shot crocodile invariably sinks to the +bottom and can only be recovered by diving.</p> + +<p>They brought it to the surface, and Hamilton groaned.</p> + +<p>"It is M'zooba," he said in resigned exasperation. "Oh, Bones, what an +ass you are!"</p> + +<p>Bones said nothing, but walked to the stern of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>ship and lowered the +blue ensign to half-mast—a piece of impertinence which Hamilton did not +discover till a long time afterwards.</p> + +<p>Now whatever might be the desire or wish of Hamilton, and however much +he might on ordinary occasions depend upon the loyalty of his warders +and his men, in this matter of the green crocodile he was entirely at +their mercy, for he could not call them together asking them to speak no +death of the Green One without magnifying the importance of Lieutenant +Tibbetts' rash act. The only attitude he could adopt was to treat the +Green One and her untimely end as something which was in the day's work +neither to be lamented nor acclaimed, and when, at the first village, a +doleful deputation, comprising a worried chief and a sulky witch doctor, +called upon him to bemoan the tragedy, he treated the matter with great +joviality.</p> + +<p>"For what is a crocodile more or less in this river?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"Lord, this was no crocodile," said the witch doctor, "but a very +reverend ghost, and it has been our Ju-ju for many years, bringing us +good crops and fair weather for our goodness, and has eaten up all the +devils and sickness which came to our villages. Now it is gone nothing +but ill fortune can come to us."</p> + +<p>"Bugobo," said Hamilton, "you talk like a foolish one, for how may a +crocodile who does not leave the water, and moreover is evil and old, a +stealer of women and children and dangerous to your <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>goats, how can this +thing bring good fortune to any people?"</p> + +<p>"How can the river run, lord?" replied the man, "and yet it does."</p> + +<p>Hamilton thought for a moment.</p> + +<p>"Now I tell you this, and you shall say to all people who ask you, that +by my magic I will bring another green one to this stream, greater and +larger than the one who has gone, and she shall be ju-ju for all men."</p> + +<p>"And now," he said to Bones, when the deputation had left, "it is up to +you to go out and find a nice, respectable crocodile to take the place +of the lady you have so light-heartedly destroyed."</p> + +<p>Bones gasped.</p> + +<p>"Dear old feller," he said feebly, "the habits and customs of fauna of +this land are entirely beyond me. I will fetch you a crocodile, sir, +with the greatest of pleasure, although as far as I know there is +nothing laid down in the King's regulations of the warrants for pay and +promotion defining the catching of crocodiles as part of an officer's +duty."</p> + +<p>Hamilton made no further move towards replacing the lost Spirit of the +Pool until he learnt that his offer had been taken very seriously, and +that the coming of the great new Green One to the pool, was a subject of +discussion up and down the river.</p> + +<p>Now here is a fact which official records go to substantiate. Although +the "Reports of the Territories" take no cognizance of ghosts and +spirits and other occult influence, dealing rather with such <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>mundane +facts as the condition of crops and the discipline of the races, yet the +reports of that particular year in this one district made gloomy reading +both for Hamilton and for the Administrator in his far-off stone house.</p> + +<p>Though the crops throughout the whole of the country were good that +Hamilton was apprehensive about the consequences—for men fight better +with a full larder behind them—yet in this immediate neighbourhood of +the pool, within its sphere of influence, so to speak, the crops failed +miserably, and the fish which haunt the shallow stream beneath the big +stream near the channel took it into their silly heads to migrate to +other distant waters. Here, then, was the consequence of Bones' murder +demonstrated to a most alarming extent. There was a blight in the +potatoes; the maize crop, for some unaccountable reason, was a meagre +one; there were three unexpected cases of sleeping sickness followed by +madness in an interior village, and, crowning disaster of all, one of +those sudden storms which sweep across the river came upon the village, +and lightning struck the huts.</p> + +<p>"My son," said Hamilton, when they brought the news to him, "you have +got to go out and find a green crocodile, quick."</p> + +<p>So Bones went up the river with the naphtha launch, leaving to Hamilton +the delicate task of finding a natural explanation for all the horrors +which had come upon the unfortunate people.</p> + +<p>Green crocodiles are rare even on the great river <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>which had half a +million other kinds of crocodiles to its credit, for green is both a +sign of age, and by common report indicative of cannibalistic +tendencies.</p> + +<p>In whatever veneration the Green One of the Pool might be held, such +respect did not extend to other parts of the river, where the green ones +were sought out and slain in their early youth. Bones spent an exciting +seven days chasing, lassoing and, at tunes in self-defence, shooting at +great reptiles without getting any nearer to the object of his search.</p> + +<p>"Ahmet," said he, in despair, "it seems that there are no green +crocodiles on this river."</p> + +<p>"Lord, there are very few," admitted the man; "for the people kill green +crocodiles owing to their evil influence."</p> + +<p>At every village there was news for Bones which lightened his heart. +Some one had seen such a monster, it lived in a pool or lorded some +creek, generally only get-at-able in a canoe; and here Bones, with his +Houssas, would wait smoking furiously, with baited lines cunningly laid +from thick underbrush or some tethered goat, bleating invitingly on the +banks. But never once did the hunter catch so much as a glimpse of +green. There were yellow crocodiles, grey crocodiles, crocodiles the +colour of the sand, or the dark brown bed of the river, but nothing +which by any stretch of imagination could be called green.</p> + +<p>And urgent messages came to Bones. The <i>Zaire</i> itself, in charge of +Abiboo, came steaming up carrying a letter filled with unnecessary +abuse, for Hamilton <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>was getting rattled by the extraordinary +manifestations which he received every day of the potency of this slain +monster. Bones sent the sergeant back in the launch with an +insubordinate message, and commandeered the <i>Zaire</i> with her superior +accommodation for himself.</p> + +<p>"There is only one thing to do," he said, "and that is to consult jolly +old Bosambo."</p> + +<p>So he put the head of the <i>Zaire</i> to the Ochori country, and on the +second day arrived at the city.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said Bosambo, loftily, "crocodiles I have by thousands."</p> + +<p>"Green ones?" asked Bones anxiously.</p> + +<p>"Lord, of every colour," said Bosambo, "blue or green or red, even +golden crocodiles have I in my splendid river. But they will cost great +money because they are very cunning, and my hunters of crocodiles are +independent men who do not care to work."</p> + +<p>Bones dried up the flood of eloquence quickly.</p> + +<p>"O Bosambo," said he, "there is no money for this palaver, but a green +crocodile I must have because the evil people of the Lower Isisi say I +have put a spell on their land because I slew the Green One, M'zooba, +also this crocodile must I have before the moon is due. My Lord +M'ilitani has sent me many powerful messages to this effect."</p> + +<p>This was another matter, and Bosambo looked dubious.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said he, "what manner of green was this crocodile, for I never +saw it?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span></p><p>Bones looked round.</p> + +<p>Neither the green of the trees he saw, nor the green of the grass +underfoot, nor the green of the elephant grass growing strongly on the +river's edge, nor the tender green of the high trees above, nor the +tender green of the young Isisi palms; and yet the exact shade of green +it was necessary to secure. He ransacked all his books, turned over all +his possessions and Hamilton's too, in an endeavour to match the +crocodile. There was a suit of pyjamas of Hamilton's which had a stripe +very near, but not quite.</p> + +<p>"O Ahmet," said Bones at last in desperation, "go to the storeman, and +let him bring all the paints he has so that I may show Bosambo a certain +colour."</p> + +<p>They found the exact shade at last on a ten-pound tin of Aspinall +enamels, and Bosambo thought long.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said he, "I think I know where I may find just such a crocodile +as you want."</p> + +<p>Late that night Bones met Bosambo before his hut in a long and earnest +palaver, and an hour before dawn he went out with Bosambo and his +huntsmen, and was pulled to a certain creek in the Ochori land which is +notorious for the size and strength of its crocodiles.</p> + + +<h3>II</h3> + +<p>No doubt but Hamilton had a serious task before him, for although the +grievance which he had to allay was limited to the restricted area over +which <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>the spirit of M'zooba brooded, yet the people of the crocodile +had many sympathizers who resented as bitterly as the affected parties +this interference with what Downing Street called "local religious +customs."</p> + +<p>A wholly unauthorized palaver was held in the forest which was attended +by delegations from the Akasava and the N'gombi, and spies brought the +news to Hamilton that the little witch doctors were going through the +villages carrying stories of desolation which had come as the result of +M'zooba's death.</p> + +<p>The palaver Hamilton dispensed with some brusqueness. Twenty soldiers +and a machine gun were uninvited guests to the gathering, and the +meeting retired in disorder. Two of the witch doctors Hamilton's men +caught. One he flogged with all the village looking on, and the other he +sent to the Village of Irons for twelve months.</p> + +<p>And all the time he spoke of the newer green one which was coming, which +his magic would invoke, and which would surely appear "tied by one leg" +to a stake near the pool, for all men to see.</p> + +<p>He founded a sect of new-green-one worshippers (quite unwittingly). It +needed only the corporeal presence of his novel deity to wipe out the +feelings of distrust which violence had not wholly dispelled.</p> + +<p>Day after day passed, but no word came from Bones, and Captain Hamilton +cursed his subordinate, his subordinate's relations, and all the cruelty +of fate which brought Bones into his command. Then, unexpectantly, the +truant arrived, arrived proud <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>and triumphant in the early morning +before Hamilton was awake. He sneaked into the village so quietly that +even the Houssa sentry who dozed across the threshold of Hamilton's hut +was not aware of his return; and silently, with fiercely whispered +injunctions, so that the surprise should be all the more complete, Bones +landed his unruly cargo, its feet chained, his great muzzle lassoed and +bound with raw hide, its powerful and damaging tail firmly fixed between +two planks of wood (a special idea for which Bones was responsible). +Then Lieutenant Tibbetts went to the hut of his chief and woke him.</p> + +<p>"So here you are, are you?" said Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"I am here," said Bones with trembling pride, so that Hamilton knew his +subordinate had been successful; "according to your instructions, sir, I +have captured the green crocodile. He is of monstrous size, and vastly +superior to your partly-worn lady friend. Also," he said, "as per your +instructions, conveyed to me in your letter dated the twenty-third +instant, I have fastened same by right leg in the vicinity of the pool; +at least," he corrected carefully, "he was fastened, but owing to +certain technical difficulties he slipped cable, so to speak, and is +wallowing in his native element."</p> + +<p>"You are not rotting, Bones, are you?" asked Hamilton, busy with his +toilet.</p> + +<p>"Perfectly true and sound, sir, I never rot," said Bones stiffly; "give +me a job of work to do, give me a task, put me upon my metal, sir, and +with the assistance of jolly old Bosambo——"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p><p>"Is Bosambo in this?"</p> + +<p>Bones hesitated.</p> + +<p>"He assisted me very considerably, sir," he said; "but, so to speak, the +main idea was mine."</p> + +<p>The chief's drum summoned the villages to the palaver house, but the +news had already filtered through the little township, and a crowd had +gathered waiting eagerly to hear the message which Hamilton had to give +them.</p> + +<p>"O people," he said, addressing them from the hill of palaver, "all I +have promised you I have performed. Behold now in the pool—and you +shall come with me to see this wonder—is one greater than M'zooba, a +vast and splendid spirit which shall protect your crops and be as +M'zooba was, and better than was M'zooba. All this I have done for you."</p> + +<p>"Lord Tibbetti has done for you," prompted Bones, in a hoarse whisper.</p> + +<p>"All this have I done for you," repeated Hamilton firmly, "because I +love you."</p> + +<p>He led the way through the broad, straggling plantation to the great +pool which begins in a narrow creek leading from the river and ends in a +sprawl of water to the east of the village.</p> + +<p>The whole countryside stood about watching the still water, but nothing +happened.</p> + +<p>"Can't you whistle him and make him come up or something?" asked +Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"Sir," said an indignant Bones, "I am no crocodile tamer; willing as I +am to oblige you, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>clever as I am with parlour tricks, I have not +yet succeeded in inducing a crocodile to come to heel after a week's +acquaintance."</p> + +<p>But native people are very patient.</p> + +<p>They stood or squatted, watching the unmoved surface of the water for +half an hour, and then suddenly there was a stir and a little gasp of +pleasurable apprehension ran through the assembly.</p> + +<p>Then slowly the new one came up. He made for a sand-bank, which showed +above the water in the centre of the pool; first his snout, then his +long body emerged from the water, and Hamilton gasped.</p> + +<p>"Good heavens, Bones!" he said in a startled whisper, and his +astonishment was echoed from a thousand throats.</p> + +<p>And well might he be amazed at the spectacle which the complacent Bones +had secured for him.</p> + +<p>For this great reptile was more than green, he was a green so vivid that +it put the colours of the forest to shame. A bright, glittering green +and along the centre of his broad back one zig-zag splash of orange.</p> + +<p>"Phew," whistled Hamilton, "this is something like."</p> + +<p>The roar of approval from the people was unmistakable. The crocodile +turned his evil head and for a moment, as it seemed to Bones, his eyes +glinted viciously in the direction of the young and enterprising +officer. And Bones admitted after to a feeling of panic.</p> + +<p>Then with a malignant "woof!" like the hoarse, growling bark of a dog, +magnified a hundred times, <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>he slid back into the water, a great living +streak of vivid green and disappeared to the cool retreat at the bottom +of the pool.</p> + +<p>"You have done splendidly, Bones, splendidly!" said Hamilton, and +clapped him on the back; "really you are a most enterprising devil."</p> + +<p>"Not at all, sir," said Bones.</p> + +<p>He ate his dinner on the <i>Zaire</i>, answering with monosyllables the +questions which Hamilton put to him regarding the quest and the place of +the origin of this wonderful beast. It was after dinner when they were +smoking their cigars in the gloom as the <i>Zaire</i> was steaming across its +way to the shore where a wooding offered an excuse for a night's stay, +and Bones gave voice to his thoughts.</p> + +<p>And curiously enough his conversation did not deal directly or +indirectly with his discovery.</p> + +<p>"When was this boat decorated last, sir?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"About six months before Sanders left," replied Hamilton in surprise; +"just why do you ask?"</p> + +<p>"Nothing, sir," said Bones, and whistled light-heartedly. Then he +returned to the subject.</p> + +<p>"I only asked you because I thought the enamel work in the cabin and all +that sort of thing has worn very well."</p> + +<p>"Yes, it is good wearing stuff," said Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"That green paint in the bathroom is rather <i>chic</i>, isn't it? Is that +good wearing stuff?"</p> + +<p>"The enamel?" smiled Hamilton. "Yes, I believe that is very good +wearing. I am not a whale on <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>domestic matters, Bones, but I should +imagine that it would last for another year without showing any sign of +wear."</p> + +<p>"Is it waterproof at all?" asked Bones, after another pause.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean?"</p> + +<p>"I mean would it wash off if a lot of water were applied to it?"</p> + +<p>"No, I should not imagine it would," said Hamilton, "what makes you +ask?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, nothing!" said Bones carelessly and whistled, looking up to the +stars that were peeping from the sky; and the inside of Lieutenant +Tibbetts was one large expansive grin.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X</h2> + +<h2>HENRY HAMILTON BONES</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">L</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">ieutenant</span> +Francis Augustus Tibbetts of the Houssas was at some +disadvantage with his chief and friend. Lieutenant F. A. Tibbetts might +take a perfectly correct attitude, might salute on every possible +occasion that a man could salute, might click his heels together in the +German fashion (he had spent a year at Heidelberg), might be stiffly +formal and so greet his superior that he contrived to combine a dutiful +recognition with the cut direct, but never could he overcome one fatal +obstacle to marked avoidance—he had to grub with Hamilton.</p> + +<p>Bones was hurt. Hamilton had behaved to him as no brother officer should +behave. Hamilton had spoken harshly and cruelly in the matter of a +commission with which he had entrusted his subordinate, and with which +the aforesaid subordinate had lamentably failed to cope.</p> + +<p>Up in the Akasava country a certain wise man named M'bisibi had +predicted the coming of a devil-child who should be born on a night when +the moon <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>lay so on the river and certain rains had fallen in the +forest.</p> + +<p>And this child should be called "Ewa," which is death; and first his +mother would die and then his father; and he would grow up to be a +scourge to his people and a pestilence to his nation, and crops would +wither when he walked past them, and the fish in the river would float +belly up in stinking death, and until Ewa M'faba himself went out, +nothing but ill-fortune should come to the N'gombi-Isisi.</p> + +<p>Thus M'bisibi predicted, and the word went up and down the river, for +the prophet was old and accounted wise even by Bosambo of the Ochori.</p> + +<p>It came to Hamilton quickly enough, and he had sent Bones post-haste to +await the advent of any unfortunate youngster who was tactless enough to +put in an appearance at such an inauspicious moment as would fulfil the +prediction of M'bisibi.</p> + +<p>And Bones had gone to the wrong village, and that in the face of his +steersman's and his sergeant's protest that he was going wrong. +Fortunately, by reliable account, no child had been born in the village, +and the prediction was unfulfilled.</p> + +<p>"Otherwise," said Hamilton, "its young life would have been on your +head."</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," said Bones.</p> + +<p>"I didn't tell you there were two villages called Inkau," Hamilton +confessed, "because I didn't realize you were chump enough to go to the +wrong one."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span></p><p>"No, sir," agreed Bones, patiently.</p> + +<p>"Naturally," said Hamilton, "I thought the idea of saving the lives of +innocent babes would have been sufficient incentive."</p> + +<p>"Naturally, sir," said Bones, with forced geniality.</p> + +<p>"I've come to one conclusion about you, Bones," said Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"Yes, sir," said Bones, "that I'm an ass, sir, I think?"</p> + +<p>Hamilton nodded—it was too hot to speak.</p> + +<p>"It was an interestin' conclusion," said Bones, thoughtfully, "not +without originality—when it first occurred to you, but as a conclusion, +if you will pardon my criticism, sir, if you will forgive me for +suggestin' as much—in callin' me an ass, sir: apart from its bein' +contrary to the spirit an' letter of the Army Act—God Save the +King!—it's a bit low, sir." And he left his superior officer without +another word. For three days they sat at breakfast, tiffin and dinner, +and neither said more than:</p> + +<p>"May I pass you the bread, sir?"</p> + +<p>"Thank you, sir; have you the salt, sir?"</p> + +<p>Hamilton was so busy a man that he might have forgotten the feud, but +for the insistence of Bones, who never lost an opportunity of reminding +his No. 1 that he was mortally hurt.</p> + +<p>One night, dinner had reached the stage where two young officers of +Houssas sat primly side by side on the verandah sipping their coffee. +Neither spoke, and the séance might have ended with the conventional +"Good night" and that punctilious salute <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>which Bones invariably gave, +and which Hamilton as punctiliously returned, but for the apparition of +a dark figure which crossed the broad space of parade ground +hesitatingly as though not certain of his way, and finally came with +dragging feet through Sanders' garden to the edge of the verandah.</p> + +<p>It was the figure of a small boy, very thin; Hamilton could see this +through the half-darkness.</p> + +<p>The boy was as naked as when he was born, and he carried in his hand a +single paddle.</p> + +<p>"O boy," said Hamilton, "I see you."</p> + +<p>"Wanda!" said the boy in a frightened tone, and hesitated, as though he +were deciding whether it would be better to bolt, or to conclude his +desperate enterprise.</p> + +<p>"Come up to me," said Hamilton, kindly.</p> + +<p>He recognized by the dialect that the visitor had come a long way, as +indeed he had, for his old canoe was pushed up amongst the elephant +grass a mile away from headquarters, and he had spent three days and +nights upon the river. He came up, an embarrassed and a frightened lad, +and stood twiddling his toes on the unaccustomed smoothness of the big +stoep.</p> + +<p>"Where do you come from, and why have you come?" asked Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"Lord, I have come from the village of M'bisibi," said the boy; "my +mother has sent me because she fears for her life, my father being away +on a great hunt. As for me," he went on, "my name is Tilimi-N'kema."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span></p><p>"Speak on, Tilimi the Monkey," said Hamilton, "tell me why the woman +your mother fears for her life."</p> + +<p>The boy was silent for a spell; evidently he was trying to recall the +exact formula which had been dinned into his unreceptive brain, and to +repeat word for word the lesson which he had learned parrotwise.</p> + +<p>"Thus says the woman my mother," he said at last, with the blank, +monotonous delivery peculiar to all small boys who have been rehearsed +in speech, "on a certain day when the moon was at full and the rain was +in the forest so that we all heard it in the village, my mother bore a +child who is my own brother, and, lord, because she feared things which +the old man M'bisibi had spoken she went into the forest to a certain +witch doctor, and there the child was born. To my mind," said the lad, +with a curious air of wisdom which is the property of the youthful +native from whom none of the mysteries of life or death are hidden, "it +is better she did this, for they would have made a sacrifice of her +child. Now when she came back, and they spoke to her, she said that the +boy was dead. But this is the truth, lord, that she had left this child +with the witch doctor, and now——" he hesitated again.</p> + +<p>"And now?" repeated Hamilton.</p> + +<p>"Now, lord," said the boy, "this witch doctor, whose name is Bogolono, +says she must bring him rich presents at the full of every moon, because +her son and my brother is the devil-child whom M'bisibi <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>has predicted. +And if she brings no rich presents he will take the child to the +village, and there will be an end."</p> + +<p>Hamilton called his orderly.</p> + +<p>"Give this boy some chop," he said; "to-morrow we will have a longer +palaver."</p> + +<p>He waited till the man and his charge were out of earshot, then he +turned to Bones.</p> + +<p>"Bones," he said, seriously, "I think you had better leave unobtrusively +for M'bisibi's village, find the woman, and bring her to safety. You +will know the village," he added, unnecessarily, "it is the one you +didn't find last time."</p> + +<p>Bones left insubordinately and made no response.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<h3>II</h3> + +<p>Bosambo, with his arms folded across his brawny chest, looked curiously +at the deputation which had come to him.</p> + +<p>"This is a bad palaver," said Bosambo, "for it seems to me that when +little chiefs do that which is wrong, it is an ill thing; but when great +kings, such as your master Iberi, stand at the back of such wrongdoings, +that is the worst thing of all, and though this M'bisibi is a wise man, +as we all know, and indeed the only wise man of your people, has brought +out this devil-child, and makes a killing palaver, then M'ilitani will +come very quickly with <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>his soldiers and there will be an end to little +chiefs and big chiefs alike."</p> + +<p>"Lord, that will be so," said the messenger, "unless all chiefs in the +land stand in brotherhood together. And because we know Sandi loves you, +and M'ilitani also, and that Tibbetti himself is as tender to you as a +brother, M'bisibi sent this word saying, 'Go to Bosambo, and say +M'bisibi, the wise man, bids him come to a great and fearful palaver +touching the matter of several devils. Tell him also that great evil +will come to this land, to his land and to mine, to his wife and the +wives of his counsellors, and to his children and theirs, unless we make +an end to certain devils.'"</p> + +<p>Bosambo, chin on clenched fist, looked thoughtfully at the other.</p> + +<p>"This cannot be," said he in a troubled voice; "for though I die and all +that is wonderful to me shall pass out of this world, yet I must do no +thing which is unlawful in the eyes of Sandi, my master, and of the +great ones he has left behind to fulfil the law. Say this to M'bisibi +from me, that I think he is very wise and understands ghosts and +such-like palavers. Also say that if he puts curses upon my huts I will +come with my spearmen to him, and if aught follows I will hang him by +the ears from a high tree, though he sleeps with ghosts and commands +whole armies of devils; this palaver is finished."</p> + +<p>The messenger carried the word back to M'bisibi and the council of the +chiefs and the eldermen who <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>sat in the palaver house, and old as he was +and wise by all standards, M'bisibi shivered, for, as he explained, that +which Bosambo said would he do. For this is peculiar to no race or +colour, that old men love life dearer than young.</p> + +<p>"Bogolono, you shall bring the child," he said, turning to one who sat +at his side, string upon string of human teeth looped about his neck and +his eyes circled with white ashes, "and it shall be sacrificed according +to the custom, as it was in the days of my fathers and of their +fathers."</p> + +<p>They chose a spot in the forest, where four young trees stood at corners +of a rough square. With their short bush knives they lopped the tender +branches away, leaving four pliant poles that bled stickily. With great +care they drew down the tops of these trees until they nearly met, +cutting the heads so that there was no overlapping. To these four ends +they fastened ropes, one for each arm and for each ankle of the devil +child, and with other ropes they held the saplings to their place.</p> + +<p>"Now this is the magic of it," said M'bisibi, "that when the moon is +full to-night we shall sacrifice first a goat, and then a fowl, casting +certain parts into the fire which shall be made of white gum, and I will +make certain marks upon the child's face and upon his belly, and then I +will cut these ropes so that to the four ends of the world we shall cast +forth this devil, who will no longer trouble us."</p> + +<p>That night came many chiefs, Iberi of the Akasava, Tilini of the Lesser +Isisi, Efele (the Tornado) of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>N'gombi, Lisu (the Seer) of the Inner +Territories, but Lilongo<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> (as they called Bosambo of the Ochori), did +not come.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + + +<h3>III</h3> + +<p>Bones reached the village two hours before the time of sacrifice and +landed a force of twenty Houssas and a small Maxim gun. The village was +peaceable, and there was no sign of anything untoward. Save this. The +village was given over to old people and children. M'bisibi was an +hour—two hours—four hours in the forest. He had gone +north—east—south—none knew whither.</p> + +<p>The very evasiveness of the replies put Bones into a fret. He scouted +the paths and found indications of people having passed over all three.</p> + +<p>He sent his gun back to the <i>Zaire</i>, divided his party into three, and +accompanied by half a dozen men, he himself took the middle path.</p> + +<p>For an hour he trudged, losing his way, and finding it again. He came +upon a further division of paths and split up his little force again.</p> + +<p>In the end he found himself alone, struggling over the rough ground in a +darkness illuminated only by the electric lamp he carried, and making +for a faint gleam of red light which showed through the trees ahead.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p><p>M'bisibi held the child on his outstretched hands, a fat little child, +with large, wondering eyes that stared solemnly at the dancing flames, +and sucked a small brown thumb contentedly.</p> + +<p>"Behold this child, oh chiefs and people," said M'bisibi, "who was born +as I predicted, and is filled with devils!"</p> + +<p>The baby turned his head so that his fat little neck was all rolled and +creased, and said "Ah!" to the pretty fire, and chuckled.</p> + +<p>"Even now the devils speak," said M'bisibi, "but presently you shall +hear them screaming through the world because I have scattered them," +and he made his way to the bowed saplings.</p> + +<p>Bones, his face scratched and bleeding, his uniform torn in a dozen +places, came swiftly after him.</p> + +<p>"My bird, I think," said Bones, and caught the child unscientifically.</p> + +<p>Picture Bones with a baby under his arm—a baby indignant, outraged, +infernally uncomfortable, and grimacing a yell into being.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said M'bisibi, breathing quickly, "what do you seek?"</p> + +<p>"That which I have," said Bones, waving him off with the black muzzle of +his automatic Colt. "Tomorrow you shall answer for many crimes."</p> + +<p>He backed quickly to the cover of the woods, scenting the trouble that +was coming.</p> + +<p>He heard the old man's roar.</p> + +<p>"O people ... this white man will loose devils upon the land!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p><p>Then a throwing spear snicked the trunk of a tree, and another, for +there were no soldiers, and this congregation of exorcisers were mad +with wrath at the thought of the evil which Tibbetti was preparing for +them.</p> + +<p>"Snick!"</p> + +<p>A spear struck Bones' boot.</p> + +<p>"Shut your eyes, baby," said Bones, and fired into the brown. Then he +ran for his life. Over roots and fallen trees he fell and stumbled, his +tiny passenger yelling desperately.</p> + +<p>"Oh, shut up!" snarled Bones, "what the dickens are you shouting +about—hey? Haven't I saved your young life, you ungrateful little +devil?"</p> + +<p>Now and again he would stop to consult his illuminated compass. That the +pursuit continued he knew, but he had the dubious satisfaction of +knowing, too, that he had left the path and was in the forest.</p> + +<p>Then he heard a faint shot, and another, and another, and grinned.</p> + +<p>His pursuers had stumbled upon a party of Houssas.</p> + +<p>From sheer exhaustion the baby had fallen asleep. Babies were +confoundedly heavy—Bones had never observed the fact before, but with +the strap of his sword belt he fashioned a sling that relieved him of +some of the weight.</p> + +<p>He took it easier now, for he knew M'bisibi's men would be frightened +off. He rested for half an hour on the ground, and then came a snuffling +leopard <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>walking silently through the forest, betraying his presence +only by the two green danger-lamps of his eyes.</p> + +<p>Bones sat up and flourished his lamp upon the startled beast, which +growled in fright, and went scampering through the forest like the great +cat that he was.</p> + +<p>The growl woke Bones' charge, and he awoke hungry and disinclined to +further sleep without that inducement and comfort which his nurse was in +no position to offer, whereupon Bones snuggled the whimpering child.</p> + +<p>"He's a wicked old leopard!" he said, "to come and wake a child at this +time of the night."</p> + +<p>The knuckle of Bones' little finger soothed the baby, though it was a +poor substitute for the nutriment it had every right to expect, and it +whimpered itself to sleep.</p> + +<p>Lieutenant Tibbetts looked at his compass again. He had located the +shots to eastward, but he did not care to make a bee-line in that +direction for fear of falling upon some of the enemy, whom he knew would +be, at this time, making their way to the river.</p> + +<p>For two hours before dawn he snatched a little sleep, and was awakened +by a fierce tugging at his nose. He got up, laid the baby on the soft +ground, and stood with arms akimbo, and his monocle firmly fixed, +surveying his noisy companion.</p> + +<p>"What the dooce are you making all this row about?" he asked +indignantly. "Have a little <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>patience, young feller, exercise a little +<i>suaviter in modo</i>, dear old baby!"</p> + +<p>But still the fat little morsel on the ground continued his noisy +monologue, protesting in a language which is of an age rather than of a +race, against the cruelty and the thoughtlessness and the distressing +lack of consideration which his elder and better was showing him.</p> + +<p>"I suppose you want some grub," said Bones, in dismay; and looked round +helplessly.</p> + +<p>He searched the pocket of his haversack, and had the good fortune to +find a biscuit; his vacuum flask had just half a cup of warm tea. He fed +the baby with soaked biscuit and drank the tea himself.</p> + +<p>"You ought to have a bath or something," said Bones, severely; but it +was not until an hour later that he found a forest pool in which to +perform the ablution.</p> + +<p>At three o'clock in the afternoon, as near as he could judge, for his +watch had stopped, he struck a path, and would have reached the village +before sundown, but for the fact that he again missed the path, and +learnt of this fact about the same time he discovered he had lost his +compass.</p> + +<p>Bones looked dismally at the wide-awake child.</p> + +<p>"Dear old companion in arms," he said, gloomily, "we are lost."</p> + +<p>The baby's face creased in a smile.</p> + +<p>"It's nothing to laugh about, you silly ass," said Bones.</p> + + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p> +<h3>IV</h3> + +<p>"Master, of our Lord Tibbetti I do not know," said M'bisibi sullenly.</p> + +<p>"Yet you shall know before the sun is black," said Hamilton, "and your +young men shall find him, or there is a tree for you, old man, a quick +death by <i>Ewa</i>!"</p> + +<p>"I have sought, my lord," said M'bisibi, "all my hunters have searched +the forest, yet we have not found him. A certain devil-pot is here."</p> + +<p>He fumbled under a native cloth and drew forth Bones' compass.</p> + +<p>"This only could we find on the forest path that leads to Inilaki."</p> + +<p>"And the child is with him?"</p> + +<p>"So men say," said M'bisibi, "though by my magic I know that the child +will die, for how can a white man who knows nothing of little children +give him life and comfort? Yet," he amended carefully, since it was +necessary to preserve the character of the intended victim, "if this +child is indeed a devil child, as I believe, he will lead my lord +Tibbetti to terrible places and return himself unharmed."</p> + +<p>"He will lead you to a place more terrible," said M'ilitani, +significantly, and sent a nimble climber into the trees to fasten a +block and tackle to a stout branch, and thread a rope through.</p> + +<p>It was so effective that M'bisibi, an old man, became most energetically +active. <i>Lokali</i> and swift messengers sent his villages to the search. +Every <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>half-hour the Hotchkiss gun of the <i>Zaire</i> banged noisily; and +Hamilton, tramping through the woods, felt his heart sink as hour after +hour passed without news of his comrade.</p> + +<p>"I tell you this, lord," said the headman, who accompanied him, "that I +think Tibbetti is dead and the child also. For this wood is filled with +ghosts and savage beasts, also many strong and poisonous snakes. See, +lord!" He pointed.</p> + +<p>They had reached a clearing where the grass was rich and luxuriant, +where overshadowing branches formed an idealic bower, where heavy white +waxen flowers were looped from branch to branch holding the green boughs +in their parasitical clutch. Hamilton followed the direction of his +eyes. In the middle of the clearing a long, sinuous shape, dark brown, +and violently coloured with patches of green and vermillion, that was +swaying backward and forward, hissing angrily at some object before it.</p> + +<p>"Good God!" said Hamilton, and dropped his hand on his revolver, but +before it was clear of his holster, there came a sharp crack, and the +snake leapt up and fell back as a bullet went snip-snapping through the +undergrowth. Then Hamilton saw Bones. Bones in his shirtsleeves, +bareheaded, his big pipe in his mouth, who came hurriedly through the +trees pistol in hand.</p> + +<p>"Naughty boy!" he said, reproachfully, and stooping, picked up a +squalling brown object from the ground. "Didn't Daddy tell you not <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>to +go near those horrid snakes? Daddy spank you——"</p> + +<p>Then he caught sight of the amazed Hamilton, clutched the baby in one +hand, and saluted with the other.</p> + +<p>"Baby present and correct, sir," he said, formally.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"What are you going to do with it?" asked Hamilton, after Bones had +indulged in the luxury of a bath and had his dinner.</p> + +<p>"Do with what, sir?" asked Bones.</p> + +<p>"With this?"</p> + +<p>Hamilton pointed to a crawling morsel who was at that moment looking up +to Bones for approval.</p> + +<p>"What do you expect me to do, sir?" asked Bones, stiffly; "the mother is +dead and he has no father. I feel a certain amount of responsibility +about Henry."</p> + +<p>"And who the dickens is Henry?" asked Hamilton.</p> + +<p>Bones indicated the child with a fine gesture.</p> + +<p>"Henry Hamilton Bones, sir," he said grandly. "The child of the +regiment," he went on; "adopted by me to be a prop for my declining +years, sir."</p> + +<p>"Heaven and earth!" said Hamilton, breathlessly.</p> + +<p>He went aft to recover his nerve, and returned to become an unseen +spectator to a purely domestic scene, for Bones had immersed the +squalling infant in his own india-rubber bath, and was gingerly cleaning +him with a mop.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI</h2> + +<h2>BONES AT M'FA</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">H</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">amilton</span> +of the Houssas coming down to headquarters met Bosambo by +appointment at the junction of the rivers.</p> + +<p>"O Bosambo," said Hamilton, "I have sent for you to make a <i>likambo</i> +because of certain things which my other eyes have seen and my other +ears have heard."</p> + +<p>To some men this hint of report from the spies of Government might bring +dismay and apprehension, but to Bosambo, whose conscience was clear, +they awakened only curiosity.</p> + +<p>"Lord, I am your eyes in the Ochori," he said with truth, "and God knows +I report faithfully."</p> + +<p>Hamilton nodded. He was yellow with fever, and the hand that filled the +briar pipe shook with ague. All this Bosambo saw.</p> + +<p>"It is not of you I speak, nor of your people, but of the Akasava and +the N'gombi and the evil little men who live in the forest—now is it +true that they speak mockingly of my lord Tibbetti?"</p> + +<p>Bosambo hesitated.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span></p><p>"Lord," said he, "what dogs are they, that they should speak of the +mighty? Yet I will not lie to you, M'ilitani: they mock Tibbetti, +because he is young and his heart is pure."</p> + +<p>Hamilton nodded again, and stuck out his jaw in troubled meditation.</p> + +<p>"I am a sick man," he said, "and I must rest, sending Tibbetti to watch +the river, because the crops are good and there is fish for all men, and +because the people are prosperous, for, Bosambo, in such times there is +much boastfulness, and the tribes are ripe for foolish deeds deserving +to appear wonderful in the eyes of woman."</p> + +<p>"All this I know, M'ilitani," said Bosambo, "and because you are sick, +my heart and my stomach are sore. For though I do not love you as I love +Sandi, who is more clever than you, yet I love you well enough to +grieve. And Tibbetti also——"</p> + +<p>He paused.</p> + +<p>"He is young," said Hamilton, "and not yet grown to himself—now you, +Bosambo, shall check men who are insolent to his face, and be to him as +a strong right hand."</p> + +<p>"On my head and my life," said Bosambo, "yet, lord M'ilitani, I think +that his day will find him, for it is written in the Sura of the Djin +that all men are born three times, and the day will come when Bonzi will +be born again."</p> + +<p>He was in his canoe before Hamilton realized what he had said.</p> + +<p>"Tell me, Bosambo," said he, leaning over the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>side of the <i>Zaire</i>, +"what name did you call my lord Tibbetti?"</p> + +<p>"Bonzi," said Bosambo, innocently, "for such I have heard you call him."</p> + +<p>"Oh, dog of a thief!" stormed Hamilton. "If you speak without respect of +Tibbetti, I will break your head."</p> + +<p>Bosambo looked up with a glint in his big, black eyes.</p> + +<p>"Lord," he said, softly, "it is said on the river 'speak only the words +which high ones speak, and you can say no wrong,' and if you, who are +wiser than any, call my lord 'Bonzi'—what goat am I that I should not +call him 'Bonzi' also?"</p> + +<p>Hamilton saw the canoe drift round, saw the flashing paddles dip +regularly, and the chant of the Ochori boat song came fainter and +fainter as Bosambo's state canoe began its long journey northward.</p> + +<p>Hamilton reached headquarters with a temperature of 105, and declined +Bones' well-meant offers to look after him.</p> + +<p>"What you want, dear old officer," said Bones, fussing around, "is +careful nursin'. Trust old Bones and he'll pull you back to health, sir. +Keep up your pecker, sir, an' I'll bring you back so to speak from the +valley of the shadow—go to bed an' I'll have a mustard plaster on your +chest in half a jiffy."</p> + +<p>"If you come anywhere near me with a mustard plaster," said Hamilton, +pardonably annoyed, "I'll brain you!"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span></p><p>"Don't you think!" asked Bones anxiously, "that you ought to put your +feet in mustard and water, sir—awfully good tonic for a feller, sir. +Bucks you up an' all that sort of thing, sir; uncle of mine who used to +take too much to drink——"</p> + +<p>"The only chance for me," said Hamilton, "is for you to clear out and +leave me alone. Bones—quit fooling: I'm a sick man, and you've any +amount of responsibility. Go up to the Isisi and watch things—it's +pretty hard to say this to you, but I'm in your hands."</p> + +<p>Bones said nothing.</p> + +<p>He looked down at the fever-stricken man and thrust his hands in his +pockets.</p> + +<p>"You see, old Bones," said Hamilton, and now his friend heard the +weariness and the weakness in his voice, "Sanders has a hold on these +chaps that I haven't quite got ... and ... and ... well, you haven't got +at all. I don't want to hurt your feelings, but you're young, Bones, and +these devils know how amiable you are."</p> + +<p>"I'm an ass, sir," muttered Bones, shakily, "an' somehow I understand +that this is the time in my jolly old career when I oughtn't to be an +ass.... I'm sorry, sir."</p> + +<p>Hamilton smiled up at him.</p> + +<p>"It isn't for Sanders' sake or mine or your own, Bones—but for—well, +for the whole crowd of us—white folk. You'll have to do your best, old +man."</p> + +<p>Bones took the other's hand, snivelled a bit despite <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>his fierce effort +of restraint, and went aboard the <i>Zaire</i>.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"Tell all men," said B'chumbiri, addressing his impassive relatives, +"that I go to a great day and to many strange lands."</p> + +<p>He was tall and knobby-kneed, spoke with a squeak at the end of his +deeper sentences, and about his tired eyes he had made a red circle with +camwood. Round his head he had twisted a wire so tightly that it all but +cut the flesh: this was necessary, for B'chumbiri had a headache which +never left him day or night.</p> + +<p>Now he stood, his lank body wrapped in a blanket, and he looked with +dull eyes from face to face.</p> + +<p>"I see you," he said at last, and repeated his motto which had something +to do with monkeys.</p> + +<p>They watched him go down the street towards the beech where the easiest +canoe in the village was moored.</p> + +<p>"It is better if we go after him and put out his eyes," said his elder +brother; "else who knows what damage he will do for which we must pay?"</p> + +<p>Only B'chumbiri's mother looked after him with a mouth that drooped at +the side, for he was her only son, all the others being by other wives +of Mochimo.</p> + +<p>His father and his uncle stood apart and whispered, and presently when, +with a great waving of arms, B'chumbiri had embarked, they went out of +the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>village by the forest path and ran tirelessly till they struck the +river at its bend.</p> + +<p>"Here we will wait," panted the uncle, "and when B'chumbiri comes we +will call him to land, for he has the sickness <i>mongo</i>."</p> + +<p>"What of Sandi?" asked the father, who was no gossip.</p> + +<p>"Sandi is gone," replied the other, "and there is no law."</p> + +<p>Presently B'chumbiri came sweeping round the bend, singing in his poor, +cracked voice about a land and a people and treasures ... he turned his +canoe at his father's bidding, and came obediently to land....</p> + +<p>Overhead the sky was a vivid blue, and the water which moved quickly +between the rocky channel of the Lower Isisi caught something of the +blue, though the thick green of elephant grass by the water's edge and +the overhanging spread of gum trees took away from the clarity of +reflection.</p> + +<p>There was, too, a gentle breeze and a pleasing absence of flies, so that +a man might get under the red and white striped awning of the <i>Zaire</i> +and think or read or dream dreams, and find life a pleasant experience, +and something to be thankful for.</p> + +<p>Such a day does not often come upon the river, but if it does, the deep +channel of the Isisi focuses all the joy of it. Here the river runs as +straight as a canal for six miles, the current swifter and stronger +between the guiding banks than elsewhere. There are rocks, charted and +known, for the bed of the <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>river undergoes no change, the swift waters +carry no sands to choke the fairway, navigation is largely a matter of +engine power and rule of thumb. Going slowly up stream a little more +than two knots an hour, the <i>Zaire</i> was for once a pleasure steamer. Her +long-barrelled Hotchkiss guns were hidden in their canvas jackets, the +Maxims were lashed to the side of the bridge out of sight, and +Lieutenant Augustus Tibbetts, who sprawled in a big wicker-work chair +with an illustrated paper on his knees, a nasal-toned phonograph at his +feet, and a long glass of lemon squash at his elbow, had little to do +but pass the pleasant hours in the most pleasant occupation he could +conceive, which was the posting of a diary, which he hoped on some +future occasion to publish.</p> + +<p>A shout, quick and sharp, brought him to his feet, a stiffly +outstretched hand pointed to the waters.</p> + +<p>"What the dooce——" demanded Bones indignantly, and looked over the +side.... He saw the pitiful thing that rolled slowly in the swift +current, and the homely face of Bones hardened.</p> + +<p>"Damn," he said, and the wheel of the <i>Zaire</i> spun, and the little boat +came broadside to the stream before the threshing wheel got purchase on +the water.</p> + +<p>It was Bones' sinewy hand that gripped the poor arm and brought the body +to the side of the canoe into which he had jumped as the boat came +round.</p> + +<p>"Um," said Bones, seeing what he saw; "who knows this man?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span></p><p>"Lord," said a wooding man, "this is B'chumbiri who was mad, and he +lived in the village near by."</p> + +<p>"There will we go," said Bones, very gravely.</p> + +<p>Now all the people of M'fa knew that the father of B'chumbiri and his +uncle had put away the tiresome youth with his headache and his silly +talk, and when there came news that the <i>Zaire</i> was beating her way to +the village there was a hasty <i>likambo</i> of the eldermen.</p> + +<p>"Since this is neither Sandi nor M'ilitani who comes," said the chief, +an old man, N'jela ("the Bringer"), "but Moon-in-the-Eye, who is a +child, let us say that B'chumbiri fell into the water so that the +crocodiles had him, and if he asks us who slew B'chumbiri—for it may be +that he knows—let none speak, and afterwards we will tell M'ilitani +that we did not understand him."</p> + +<p>With this arrangement all agreed; for surely here was a palaver not to +be feared.</p> + +<p>Bones came with his escort of Houssas.</p> + +<p>From the dark interiors of thatched huts men and women watched his thin +figure going up the street, and laughed.</p> + +<p>Nor did they laugh softly. Bones heard the chuckles of unseen people, +divined that contempt, and his lips trembled. He felt an immense +loneliness—all the weight of government was pressed down upon his head, +it overwhelmed, it smothered him.</p> + +<p>Yet he kept a tight hold upon himself, and <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>by a supreme effort of will +showed no sign of his perturbation.</p> + +<p>The palaver was of little value to Bones; the village was blandly +innocent of murder or knowledge of murder. More than this, all men +stoutly swore that the thing that lay upon the foreshore for +identification, surrounded by a crowd of frowning and frightened little +boys lured by the very gruesomeness of the spectacle, was unknown, and +laughed openly at the suggestion that it was B'chumbiri, who (said they) +had gone a Journey into the forest.</p> + +<p>There was little short of open mockery and defiance when they pointed +out certain indications that went to prove that this man was not of the +Akasava, but of the higher Isisi.</p> + +<p>So Bones' visit was fruitless.</p> + +<p>He dismissed the palaver and walked back to his ship, and worked the +river, village by village, with no more satisfactory result. That night +in the little town of M'fa there was a dance and a jubilation to +celebrate the cunning of a people who had outwitted and overawed the +lords of the land, but the next day came Bosambo, who had established a +system of espionage more far-reaching, and possibly more effective, than +the service which the Government had instituted.</p> + +<p>Liberties they might take with Bones; but they sat discomforted in +palaver before this alien chief, swathed in monkey tails, his shield in +one hand, and his bunch of spears in the other.</p> + +<p>"All things I know," said Bosambo, when they <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>told him what they had to +tell, "and it has come to me that you have spoken lightly of Tibbetti, +who is my friend and my master, and is well beloved of Sandi. Also they +tell me that you smiled at him. Now I tell you there will come a day +when you will not smile, and that day is near at hand."</p> + +<p>"Lord," said the chief, "he made with us a foolish palaver, believing +that we had put away B'chumbiri."</p> + +<p>"And he shall return to that foolish palaver," said Bosambo grimly, "and +if he goes away unsatisfied, behold I will come, and I will take your +old men, and I will hang them by hooks into a tree and roast their feet. +For if there is no Sandi and no law, behold I am Sandi and I law, doing +the will of a certain bearded king, Togi-tani."</p> + +<p>He left the village of M'fa a little unhappy for the space of a day, +when, native-like, they forgot all that he had said.</p> + +<p>In the meantime, up and down the river went Bones, palavers which lasted +from sunrise to sunset being his portion.</p> + +<p>He had in his mind one vital fact, that for the honour of his race and +for the credit of his administration he must bring to justice the man +who slew the thing which he had found in the river. Chiefs and elders +met him with scarcely concealed scorn, and waited expectantly to hear +his strong, foreign language. But in this they were disappointed, for +Bones spoke nothing but the language of the river, and little of it.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p><p>He went on board the <i>Zaire</i> on the ninth night after his discovery, +dispirited and sick at heart.</p> + +<p>"It seems to me, Ahmet," he said to the Houssa sergeant who stood +waiting silently by the table where his meagre dinner was laid, "that no +man speaks the truth in this cursed land, and that they do not fear me +as they fear Sandi."</p> + +<p>"Lord, it is so," said Ahmet; "for, as your lordship knows, Sandi was +very terrible, and then, O Tibbetti, he is an older man, very wise in +the ways of these people, and very cunning to see their heart. All great +trees grow slowly, O my lord! and that which springs up in a night dies +in a day."</p> + +<p>Bones pondered this for a while, then:</p> + +<p>"Wake me at dawn," he said. "I go back to M'fa for the last palaver, and +if this palaver be a bad one, be sure you shall not see my face again +upon the river."</p> + +<p>Bones spoke truly, his resignation, written in his sprawling hand, lay +enveloped and sealed in his cabin ready for dispatch. He stopped his +steamer at a village six miles from M'fa, and sent a party of Houssas to +the village with a message.</p> + +<p>The chief was to summon all eldermen, and all men responsible to the +Government, the wearers of medals and the holders of rights, all landmen +and leaders of hunters, the captains of spears, and the first headmen. +Even to the witch doctors he called together.</p> + +<p>"O soldier!" said the chief, dubiously, "what <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>happens to me if I do not +obey his commands? For my men are weary, having hunted in the forest, +and my chiefs do not like long palavers concerning law."</p> + +<p>"That may be," said Ahmet, calmly. "But when my lord calls you to +palaver you must obey, otherwise I take you, I and my strong men, to the +Village of Irons, there to rest for a while to my lord's pleasure."</p> + +<p>So the chief sent messengers and rattled his <i>lokali</i> to some purpose, +bringing headmen and witch doctors, little and great chiefs, and +spearmen of quality, to squat about the palaver house on the little hill +to the east of the village.</p> + +<p>Bones came with an escort of four men. He walked slowly up the cut steps +in the hillside and sat upon the stool to the chief's right; and no +sooner had he seated himself than, without preliminary, he began to +speak. And he spoke of Sanders, of his splendour and his power; of his +love for all people and his land, and also M'ilitani, who these men +respected because of his devilish blue eyes.</p> + +<p>At first he spoke slowly, because he found a difficulty in breathing, +and then as he found himself, grew more and more lucid and took a larger +grasp of the language.</p> + +<p>"Now," said he, "I come to you, being young in the service of the +Government, and unworthy to tread in my lord Sandi's way. Yet I hold the +laws in my two hands even as Sandi held them, for laws do not change +with men, neither does the sun <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>change whatever be the land upon which +it shines. Now, I say to you and to all men, deliver to me the slayer of +B'chumbiri that I may deal with him according to the law."</p> + +<p>There was a dead silence, and Bones waited.</p> + +<p>Then the silence grew into a whisper, from a whisper into a babble of +suppressed talk, and finally somebody laughed. Bones stood up, for this +was his supreme moment.</p> + +<p>"Come out to me, O killer!" he said softly, "for who am I that I can +injure you? Did I not hear some voice say <i>g'la</i>, and is not <i>g'la</i> the +name of a fool? O, wise and brave men of the Akasava who sit there +quietly, daring not so much as to hit a finger before one who is a +fool!"</p> + +<p>Again the silence fell. Bones, his helmet on the back of his head, his +hands thrust into his pockets, came a little way down the hill towards +the semi-circle of waiting eldermen.</p> + +<p>"O, brave men!" he went on, "O, wonderful seeker of danger! Behold! I, +<i>g'la</i>, a fool, stand before you and yet the killer of B'chumbiri sits +trembling and will not rise before me, fearing my vengeance. Am I so +terrible?"</p> + +<p>His wide open eyes were fixed upon the uncle of B'chumbiri, and the old +man returned the gaze defiantly.</p> + +<p>"Am I so terrible?" Bones went on, gently. "Do men fear me when I walk? +Or run to their huts at the sound of my puc-a-puc? Do women wring their +hands when I pass?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p><p>Again there was a little titter, but M'gobo, the uncle of B'chumbiri, +grimacing now in his rage, was not amongst the laughers.</p> + +<p>"Yet the brave one who slew——"</p> + +<p>M'gobo sprang to his feet.</p> + +<p>"Lord," he said harshly, "why do you put all men to shame for your +sport?"</p> + +<p>"This is no sport, M'gobo," answered Bones quickly. "This is a palaver, +a killing palaver. Was it a woman who slew B'chumbiri? so that she is +not present at this palaver. Lo, then I go to hold council with women!"</p> + +<p>M'gobo's face was all distorted like a man stricken with paralysis.</p> + +<p>"Tibbetti!" he said, "I slew B'chumbiri—according to custom—and I will +answer to Sandi, who is a man, and understands such palavers."</p> + +<p>"Think well," said Bones, deathly white, "think well, O man, before you +say this."</p> + +<p>"I killed him, O fool," said M'gobo loudly, "though his father turned +woman at the last—with these hands I cut him, using two knives——"</p> + +<p>"Damn you!" said Bones, and shot him dead.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>Hamilton, so far convalescent that he could smoke a cigarette, heard the +account without interruption.</p> + +<p>"So there you are, sir," said Bones at the side. "An' I felt like a +jolly old murderer, but, dear old officer, what was I to do?"</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span></p><p>Still Hamilton said nothing, and Bones shifted uncomfortably.</p> + +<p>"For goodness gracious sake don't sit there like a bally old owl," he +said, fretfully. "Was I wrong?"</p> + +<p>Hamilton smiled.</p> + +<p>"You're a jolly old commissioner, sir," he mimicked, "and for two pins +I'd mention you in dispatches."</p> + +<p>Bones examined the piping of his khaki jacket and extracted the pins.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII</h2> + +<h2>THE MAN WHO DID NOT SLEEP</h2> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:50px;line-height:32px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">N</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">o</span> +doubt whatever but that Lieutenant Tibbetts of the Houssas had a +pretty taste for romance. It led him to exercise certain latent powers +of imagination and to garnish his voluminous correspondence with details +of happenings which had no very solid foundation in fact.</p> + +<p>On one occasion he had called down the heavy sarcasm of his superior +officer by a reference to lions—a reference which Hamilton's sister had +seen and, in the innocence of her heart, had referred to in a letter to +her brother.</p> + +<p>Whereupon Bones swore to himself that he would carefully avoid +corresponding with any person who might have the remotest acquaintance +with the remotest of Hamilton's relatives.</p> + +<p>Every mail night Captain Hamilton underwent a cross-examination which at +once baffled and annoyed him.</p> + +<p>Picture a great room, the walls of varnished match-boarding, the bare +floor covered in patches by skins. There are twelve windows covered +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>with fine mesh wire and looking out to the broad verandah which runs +round the bungalow. The furniture is mainly wicker work, a table or two +bearing framed photographs (one has been cleared for the huge gramophone +which Bones has introduced to the peaceful life of headquarters). There +are no pictures on the walls save the inevitable five—Queen Victoria, +King Edward, Queen Alexandra, and in a place of honour above the door +the King and his Consort.</p> + +<p>A great oil lamp hangs from the centre of the boarded ceiling, and under +this the big solid table at either side of which two officers write +silently and industriously, for the morrow brings the mail boat.</p> + +<p>Silent until Bones looked up thoughtfully.</p> + +<p>"Do you know the Gripps, of Beckstead, dear old fellow?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"None of your people know 'em?" hopefully.</p> + +<p>"No—how the dickens do I know?"</p> + +<p>"Don't get chuffy, dear old chap."</p> + +<p>Then would follow another silence, until——</p> + +<p>"Do you happen to be acquainted with the Lomands of Fife?"</p> + +<p>"No."</p> + +<p>"I suppose none of your people know 'em?"</p> + +<p>Hamilton would put down his pen, resignation on his face.</p> + +<p>"I have never heard of the Lomands—unless you refer to the Loch +Lomonds; nor to the best of my knowledge and belief are any of my +relations in <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>blood or in law in any way acquainted with them."</p> + +<p>"Cheer oh!" said Bones, gratefully.</p> + +<p>Another ten minutes, and then:</p> + +<p>"You don't know the Adamses of Oxford, do you, sir?"</p> + +<p>Hamilton, in the midst of his weekly report, chucked down his pen.</p> + +<p>"No; nor the Eves of Cambridge, nor the Serpents of Eton, nor the Angels +of Harrow."</p> + +<p>"I suppose——" began Bones.</p> + +<p>"Nor are my relations on speaking terms with them. They don't know the +Adamses, nor the Cains, nor the Abels, nor the Moseses, nor the Noahs."</p> + +<p>"That's all I wanted to know, sir," said an injured Bones. "There's no +need to peeve, sir."</p> + +<p>Step by step Bones was compiling a directory of people to whom he might +write without restraint, providing he avoided mythical lion hunts and +confined himself to anecdotes which were suggestively complimentary to +himself.</p> + +<p>Thus he wrote to one pal of his at Biggestow to the effect that he was +known to the natives as "The-Man-Who-Never-Sleeps," meaning thereby that +he was a most vigilant and relentless officer, and the recipients of +this information, fired with a sort of local patriotism, sent the +remarkable statement to the <i>Biggestow Herald and Observer and Hindhead +Guardian</i>, thereby upsetting all Bones' artful calculations.</p> + +<p>"What the devil does 'Man-Who-Never-Sleeps' mean?" asked a puzzled +Hamilton.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span></p><p>"Dear old fellow," said Bones, incoherently, "don't let's discuss it ... +I can't understand how these things get into the bally papers."</p> + +<p>"If," said Hamilton, turning the cutting over in his hand, "if they +called you 'The-Man-Who-Jaws-So-Much-That-Nobody-Can-Sleep,' I'd +understand it, or if they called you +'The-Man-Sleeps-With-His-Mouth-Open-Emitting-Hideous-Noises,' I could +understand it."</p> + +<p>"The fact is, sir," said Bones, in a moment of inspiration, "I'm an +awfully light sleeper—in fact, sir, I'm one of those chaps who can get +along with a couple of hours' sleep—I can sleep anywhere at any +time—dear old Wellin'ton was similarly gifted—in fact, sir, there are +one or two points of resemblance between Wellington and I, which you +might have noticed, sir."</p> + +<p>"Speak no ill of the dead," reproved Hamilton; "beyond your eccentric +noses I see no points of resemblance."</p> + +<p>It was on a morning following the dispatch of the mail that Hamilton +took a turn along the firm sands to settle in his mind the problem of a +certain Middle Island.</p> + +<p>Middle Islands, that is to say the innumerable patches of land which +sprinkle the river in its broad places, were a never-ending problem to +Sanders and his successor. Upon these Middle Islands the dead were laid +to rest—from the river you saw the graves with fluttering ragged flags +of white cloth planted about them—and the right of burial <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>was a matter +of dispute when the mainland at one side of the river was Isisi land, +and Akasava the other. Also some of the larger Middle Islands were +colonized.</p> + +<p>Hamilton had news of a coming palaver in relation to one of these.</p> + +<p>Now, on the river, it is customary for all who desire inter-tribal +palavers to announce their intention loudly and insistently. And if +Sanders had no objection he made no move, if he did not think the +palaver desirable he stopped it. It was a simple arrangement, and it +worked.</p> + +<p>Hamilton came back from his four-mile constitutional satisfied in his +mind that the palaver should be held. Moreover, they had, on this +occasion, asked permission. He could grant this with an easy mind, being +due in the neighbourhood of the disputed territory in the course of a +week.</p> + +<p>It seemed that an Isisi fisherman had been spearing in Akasava waters, +and had, moreover, settled, he and his family to the number of forty, on +Akasava territory. Whereupon an Akasava fishing community, whose rights +the intruder had violated, rose up in its wrath and beat Issmeri with +sticks.</p> + +<p>Then the king of the Isisi sent a messenger to the king of Akasava +begging him to stay his hand "against my lawful people, for know this, +Iberi, that I have a thousand spears and young men eager for fire."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span></p><p>And Iberi replied with marked unpleasantness that there were in the +Akasava territory two thousand spears no less inclined to slaughter.</p> + +<p>In a moment of admirable moderation, significant of the change which Mr. +Commissioner Sanders had wrought in these warlike peoples, they accepted +Hamilton's suggestion—sent by special envoy—and held a "small +palaver," agreeing that the question of the disputed fishing ground +should be settled by a third person.</p> + +<p>And they chose Bosambo, paramount and magnificent chief of the Ochori, +as arbitrator. Now, it was singularly unfortunate that the question was +ever debatable. And yet it was, for the fishing ground in question was +off one of the many Middle Islands. In this case the island was occupied +by Akasava fishermen on the one shore and by the intruding Isisi on the +other. If you can imagine a big "Y" and over it a little "o" and over +that again an inverted "Y" thus "ʎ" and drawing this you prolong the +four prongs of the Y's, you have a rough idea of the topography of the +place. To the left of the lower "Y" mark the word "Isisi," to the right +the word "Akasava" until you reach a place where the two right hand +prongs meet, and here you draw a line and call all above it "Ochori." +The "o" in the centre is the middle island—set in a shallow lake +through which the river (the stalk, of the Y's) runs.</p> + +<p>Bosambo came down in state with ten canoes filled with counsellors and +bodyguard. He camped <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>on the disputed ground, and was met thereon by the +chiefs affected.</p> + +<p>"O, Iberi and T'lingi!" said he, as he stepped ashore, "I come in peace, +bringing all my wonderful counsellors, that I may make you as brothers, +for as you know I have a white man's way of knowing all their magic, and +being a brother in blood to our Lord Tibbetti, Moon-in-the-Eye."</p> + +<p>"This we know, Bosambo," said Iberi, looking askance at the size of +Bosambo's retinue, "and my stomach is proud that you bring so vast an +army of high men to us, for I see that you have brought rich food for +them."</p> + +<p>He saw nothing of the sort, but he wanted things made plain at the +beginning.</p> + +<p>"Lord Iberi," said Bosambo, loftily, "I bring no food, for that would +have been shameful, and men would have said: 'Iberi is a mean man who +starves the guests of his house.' But only one half of my wise people +shall sit in your huts, Iberi, and the other half will rest with T'lingi +of the Akasava, and feed according to law. And behold, chiefs and +headmen, I am a very just man not to be turned this way or that by the +giving of gifts or by kindness shown to my people. Yet my heart is so +human and so filled with tenderness for my people, that I ask you not to +feed them too richly or give them presents of beauty, lest my noble mind +be influenced."</p> + +<p>Whereupon his forces were divided, and each chief ransacked his land for +delicacies to feed them.</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p><p>It was a long palaver—too long for the chiefs.</p> + +<p>Was the island Akasava or Isisi? Old men of either nation testified with +oaths and swearings of death and other high matters that it was both.</p> + +<p>From dawn to sunset Bosambo sat in the thatched palaver house, and on +either side of him was a brass pot into which he tossed from time to +time a grain of corn.</p> + +<p>And every grain stood for a successful argument in favour of one or the +other of the contestants—the pot to the right being for the Akasava, +and that to the left for the Isisi.</p> + +<p>And the night was given up to festivity, to the dancing of girls and the +telling of stories and other noble exercises.</p> + +<p>On the tenth day Iberi met T'lingi secretly.</p> + +<p>"T'lingi," said Iberi, "it seems to me that this island is not worth the +keeping if we have to feast this thief Bosambo and search our lands for +his pleasure."</p> + +<p>"Lord Iberi," agreed his rival, "that is also in my mind—let us go to +this robber of our food and say the palaver shall finish to-morrow, for +I do not care whether the island is yours or mine if we can send Bosambo +back to his land."</p> + +<p>"You speak my mind," said Iberi, and on the morrow they were blunt to +the point of rudeness.</p> + +<p>Whereupon Bosambo delivered judgment.</p> + +<p>"Many stories have been told," said he, "also many lies, and in my +wisdom I cannot tell which is lie and which is truth. Moreover, the +grains of <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>corn are equal in each pot. Now, this I say, in the name of +my uncle Sandi, and my brother Tibbetti (who is secretly married to my +sister's cousin), that neither Akasava nor Isisi shall sit in this +island for a hundred years."</p> + +<p>"Lord, you are wise," said the Akasava chief, well satisfied, and Iberi +was no less cheered, but asked: "Who shall keep this island free from +Akasava or Isisi? For men may come and there will be other palavers and +perhaps fighting?"</p> + +<p>"That I have thought of," said Bosambo, "and so I will raise a village +of my own people on this island, and put a guard of a hundred men—all +this I will do because I love you both—the palaver is finished."</p> + +<p>He rose in his stately way, and with his drums beating and the bright +spearheads of his young men a-glitter in the evening sunlight, embarked +in his ten canoes, having expanded his territory without loss to himself +like the Imperialist he was.</p> + +<p>For two days the chiefs of the Akasava and the Isisi were satisfied with +the justice of an award which robbed them both without giving an +advantage to either. Then an uneasy realization of their loss dawned +upon them. Then followed a swift exchange of messages and Bosambo's +colonization scheme was unpleasantly checked.</p> + +<p>Hamilton was on the little lake which is at the end of the N'gini River +when he heard of the trouble, and from the high hills at the far end of +the lake <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>sent a helio message staring and blinking across the waste.</p> + +<p>Bones, fishing in the river below Ikan, picked up the instructions, and +went flying up the river as fast as the new naphtha launch could carry +him.</p> + +<p>He arrived in time to cover the shattered remnants of Bosambo's fleet as +they were being swept northward from whence they came.</p> + +<p>Bones went inshore to the island, the water jacket of a Maxim gun +exposed over the bow, but there was no opposition.</p> + +<p>"What the dooce is all this about—hey?" demanded Lieutenant Tibbetts +fiercely, and Iberi, doubly uneasy at the sound of an unaccustomed +language, stood on one leg in his embarrassment.</p> + +<p>"Lord, the thief Bosambo——" he began, and told the story.</p> + +<p>"Lord," he concluded humbly, "I say all this though Bosambo is your +relation since you have secretly married his sister's cousin."</p> + +<p>Whereupon Bones went very red and stammered and spluttered in such a way +that the chief knew for sure that Bosambo had spoken the truth.</p> + +<p>Bones, as I have said before, was no fool. He confirmed Bosambo's order +for the evacuation of the island, but left a Houssa guard to hold it.</p> + +<p>Then he hurried north to the Ochori.</p> + +<p>Bosambo formed his royal procession, but there was no occasion for it, +for Bones was in no processional mood.</p> + +<p>"What the dooce do you mean, sir?" demanded <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>a glaring and threatening +Bones, his helmet over his neck, his arms akimbo. "What do you mean, +sir, by saying I'm married to your infernal aunt?"</p> + +<p>"Sah," said Bosambo, virtuous and innocent, "I no savvy you—I no +compreney, sah! You lib for my house—I give you fine t'ings. I make um +moosic, sah——"</p> + +<p>"You're a jolly old rotter, Bosambo!" said Bones, shaking his finger in +the chief's face. "I could punish you awfully for telling wicked +stories, Bosambo. I'm disgusted with you, I am indeed."</p> + +<p>"Lord who never sleeps," began Bosambo, humbly.</p> + +<p>"Hey?"</p> + +<p>Bones stared at the other in amazement, suspicion, hope, and +gratification in his face.</p> + +<p>"O, Bosambo," said he mildly, and speaking in the native tongue, "why do +you call me by that name?"</p> + +<p>Now, Bosambo in his innocence had used a phrase (<i>M'wani-m'wani</i>) which +signifies "the sleepless one," and also stands in the vernacular for +"busy-body," or one who is eternally concerned with other people's +business.</p> + +<p>"Lord," said Bosambo, hastily, "by this name are you known from the +mountains to the sea. Thus all men speak of you, saying: 'This is he who +does not sleep but watches all the time.'"</p> + +<p>Bones was impressed, he was flattered, and he ran his finger between the +collar of his uniform jacket and his scraggy neck as one will do who is +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>embarrassed by praise and would appear unconcerned under the ordeal.</p> + +<p>"So men call me, Bosambo," said he carelessly "though my lord M'ilitani +does not know this—therefore in the day when M'ilitani comes, speak of +me as <i>M'wani-m'wani</i> that he may know of whom men speak when they say +'the sleepless one.'"</p> + +<p>Everybody knows that <i>Cala cala</i> great chiefs had stored against the +hour of their need certain stocks of ivory.</p> + +<p>Dead ivory it is called because it had been so long cut, but good cow +ivory, closer in grain than the bull elephant brought to the hunter, +more turnable, and of greater value.</p> + +<p>There is no middle island on the river about which some legend or buried +treasure does not float.</p> + +<p>Hamilton, hurrying forward to the support of his second-in-command, +stopped long enough to interview two sulky chiefs.</p> + +<p>"What palaver is this?" he demanded of Iberi, "that you carry your +spears to a killing? For is not the river big enough for all, and are +there no burying-places for your old men that you should fight so +fiercely?"</p> + +<p>"Lord," confessed Iberi, "upon that island is a treasure which has been +hidden from the beginning of time, and that is the truth—N'Yango!"</p> + +<p>Now, no man swears by his mother unless he is speaking straightly, and +Hamilton understood.</p> + +<p>"Never have I spoken of this to the Chief of the Isisi," Iberi went on, +"nor he to me, yet we know <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>because of certain wise sayings that the +treasure stays and young men of our houses have searched very diligently +though secretly. Also Bosambo knows, for he is a cunning man, and when +we found he had put his warriors to the seeking we fought him, lord, for +though the treasure may be Isisi or Akasava, of this I am sure it is not +of the Ochori."</p> + +<p>Hamilton came to the Ochori city to find a red-eyed Bones stalking +majestically up and down the beach.</p> + +<p>"What is the matter with you?" demanded Hamilton. "Fever?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all," replied Bones, huskily; but with a fine carelessness.</p> + +<p>"You look as if you hadn't had a sleep for months," said Hamilton.</p> + +<p>Bones shrugged his shoulders.</p> + +<p>"Dear old fellow," said he, "it isn't for nothing that I'm called 'the +sleepless one'—don't make sceptical noises, dear old officer, but +pursue your inquiries among the indigenous natives, especially +Bosambo—an hour is all I want—just a bit of a snooze and a bath and +I'm bright an' vigilant."</p> + +<p>"Take your hour," said Hamilton briefly. "You'll need it."</p> + +<p>His interview with Bosambo was short and, for Bosambo, painful. +Nevertheless he unbent in the end to give the chief a job after his +heart.</p> + +<p>Launch and steamer turned their noses down the stream, and at sunset +came to the island. In the morning, Hamilton conducted a search which +<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>extended from shore to shore and he came upon the cairn unexpectedly +after a two hours' search. He uncovered two tons of ivory, wrapped in +rotten native cloth.</p> + +<p>"There will be trouble over this," he said, thoughtfully, surveying the +yellow tusks. "I'll go downstream to the Isisi and collect information, +unless these beggars can establish their claim we will bag this lot for +government."</p> + +<p>He left Bones and one orderly on the island.</p> + +<p>"I shall be gone two days," he said. "I must send the launch to bring +Iberi to me; keep your eyes peeled."</p> + +<p>"Sir," said Bones, blinking and suppressing a yawn with difficulty, "you +can trust the sleepless one."</p> + +<p>He had his tent pitched before the cairn, and in the shade of a great +gum he seated himself in his canvas chair.... He looked up and struggled +to his feet. He was half dead with weariness, for the whole of the +previous night, while Bosambo snored in his hut, Bones, pinching +himself, had wandered up and down the street of the city qualifying for +his title.</p> + +<p>Now, as he rose unsteadily to his feet, it was to confront +Bosambo—Bosambo with four canoes grounded on the sandy beach of the +island.</p> + +<p>"Hello, Bosambo!" yawned Bones.</p> + +<p>"O Sleepless One," said Bosambo humbly, "though I came in silence yet +you heard me, and your bright eyes saw me in the little-light."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span></p><p>"Little-light" it was, for the sun had gone down.</p> + +<p>"Go now, Bosambo," said Bones, "for it is not lawful that you should be +here."</p> + +<p>He looked around for Ahmet, his orderly, but Ahmet was snoring like a +pig.</p> + +<p>"Lord, that I know," said Bosambo, "yet I came because my heart is sad +and I have sorrow in my stomach. For did I not say that you had married +my aunt?"</p> + +<p>"Now listen whilst I tell you the full story of my wickedness, and of my +aunt who married a white lord——"</p> + +<p>Bones sat down in his chair and laid back his head, listening with +closed eyes.</p> + +<p>"My aunt, O Sleepless One," began Bosambo, and Bones heard the story in +fragments. "... Coast woman ... great lord ... fine drier of cloth...."</p> + +<p>Bosambo droned on in a monotonous tone, and Bones, open-mouthed, his +head rolling from side to side, breathed regularly.</p> + +<p>At a gesture from Bosambo, the man who sat in the canoe slipped lightly +ashore. Bosambo pointed to the cairn, but he himself did not move, nor +did he check his fluent narrative.</p> + +<p>Working with feverish, fervent energy, the men of Bosambo's party loaded +the great tusks in the canoes. At last all the work was finished and +Bosambo rose.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"Wake up, Bones."</p> + +<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span></p><p>Lieutenant Tibbetts stumbled to his feet glaring and grimacing wildly.</p> + +<p>"Parade all correct, sir," he said, "the mail boat has just come in, an' +there's a jolly old salmon for supper."</p> + +<p>"Wake up, you dreaming devil," said Hamilton.</p> + +<p>Bones looked around. In the bright moonlight he saw the <i>Zaire</i> moored +to the shelving beach, saw Hamilton, and turned his head to the empty +cairn.</p> + +<p>"Good Lord!" he gasped.</p> + +<p>"O Sleepless One!" said Hamilton softly, "O bright eyes!"</p> + +<p>Bones went blundering to the cairn, made a closer inspection, and came +slowly back.</p> + +<p>"There's only one thing for me to do, sir," he said, saluting. "As an +officer an' a gentleman, I must blow my brains out."</p> + +<p>"Brains!" said Hamilton scornfully.</p> + +<hr style='width: 45%;' /> + +<p>"As a matter of fact I sent Bosambo to collect the ivory which I shall +divide amongst the three chiefs—it's perished ivory, anyhow; and he had +my written authority to take it, but being a born thief he preferred to +steal it; you'll find it stacked in your cabin, Bones."</p> + +<p>"In my cabin, sir!" said an indignant Bones; "there isn't room in my +cabin, sir. How the dickens am I going to sleep?"</p> + + +<p class="center">THE END</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<div class="centerbox bbox"> +<h2><a name="POPULAR_NOVELS" id="POPULAR_NOVELS"></a>POPULAR NOVELS</h2> + +<h4>BY</h4> + +<h3>EDGAR WALLACE</h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Published By</span></h3> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Ward, Lock & Co., Limited.</span></h3> + +<h3><i>In Various Editions</i>.</h3> + +<p class="center"> +SANDERS OF THE RIVER<br /> +BONES<br /> +BOSAMBO OF THE RIVER<br /> +BONES IN LONDON<br /> +THE KEEPERS OF THE KING'S PEACE<br /> +THE COUNCIL OF JUSTICE<br /> +THE DUKE IN THE SUBURBS<br /> +THE PEOPLE OF THE RIVER<br /> +DOWN UNDER DONOVAN<br /> +PRIVATE SELBY<br /> +THE ADMIRABLE CARFEW<br /> +THE MAN WHO BOUGHT LONDON<br /> +THE JUST MEN OF CORDOVA<br /> +THE SECRET HOUSE<br /> +KATE, PLUS TEN<br /> +LIEUTENANT BONES<br /> +THE ADVENTURES OF HEINE<br /> +JACK O' JUDGMENT<br /> +THE DAFFODIL MYSTERY<br /> +THE NINE BEARS<br /> +THE BOOK OF ALL POWER<br /> +MR. JUSTICE MAXELL<br /> +THE BOOKS OF BART<br /> +THE DARK EYES OF LONDON<br /> +CHICK<br /> +SANDI, THE KING-MAKER<br /> +THE THREE OAK MYSTERY<br /> +THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE FROG<br /> +BLUE HAND<br /> +GREY TIMOTHY<br /> +A DEBT DISCHARGED<br /> +THOSE FOLK OF BULBORO'<br /> +THE MAN WHO WAS NOBODY<br /> +THE GREEN RUST<br /> +THE FOURTH PLAGUE<br /> +THE RIVER OF STARS<br /> +</p> + +<h3> +<i>Made and Printed in Great Britain by</i><br /> +<span class="smcap">Ward, Lock & Co., Limited, London</span>.<br /> +</h3></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Allamandi—German territory.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> That which I call the Akasava proper is the very small, +dominant clan of a tribe which is loosely called "Akasava," but is really Bowongo.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> "Book" means any written thing. A "Note" is a book.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> The stone breaker, the native name for the Congo +Government.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> Probably a corruption of the word "English."</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> The territories are invariably named after the principal +city, which is sometimes, perhaps, a little misleading.—E. W.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>See</i> "The Right of Way."</p></div> + + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> Palaver.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> The motor-launch.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Chronicles II., ix. 29.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Numbers xxi. 17.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> "Lilongo" is from the noun "balongo"—blood, and means +literally "he-who-breaks-blood-friendships."—E. W.</p></div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES</h2> + +<p>Every effort has been made to remain true to the original text; minor changes have been made to regularize spelling and hyphenation within the book.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bones, by Edgar Wallace + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BONES *** + +***** This file should be named 24450-h.htm or 24450-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/4/5/24450/ + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +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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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: Bones + Being Further Adventures in Mr. Commissioner Sanders' Country + +Author: Edgar Wallace + +Release Date: January 29, 2008 [EBook #24450] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BONES *** + + + + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + "BONES" + + being + + Further Adventures in + Mr. Commissioner Sanders' Country + + BY + + EDGAR WALLACE + + Author of "Sanders of the River," etc. + + WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED + LONDON AND MELBOURNE + + + + + To + + Isabel Thorn + + WHO WAS LARGELY RESPONSIBLE + + FOR BRINGING SANDERS + + INTO BEING + + This Book is Dedicated + + + + + CONTENTS + + + CHAP. PAGE + + PROLOGUE--SANDERS, C.M.G 7 + + I HAMILTON OF THE HOUSSAS 52 + + II THE DISCIPLINARIANS 71 + + III THE LOST N'BOSINI 88 + + IV THE FETISH STICK 108 + + V A FRONTIER AND A CODE 123 + + VI THE SOUL OF THE NATIVE WOMAN 148 + + VII THE STRANGER WHO WALKED BY NIGHT 164 + + VIII A RIGHT OF WAY 180 + + IX THE GREEN CROCODILE 193 + + X HENRY HAMILTON BONES 209 + + XI BONES AT M'FA 225 + + XII THE MAN WHO DID NOT SLEEP 240 + + + + +"BONES" + +PROLOGUE + +SANDERS--C.M.G. + + +I + +You will never know from the perusal of the Blue Book the true +inwardness of the happenings in the Ochori country in the spring of the +year of Wish. Nor all the facts associated with the disappearance of the +Rt. Hon. Joseph Blowter, Secretary of State for the Colonies. + +We know (though this is not in the Blue Books) that Bosambo called +together all his petty chiefs and his headmen, from one end of the +country to the other, and assembled them squatting expectantly at the +foot of the little hillock, where sat Bosambo in his robes of office +(unauthorized but no less magnificent), their upturned faces charged +with pride and confidence, eloquent of the hold this sometime Liberian +convict had upon the wayward and fearful folk of the Ochori. + +Now no man may call a palaver of all small chiefs unless he notifies the +government of his intention, for the government is jealous of +self-appointed parliaments, for when men meet together in public +conference, however innocent may be its first cause, talk invariably +drifts to war, just as when they assemble and talk in private it drifts +womanward. + +And since a million and odd square miles of territory may only be +governed by a handful of ragged soldiers so long as there is no +concerted action against authority, extemporized and spontaneous +palavers are severely discouraged. + +But Bosambo was too cheery and optimistic a man to doubt that his action +would incur the censorship of his lord, and, moreover, he was so filled +with his own high plans and so warm and generous at heart at the thought +of the benefits he might be conferring upon his patron that the +illegality of the meeting did not occur to him, or if it occurred was +dismissed as too preposterous for consideration. + +And so there had come by the forest paths, by canoe, from fishing +villages, from far-off agricultural lands near by the great mountains, +from timber cuttings in the lower forest, higher chiefs and little +chiefs, headmen and lesser headmen, till they made a respectable crowd, +too vast for the comfort of the Ochori elders who must needs provide +them with food and lodgings. + +"Noble chiefs of the Ochori," began Bosambo, and Notiki nudged his +neighbour with a sharp elbow, for Notiki was an old man of forty-three, +and thin. + +"Our lord desires us to give him something," he said. + +He was a bitter man this Notiki, a relative of former chiefs of the +Ochori, and now no more than over-head of four villages. + +"Wa!" said his neighbour, with his shining face turned to Bosambo. + +Notiki grunted but said no more. + +"I have assembled you here," said Bosambo, "because I love to see you, +and because it is good that I should meet those who are in authority +under me to administer the laws which the King my master has set for +your guidance." + +Word for word it was a paraphrase of an address which Sanders himself +had delivered three months ago. His audience may have forgotten the +fact, but Notiki at least recognized the plagiarism and said "Oh, ho!" +under his breath and made a scornful noise. + +"Now I must go from you," said Bosambo. + +There was a little chorus of dismay, but Notiki's voice did not swell +the volume. + +"The King has called me to the coast, and for the space of two moons I +shall be as dead to you, though my fetish will watch you and my spirit +will walk these streets every night with big ears to listen to evil +talk, and great big eyes to see the hearts of men. Yea, from this city +to the very end of my dominions over to Kalala." His accusing eyes fixed +Notiki, and the thin man wriggled uncomfortably. + +"This man is a devil," he muttered under his breath, "he hears and sees +all things." + +"And if you ask me why I go," Bosambo went on, "I tell you this: +swearing you all to secrecy that this word shall not go beyond your +huts" (there were some two thousand people present to share the +mystery), "my lord Sandi has great need of me. For who of us is so wise +that he can look into the heart and understand the sorrow-call which +goes from brother to brother and from blood to blood. I say no more save +my lord desires me, and since I am the King of the Ochori, a nation +great amongst all nations, must I go down to the coast like a dog or +like the headman of a fisher-village?" + +He paused dramatically, and there was a faint--a very faint--murmur +which he might interpret as an expression of his people's wish that he +should travel in a state bordering upon magnificence. + +Faint indeed was that murmur, because there was a hint of taxation in +the business, a promise of levies to be extracted from an unwilling +peasantry; a suggestion of lazy men leaving the comfortable shade of +their huts to hurry perspiring in the forest that gum and rubber and +similar offerings should be laid at the complacent feet of their +overlord. + +Bosambo heard the murmur and marked its horrid lack of heartiness and +was in no sense put out of countenance. + +"As you say," said he approvingly, "it is proper that I should journey +to my lord and to the strange people beyond the coast--to the land where +even slaves wear trousers--carrying with me most wonderful presents that +the name of the Ochori shall be as thunder upon the waters and even +great kings shall speak in pride of you," he paused again. + +Now it was a dead silence which greeted his peroration. Notably +unenthusiastic was this gathering, twiddling its toes and blandly +avoiding his eye. Two moons before he had extracted something more than +his tribute--a tribute which was the prerogative of government. + +Yet then, as Notiki said under his breath, or openly, or by innuendo as +the sentiment of his company demanded, four and twenty canoes laden with +the fruits of taxation had come to the Ochori city, and five only of +those partly filled had paddled down to headquarters to carry the Ochori +tribute to the overlord of the land. + +"I will bring back with me new things," said Bosambo enticingly; +"strange devil boxes, large magics which will entrance you, things that +no common man has seen, such as I and Sandi alone know in all this land. +Go now, I tell thee, to your people in this country, telling them all +that I have spoken to you, and when the moon is in a certain quarter +they will come in joy bearing presents in both hands, and these ye shall +bring to me." + +"But, lord!" it was the bold Notiki who stood in protest, "what shall +happen to such of us headmen who come without gifts in our hands for +your lordship, saying 'Our people are stubborn and will give nothing'?" + +"Who knows?" was all the satisfaction he got from Bosambo, with the +additional significant hint, "I shall not blame you, knowing that it is +not because of your fault but because your people do not love you, and +because they desire another chief over them. The palaver is finished." + +Finished it was, so far as Bosambo was concerned. He called a council of +his headmen that night in his hut. + +Bosambo made his preparations at leisure. There was much to avoid before +he took his temporary farewell of the tribe. Not the least to be counted +amongst those things to be done was the extraction, to its uttermost +possibility, of the levy which he had quite improperly instituted. + +And of the things to avoid, none was more urgent or called for greater +thought than the necessity for so timing his movements that he did not +come upon Sanders or drift within the range of his visible and audible +influence. + +Here fortune may have been with Bosambo, but it is more likely that he +had carefully thought out every detail of his scheme. Sanders at the +moment was collecting hut tax along the Kisai river and there was also, +as Bosambo well knew, a murder trial of great complexity waiting for his +decision at Ikan. A headman was suspected of murdering his chief wife, +and the only evidence against him was that of the under wives to whom +she displayed much hauteur and arrogance. + +The people of the Ochori might be shocked at the exorbitant demands +which their lord put upon them, but they were too wise to deny him his +wishes. There had been a time in the history of the Ochori when demands +were far heavier, and made with great insolence by a people who bore the +reputation of being immensely fearful. It had come to be a by-word of +the people when they discussed their lord with greater freedom than he +could have wished, the tyranny of Bosambo was better than the tyranny of +Akasava. + +Amongst the Ochori chiefs, greater and lesser, only one was conspicuous +by his failure to carry proper offerings to his lord. When all the gifts +were laid on sheets of native cloth in the great space before Bosambo's +hut, Notiki's sheet was missing and with good reason as he sent his son +to explain. + +"Lord," said this youth, lank and wild, "my father has collected for you +many beautiful things, such as gum and rubber and the teeth of +elephants. Now he would have brought these and laid them at your lovely +feet, but the roads through the forest are very evil, and there have +been floods in the northern country and he cannot pass the streams. Also +the paths through the forest are thick and tangled and my father fears +for his carriers." + +Bosambo looked at him, thoughtfully. + +"Go back to your father, N'gobi," he said gently, "and tell him that +though there come no presents from him to me, I, his master and chief, +knowing he loves me, understand all things well." + +N'gobi brightened visibly. He had been ready to bolt, understanding +something of Bosambo's dexterity with a stick and fearing that the chief +would loose upon him the vengeance his father had called down upon his +own hoary head. + +"Of the evil roads I know," said Bosambo; "now this you shall say to +your father: Bosambo the chief goes away from this city and upon a long +journey; for two moons he will be away doing the business of his cousin +and friend Sandi. And when my lord Bim-bi has bitten once at the third +moon I will come back and I will visit your father. But because the +roads are bad," he went on, "and the floods come even in this dry +season," he said significantly, "and the forest is so entangled that he +cannot bring his presents, sending only the son of his wife to me, he +shall make against my coming such a road as shall be in width, the +distance between the King's hut and the hut of the King's wife; and he +shall clear from this road all there are of trees, and he shall bridge +the strong stream and dig pits for the floods. And to this end he shall +take every man of his kingdom and set them to labour, and as they work +they shall sing a song which goes: + + "We are doing Notiki's work, + The work Notiki set us to do, + Rather than send to the lord his King + The presents which Bosambo demanded. + +"The palaver is finished." + +This is the history, or the beginning of the history, of the straight +road which cuts through the heart of the Ochori country from the edge of +the river by the cataracts, even to the mountains of the great King, a +road famous throughout Africa and imperishably associated with Bosambo's +name--this by the way. + +On the first day following the tax palaver Bosambo went down the river +with four canoes, each canoe painted beautifully with camwood and gum, +and with twenty-four paddlers. + +It was by a fluke that he missed Sanders. As it happened, the +Commissioner had come back to the big river to collect the evidence of +the murdered woman's brother who was a petty headman of an Isisi fishing +village. The _Zaire_ came into the river almost as the last of Bosambo's +canoes went round the bend out of sight, and since a legend existed on +the river, a legend for the inception of which Bosambo himself was +mainly responsible, that he was in some way related to Mr. Commissioner +Sanders, no man spoke of Bosambo's passing. + +The chief came to headquarters on the third day after his departure from +his city. His subsequent movements are somewhat obscure, even to +Sanders, who has been at some pains to trace them. + +It is known that he drew a hundred and fifty pounds in English gold from +Sanders' storekeeper--he had piled up a fairly extensive credit during +the years of his office--that he embarked with one headman and his wife +on a coasting boat due for Sierra Leone, and that from that city came a +long-winded demand in Arabic by a ragged messenger for a further +instalment of one hundred pounds. Sanders heard the news on his return +to headquarters and was a little worried. + +"I wonder if the devil is going to desert his people?" he said. + +Hamilton the Houssa laughed. + +"He is more likely to desert his people than to desert a balance of four +hundred pounds which now stands to his credit here," he said. "Bosambo +has felt the call of civilization. I suppose he ought to have secured +your permission to leave his territory?" + +"He has given his people work to keep them busy," Sanders said a little +gravely. "I have had a passionate protest from Notiki, one of his chiefs +in the north. Bosambo has set him to build a road through the forest, +and Notiki objects." + +The two men were walking across the yellow parade ground past the +Houssas hut in the direction of headquarters' bungalow. + +"What about your murderer?" asked Hamilton, after a while, as they +mounted the broad wooden steps which led to the bungalow stoep. + +Sanders shook his head. + +"Everybody lied," he said briefly. "I can do no less than send the man +to the Village. I could have hung him on clear evidence, but the lady +seemed to have been rather unpopular and the murderer quite a person to +be commended in the eyes of the public. The devil of it is," he said as +he sank into his big chair with a sigh, "that had I hanged him it would +not have been necessary to write three foolscap sheets of report. I +dislike these domestic murderers intensely--give me a ravaging brigand +with the hands of all people against him." + +"You'll have one if you don't touch wood," said Hamilton seriously. + +Hamilton came of Scottish stock--and the Scots are notorious prophets. + + +II + +Now the truth may be told of Bosambo, and all his movements may be +explained by this revelation of his benevolence. In the silence of his +hut had he planned his schemes. In the dark aisles of the forests, under +starless skies when his fellow-huntsmen lay deep in the sleep which the +innocent and the barbarian alone enjoy; in drowsy moments when he sat +dispensing justice, what time litigants had droned monotonously he had +perfected his scheme. + +Imagination is the first fruit of civilization and when the reverend +fathers of the coast taught Bosambo certain magics, they were also +implanting in him the ability to picture possibilities, and shape from +his knowledge of human affairs the eventual consequences of his actions. +This is imagination somewhat elaborately and clumsily defined. + +To one person only had Bosambo unburdened himself of his schemes. + +In the privacy of his great hut he had sat with his wife, a steaming +dish of fish between them, for however lax Bosambo might be, his wife +was an earnest follower of the Prophet and would tolerate no such +abomination as the flesh of the cloven-hoofed goat. + +He had told her many things. + +"Light of my heart," said he, "our lord Sandi is my father and my +mother, a giver of riches, and a plentiful provider of pence. Now it +seems to me, that though he is a just man and great, having neither fear +of his enemies nor soft words for his friends, yet the lords of his land +who live so very far away do him no honour." + +"Master," said the woman quietly, "is it no honour that he should be +placed as a king over us?" + +Bosambo beamed approvingly. + +"Thou hast spoken the truth, oh my beloved!" said he, in the +extravagance of his admiration. "Yet I know much of the white folk, for +I have lived along this coast from Dacca to Mossomedes. Also I have +sailed to a far place called Madagascar, which is on the other side of +the world, and I know the way of white folk. Even in Benguella there is +a governor who is not so great as Sandi, and about his breast are all +manner of shining stars that glitter most beautifully in the sun, and he +wears ribbons about him and bright coloured sashes and swords." He +wagged his finger impressively. "Have I not said that he is not so great +as Sandi. When saw you my lord with stars or cross or sash or a sword? + +"Also at Decca, where the Frenchi live. At certain places in the Togo, +which is Allamandi,[1] I have seen men with this same style of +ornaments, for thus it is that the white folk do honour to their kind." + +[Footnote 1: Allamandi--German territory.] + +He was silent a long time and his brown-eyed wife looked at him +curiously. + +"Yet what can you do, my lord?" she asked. "Although you are very +powerful, and Sandi loves you, this is certain, that none will listen to +_you_ and do honour to Sandi at your word--though I do not know the ways +of the white people, yet of this I am sure." + +Again Bosambo's large mouth stretched from ear to ear, and his two rows +of white teeth gleamed pleasantly. + +"You are as the voice of wisdom and the very soul of cleverness," he +said, "for you speak that which is true. Yet I know ways, for I am very +cunning and wise, being a holy man and acquainted with blessed apostles +such as Paul and the blessed Peter, who had his ear cut off because a +certain dancing woman desired it. Also by magic it was put on again +because he could not hear the cocks crow. All this and similar things I +have here." He touched his forehead. + +Wise woman that she was, she had made no attempt to pry into her +husband's business, but spent the days preparing for the journey, she +and the nut-brown sprawling child of immense girth, who was the apple +of Bosambo's eye. + +So Bosambo had passed down the river as has been described, and four +days after he left there disappeared from the Ochori village ten +brothers in blood of his, young hunting men who had faced all forms of +death for the very love of it, and these vanished from the land and none +knew where they went save that they did not follow on their master's +trail. + +Tukili, the chief of the powerful eastern island Isisi, or, as it is +contemptuously called, the N'gombi-Isisi by the riverain folk, went +hunting one day, and ill fortune led him to the border of the Ochori +country. Ill fortune was it for one Fimili, a straight maid of fourteen, +beautiful by native standard, who was in the forest searching for roots +which were notorious as a cure for "boils" which distressed her +unamiable father. + +Tukili saw the girl and desired her, and that which Tukili desired he +took. She offered little opposition to being carried away to the Isisi +city when she discovered that her life would be spared, and possibly was +no worse off in the harem of Tukili than she would have been in the hut +of the poor fisherman for whom her father had designed her. A few years +before, such an incident would have passed almost unnoticed. + +The Ochori were so used to being robbed of women and of goats, so meek +in their acceptance of wrongs that would have set the spears of any +other nation shining, that they would have accepted the degradation and +preserved a sense of thankfulness that the robber had limited his +raiding to one girl, and that a maid. But with the coming of Bosambo +there had arrived a new spirit in the Ochori. They had learnt their +strength, incidentally they had learnt their rights. The father of the +girl went hot-foot to his over-chief, Notiki, and covered himself with +ashes at the door of the chief's hut. + +"This is a bad palaver," said Notiki, "and since Bosambo has deserted us +and is making our marrows like water that we should build him a road, +and there is none in this land whom I may call chief or who may speak +with authority, it seems by my age and by relationship to the kings of +this land, I must do that which is desirable." + +So he gathered together two thousand men who were working on the road +and were very pleased indeed to carry something lighter than rocks and +felled trees, and with these spears he marched into the Isisi forest, +burning and slaying whenever he came upon a little village which offered +no opposition. Thus he took to himself the air and title of conqueror +with as little excuse as a flamboyant general ever had. + +Had it occurred on the river, this warlike expedition must have +attracted the attention of Sanders. The natural roadway of the territory +is a waterway. It is only when operations are begun against the internal +tribes who inhabit the bush, and whose armies can move under the cloak +of the forest (and none wiser) that Sanders found himself at a +disadvantage. + +Tukili himself heard nothing of the army that was being led against him +until it was within a day's march of his gates. Then he sallied forth +with a force skilled in warfare and practised in the hunt. The combat +lasted exactly ten minutes and all that was left of Notiki's spears made +the best of their way homeward, avoiding, as far as possible, those +villages which they had visited en route with such disastrous results to +the unfortunate inhabitants. + +Now it is impossible that one conqueror shall be sunk to oblivion +without his victor claiming for himself the style of his victim. Tukili +had defeated his adversary, and Tukili was no exception to the general +rule, and from being a fairly well-disposed king, amiable--too amiable +as we have shown--and kindly, and just, he became of a sudden a menace +to all that part of Sanders' territory which lies between the French +land and the river. + +It was such a situation as this as only Bosambo might deal with, and +Sanders heartily cursed his absent chief and might have cursed him with +greater fervour had he had an inkling of the mission to which Bosambo +had appointed himself. + + +III + +His Excellency the Administrator of the period had his office at a +prosperous city of stone which we will call Koombooli, though that is +not its name. + +He was a stout, florid man, patient and knowledgeable. He had been sent +to clear up the mess which two incompetent administrators made, who had +owed their position rather to the constant appearance of their friends +and patrons in the division lobbies than to their acquaintance with the +native mind, and it is eloquent of the regard in which His Excellency +was held that, although he was a Knight Commander of St. Michael and St. +George, a Companion of a Victorian Order, a Commander of the Bath, and +the son of a noble house, he was known familiarly along the coast to all +administrators, commissioners, even to the deputy inspectors, as "Bob." + +Bosambo came to the presence with an inward quaking. In a sense he had +absconded from his trust, and he did not doubt that Sanders had made all +men acquainted with the suddenness and the suspicious character of his +disappearance. + +And the first words of His Excellency the Administrator confirmed all +Bosambo's worst fears. + +"O! chief," said Sir Robert with a little twinkle in his eye, "are you +so fearful of your people that you run away from them?" + +"Mighty master," answered Bosambo, humbly, "I do not know fear, for as +your honour may have heard, I am a very brave man, fearing nothing save +my lord Sanders' displeasure." + +A ghost of a smile played about the corners of Sir Robert's mouth. + +"That you have earned, my friend," said he. "Now you shall tell me why +you came away secretly, also why you desired this palaver with me. And +do not lie, Bosambo," he said, "for I am he who hung three chiefs on +Gallows Hill above Grand Bassam because they spoke falsely." + +This was one of the fictions which was current on the coast, and was +implicitly believed in by the native population. The truth will be +recounted at another time, but it is sufficient to say that Bosambo was +one of those who did not doubt the authenticity of the legend. + +"Now I will speak to you, O my lord," he said earnestly, "and I speak by +all oaths, both the oaths of my own people----" + +"Spare me the oaths of the Kroo folk," protested Sir Robert, and raised +a warning hand. + +"Then by Markie and Lukie will I swear," said Bosambo, fervently; "those +fine fellows of whom Your Excellency knows. I have sat long in the +country of the Ochori, and I have ruled wisely according to my +abilities. And over me at all times was Sandi, who was a father to his +people and so beautiful of mind and countenance that when he came to us +even the dead folk would rise up to speak to him. This is a miracle," +said Bosambo profoundly but cautiously, "which I have heard but which I +have not seen. Now this I ask you who see all things, and here is the +puzzle which I will set to your honour. If Sandi is so great and so +wise, and is so loved by the greater King, how comes it that he stays +for ever in one place, having no beautiful stars about his neck nor +wonderful ribbons around his stomach such as the great Frenchiman--and +the great Allamandi men, and even the Portuguesi men wear who are +honoured by their kings?" + +It was a staggering question, and Sir Robert Sanleigh sat up and stared +at the solemn face of the man before him. + +Bosambo, an unromantic figure in trousers, jacket, and shirt--he was +collarless--had thrust his hands deeply into unaccustomed pockets, +ignorant of the disrespect which such an attitude displayed, and was +staring back at the Administrator. + +"O! chief," asked the puzzled Sir Robert, "this is a strange palaver you +make--who gave you these ideas?" + +"Lord, none gave me this idea save my own bright mind," said Bosambo. +"Yes, many nights have I laid thinking of these things for I am just and +I have faith." + +His Excellency kept his unwavering eye upon the other. He had heard of +Bosambo, knew him as an original, and at this moment was satisfied in +his own mind of the other's sincerity. + +A smaller man than he, his predecessor for example, might have dismissed +the preposterous question as an impertinence and given the questioner +short shrift. But Sir Robert understood his native. + +"These are things too high for me, Bosambo," he said. "What dog am I +that I should question the mind of my lords? In their wisdom they give +honour and they punish. It is written." + +Bosambo nodded. + +"Yet, lord," he persisted, "my own cousin who sweeps your lordship's +stables told me this morning that on the days of big palavers you also +have stars and beautiful things upon your breast, and noble ribbons +about your lordship's stomach. Now your honour shall tell me by whose +favour these things come about." + +Sir Robert chuckled. + +"Bosambo," he said solemnly, "they gave these things to me because I am +an old man. Now when your lord Sandi becomes old these honours also will +he receive." + +He saw Bosambo's face fall and went on: + +"Also much may happen that will bring Sandi to their lordships' eyes, +they who sit above us. Some great deed that he may do, some high service +he may offer to his king. All these happenings bring nobility and +honour. Now," he went on kindly, "go back to your people, remembering +that I shall think of you and of Sandi, and that I shall know that you +came because of your love for him, and that on a day which is written I +will send a book to my masters speaking well of Sandi, for his sake and +for the sake of the people who love him. The palaver is finished." + +Bosambo went out of the Presence a dissatisfied man, passed through the +hall where a dozen commissioners and petty chiefs were waiting audience, +skirted the great white building and came in time to his own cousin, +who swept the stables of His Excellency the Administrator. And here, in +the coolness of the stone-walled mews, he learnt much about the +Administrator; little tit-bits of information which were unlikely to be +published in the official gazette. Also he acquired a considerable +amount of data concerning the giving of honours, and after a long +examination and cross-examination of his wearied relative he left him as +dry as a sucked orange, but happy in the possession of a new +five-shilling piece which Bosambo had magnificently pressed upon him, +and which subsequently proved to be bad. + + +IV + +By the River of Spirits is a deep forest which stretches back and back +in a dense and chaotic tangle of strangled sapling and parasitic weed to +the edge of the Pigmy forest. No man--white or brown or black--has +explored the depth of the Forbidden Forest, for here the wild beasts +have their lairs and rear their young; and here are mosquito in dense +clouds. Moreover, and this is important, a certain potent ghost named +Bim-bi stalks restlessly from one border of the forest to the other. +Bim-bi is older than the sun and more terrible than any other ghost. For +he feeds on the moon, and at nights you may see how the edge of the +desert world is bitten by his great mouth until it becomes, first, the +half of a moon, then the merest slither, and then no moon at all. And on +the very dark nights, when the gods are hastily making him a new meal, +the ravenous Bim-bi calls to his need the stars; and you may watch, as +every little boy of the Akasava has watched, clutching his father's hand +tightly in his fear, the hot rush of meteors across the velvet sky to +the rapacious and open jaws of Bim-bi. + +He was a ghost respected by all peoples--Akasava, Ochori, Isisi, +N'gombi, and Bush folk. By the Bolengi, the Bomongo, and even the +distant Upper Congo people feared him. Also all the chiefs for +generations upon generations had sent tribute of corn and salt to the +edge of the forest for his propitiation, and it is a legend that when +the Isisi fought the Akasava in the great war, the envoy of the Isisi +was admitted without molestation to the enemy's lines in order to lay an +offering at Bim-bi's feet. Only one man in the world, so far as the +People of the River know, has ever spoken slightingly of Bim-bi, and +that man was Bosambo of the Ochori, who had no respect for any ghosts +save of his own creation. + +It is the custom on the Akasava district to hold a ghost palaver to +which the learned men of all tribes are invited, and the palaver takes +place in the village of Ookos by the edge of the forest. + +On a certain day in the year of the floods and when Bosambo was gone a +month from his land, there came messengers chance-found and walking in +terror to all the principal cities and villages of the Akasava, of the +Isisi, and of the N'gombi-Isisi carrying this message: + + "Mimbimi, son of Simbo Sako, son of Ogi, has opened his house to + his friends on the night when Bim-bi has swallowed the moon." + +A summons to such a palaver in the second name of Bim-bi was not one +likely to be ignored, but a summons from Mimbimi was at least to be +wondered at and to be speculated upon, for Mimbimi was an unknown +quantity, though some gossips professed to know him as the chief of one +of the Nomadic tribes which ranged the heart of the forest, preying on +Akasava and Isisi with equal discrimination. But these gossips were of a +mind not peculiar to any nationality or to any colour. They were those +jealous souls who either could not or would not confess that they were +ignorant on the topic of the moment. + +Be he robber chief, or established by law and government, this much was +certain. Mimbimi had called for his secret palaver and the most noble +and arrogant of chiefs must obey, even though the obedience spelt +disaster for the daring man who had summoned them to conference. + +Tuligini, a victorious captain, not lightly to be summoned, might have +ignored the invitation, but for the seriousness of his eldermen, who, +versed in the conventions of Bim-bi and those who invoked his name, +stood aghast at the mere suggestion that this palaver should be +ignored. Tuligini demanded, and with reason: + +"Who was this who dare call the vanquisher of Bosambo to a palaver? for +am I not the great buffalo of the forest? and do not all men bow down to +me in fear?" + +"Lord, you speak the truth," said his trembling councillor, "yet this is +a ghost palaver and all manner of evils come to those who do not obey." + +Sanders, through his spies, heard of the summons in the name of Bim-bi, +and was a little troubled. There was nothing too small to be serious in +the land over which he ruled. + +As for instance: Some doubt existed in the Lesser N'gombi country as to +whether teeth filed to a point were more becoming than teeth left as +Nature placed them. Tombini, the chief of N'gombi, held the view that +Nature's way was best, whilst B'limbini, his cousin, was the chief +exponent of the sharpened form. + +It took two battalions of King Coast Rifles, half a battery of artillery +and Sanders to settle the question, which became a national one. + +"I wish Bosambo were to the devil before he left his country," said +Sanders, irritably. "I should feel safe if that oily villain was sitting +in the Ochori." + +"What is the trouble?" asked Hamilton, looking up from his task--he was +making cigarettes with a new machine which somebody had sent him from +home. + +"An infernal Bim-bi palaver," said Sanders; "the last time that +happened, if I remember rightly, I had to burn crops on the right bank +of the river for twenty miles to bring the Isisi to a sense of their +unimportance." + +"You will be able to burn crops on the left side this time," said +Hamilton, cheerfully, his nimble fingers twiddling the silver rollers of +his machine. + +"I thought I had the country quiet," said Sanders, a little bitterly, +"and at this moment I especially wanted it so." + +"Why at this particular moment?" asked the other in surprise. + +Sanders took out of the breast pocket of his uniform jacket a folded +paper, and passed it across the table. + +Hamilton read: + + "SIR,--I have the honour to inform you that the Rt. Hon. Mr. James + Bolzer, his Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, is + expected to arrive at your station on the thirtieth inst. I trust + you will give the Right Honourable gentleman every facility for + studying on the spot the problems upon which he is such an + authority. I have to request you to instruct all Sub-Commissioners, + Inspectors, and Officers commanding troops in your division to make + adequate arrangements for Mr. Bolzer's comfort and protection. + + "I have the honour to be, etc." + +Hamilton read the letter twice. + +"To study on the spot those questions upon which he is such an +authority," he repeated. He was a sarcastic devil when he liked. + +"The thirtieth is to-morrow," Hamilton went on, "and I suppose I am one +of the officers commanding troops who must school my ribald soldiery in +the art of protecting the Rt. Hon. gent." + +"To be exact," said Sanders, "you are the only officer commanding troops +in the territory; do what you can. You wouldn't believe it," he smiled a +little shamefacedly, "I had applied for six months' leave when this +came." + +"Good Lord!" said Hamilton, for somehow he never associated Sanders with +holidays. + +What Hamilton did was very simple, because Hamilton always did things in +the manner which gave him the least trouble. A word to his orderly +conveyed across the parade ground, roused the sleepy bugler of the +guard, and the air was filled with the "Assembly." Sixty men of the +Houssas paraded in anticipation of a sudden call northwards. + +"My children," said Hamilton, whiffling his pliant cane, "soon there +will come here a member of government who knows nothing. Also he may +stray into the forest and lose himself as the bride-groom's cow strays +from the field of his father-in-law, not knowing his new surroundings. +Now it is to you we look for his safety--I and the government. Also +Sandi, our lord. You shall not let this stranger out of your sight, nor +shall you allow approach him any such evil men as the N'gombi iron +sellers or the fishing men of N'gar or makers of wooden charms, for the +government has said this man must not be robbed, but must be treated +well, and you of the guard shall all salute him, also, when the time +arrives." + +Hamilton meant no disrespect in his graphic illustration. He was dealing +with a simple people who required vivid word-pictures to convince them. +And certainly they found nothing undignified in the right honourable +gentleman when he arrived next morning. + +He was above the medium height, somewhat stout, very neat and orderly, +and he twirled a waxed moustache, turning grey. He had heavy and bilious +eyes, and a certain pompousness of manner distinguished him. Also an +effervescent geniality which found expression in shaking hands with +anybody who happened to be handy, in mechanically agreeing with all +views that were put before him and immediately afterwards contradicting +them; in a painful desire to be regarded as popular. In fact, in all the +things which got immediately upon Sanders' nerves, this man was a sealed +pattern of a bore. + +He wanted to know things, but the things he wanted to know were of no +importance, and the information he extracted could not be of any +assistance to him. His mind was largely occupied in such vital problems +as what happened to the brooms which the Houssas used to keep their +quarters clean when they were worn out, and what would be the effect of +an increased ration of lime juice upon the morals and discipline of the +troops under Hamilton's command. Had he been less of a trial Sanders +would not have allowed him to go into the interior without a stronger +protest. As it was, Sanders had turned out of his own bedroom, and had +put all his slender resources at the disposal of the Cabinet Minister +(taking his holiday, by the way, during the long recess), and had +wearied himself in order to reach some subject of interest where he and +his guest could meet on common ground. + +"I shall have to let him go," he said to Hamilton, when the two had met +one night after Mr. Blowter had retired to bed, "I spent the whole of +this afternoon discussing the comparative values of mosquito nets, and +he is such a perfect ass that you cannot snub him. If he had only had +the sense to bring a secretary or two he would have been easier to +handle." + +Hamilton laughed. + +"When a man like that travels," he said, "he ought to bring somebody who +knows the ways and habits of the animal. I had a bright morning with him +going into the question of boots." + +"But what of Mimbimi?" + +"Mimbimi is rather a worry to me. I do not know him at all," said +Sanders with a puzzled frown. "Ahmet, the spy, has seen one of the +chiefs who attended the palaver, which apparently was very impressive. +Up to now nothing has happened which would justify a movement against +him; the man is possibly from the French Congo." + +"Any news of Bosambo?" asked Hamilton. + +Sanders shook his head. + +"So far as I can learn," he said grimly, "he has gone on _Cape Coast +Castle_ for a real aboriginal jag. There will be trouble for Bosambo +when he comes back." + +"What a blessing it would be now," sighed Hamilton, "if we could turn +old man Blowter into his tender keeping." And the men laughed +simultaneously. + + +V + +There was a time, years and years ago, when the Ochori people set a +great stake on the edge of the forest by the Mountain. This they smeared +with a paint made by the admixture of camwood and copal gum. + +It was one of the few intelligent acts which may be credited to the +Ochori in those dull days, for the stake stood for danger. It marked the +boundary of the N'gombi lands beyond which it was undesirable that any +man of the Ochori should go. + +It was not erected without consideration. A palaver which lasted from +the full of one moon to the waning of the next, sacrifices of goats and +sprinkling of blood, divinations, incantations, readings of devil marks +on sandy foreshores; all right and proper ceremonies were gone through +before there came a night of bright moonlight when the whole Ochori +nation went forth and planted that post. + +Then, I believe, the people of the Ochori, having invested the post +with qualities which it did not possess, went back to their homes and +forgot all about it. Yet if they forgot there were nations who regarded +the devil sign with some awe, and certainly Mimbimi, the newly-arisen +ranger of the forest, who harried the Akasava and the Isisi, and even +the N'gombi-Isisi, must have had full faith in its potency, for he never +moved beyond that border. Once, so legend said, he brought his terrible +warriors to the very edge of the land and paid homage to the innocent +sign-post which Sanders had set up and which announced no more, in plain +English, than trespassers will be prosecuted. Having done his _devoir_ +he retired to his forest lair. His operations were not to go without an +attempted reprisal. Many parties went out against him, notably that +which Tumbilimi the chief of Isisi led. He took a hundred picked men to +avenge the outrage which this intruder had put upon him in daring to +summons him to palaver. + +Now Sugini was an arrogant man, for had he not routed the army of +Bosambo? That Bosambo was not in command made no difference and did not +tarnish the prestige in Tumbilimi's eyes, and though the raids upon his +territory by Mimbimi had been mild, the truculent chief, disdaining the +use of his full army, marched with his select column to bring in the +head and the feet of the man who had dared violate his territory. + +Exactly what happened to Tumbilimi's party is not known; all the men who +escaped from the ambush in which Mimbimi lay give a different account, +and each account creditable to themselves, though the only thing which +stands in their favour is that they did certainly save their lives. +Certainly Tumbilimi, he of the conquering spears, came back no more, and +those parts which he had threatened to detach from his enemy were in +fact detached from him and were discovered one morning at the very gates +of his city for his horrified subjects to marvel at. When warlike +discussions arose, as they did at infrequent intervals, it was the +practice of the people to send complaints to Sanders and leave him to +deal with the matter. You cannot, however, lead an army against a dozen +guerrilla chiefs with any profit to the army as we once discovered in a +country somewhat south of Sanders' domains. Had Mimbimi's sphere of +operations been confined to the river Sanders would have laid him by the +heels quickly enough, because the river brigand is easy to catch since +he would starve in the forest, and if he took to the bush would +certainly come back to the gleaming water for very life. + +But here was a forest man obviously, who needed no river for himself, +but was content to wait watchfully in the dim recesses of the woods. + +Sanders sent three spies to locate him, and gave his attention to the +more immediate problem of his Right Honourable guest. Mr. Joseph Blowter +had decided to make a trip into the interior and the _Zaire_ had been +placed at his disposal. A heaven-sent riot in the bushland, sixty miles +west of the Residency, had relieved both Sanders and Hamilton from the +necessity of accompanying the visitor, and he departed by steamer with a +bodyguard of twenty armed Houssas; more than sufficient in these +peaceful times. + +"What about Mimbimi?" asked Hamilton under his breath as they stood on a +little concrete quay, and watched the _Zaire_ beating out to midstream. + +"Mimbimi is evidently a bushman," said Sanders briefly. "He will not +come to the river. Besides, he is giving the Ochori a wide berth, and it +is to the Ochori that our friend is going. I cannot see how he can +possibly dump himself into mischief." + +Nevertheless, as a matter of precaution, Sanders telegraphed to the +Administration not only the departure, but the precautions he had taken +for the safety of the Minister, and the fact that neither he nor +Hamilton were accompanying him on his tour of inspection "to study on +the spot those problems with which he was so well acquainted." + +"O.K." flashed Bob across the wires, and that was sufficient for +Sanders. Of Mr. Blowter's adventures it is unnecessary to tell in +detail. How he mistook every village for a city, and every city for a +nation, of how he landed wherever he could and spoke long and eloquently +on the blessing of civilization, and the glories of the British +flag--all this through an interpreter--of how he went into the question +of basket-making and fly-fishing, and of how he demonstrated to the +fishermen of the little river a method of catching fish by fly, and how +he did not catch anything. All these matters might be told in great +detail with no particular credit to the subject of the monograph. + +In course of time he came to the Ochori land and was welcomed by Notiki, +who had taken upon himself, on the strength of his rout, the position of +chieftainship. This he did with one eye on the river, ready to bolt the +moment Bosambo's canoe came sweeping round the bend. + +Now Sanders had particularly warned Mr. Blowter that under no +circumstances should he sleep ashore. He gave a variety of reasons, such +as the prevalence of Beri-Beri, the insidious spread of sleeping +sickness, the irritation of malaria-bearing mosquitoes, and of other +insects which it would be impolite to mention in the pages of a family +journal. + +But Notiki had built a new hut as he said especially for his guest, and +Mr. Blowter, no doubt, honoured by the attention which was shown to him, +broke the restricting rule that Sanders had laid down, quitted the +comfortable cabin which had been his home on the river journey, and +slept in the novel surroundings of a native hut. + +How long he slept cannot be told; he was awakened by a tight hand +grasping his throat, and a fierce voice whispering into his ear +something which he rightly understood to be an admonition, a warning and +a threat. + +At any rate, he interpreted it as a request on the part of his captor +that he should remain silent, and to this Mr. Blowter in a blue funk +passively agreed. Three men caught him and bound him deftly with native +rope, a gag was put into his mouth, and he was dragged cautiously +through a hole which the intruders had cut in the walls of Notiki's +dwelling of honour. Outside the hut door was a Houssa sentry and it must +be confessed that he was not awake at the moment of Mr. Blowter's +departure. + +His captors spirited him by back ways to the river, dumped him into a +canoe and paddled with frantic haste to the other shore. + +They grounded their canoe, pulled him--inwardly quaking--to land, and +hurried him to the forest. On their way they met a huntsman who had been +out overnight after a leopard, and in the dark of the dawn the chief of +those who had captured Mr. Blowter addressed the startled man. + +"Go you to the city of Ochori," he said, "and say 'Mimbimi, the high +chief who is lord of the forest of Bim-bi, sends word that he has taken +the fat white lord to his keeping, and he shall hold him for his +pleasure.'" + + +VI + +It would appear from all the correspondence which was subsequently +published that Sanders had particularly warned Mr. Blowter against +visiting the interior, that Sir Robert, that amiable man, had also +expressed a warning, and that the august Government itself had sent a +long and expensive telegram from Downing Street suggesting that a trip +to the Ochori country was inadvisable in the present state of public +feeling. + +The hasty disposition on the part of certain Journals to blame Mr. +Commissioner Sanders and his immediate superior for the kidnapping of so +important a person as a Cabinet Minister was obviously founded upon an +ignorance of the circumstances. + +Yet Sanders felt himself at fault, as a conscientious man always will, +if he has had the power to prevent a certain happening. + +Those loyal little servants of Government, carrier pigeons--went +fluttering east, south and north, a missionary steamer was hastily +requisitioned, and Sanders embarked for the scene of the disappearance. + +Before he left he telegraphed to every likely coast town for Bosambo. + +"If that peregrinating devil had not left his country this would not +have happened," said Sanders irritably; "he must come back and help me +find the lost one." + +Before any answer could come to his telegrams he had embarked, and it is +perhaps as well that he did not wait, since none of the replies were +particularly satisfactory. Bosambo was evidently un-get-at-able, and the +most alarming rumour of all was that which came from Sierra Leone and +was to the effect that Bosambo had embarked for England with the +expressed intention of seeking an interview with a very high personage +indeed. + +Now it is the fact that had Sanders died in the execution of his duty, +died either from fever or as the result of scientific torturing at the +hands of Akasava braves, less than a couple of lines in the London Press +would have paid tribute to the work he had done or the terrible manner +of his passing. + +But a Cabinet Minister, captured by a cannibal tribe, offers in addition +to alliterative possibilities in the headline department, a certain +novelty particularly appealing to the English reader who loves above all +things to have a shock or two with his breakfast bacon. England was +shocked to its depths by the unusual accident which had occurred to the +Right Honourable gentleman, partly because it is unusual for Cabinet +Ministers to find themselves in a cannibal's hands, and partly because +Mr. Blowter himself occupied a very large place in the eye of the public +at home. For the first time in its history the eyes of the world were +concentrated on Sanders' territory, and the Press of the world devoted +important columns to dealing not only with the personality of the man +who had been stolen, because they knew him well, but more or less +inaccurately with the man who was charged with his recovery. + +They also spoke of Bosambo "now on his way to England," and it is a fact +that a small fleet of motor-boats containing pressmen awaited the +incoming coast mail at Plymouth only to discover that their man was not +on board. + +Happily, Sanders was in total ignorance of the stir which the +disappearance created. He knew, of course, that there would be talk +about it, and had gloomy visions of long reports to be written. He would +have felt happier in his mind if he could have identified Mimbimi with +any of the wandering chiefs he had met or had known from time to time. +Mimbimi was literally a devil he did not know. + +Nor could any of the cities or villages which had received a visitation +give the Commissioner more definite data than he possessed. Some there +were who said that Mimbimi was a tall man, very thin, knobbly at the +knees, and was wounded in the foot, so that he limped. Others that he +was short and very ugly, with a large head and small eyes, and that when +he spoke it was in a voice of thunder. + +Sanders wasted no time in useless inquiries. He threw a cloud of spies +and trackers into the forest of Bim-bi and began a scientific search; +snatching a few hours sleep whenever the opportunity offered. But though +the wings of his beaters touched the border line of the Ochori on the +right and the Isisi on the left, and though he passed through places +which hitherto had been regarded as impenetrable on account of divers +devils, yet he found no trace of the cunning kidnapper, who, if the +truth be told, had broken through the lines in the night, dragging an +unwilling and exasperated member of the British Government at the end +of a rope fastened about his person. + +Then messages began to reach Sanders, long telegrams sent up from +headquarters by swift canoe or rewritten on paper as fine as cigarette +paper and sent in sections attached to the legs of pigeons. + +They were irritating, hectoring, worrying, frantic messages. Not only +from the Government, but from the kidnapped man's friends and relatives; +for it seemed that this man had accumulated, in addition to a great deal +of unnecessary information, quite a large and respectable family circle. +Hamilton came up with a reinforcement of Houssas without achieving any +notable result. + +"He has disappeared as if the ground had opened and swallowed him," said +Sanders bitterly. "O! Mimbimi, if I could have you now," he said with +passionate intensity. + +"I am sure you would be very rude to him," said Hamilton soothingly. "He +must be somewhere, my dear chap; do you think he has killed the poor old +bird?" + +Sanders shook his head. + +"The lord knows what he has done or what has happened to him," he said. + +It was at that moment that the messenger came. The _Zaire_ was tied to +the bank of the Upper Isisi on the edge of the forest of Bim-bi, and the +Houssas were bivouacked on the bank, their red fires gleaming in the +gathering darkness. + +The messenger came from the forest boldly; he showed no fear of Houssas, +but walked through their lines, waving his long stick as a bandmaster +will flourish his staff. And when the sentry on the plank that led to +the boat had recovered from the shock of seeing the unexpected +apparition, the man was seized and led before the Commissioner. + +"O, man," said Sanders, "who are you and where do you come from? Tell me +what news you bring." + +"Lord," said the man glibly, "I am Mimbimi's own headman." + +Sanders jumped up from his chair. + +"Mimbimi!" he said quickly; "tell me what message you bring from that +thief!" + +"Lord," said the man, "he is no thief, but a high prince." + +Sanders was peering at him searchingly. + +"It seems to me," he said, "that you are of the Ochori." + +"Lord, I was of the Ochori," said the messenger, "but now I am with +Mimbimi,--his headman, following him through all manners of danger. +Therefore I have no people or nation--wa! Lord, here is my message." + +Sanders nodded. + +"Go on," he said, "messenger of Mimbimi, and let your news be good for +me." + +"Master," said the man, "I come from the great one of the forest who +holds all lives in his two hands, and fears not anything that lives or +moves, neither devil nor Bim-bi nor the ghosts that walk by night nor +the high dragons in the trees----" + +"Get to your message, my man," said Sanders, unpleasantly; "for I have a +whip which bites sharper than the dragons in the trees and moves more +swiftly than m'shamba." + +The man nodded. + +"Thus says Mimbimi," he resumed. "Go you to the place near the Crocodile +River where Sandi sits, say Mimbimi the chief loves him, and because of +his love Mimbimi will do a great thing. Also he said," the man went on, +"and this is the greatest message of all. Before I speak further you +must make a book of my words." + +Sanders frowned. It was an unusual request from a native, for his offer +to be set down in writing. "You might take a note of this, Hamilton," he +said aside, "though why the deuce he wants a note of this made I cannot +for the life of me imagine. Go on, messenger," he said more mildly; "for +as you see my lord Hamilton makes a book." + +"Thus says my lord Mimbimi," resumed the man, "that because of his love +for Sandi he would give you the fat white lord whom he has taken, asking +for no rods or salt in repayment, but doing this because of his love for +Sandi and also because he is a just and a noble man; therefore do I +deliver the fat one into your hands." + +Sanders gasped. + +"Do you speak the truth?" he asked incredulously. + +The man nodded his head. + +"Where is the fat lord?" asked Sanders. This was no time for ceremony or +for polite euphemistic descriptions even of Cabinet Ministers. + +"Master, he is in the forest, less than the length of the village from +here, I have tied him to a tree." + +Sanders raced across the plank and through the Houssa lines, dragging +the messenger by the arm, and Hamilton, with a hastily summoned guard, +followed. They found Joseph Blowter tied scientifically to a gum-tree, a +wedge of wood in his mouth to prevent him speaking, and he was a +terribly unhappy man. Hastily the bonds were loosed, and the gag +removed, and the groaning Cabinet Minister led, half carried to the +_Zaire_. + +He recovered sufficiently to take dinner that night, was full of his +adventures, inclined perhaps to exaggerate his peril, pardonably +exasperated against the man who had led him through so many dangers, +real and imaginary. But, above all things, he was grateful to Sanders. + +He acknowledged that he had got into his trouble through no fault of the +Commissioner. + +"I cannot tell you how sorry I am all this has occurred," said Sanders. + +It was after dinner, and Mr. Blowter in a spotless white suit--shaved, +looking a little more healthy from his enforced exercise, and certainly +considerably thinner, was in the mood to take an amused view of his +experience. + +"One thing I have learnt, Mr. Sanders," he said, "and that is the +extraordinary respect in which you are held in this country. I never +spoke of you to this infernal rascal but that he bowed low, and all his +followers with him; why, they almost worship you!" + +If Mr. Blowter had been surprised by this experience no less surprised +was Sanders to learn of it. + +"This is news to me," he said dryly. + +"That is your modesty, my friend," said the Cabinet Minister with a +benign smile. "I, at any rate, appreciate the fact that but for your +popularity I should have had short shrift from this murderous +blackguard." + +He went down stream the next morning, the _Zaire_ overcrowded with +Houssas. + +"I should have liked to have left a party in the forest," said Sanders; +"I shall not rest until we get this thief Mimbimi by the ear." + +"I should not bother," said Hamilton dryly; "the sobering influence of +your name seems to be almost as potent as my Houssas." + +"Please do not be sarcastic," said Sanders sharply, he was unduly +sensitive on the question of such matters as these. Nevertheless, he was +happy at the end of the adventure, though somewhat embarrassed by the +telegrams of congratulation which were poured upon him not only from the +Administrator but from England. + +"If I had done anything to deserve it I would not mind," he said. + +"That is the beauty of reward," smiled Hamilton; "if you deserve things +you do not get them, if you do not deserve them they come in cartloads, +you have to take the thick with the thin. Think of the telegrams which +ought to have come and did not." + +They took farewell of Mr. Blowter on the beach, the surf-boat waiting to +carry him to a mail steamer decorated for the occasion with strings of +flags. + +"There is one question which I would like to ask you," said Sanders, +"and it is one which for some reason I have forgotten to ask before--can +you describe Mimbimi to me so that I may locate him? He is quite unknown +to us." + +Mr. Blowter frowned thoughtfully. + +"He is difficult to describe! all natives are alike to me," he said +slowly. "He is rather tall, well-made, good-looking for a native, and +talkative." + +"Talkative!" said Sanders quickly. + +"In a way; he can speak a little English," said the Cabinet Minister, +"and evidently has some sort of religious training, because he spoke of +Mark, and Luke, and the various Apostles as one who had studied possibly +at a missionary school." + +"Mark and Luke," almost whispered Sanders, a great light dawning upon +him. "Thank you very much. I think you said he always bowed when my name +was mentioned?" + +"Invariably," smiled the Cabinet Minister. + +"Thank you, sir." Sanders shook hands. + +"O! by the way, Mr. Sanders," said Blowter, turning back from the boat, +"I suppose you know that you have been gazetted C.M.G.?" + +Sanders flushed red and stammered "C.M.G." + +"It is an indifferent honour for one who has rendered such service to +the country as you," said the complacent Mr. Blowter profoundly; "but +the Government feel that it is the least they can do for you after your +unusual effort on my behalf and they have asked me to say to you that +they will not be unmindful of your future." + +He left Sanders standing as though frozen to the spot. + +Hamilton was the first to congratulate him. + +"My dear chap, if ever a man deserved the C.M.G. it is you," he said. + +It would be absurd to say that Sanders was not pleased. He was certainly +not pleased at the method by which it came, but he should have known, +being acquainted with the ways of Governments, that this was the reward +of cumulative merit. He walked back in silence to the Residency, +Hamilton keeping pace by his side. + +"By the way, Sanders," he said, "I have just had a pigeon-post from the +river--Bosambo is back in the Ochori country. Have you any idea how he +arrived there?" + +"I think I have," said Sanders, with a grim little smile, "and I think I +shall be calling on Bosambo very soon." + +But that was a threat he was never destined to put into execution. That +same evening came a wire from Bob. + +"Your leave is granted: Hamilton is to act as Commissioner in your +temporary absence. I am sending Lieutenant Francis Augustus Tibbetts to +take charge of Houssas." + +"And who the devil is Francis Augustus Tibbetts?" said Sanders and +Hamilton with one voice. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +HAMILTON OF THE HOUSSAS + + +Sanders turned to the rail and cast a wistful glance at the low-lying +shore. He saw one corner of the white Residency, showing through the +sparse _isisi_ palm at the end of the big garden--a smudge of green on +yellow from this distance. + +"I hate going--even for six months," he said. + +Hamilton of the Houssas, with laughter in his blue eyes, and his +fumed-oak face--lean and wholesome it was--all a-twitch, whistled with +difficulty. + +"Oh, yes, I shall come back again," said Sanders, answering the question +in the tune. "I hope things will go well in my absence." + +"How can they go well?" asked Hamilton, gently. "How can the Isisi live, +or the Akasava sow his barbarous potatoes, or the sun shine, or the +river run when Sandi Sitani is no longer in the land?" + +"I wouldn't have worried," Sanders went on, ignoring the insult, "if +they'd put a good man in charge; but to give a pudden-headed +soldier----" + +"We thank you!" bowed Hamilton. + +"----with little or no experience----" + +"An insolent lie--and scarcely removed from an unqualified lie!" +murmured Hamilton. + +"To put him in my place!" apostrophized Sanders, tilting back his helmet +the better to appeal to the heavens. + +"'Orrible! 'Orrible!" said Hamilton; "and now I seem to catch the +accusing eye of the chief officer, which means that he wants me to hop. +God bless you, old man!" + +His sinewy paw caught the other's in a grip that left both hands numb at +the finish. + +"Keep well," said Sanders in a low voice, his hand on Hamilton's back, +as they walked to the gangway. "Watch the Isisi and sit on +Bosambo--especially Bosambo, for he is a mighty slippery devil." + +"Leave me to deal with Bosambo," said Hamilton firmly, as he skipped +down the companion to the big boat that rolled and tumbled under the +coarse skin of the ship. + +"I _am_ leaving you," said Sanders, with a chuckle. + +He watched the Houssa pick a finnicking way to the stern of the boat; +saw the solemn faces of his rowmen as they bent their naked backs, +gripping their clumsy oars. And to think that they and Hamilton were +going back to the familiar life, to the dear full days he knew! Sanders +coughed and swore at himself. + +"Oh, Sandi!" called the headman of the boat, as she went lumbering over +the clear green swell, "remember us, your servants!" + +"I will remember, man," said Sanders, a-choke, and turned quickly to his +cabin. + +Hamilton sat in the stern of the surf-boat, humming a song to himself; +but he felt awfully solemn, though in his pocket reposed a commission +sealed redly and largely on parchment and addressed to: "Our +well-beloved Patrick George Hamilton, Lieutenant, of our 133rd 1st Royal +Hertford Regiment. Seconded for service in our 9th Regiment of +Houssas--Greeting...." + +"Master," said his Kroo servant, who waited his landing, "you lib for +dem big house?" + +"I lib," said Hamilton. + +"Dem big house," was the Residency, in which a temporarily appointed +Commissioner must take up his habitation, if he is to preserve the +dignity of his office. + +"Let us pray!" said Hamilton earnestly, addressing himself to a small +snapshot photograph of Sanders, which stood on a side table. "Let us +pray that the barbarian of his kindness will sit quietly till you +return, my Sanders--for the Lord knows what trouble I'm going to get +into before you return!" + +The incoming mail brought Francis Augustus Tibbetts, Lieutenant of the +Houssas, raw to the land, but as cheerful as the devil--a straight stick +of a youth, with hair brushed back from his forehead, a sun-peeled nose, +a wonderful collection of baggage, and all the gossip of London. + +"I'm afraid you'll find I'm rather an ass, sir," he said, saluting +stiffly. "I've only just arrived on the Coast an' I'm simply bubbling +over with energy, but I'm rather short in the brain department." + +Hamilton, glaring at his subordinate through his monocle, grinned +sympathetically. + +"I'm not a whale of erudition myself," he confessed. "What is your name, +sir?" + +"Francis Augustus Tibbetts, sir." + +"I shall call you Bones," said Hamilton, decisively. + +Lieut. Tibbetts saluted. "They called me Conk at Sandhurst, sir," he +suggested. + +"Bones!" said Hamilton, definitely. + +"Bones it is, skipper," said Mr. Tibbetts; "an' now all this beastly +formality is over we'll have a bottle to celebrate things." And a bottle +they had. + +It was a splendid evening they spent, dining on chicken and palm-oil +chop, rice pudding and sweet potatoes. Hamilton sang, "Who wouldn't be a +soldier in the Army?" and--by request--in his shaky falsetto baritone, +"My heart is in the Highlands"; and Lieut. Tibbetts gave a lifelike +imitation of Frank Tinney, which convulsed, not alone his superior +officer, but some two-and-forty men of the Houssas who were unauthorized +spectators through various windows and door cracks and ventilating +gauzes. + +Bones was the son of a man who had occupied a position of some +importance on the Coast, and though the young man's upbringing had been +in England, he had the inestimable advantage of a very thorough +grounding in the native dialect, not only from Tibbetts, senior, but +from the two native servants with whom the boy had grown up. + +"I suppose there is a telegraph line to headquarters?" asked Bones that +night before they parted. + +"Certainly, my dear lad," replied Hamilton. "We had it laid down when we +heard you were coming." + +"Don't flither!" pleaded Bones, giggling convulsively; "but the fact is +I've got a couple of dozen tickets in the Cambridgeshire Sweepstake, an' +a dear pal of mine--chap named Goldfinder, a rare and delicate bird--has +sworn to wire me if I've drawn a horse. D'ye think I'll draw a horse?" + +"I shouldn't think you could draw a cow," said Hamilton. "Go to bed." + +"Look here, Ham----" began Lieut. Bones. + +"To bed! you insubordinate devil!" said Hamilton, sternly. + +In the meantime there was trouble in the Akasava country. + + +II + +Scarcely had Sanders left the land, when the _lokali_ of the Lower Isisi +sent the news thundering in waves of sound. + +Up and down the river and from village to village, from town to town, +across rivers, penetrating dimly to the quiet deeps of the forest the +story was flung. N'gori, the Chief of the Akasava, having some +grievance against the Government over a question of fine for failure to +collect according to the law, waited for no more than this intelligence +of Sandi's going. His swift loud drums called his people to a +dance-of-many-days. A dance-of-many-days spells "spears" and spears +spell trouble. Bosambo heard the message in the still of the early +night, gathered five hundred fighting men, swept down on the Akasava +city in the drunken dawn, and carried away two thousand spears of the +sodden N'gori. + +A sobered Akasava city woke up and rubbed its eyes to find strange +Ochori sentinels in the street and Bosambo in a sky-blue table-cloth, +edged with golden fringe, stalking majestically through the high places +of the city. + +"This I do," said Bosambo to a shocked N'gori, "because my lord Sandi +placed me here to hold the king's peace." + +"Lord Bosambo," said the king sullenly, "what peace do I break when I +summon my young men and maidens to dance?" + +"Your young men are thieves, and it is written that the maidens of the +Akasava are married once in ten thousand moons," said Bosambo calmly; +"and also, N'gori, you speak to a wise man who knows that +clockety-clock-clock on a drum spells war." + +There was a long and embarrassing silence. + +"Now, Bosambo," said N'gori, after a while, "you have my spears and your +young men hold the streets and the river. What will you do? Do you sit +here till Sandi returns and there is law in the land?" + +This was the one question which Bosambo had neither the desire nor the +ability to answer. He might swoop down upon a warlike people, surprising +them to their abashment, rendering their armed forces impotent, but +exactly what would happen afterwards he had not foreseen. + +"I go back to my city," he said. + +"And my spears?" + +"Also they go with me," said Bosambo. + +They eyed each other: Bosambo straight and muscular, a perfect figure of +a man, N'gori grizzled and skinny, his brow furrowed with age. + +"Lord," said N'gori mildly, "if you take my spears you leave me bound to +my enemies. How may I protect my villages against oppression by evil men +of Isisi?" + +Bosambo sniffed--a sure sign of mental perturbation. All that N'gori +said was true. Yet if he left the spears there would be trouble for him. +Then a bright thought flicked: + +"If bad men come you shall send for me and I will bring my fine young +soldiers. The palaver is finished." + +With this course N'gori must feign agreement. He watched the departing +army--paddlers sitting on swathes of filched spears. Once Bosambo was +out of sight, N'gori collected all the convertible property of his city +and sent it in ten canoes to the edge of the N'gombi country, for +N'gombi folk are wonderful makers of spears and have a saleable stock +hidden against emergency. + +For the space of a month there was enacted a comedy of which Hamilton +was ignorant. Three days after Bosambo had returned in triumph to his +city, there came a frantic call for succour--a rolling, terrified +rat-a-plan of sound which the _lokali_ man of the Ochori village read. + +"Lord," said he, waking Bosambo in the dead of night, "there has come +down a signal from the Akasava, who are pressed by their enemies and +have no spears." + +Bosambo was in the dark street instanter, his booming war-drum calling +urgently. Twenty canoes filled with fighting men, paddling desperately +with the stream, raced to the aid of the defenceless Akasava. + +At dawn, on the beach of the city, N'gori met his ally. "I thank all my +little gods you have come, my lord," said he, humbly; "for in the night +one of my young men saw an Isisi army coming against us." + +"Where is the army?" demanded a weary Bosambo. + +"Lord, it has not come," said N'gori, glibly; "for hearing of your +lordship and your swift canoes, I think it had run away." + +Bosambo's force paddled back to the Ochori city the next day. Two nights +after, the call was repeated--this time with greater detail. An N'gombi +force of countless spears had seized the village of Doozani and was +threatening the capital. + +Again Bosambo carried his spears to a killing, and again was met by an +apologetic N'gori. + +"Lord, it was a lie which a sick maiden spread," he explained, "and my +stomach is filled with sorrow that I should have brought the mighty +Bosambo from his wife's bed on such a night." For the dark hours had +been filled with rain and tempest, and Bosambo had nearly lost one canoe +by wreck. + +"Oh, fool!" said he, justly exasperated, "have I nothing to do--I, who +have all Sandi's high and splendid business in hand--but I must come +through the rain because a sick maiden sees visions?" + +"Bosambo, I am a fool," agreed N'gori, meekly, and again his rescuer +returned home. + +"Now," said N'gori, "we will summon a secret palaver, sending messengers +for all men to assemble at the rise of the first moon. For the N'gombi +have sent me new spears, and when next the dog Bosambo comes, weary with +rowing, we will fall upon him and there will be no more Bosambo left; +for Sandi is gone and there is no law in the land." + + +III + +Curiously enough, at that precise moment, the question of law was a very +pressing one with two young Houssa officers who sat on either side of +Sanders' big table, wet towels about their heads, mastering the +intricacies of the military code; for Tibbetts was entering for an +examination and Hamilton, who had only passed his own by a fluke, had +rashly offered to coach him. + +"I hope you understand this, Bones," said Hamilton, staring up at his +subordinate and running his finger along the closely printed pages of +the book before him. + +"'Any person subject to military law,'" read Hamilton impressively, +"'who strikes or ill-uses his superior officer shall, if an officer, +suffer death or such less punishment as in this Act mentioned.' Which +means," said Hamilton, wisely, "that if you and I are in action and you +call me a liar, and I give you a whack on the jaw----" + +"You get shot," said Bones, admiringly, "an' a rippin' good idea, too!" + +"If, on the other hand," Hamilton went on, "I called you a liar--which I +should be justified in doing--and you give me a whack on the jaw, I'd +make you sorry you were ever born." + +"That's military law, is it?" asked Bones, curiously. + +"It is," said Hamilton. + +"Then let's chuck it," said Bones, and shut up his book with a bang. "I +don't want any book to teach me what to do with a feller that calls me a +liar. I'll go you one game of picquet, for nuts." + +"You're on," said Hamilton. + + * * * * * + +"My nuts I think, sir." + +Bones carefully counted the heap which his superior had pushed over, +"And--hullo! what the dooce do you want?" + +Hamilton followed the direction of the other's eyes. A man stood in the +doorway, naked but for the wisp of skirt at his waist. Hamilton got up +quickly, for he recognized the chief of Sandi's spies. + +"O Kelili," said Hamilton in his easy Bomongo tongue, "why do you come +and from whence?" + +"From the island over against the Ochori, Lord," croaked the man, +dry-throated. "Two pigeons I sent, but these the hawks took--a fisherman +saw one taken by the Kasai, and my own brother, who lives in the Village +of Irons, saw the other go--though he flew swiftly." + +Hamilton's grave face set rigidly, for he smelt trouble. You do not send +pleasant news by pigeons. + +"Speak," he said. + +"Lord," said Kelili, "there is to be a killing palaver between the +Ochori and the Akasava on the first rise of the full moon, for N'gori +speaks of Bosambo evilly, and says that the Chief has raided him. In +what manner these things will come about," Kelili went on, with the +lofty indifference of one who had done his part of the business, so that +he had left no room for carelessness, "I do not know, but I have warned +all eyes of the Government to watch." + +Bones followed the conversation without difficulty. + +"What do people say?" asked Hamilton. + +"Lord, they say that Sandi has gone and there is no law." + +Hamilton of the Houssas grinned. "Oh, ain't there?" said he, in English, +vilely. + +"Ain't there?" repeated an indignant Bones, "we'll jolly well show old +Thinggumy what's what." + +Bosambo received an envoy from the Chief of the Akasava, and the envoy +brought with him presents of dubious value and a message to the effect +that N'gori spent much of his waking moments in wondering how he might +best serve his brother Bosambo, "The right arm on which I and my people +lean and the bright eyes through which I see beauty." + +Bosambo returned the messenger, with presents more valueless, and an +assurance of friendship more sonorous, more complete in rhetoric and +aptness of hyperbole, and when the messenger had gone Bosambo showed his +appreciation of N'gori's love by doubling the guard about the Ochori +city and sending a strong picket under his chief headman to hold the +river bend. + +"Because," said this admirable philosopher, "life is like certain roots: +some that taste sweet and are bitter in the end, and some that are vile +to the lips and pleasant to the stomach." + +It was a wild night, being in the month of rains. M'shimba M'shamba was +abroad, walking with his devastating feet through the forest, plucking +up great trees by their roots and tossing them aside as though they +were so many canes. There was a roaring of winds and a crashing of +thunders, and the blue-white lightning snicked in and out of the forest +or tore sprawling cracks in the sky. In the Ochori city they heard the +storm grumbling across the river and were awakened by the incessant +lightning--so incessant that the weaver birds who lived in palms that +fringed the Ochori streets came chattering to life. + +It was too loud a noise, that M'shimba M'shamba made for the _lokali_ +man of the Ochori to hear the message that N'gori sent--the +panic-message designed to lure Bosambo to the newly-purchased spears. + +Bones heard it--Bones, standing on the bridge of the _Zaire_ pounding +away upstream, steaming past the Akasava city in a sheet of rain. + +"Wonder what the jolly old row is?" he muttered to himself, and summoned +his sergeant. "Ali," said he, in faultless Arabic, "what beating of +drums are these?" + +"Lord," said the sergeant, uneasily, "I do not know, unless they be to +warn us not to travel at night. I am your man, Master," said he in a +fret, "yet never have I travelled with so great a fear: even our Lord +Sandi does not move by night, though the river is his own child." + +"It is written," said Bones, cheerfully, and as the sergeant saluted and +turned away, the reckless Houssa made a face at the darkness. "If old +man Ham would give me a month or two on the river," he mused, "I'd set +'em alight, by Jove!" + +By the miraculous interposition of Providence Bones reached the Ochori +village in the grey clouded dawn, and Bosambo, early astir, met the lank +figure of the youth, his slick sword dangling, his long revolver holster +strapped to his side, and his helmet on the back of his head, an eager +warrior looking for trouble. + +"Lord, of you I have heard," said Bosambo, politely; "here in the Ochori +country we talk of no other thing than the new, thin Lord whose +beautiful nose is like the red flowers of the forest." + +"Leave my nose alone," said Bones, unpleasantly, "and tell me, Chief, +what killing palaver is this I hear? I come from Government to right all +wrongs--this is evidently his nibs, Bosambo." The last passage was in +his own native tongue and Bosambo beamed. + +"Yes, sah!" said he in the English of the Coast. "I be Bosambo, good +chap, fine chap; you, sah, you look um--you see um--Bosambo!" + +He slapped his chest and Bones unbent. + +"Look here, old sport," he said affably: "what the dooce is all this +shindy about--hey?" + +"No shindy, sah!" said Bosambo--being sure that all people of his city +were standing about at a respectful distance, awe-stricken by the sight +of their chief on equal terms with this new white lord. + +"Dem feller he lib for Akasava, sah--he be bad feller: I be good +feller, sah--C'istian, sah! Matt'ew, Marki, Luki, Johni--I savvy dem +fine." + +Happily, Bones continued the conversation in the tongue of the land. +Then he learned of the dance which Bosambo had frustrated, of the spears +taken, and these he saw stacked in three huts. + +Bones, despite the character he gave himself, was no fool, and, +moreover, he had the advantage of knowing of the new N'gombi spears that +were going out to the Akasava day by day; and when Bosambo told of the +midnight summons that had come to him, Bones did the rapid exercise of +mental figuring which is known as putting two and two together. + +He wagged his head when Bosambo had finished his recital, did this +general of twenty-one. "You're a jolly old sportsman, Bosambo," he said +very seriously, "and you're in the dooce of a hole, if you only knew it. +But you trust old Bones--he'll see you through. By Gad!" + +Bosambo, bewildered but resourceful, hearing, without understanding, +replied: "I be fine feller, sah!" + +"You bet your life you are, old funnyface," agreed Bones, and screwed +his eyeglass in the better to survey his protege. + + +IV + +Chief N'gori organized a surprise party for Bosambo, and took so much +trouble with the details, that, because of his sheer thoroughness, he +deserved to have succeeded. _Lokali_ men concealed in the bush were +waiting to announce the coming of the rescue party, when N'gori sent his +cry for help crashing across the world. Six hundred spearmen stood ready +to embark in fifty canoes, and five hundred more waited on either bank +ready to settle with any survivors of the Ochori who found their way to +land. + +The best of plans are subject to the banal reservation, "weather +permitting," and the signal intended to bring Bosambo to his destruction +was swallowed up in the bellowings of the storm. + +"This night being fine," said N'gori, showing his teeth, "Bosambo will +surely come." + +His Chief Counsellor, an ancient man of the royal tribe,[2] had +unexpected warnings to offer. A man had seen a man, who had caught a +glimpse of the _Zaire_ butting her way upstream in the dead of night. +Was it wise, when the devil Sandi waited to smite, and so close at hand, +to engage in so high an adventure? + +[Footnote 2: That which I call the Akasava proper is the very small, +dominant clan of a tribe which is loosely called "Akasava," but is +really Bowongo.] + +"Old man, there is a hut in the forest for you," said N'gori, with +significance, and the Counsellor wilted, because the huts in the forest +are for the sick, the old, and the mad, and here they are left to starve +and die; "for," N'gori went on, "all men know that Sandi has gone to his +people across the black waters, and the M'ilitani rules. Also, in +nights of storms there are men who see even devils." + +With more than ordinary care he prepared for the final settling with +Bosambo the Robber, and there is a suggestion that he was encouraged by +the chiefs of other lands, who had grown jealous of the Ochori and their +offensive rectitude. Be that as it may, all things were made ready, even +to the knives of sacrifice and the young saplings which had not been +employed by the Akasava for their grisly work since the Year of +Hangings. + +At an hour before midnight the tireless _lokali_ sent out its call: + + "We of the Akasava" (four long rolls and a quick + succession of taps) + + "Danger threatens" (a long roll, a short roll, + and a triple tap-tap) + + "Isisi fighting" (rolls punctuated by shorter + tattoos) + + "Come to me" (a long crescendo roll and + patter of taps) + + "Ochori" (nine rolls, curiously like + the yelping of a dog) + +So the message went out: every village heard and repeated. The Isisi +threw the call northward; the N'gombi village, sent it westward, and +presently first the Isisi, then the N'gombi, heard the faint answer: +"Coming--the Breaker of Lives," and returned the message to N'gori. + +"Now I shall also break lives," said N'gori, and sacrificed a goat to +his success. + +Sixteen hundred fighting men waited for the signal from the hidden +_lokali_ player, on the far side of the river bend. At the first hollow +rattle of his sticks, N'gori pushed off in his royal canoe. + +"Kill!" he roared, and went out in the white light of dawn to greet ten +Ochori canoes, riding in fanshape formation, having as their centre a +white and speckless _Zaire_ alive with Houssas and overburdened with the +slim muzzles of Hotchkiss guns. + +"Oh, Ko!" said N'gori dismally, "this is a bad palaver!" + + * * * * * + +In the centre of his city, before a reproving squad of Houssas, a dumb +man, taken in the act of armed aggression, N'gori stood. + +"You're a naughty boy," said Bones, reproachfully, "and if jolly old +Sanders were here--my word, you'd catch it!" + +N'gori listened to the unknown tongue, worried by its mystery. "Lord, +what happens to me?" he asked. + +Bones looked very profound and scratched his head. He looked at the +Chief, at Bosambo, at the river all aglow in the early morning sunlight, +at the _Zaire_, with her sinister guns a-glitter, and then back at the +Chief. He was not well versed in the dialect of the Akasava, and Bosambo +must be his interpreter. + +"Very serious offence, old friend," said Bones, solemnly; "awfully +serious--muckin' about with spears and all that sort of thing. I'll have +to make a dooce of an example of you--yes, by Heaven!" + +Bosambo heard and imperfectly understood. He looked about for a likely +tree where an unruly chief might sway with advantage to the community. + +"You're a bad, bad boy," said Bones, shaking his head; "tell him." + +"Yes, sah!" said Bosambo. + +"Tell him he's fined ten dollars." + +But Bosambo did not speak: there are moments too full for words and this +was one of them. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE DISCIPLINARIANS + + +Lieutenant Augustus Tibbetts of the Houssas stood at attention before +his chief. He stood as straight as a ramrod, his hands to his sides, his +eyeglass jammed in his eye, and Hamilton of the Houssas looked at him +sorrowfully. + +"Bones, you're an ass!" he said at last. + +"Yes, sir," said Bones. + +"I sent you to Ochori to prevent a massacre, you catch a chief in the +act of ambushing an enemy and instead of chucking him straight into the +Village of Iron you fine him ten dollars." + +"Yes, sir," said Bones. + +There was a painful pause. + +"Well, you're an ass!" said Hamilton, who could think of nothing better +to say. + +"Yes, sir," said Bones; "I think you're repeating yourself, sir. I seem +to have heard a similar observation before." + +"You've made Bosambo and the whole of the Ochori as sick as monkeys, and +you've made me look a fool." + +"Hardly my responsibility, sir," said Bones, gently. + +"I hardly know what to do with you," said Hamilton, drawing his pipe +from his pocket and slowly charging it. "Naturally, Bones, I can never +let you loose again on the country." He lit his pipe and puffed +thoughtfully. "And of course----" + +"Pardon me, sir," said Bones, still uncomfortably erect, "this is +intended to be a sort of official inquiry an' all that sort of thing, +isn't it?" + +"It is," said Hamilton. + +"Well, sir," said Bones, "may I ask you not to smoke? When a chap's +honour an' reputation an' all that sort of thing is being weighed in the +balance, sir, believe me, smokin' isn't decent--it isn't really, sir." + +Hamilton looked round for something to throw at his critic and found a +tolerably heavy book, but Bones dodged and fielded it dexterously. "And +if you must chuck things at me, sir," he added, as he examined the title +on the back of the missile, "will you avoid as far as possible usin' the +sacred volumes of the Army List? It hurts me to tell you this, sir, but +I've been well brought up." + +"What's the time?" asked Hamilton, and his second-in-command examined +his watch. + +"Ten to tiffin," he said. "Good Lord, we've been gassin' an hour. Any +news from Sanders?" + +"He's in town--that's all I know--but don't change the serious subject, +Bones. Everybody is awfully disgusted with you--Sanders would have at +least brought him to trial." + +"I couldn't do it, sir," said Bones, firmly. "Poor old bird! He looked +such an ass, an' moreover reminded me so powerfully of an aunt of mine +that I simply couldn't do it." + +No doubt but that Lieut. Francis Augustus Tibbetts of the Houssas, with +his sun-burnt nose, his large saucer eyes, and his air of solemn +innocence, had shaken the faith of the impressionable folk. This much +Hamilton was to learn: for Tibbetts had been sent with a party of +Houssas to squash effectively an incipient rebellion in the Akasava, and +having caught N'gori in the very act of most treacherously and most +damnably preparing an ambush for a virtuous Bosambo, Chief of the +Ochori, had done no more than fine him ten dollars. + +And this was in a land where even the Spanish dollar had never been seen +save by Bosambo, who was reported to have more than his share of silver +in a deep hole beneath the floor of his hut. + +Small wonder that Captain Hamilton held an informal court-martial of +one, the closing stages of which I have described, and sentenced his +wholly inefficient subordinate to seven days' field exercise in the +forest with half a company of Houssas. + +"Oh, dash it, you don't mean that?" asked Bones in dismay when the +finding of the court was conveyed to him at lunch. + +"I do," said Hamilton firmly. "I'd be failing in my job of work if I +didn't make you realize what a perfect ass you are." + +"Perfect--yes," protested Bones, "ass--no. Fact is, dear old fellow, +I've a temperament. You aren't going to make me go about in that +beastly forest diggin' rifle pits an' pitchin' tents an' all that sort +of dam' nonsense; it's too grisly to think about." + +"None the less," said Hamilton, "you will do it whilst I go north to sit +on the heads of all who endeavour to profit by your misguided leniency. +I shall be back in time for the Administration Inspection--don't for the +love of heaven forget that His Excellency----" + +"Bless his jolly old heart!" murmured Bones. + +"That His Excellency is paying his annual visit on the twenty-first." + +A ray of hope shot through the gloom of Lieut. Tibbetts' mind. + +"Under the circumstances, dear old friend, don't you think it would be +best to chuck that silly idea of field training? What about sticking up +a board and gettin' the chaps to paint, 'Welcome to the United +Territories,' or 'God bless our Home,' or something." + +Hamilton withered him with a glance. + +His last words, shouted from the bridge of the _Zaire_ as her stern +wheel went threshing ahead, were, "Remember, Bones! No shirking!" + +_"Honi soit qui mal y pense_!" roared Bones. + + +II + +Hamilton had evidence enough of the effect which the leniency of his +subordinate had produced. News travels fast, and the Akasava are great +talkers. Hamilton, coming to the Isisi city on his way up the river, +found a crowd on the beach to watch his mooring, their arms folded +hugging their sides--sure gesture of indifferent idleness--but neither +the paramount chief, nor his son, nor any of his counsellors awaited the +steamer to pay their respects. + +Hamilton sent for them and still they did not come, sending a message +that they were sick. So Hamilton went striding through the street of the +city, his long sword flapping at his side, four Houssas padding swiftly +in his rear at their curious jog-trot. B'sano, the young chief of the +Isisi, came out lazily from his hut and stood with outstretched feet and +arms akimbo watching the nearing Houssa, and he had no fear, for it was +said that now Sandi was away from the country no man had the authority +to punish. + +And the counsellors behind B'sano had their bunched spears and their +wicker-work shields, contrary to all custom--as Sanders had framed the +custom. + +"O chief," said Hamilton, with that ready smile of his, "I waited for +you and you did not come." + +"Soldier," said B'sano, insolently, "I am the king of these people and +answerable to none save my lord Sandi, who, as you know, is gone from +us." + +"That I know," said the patient Houssa, "and because it is in my heart +to show all people what manner of law Sandi has left behind, I fine you +and your city ten thousand _matakos_ that you shall remember that the +law lives, though Sandi is in the moon, though all rulers change and +die." + +A slow gleam of contempt came to the chief's eyes. + +"Soldier," said he, "I do not pay _matako--wa_!" + +He stumbled back, his mouth agape with fear. The long barrel of +Hamilton's revolver rested coldly on his bare stomach. + +"We will have a fire," said Hamilton, and spoke to his sergeant in +Arabic. "Here in the centre of the city we will make a fire of proud +shields and unlawful spears." + +One by one the counsellors dropped their wicker shields upon the fire +which the Houssa sergeant had kindled, and as they dropped them, the +sergeant scientifically handcuffed the advisers of the Isisi chief in +couples. + +"You shall find other counsellors, B'sano," said Hamilton, as the men +were led to the _Zaire_. "See that I do not come bringing with me a new +chief." + +"Lord," said the chief humbly, "I am your dog." + +Not alone was B'sano at fault. Up and down the road old grievances +awaited settlement: there were scores to adjust, misunderstandings to +remove. Mostly these misunderstandings had to do with important +questions of tribal superiority and might only be definitely tested by +sanguinary combat. + +Also picture a secret order, ruthlessly suppressed by Sanders, and +practised by trembling men, each afraid of the other despite their +oaths; and the fillip it received when the news went forth--"Sandi has +gone--there is no law." + +This was a fine time for the dreamers of dreams and for the men who saw +portends and understood the wisdom of Ju-jus. + +Bemebibi, chief of the Lesser Isisi, was too fat a man for a dreamer, +for visions run with countable ribs and a cough. Nor was he tall nor +commanding by any standard. He had broad shoulders and a short neck. His +head was round, and his eyes were cunning and small. He was an irritable +man, had a trick of beating his counsellors when they displeased him, +and was a ready destroyer of men. + +Some say that he practised sacrifice in the forests, he and the members +of his society, but none spoke with any certainty or authority, for +Bemebibi was chief, alike of a community and an order. In the Lesser +Isisi alone, the White Ghosts had flourished in spite of every effort of +the Administration to stamp them out. + +It was a society into which the hazardous youth of the Isisi were +initiated joyfully, for there is little difference in the temperament of +youth, whether it wears a cloth about its loins or lavender spats upon +its feet. + +Thus it came about that one-half of the adult male population of the +Lesser Isisi, had sworn by the letting of blood and the rubbing of salt: + + (1) To hop upon one foot for a spear's length every night and + morning. + + (2) To love all ghosts and speak gently of devils. + + (3) To be dumb and blind and to throw spears swiftly for the love + of the White Ghosts. + +One night Bemebibi went into the forest with six highmen of his order. +They came to a secret place at a pool, and squatted in a circle, each +man laying his hands on the soles of his feet in the prescribed fashion. + +"Snakes live in holes," said Bemebibi conventionally. "Ghosts dwell by +water and all devils sit in the bodies of little birds." + +This they repeated after him, moving their heads from side to side +slowly. + +"This is a good night," said the chief, when the ritual was ended, "for +now I see the end of our great thoughts. Sandi is gone and M'ilitini is +by the place where the three rivers meet, and he has come in fear. Also +by magic I have learnt that he is terrified because he knows me to be an +awful man. Now, I think, it is time for all ghosts to strike swiftly." + +He spoke with emotion, swaying his body from side to side after the +manner of orators. His voice grew thick and husky as the immensity of +his design grew upon him. + +"There is no law in the land," he sang. "Sandi has gone, and only a +little, thin man punishes in fear. M'ilitini has blood like water--let +us sacrifice." + +One of his highmen disappeared into the dark forest and came back soon, +dragging a half-witted youth, named Ko'so, grinning and mumbling and +content till the curved N'gombi knife, that his captor wielded, came +"snack" to his neck and then he spoke no more. + +Too late Hamilton came through the forest with his twenty Houssas. +Bemebibi saw the end and was content to make a fight for it, as were his +partners in crime. + +"Use your bayonets," said Hamilton briefly, and flicked out his long, +white sword. Bemebibi lunged at him with his stabbing spear, and +Hamilton caught the poisoned spearhead on the steel guard, touched it +aside, and drove forward straight and swiftly from his shoulder. + +"Bury all these men," said Hamilton, and spent a beastly night in the +forest. + +So passed Bemebibi, and his people gave him up to the ghosts, him and +his highmen. + +There were other problems less tragic, to be dealt with, a Bosambo +rather grieved than sulking, a haughty N'gori to be kicked to a sense of +his unimportance, chiefs, major and minor, to be brought into a +condition of penitence. + +Hamilton went zigzagging up the river swiftly. He earned for himself in +those days the name of "Dragon-fly," or its native equivalent, and the +illustration was apt, for it seemed that the _Zaire_ would poise, +buzzing angrily, then dart off in unexpected directions, and the spirit +of complacency which had settled upon the land gave place to one of +apprehension, which, in the old days, followed the arrival of Sanders in +a mood of reprisal. + +Hamilton sent a letter by canoe to his second-in-command. It started +simply: + +"Bones--I will not call you 'dear Bones,'" it went on with a hint of the +rancour in the writer's heart, "for you are not dear to me. I am +striving to clear up the mess you have made so that when His Excellency +arrives I shall be able to show him a law-abiding country. I have missed +you, Bones, but had you been near on more occasion than one, I should +not have missed you. Bones, were you ever kicked as a boy? Did any good +fellow ever get you by the scruff of your neck and the seat of your +trousers and chuck you into an evil-smelling pond? Try to think and send +me the name of the man who did this, that I may send him a letter of +thanks. + +"Your absurd weakness has kept me on the move for days. Oh, Bones, +Bones! I am in a sweat, lest even now you are tampering with the +discipline of my Houssas--lest you are handing round tea and cake to the +Alis and Ahmets and Mustaphas of my soldiers; lest you are brightening +their evenings with imitations of Frank Tinney and fanning the flies +from their sleeping forms," the letter went on. + +"Cad!" muttered Bones, as he read this bit. + +There were six pages couched in this strain, and at the end six more of +instruction. Bones was in the forest when the letter came to him, +unshaven, weary, and full of trouble. + +He hated work, he loathed field exercise, he regarded bridge-building +over imaginary streams, and the whole infernal curriculum of military +training, as being peculiarly within the province of the boy scouts and +wholly beneath the dignity of an officer of the Houssas. And he felt +horribly guilty as he read Hamilton's letter, for the night before it +came he had most certainly entertained his company with a banjo +rendering of the Soldiers' Chorus from "Faust." + +He rumpled his beautiful hair, jammed down his helmet, squared his +shoulders, and, with a fiendish expression on his face--an expression +intended by Bones to represent a stern, unbending devotion to duty, he +stepped forth from his tent determined to undo what mischief he had +done, and earn, if not the love, at least the respect of his people. + + +III + +There is in all services a subtle fear and hope. They have to do less +with material consequence than with a sense of harmony which rejects the +discordance of failure. Also Hamilton was a human man, who, whilst he +respected Sanders and had a profound regard for his qualities, nourished +a secret faith that he might so carry on the work of the heaven-born +Commissioner without demanding the charity of his superiors. + +He wished--not unnaturally--to spread a triumphant palm to his country +and say "Behold! There are the talents that Sanders left--I have +increased them, by my care, twofold." + +He came down stream in some haste having completed the work of +pacification and stopped at the Village of Irons long enough to hand to +the Houssa warder four unhappy counsellors of the Isisi king. + +"Keep these men for service against our lord Sandi's return." + +At Bosinkusu he was delayed by a storm, a mad, whirling brute of a storm +that lashed the waters of the river and swept the _Zaire_ broadside on +towards the shore. At M'idibi, the villagers, whose duty it was to cut +and stack wood for the Government steamers, had gone into a forest to +meet a celebrated witch doctor, gambling on the fact that there was +another wooding village ten miles down stream and that Hamilton would +choose that for the restocking of his boat. + +So that beyond a thin skeleton pile of logs on the river's edge--set up +to deceive the casual observer as he passed and approved of their +industry--there was no wood and Hamilton had to set his men to +wood-cutting. + +He had nearly completed the heart-breaking work when the villagers +returned in a body, singing an unmusical song and decked about with +ropes of flowers. + +"Now," explained the headman, "we have been to a palaver with a holy man +and he has promised us that some day there will come to us a great +harvest of corn which will be reaped by magic and laid at our doors +whilst we sleep." + +"And I," said the exasperated Houssa, "promise you a great harvest of +whips that, so far from coming in your sleep, will keep you awake." + +"Master, we did not know that you would come so soon," said the humble +headman; "also there was a rumour that your lordship had been drowned in +the storm and your _puc-a-puc_ sunk, and my young men were happy because +there would be no more wood to cut." + +The _Zaire_, fuel replenished, slipped down the river, Hamilton leaning +over the rail promising unpleasant happenings as the boat drifted out +from the faithless village. He had cut things very fine, and could do no +more than hope that he would reach headquarters an hour or so before the +Administrator arrived by the mail-boat. If Bones could be trusted there +would be no cause for worry. Bones should have the men's quarters +whitewashed, the parade ground swept and garnished, and stores in +excellent order for inspection, and all the books on hand for the +Accountant-General to glance over. + +But Bones! + +Hamilton writhed internally at the thought of Francis Augustus and his +inefficiency. + +He had sent his second the most elaborate instructions, but if he knew +his man, the languid Bones would do no more than pass those instructions +on to a subordinate. + +It was ten o'clock on the morning of the inspection that the _Zaire_ +came paddling furiously to the tiny concrete quay, and Hamilton gave a +sigh of relief. For there, awaiting him, stood Lieutenant Tibbetts in +the glory of his raiment--helmet sparkling white, steel hilt of sword +a-glitter, khaki uniform, spotless and well-fitting. + +"Everything is all right, sir," said Bones, saluting, and Hamilton +thought he detected a gruffer and more robust note in the tone. + +"Mail-boat's just in, sir," Bones went on with unusual fierceness. +"You're in time to meet His Excellency. Stores all laid out, books in +trim, parade ground and quarters whitewashed as per your jolly old +orders, sir." + +He saluted again, his eyes bulging, his face a veritable mask of +ferocity, and, turning on his heel, he led the way to the beach. + +"Here, hold hard!" said Hamilton; "what the dickens is the matter with +you?" + +"Seen the error of my ways, sir," growled Bones, again saluting +punctiliously. "I've been an ass, sir--too lenient--given you a lot of +trouble--shan't occur again." + +There was not time to ask any further questions. + +The two men had to run to reach the landing place in time, for the surf +boats were at that moment rolling to the yellow beach. + +Sir Robert Sanleigh, in spotless white, was carried ashore, and his +staff followed. + +"Ah, Hamilton," said the great Bob, "everything all right?" + +"Yes, your Excellency," said Hamilton, "there have been one or two +serious killing palavers on which I will report." + +Sir Robert nodded. + +"You were bound to have a little trouble as soon as Sanders went," he +said. + +He was a methodical man and had little time for the work at hand, for +the mail-boat was waiting to carry him to another station. Books, +quarters, and stores were in apple-pie order, and inwardly Hamilton +raised his voice in praise of the young man, who strode silently and +fiercely by his side, his face still distorted with a new-found +fierceness. + +"The Houssas are all right, I suppose?" asked Sir Robert. "Discipline +good--no crime?" + +"The discipline is excellent, sir," replied Hamilton, heartily, "and we +haven't had any serious crime for years." + +Sir Robert Sanleigh fixed his _pince-nez_ upon his nose and looked round +the parade ground. A dozen Houssas in two ranks stood at attention in +the centre. + +"Where are the rest of your men?" asked the Administrator. + +"In gaol, sir." It was Bones who answered the question. + +Hamilton gasped. + +"In gaol--I'm sorry--but I knew nothing for this. I've just arrived from +the interior, your Excellency." + +They walked across to the little party. + +"Where is Sergeant Abiboo?" asked Hamilton suddenly. + +"In gaol, sir," said Bones, promptly, "sentenced to death--scratchin' +his leg on parade after bein' warned repeatedly by me to give up the +disgusting habit." + +"Where is Corporal Ahmet, Bones?" asked the frantic Hamilton. + +"In gaol, sir," said Bones. "I gave him twenty years for talkin' in the +ranks an' cheekin' me when I told him to shut up. There's a whole lot of +them, sir," he went on casually. "I sentenced two chaps to death for +fightin' in the lines, an' gave another feller ten years for----" + +"I think that will do," said Sir Robert, tactfully. "A most excellent +inspection, Captain Hamilton--now, I think, I'll get back to my ship." + +He took Hamilton aside on the beach. + +"What did you call that young man?" he asked. + +"Bones, your Excellency," said Hamilton miserably. + +"I should call him Blood and Bones," smiled His Excellency, as he shook +hands. + + * * * * * + +"What's the good of bullyin' me, dear old chap?" asked Bones +indignantly. "If I let a chap off, I'm kicked, an' if I punish him I'm +kicked--it's enough to make a feller give up bein' judicial----" + +"Bones, you're a goop," said Hamilton, in despair. + +"A goop, sir?--if you'd be kind enough to explain----?" + +"There's an ass," said Hamilton, ticking off one finger; "and there's a +silly ass," he ticked off the second; "and there's a silly ass who is +such a silly ass that he doesn't know what a silly ass he is: we call +him a goop." + +"Thank you, sir," said Bones, without resentment, "and which is the +goop, you or----?" + +Hamilton dropped his hand on his revolver butt, and for a moment there +was murder in his eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE LOST N'BOSINI + + +"M'ilitani, there is a bad palaver in the N'bosini country," said the +gossip-chief of the Lesser Isisi, and wagged his head impressively. + +Hamilton of the Houssas rose up from his camp chair and stretched +himself to his full six feet. His laughing eyes--terribly blue they +looked in the mahogany setting of his lean face--quizzed the chief, and +his clean-shaven lips twitched ever so slightly. + +Chief Idigi looked at him curiously. Idigi was squat and fat, but wise. +None the less he gossiped, for, as they say on the river, "Even the wise +_oochiri_ is a chatterer." + +"O, laughing Lord," said Idigi, almost humble in his awe--for blue eyes +in a brown face are a great sign of devilry, "this is no smiling +palaver, for they say----" + +"Idigi," interrupted Hamilton, "I smile when you speak of the N'bosini, +because there is no such land. Even Sandi, who has wisdom greater than +_ju-ju_, he says that there is no N'bosini, but that it is the foolish +talk of men who cannot see whence come their troubles and must find a +land and a people and a king out of their mad heads. Go back to your +village, Idigi, telling all men that I sit here for a spell in the place +of my lord Sandi, and if there be, not one king of N'bosini, but a +score, and if he lead, not one army, but three and three and three, I +will meet him with my soldiers and he shall go the way of the bad king." + +Idigi, unconvinced, shaking his head, said a doubtful "_Wa!_" and would +continue upon his agreeable subject--for he was a lover of ghosts. + +"Now," said he, impressively, "it is said that on the night before the +moon came, there was seen, on the edge of the lake-forest, ten warriors +of the N'bosini, with spears of fire and arrows tipped with stars, +also----" + +"Go to the devil!" said Hamilton, cheerfully. "The palaver is finished." + +Later, he watched Idigi--so humble a man that he never travelled with +more than four paddlers--winding his slow way up stream--and Hamilton +was not laughing. + +He went back to his canvas chair before the Residency, and sat for half +an hour, alternately pinching and rubbing his bare arms--he was in his +shirt sleeves--in a reverie which was not pleasant. + +Here Lieutenant Augustus Tibbetts, returning from an afternoon's +fishing, with a couple of weird-looking fish as his sole catch, found +him and would have gone on with a little salute. + +"Bones!" called Hamilton, softly. + +Bones swung round. "Sir!" he said stiffly. + +"Come off your horse, Bones," coaxed Hamilton. + +"Not me," replied Bones; "I've finished with you, dear old fellow; as an +officer an' a gentleman you've treated me rottenly--you have, indeed. +Give me an order--I'll obey it. Tell me to lead a forlorn hope or go to +bed at ten--I'll carry out instructions accordin' to military law, but +outside of duty you're a jolly old rotter. I'm hurt, Ham, doocidly hurt. +I think----" + +"Oh shut up and sit down!" interrupted his chief, irritably. "You jaw +and jaw till my head aches." + +Reluctantly Lieutenant Tibbetts walked back, depositing his catch with +the greatest care on the ground. + +"What on earth have you got there?" asked Hamilton, curiously. + +"I don't know whether it's cod or turbot," said the cautious Bones, "but +I'll have 'em cooked and find out." + +Hamilton grinned. "To be exact, they're catfish, and poisonous," he +said, and whistled his orderly. "Oh, Ahmet," he said in Arabic, "take +these fish and throw them away." + +Bones fixed his monocle, and his eyes followed his catch till they were +out of sight. + +"Of course, sir," he said with resignation, "if you like to commandeer +my fish it's not for me to question you." + +"I'm a little worried, Bones," began Hamilton. + +"A conscience, sir," said Bones, smugly, "is a pretty rotten thing for a +feller to have. I remember years ago----" + +"There's a little unrest up there"--Hamilton waved his hand towards the +dark green forest, sombre in the shadows of the evening--"a palaver I +don't quite get the hang of. If I could only trust you, Bones!" + +Lieutenant Tibbetts rose. He readjusted his monocle and stiffened +himself to attention--a heroic pose which invariably accompanied his +protests. But Hamilton gave him no opportunity. + +"Anyway, I have to trust you, Bones," he said, "whether I like it or +not. You get ready to clear out. Take twenty men and patrol the river +between the Isisi and the Akasava." + +In as few words as possible he explained the legend of the N'bosini. "Of +course, there is no such place," he said; "it is a mythical land like +the lost Atlantis--the home of the mysterious and marvellous tribes, +populated by giants and filled with all the beautiful products of the +world." + +"I know, sir," said Bones, nodding his head. "It is like one of those +building estate advertisements you read in the American papers: +Young-man-go-west-an'-buy-Dudville Corner Blocks----" + +"You have a horrible mind," said Hamilton. "However, get ready. I will +have steam in the _Zaire_ against your departure." + +"There is one thing I should like to ask you about," said Bones, +standing hesitatingly first on one leg and then on the other. "I think +I have told you before that I have tickets in a Continental sweepstake. +I should be awfully obliged----" + +"Go away!" snarled Hamilton. + +Bones went cheerfully enough. + +He loved the life on the _Zaire_, the comfort of Sanders' cabin, the +electric reading lamp and the fine sense of authority. He would stand +upon the bridge for hours, with folded arms and impassive face, staring +ahead as the oily waters moved slowly under the bow of the +stern-wheeler. Now and again he would turn to give a fierce order to the +steersman or to the patient Yoka, the squat black _Krooman_ who knew +every inch of the river, and who stood all the time, his hand upon the +lever of the telegraph ready to "slow" at the first sign of a new +sand-bank. + +For, in parts, the river was less than two or three feet deep and the +bed was constantly changing. The sounding boys, who stood on the bow of +the steamer, whirling their long canes and singing the depth +monotonously, would shout a warning cry, but long before their lips had +framed a caution, Yoka would have pulled the telegraph over to "stop." +His eyes would have detected the tiny ripple on the waters ahead which +denoted a new "bank." + +To Bones, the river was a deep, clear stream. He had no idea as to the +depth and never troubled to inquire. These short, stern orders of his +that he barked to left and right from time to time, nobody took the +slightest notice of, and Bones would have been considerably embarrassed +if they had. Observing that the steamer was tacking from shore to shore, +a proceeding which, to Bones' orderly mind, seemed inconsistent with the +dignity of the Government boat, he asked the reason. + +"Lord," said the steersman, one Ebibi, "there are many banks hereabout, +large sands, which silt up in a night, therefore we must make a passage +for the _puc-a-puc_, by going from shore to shore." + +"You're a silly ass," said Bones, "and let it go at that." + +Yet, for all his irresponsibility, for all his wild and unknowledgeable +conspectus of the land and its people, there was instilled in the heart +of Lieutenant Tibbetts something of the spirit of dark romance and +adventure-loving, which association with the Coast alone can bring. + +In the big house at Dorking where he had spent his childhood, the +ten-acre estate, where his father had lorded (himself a one-time +Commissioner), he had watered the seed of desire which heredity had +irradicably sown in his bosom; a desire not to be shaped by words, or +confirmed in phrase, but best described as the discovery-lust, which +send men into dark, unknown places of the world to joyously sacrifice +life and health that their names might be associated with some scrap of +sure fact for the better guidance of unborn generations. + +Bones was a dreamer of dreams. + +On the bridge of the _Zaire_ he was a Nelson taking the _Victory_ into +action, a Stanley, a Columbus, a Sir Garnet Wolseley forcing the +passages of the Nile. + +Small wonder that he turned from time to time to the steersman with a +sharp "Put her to starboard," or "Port your helm a little." + +Less wonder that the wholly uncomprehending steersman went on with his +work as though Bones had no separate or tangible existence. + +On the fourth evening after leaving headquarters, Bones summoned to his +cabin Mahomet Ali, the sergeant in charge of his soldiers. + +"O, Mahomet," said he, "tell me of this N'bosini of which men speak, and +in which all native people believe, for my lord M'ilitani has said that +there is no such place and that it is the dream of mad people." + +"Master, that I also believe," said Mahomet Ali; "these people of the +river are barbarians, having no God and being foredoomed for all time to +hell, and it is my belief that his idea of N'bosini is no more than the +Paradise of the faithful, of which the barbarians have heard and +converted in their wild way." + +"Tell me, who talks of N'bosini," said Bones, crossing his legs and +leaning back in his chair, his hands behind his head; "for, remember +that I am a stranger amongst you, Mahomet Ali, coming from a far land +and having seen such marvels as----" + +He paused, seeking the Arabic for "gramaphone" and "motor-'bus," then he +went on wisely: "Such marvels as you cannot imagine." + +"This I know of N'bosini," said the sergeant, "that all men along this +river believe in it; all save Bosambo of the Ochori who, as is well +known, believes in nothing, since he is a follower of the Prophet and +the one God." + +Mahomet Ali salaamed devoutly. + +"And men say that this land lies at the back of the N'gombi country; and +others that it lies near the territories of the old King; and some +others who say that it is a far journey beyond the French's territory, +farther than man can walk, that its people have wings upon their +shoulders and can fly, and that their eyes are so fierce that trees burn +when they look upon them. This only we know, lord, we, of your soldiers, +who have followed Sandi through all his high adventures, that when men +talk of N'bosini, there is trouble, for they are seeking something to +excuse their own wickedness." + +All night long, as Bones turned from side to side in his hot cabin, +listening to the ineffectual buzzings of the flies that sought, +unsuccessfully, to reach the interior of the cabin through a fine meshed +screen, the problem of N'bosini revolved in his mind. + +Was it likely, thought Bones, cunningly, that men should invent a +country, even erring men, seeking an excuse? Did not all previous +experience go to the support of the theory that N'bosini had some +existence? In other words that, planted in the secret heart of some +forest in the territory, barred from communication with the world by +swift rivers of the high tangle of forests, there was, in being, a +secret tribe of which only rumours had been heard--a tribe of white men, +perhaps! + +Bones had read of such things in books; he knew his "Solomon's Mines" +and was well acquainted with his "Allan Quatermain." Who knows but that +through the forest was a secret path held, perchance, by armoured +warriors, which led to the mountains at the edge of the Old King's +territory, where in the folds of the inaccessible hills, there might be +a city of stone, peopled and governed by stern white-bearded men, and +streets filled with beautiful maidens garbed in the style of ancient +Greece! + +"It is all dam' nonsense of course," said Bones to himself, though +feebly; "but, after all there may be something in this. There's no smoke +without fire." + +The idea took hold of him and gripped him most powerfully. He took +Sanders' priceless maps and carefully triangulated them, consulting +every other written authority on the ship. He stopped at villages and +held palavers on this question of N'bosini and acquired a whole mass of +conflicting information. + +If you smile at Bones, you smile at the glorious spirit of enterprise +which has created Empire. Out of such dreams as ran criss-cross through +the mind of Lieutenant Tibbetts there have arisen nationalities undreamt +of and Empires Caesar never knew. + +Now one thing is certain, that Bones, in pursuing his inquiries about +N'bosini, was really doing a most useful piece of work. + +The palavers he called had a deeper significance to the men who attended +them than purely geographical inquiries. Thus, the folk of the Isisi +planning a little raid upon certain Akasava fishermen, who had +established themselves unlawfully upon the Isisi river-line, put away +their spears and folded their hands when N'bosini was mentioned, because +Bones was unconsciously probing their excuse before they advanced it. + +Idigi, himself, who, in his caution, had prepared Hamilton for some +slight difference of opinion between his own tribe and the N'gombi of +the interior, read into the earnest inquiries of Lieutenant Tibbetts, +something more than a patient spirit of research. + +All that Hamilton had set his subordinate to accomplish Bones was doing, +though none was more in ignorance of the fact than himself, and, since +all men owed a grudge to the Ochori, palavers, which had as their object +an investigation into the origin of the N'bosini legend, invariably +ended in the suggestion rather than the statement that the only +authority upon this mysterious land, and the still more mysterious tribe +who inhabited it, was Bosambo of the Ochori. Thus, subtly, was Bosambo +saddled with all responsibility in the matter. + +Hamilton's parting injunction to Bones had been: + +"Be immensely civil to Bosambo, because he is rather sore with you and +he is a very useful man." + +Regarding him, as he did, as the final authority upon the N'bosini, +Bones made elaborate preparations to carry out his chief's commands. He +came round the river bend to the Ochori city, with flags fluttering at +his white mast, with his soldiers drawn up on deck, with his buglers +tootling, and his siren sounding, and Bosambo, ever ready to jump to the +conclusion that he was being honoured for his own sake, found that this +time, at least, he had made no mistake and rose to the occasion. + +In an emerald-green robe with twelve sox suspenders strapped about his +legs and dangling tags a-glitter--he had bought these on his visit to +the Coast--with an umbrella of state and six men carrying a canopy over +his august person, he came down to the beach to greet the +representatives of the Government. + +"Lord," said Bosambo humbly, "it gives me great pride that your lordship +should bring his beautiful presence to my country. All this month I have +sat in my hut, wondering why you came not to the Ochori, and I have not +eaten food for many days because of my sorrow and my fear that you would +not come to us." + +Bones walked under the canopy to the chief's hut. A superior palaver +occupied the afternoon on the question of taxation. Here Bones was on +safe ground. Having no power to remit taxes, but having most explicit +instructions from his chief, which admitted of no compromise, it was an +easy matter for Bones to shake his head and say in English: + +"Nothin' doing"; a phrase which, afterwards, passed into the vocabulary +of the Ochori as the equivalent of denial of privilege. + +It was on the second day that Bones broached the question of the +N'bosini. Bosambo had it on the tip of his tongue to deny all knowledge +of this tribe, was even preparing to call down destruction upon the +heads of the barbarians who gave credence to the story. Then he asked +curiously: + +"Lord, why do you speak of the land or desire knowledge upon it?" + +"Because," said Bones, firmly, "it is in mind, Bosambo, that somewhere +in this country, dwell such a people, and since all men agree that you +are wise, I have come to you to seek it." + +"_O ko_," said Bosambo, under his breath. + +He fixed his eyes upon Bones, licked his lips a little, twiddled his +fingers a great deal, and began: + +"Lord, it is written in a certain _Suru_ that wisdom comest from the +East, and that knowledge from the West, that courage comes from the +North, and sin from the South." + +"Steady the Buffs, Bosambo!" murmured Bones, reprovingly, "I come from +the South." + +He spoke in English, and Bosambo, resisting the temptation to retort in +an alien tongue, and realizing perhaps that he would need all the +strength of his more extensive vocabulary to convince his hearer, +continued in Bomongo: + +"Now I tell you," he went on solemnly, "if Sandi had come, Sandi, who +loves me better than his brother, and who knew my father and lived with +him for many years, and if Sandi spoke to me, saying 'Tell me, O +Bosambo, where is N'bosini?' I answer 'Lord, there are things which are +written and which I know cannot be told, not even to you whom I love so +dearly.'" He paused. + +Bones was impressed. He stared, wide-eyed, at the chief, tilted his +helmet back a little from his damp brow, folded his hands on his knees +and opened his mouth a little. + +"But it is you, O my lord," said Bosambo, extravagantly, "who asks this +question. You, who have suddenly come amongst us and who are brighter to +us than the moon and dearer to us than the land which grows corn; +therefore must I speak to you that which is in my heart. If I lie, +strike me down at your feet, for I am ready to die." + +He paused again, throwing out his arms invitingly, but Bones said +nothing. + +"Now this I tell you," Bosambo shook his finger impressively, "that the +N'bosini lives." + +"Where?" asked Bones, quickly. + +Already he saw himself lecturing before a crowded audience at the Royal +Geographical Society, his name in the papers, perhaps a Tibbett River or +a Francis Augustus Mountain added to the sum of geographical knowledge. + +"It is in a certain place," said Bosambo, solemnly, "which only I know, +and I have sworn a solemn oath by many sacred things which I dare not +break, by letting of blood and by rubbing in of salt, that I will not +divulge the secret." + +"O, tell me, Bosambo," demanded Bones, leaning forward and speaking +rapidly, "what manner of people are they who live in the city of +N'bosini?" + +"They are men and women," said Bosambo after a pause. + +"White or black?" asked Bones, eagerly. + +Bosambo thought a little. + +"White," he said soberly, and was immensely pleased at the impression he +created. + +"I thought so," said Bones, excitedly, and jumped up, his eyes wider +than ever, his hands trembling as he pulled his note-book from his +breast pocket. + +"I will make a book[3] of this, Bosambo," he said, almost incoherently. +"You shall speak slowly, telling me all things, for I must write in +English." + +[Footnote 3: "Book" means any written thing. A "Note" is a book.] + +He produced his pencil, squatted again, open book upon his knee, and +looked up at Bosambo to commence. + +"Lord, I cannot do this," said Bosambo, his face heavy with gloom, "for +have I not told your lordship that I have sworn such oath? Moreover," he +said carelessly, "we who know the secret, have each hidden a large bag +of silver in the ground, all in one place, and we have sworn that he who +tells the secret shall lose his share. Now, by the Prophet, +'Eye-of-the-Moon' (this was one of the names which Bones had earned, +for which his monocle was responsible), I cannot do this thing." + +"How large was this bag, Bosambo?" asked Bones, nibbling the end of his +pencil. + +"Lord, it was so large," said Bosambo. + +He moved his hands outward slowly, keeping his eyes fixed upon +Lieutenant Tibbetts till he read in them a hint of pain and dismay. Then +he stopped. + +"So large," he said, choosing the dimensions his hands had indicated +before Bones showed signs of alarm. "Lord, in the bag was silver worth a +hundred English pounds." + +Bones, continuing his meal of cedar-wood, thought the matter out. + +It was worth it. + +"Is it a large city?" he asked suddenly. + +"Larger than the whole of the Ochori," answered Bosambo impressively. + +"And tell me this, Bosambo, what manner of houses are these which stand +in the city of the N'bosini?" + +"Larger than kings' huts," said Bosambo. + +"Of stone?" + +"Lord, of rock, so that they are like mountains," replied Bosambo. + +Bones shut his book and got up. + +"This day I go back to M'ilitani, carrying word of the N'bosini," said +he, and Bosambo's jaw dropped, though Bones did not notice the fact. + +"Presently I will return, bringing with me silver of the value of a +hundred English pounds, and you shall lead us to this strange city." + +"Lord, it is a far way," faltered Bosambo, "across many swamps and over +high mountains; also there is much sickness and death, wild beasts in +the forests and snakes in the trees and terrible storms of rain." + +"Nevertheless, I will go," said Bones, in high spirits, "I, and you +also." + +"Master," said the agitated Bosambo, "say no word of this to M'ilitani; +if you do, be sure that my enemies will discover it and I shall be +killed." + +Bones hesitated and Bosambo pushed his advantage. + +"Rather, lord," said he, "give me all the silver you have and let me go +alone, carrying a message to the mighty chief of the N'bosini. Presently +I will return, bringing with me strange news, such as no white lord, not +even Sandi, has received or heard, and cunning weapons which only +N'bosini use and strange magics. Also will I bring you stories of their +river, but I will go alone, though I die, for what am I that I should +deny myself from the service of your lordship?" + +It happened that Bones had some twenty pounds on the _Zaire_, and +Bosambo condescended to come aboard to accept, with outstretched hands, +this earnest of his master's faith. + +"Lord," said he, solemnly, as he took a farewell of his benefactor, +"though I lose a great bag of silver because I have betrayed certain +men, yet I know that, upon a day to come, you will pay me all that I +desire. Go in peace." + +It was a hilarious, joyous, industrious Bones who went down the river to +headquarters, occupying his time in writing diligently upon large sheets +of foolscap in his no less large unformed handwriting, setting forth all +that Bosambo had told him, and all the conclusions he might infer from +the confidence of the Ochori king. + +He was bursting with his news. At first, he had to satisfy his chief +that he had carried out his orders. + +Fortunately, Hamilton needed little convincing; his own spies had told +him of the quietening down of certain truculent sections of his unruly +community and he was prepared to give his subordinate all the credit +that was due to him. + +It was after dinner and the inevitable rice pudding had been removed and +the pipes were puffing bluely in the big room of the Residency, when +Bones unburdened himself. + +"Sir," he began, "you think I am an ass." + +"I was not thinking so at this particular moment," said Hamilton; "but, +as a general consensus of my opinion concerning you, I have no fault to +find with it." + +"You think poor old Bones is a goop," said Lieutenant Tibbetts with a +pitying smile, "and yet the name of poor old Bones is going down to +posterity, sir." + +"That is posterity's look-out," said Hamilton, offensively; but Bones +ignored the rudeness. + +"You also imagine that there is no such land as the N'bosini, I think?" + +Bones put the question with a certain insolent assurance which was very +irritating. + +"I not only think, but I know," replied Hamilton. + +Bones laughed, a sardonic, knowing laugh. + +"We shall see," he said, mysteriously; "I hope, in the course of a few +weeks, to place a document in your possession that will not only +surprise, but which, I believe, knowing that beneath a somewhat uncouth +manner lies a kindly heart, will also please you." + +"Are you chucking up the army?" asked Hamilton with interest. + +"I have no more to say, sir," said Bones. + +He got up, took his helmet from a peg on the wall, saluted and walked +stiffly from the Residency and was swallowed up in the darkness of the +parade ground. + +A quarter of an hour later, there came a tap upon his door and Mahomet +Ali, his sergeant, entered. + +"Ah, Mah'met," said Hamilton, looking up with a smile, "all things were +quiet on the river my lord Tibbetts tells me." + +"Lord, everything was proper," said the sergeant, "and all people came +to palaver humbly." + +"What seek you now?" asked Hamilton. + +"Lord," said Mahomet, "Bosambo of the Ochori is, as you know, of my +faith, and by certain oaths we are as blood brothers. This happened +after a battle in the year of Drought when Bosambo saved my life." + +"All this I know," said Hamilton. + +"Now, lord," said Mahomet Ali, "I bring you this." + +He took from the inside of his uniform jacket a little canvas bag, +opened it slowly and emptied its golden contents upon the table. There +was a small shining heap of sovereigns and a twisted note; this latter +he placed in Hamilton's hand and the Houssa captain unfolded it. It was +a letter in Arabic in Bosambo's characteristic and angular handwriting. + + "From Bosambo, the servant of the Prophet, of the upper river in + the city of the Ochori, to M'ilitani, his master. Peace on your + house. + + "In the name of God I send you this news. My lord with the + moon-eye, making inquiries about the N'bosini, came to the Ochori + and I told him much that he wrote down in a book. Now, I tell you, + M'ilitani, that I am not to blame, because my lord with the + moon-eye wrote down these things. Also he gave me twenty English + pounds because I told him certain stories and this I send to you, + that you shall put it in with my other treasures, making a mark in + your book that this twenty pounds is the money of Bosambo of the + Ochori, and that you will send me a book, saying that this money + has come to you and is safely in your hands. Peace and felicity + upon your house. + + "Written in my city of Ochori and given to my brother, Mahomet Ali, + who shall carry it to M'ilitani at the mouth of the river." + +"Poor old Bones!" said Hamilton, as he slowly counted the money. "Poor +old Bones!" he repeated. + +He took an account book from his desk and opened it at a page marked +"Bosambo." His entry was significant. + +To a long list of credits which ran: + + Received L30. (Sale of Rubber.) + + Received L25. (Sale of Gum.) + + Received L130. (Sale of Ivory.) + +he added: + + Received L20. (Author's Fees.) + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE FETISH STICK + + +N'gori the Chief had a son who limped and lived. This was a marvellous +thing in a land where cripples are severely discouraged and malformity +is a sure passport for heaven. + +The truth is that M'fosa was born in a fishing village at a period of +time when all the energies of the Akasava were devoted to checking and +defeating the predatory raidings of the N'gombi, under that warlike +chief G'osimalino, who also kept other nations on the defensive, and +held the river basin, from the White River, by the old king's territory, +to as far south as the islands of the Lesser Isisi. + +When M'fosa was three months old, Sanders had come with a force of +soldiers, had hanged G'osimalino to a high tree, had burnt his villages +and destroyed his crops and driven the remnants of his one-time +invincible army to the little known recesses of the Itusi Forest. + +Those were the days of the Cakitas or government chiefs, and it was +under the beneficent sway of one of these that M'fosa grew to manhood, +though many attempts were made to lure him to unfrequented waterways +and blind crocodile creeks where a lame man might be lost, and no one be +any the wiser. + +Chief of the eugenists was Kobolo, the boy's uncle, and N'gori's own +brother. This dissatisfied man, with several of M'fosa's cousins, once +partially succeeded in kidnapping the lame boy, and they were on their +way to certain middle islands in the broads of the river to accomplish +their scheme--which was to put out the eyes of M'fosa and leave him to +die--when Sanders had happened along. + +He it was who set all the men of M'fosa's village to cut down a high +pine tree--at an infernal distance from the village, and had men working +for a week, trimming and planing that pine; and another week they spent +carrying the long stem through the forest (Sanders had devilishly chosen +his tree in the most inaccessible part of the woods), and yet another +week digging large holes and erecting it. + +For he was a difficult man to please. Broad backs ran sweat to pull and +push and hoist that great flagstaff (as it appeared with its strong +pulley and smooth sides) to its place. And no sooner was it up than my +lord Sandi had changed his mind and must have it in another place. +Sanders would come back at intervals to see how the work was +progressing. At last it was fixed, that monstrous pole, and the men of +the village sighed thankfully. + +"Lord, tell me," N'gori had asked, "why you put this great stick in the +ground?" + +"This," said Sanders, "is for him who injures M'fosa your son; upon this +will I hang him. And if there be more men than one who take to the work +of slaughter, behold! I will have yet another tree cut and hauled, and +put in a place and upon that will I hang the other man. All men shall +know this sign, the high stick as my fetish; and it shall watch the evil +hearts and carry me all thoughts, good and evil. And then I tell you, +that such is its magic, that if needs be, it shall draw me from the end +of the world to punish wrong." + +This is the story of the fetish stick of the Akasava and of how it came +to be in its place. + +None did hurt to M'fosa, and he grew to be a man, and as he grew and his +father became first counsellor, then petty chief, and, at last, +paramount chief of the nation, M'fosa developed in hauteur and +bitterness, for this high pole rainwashed, and sun-burnt, was a +reminder, not of the strong hand that had been stretched out to save +him, but of his own infirmity. + +And he came to hate it, and by some curious perversion to hate the man +who had set it up. + +Most curious of all to certain minds, he was the first of those who +condemned, and secretly slew, the unfortunates, who either came into the +world hampered by disfigurement, or who, by accident, were unfitted for +the great battle. + +He it was who drowned Kibusi the woodman, who lost three fingers by the +slipping of the axe; he was the leader of the young men who fell upon +the boy Sandilo-M'goma, who was crippled by fire; and though the fetish +stood a menace to all, reading thoughts and clothed with authority, yet +M'fosa defied spirits and went about his work reckless of consequence. + +When Sanders had gone home, and it seemed that law had ceased to be, +N'gori (as I have shown) became of a sudden a bold and fearless man, +furbished up his ancient grievances and might have brought trouble to +the land, but for a watchful Bosambo. + +This is certain, however, that N'gori himself was a good-enough man at +heart, and if there was evil in his actions be sure that behind him +prompting, whispering, subtly threatening him, was his malignant son, a +sinister figure with one eye half closed, and a figure that went limping +through the city with a twisted smile. + +An envoy came to the Ochori country bearing green branches of the Isisi +palm, which signifies peace, and at the head of the mission--for mission +it was--came M'fosa. + +"Lord Bosambo," said the man who limped, "N'gori the chief, my father, +has sent me, for he desires your friendship and help; also your loving +countenance at his great feast." + +"Oh, oh!" said Bosambo, drily, "what king's feast is this?" + +"Lord," rejoined the other, "it is no king's feast, but a great dance of +rejoicing, for our crops are very plentiful, and our goats have +multiplied more than a man can count; therefore my father said: Go you +to Bosambo of the Ochori, he who was once my enemy and now indeed my +friend. And say to him 'Come into my city, that I may honour you.'" + +Bosambo thought. + +"How can your lord and father feast so many as I would bring?" he asked +thoughtfully, as he sat, chin on palm, pondering the invitation, "for I +have a thousand spearmen, all young men and fond of food." + +M'fosa's face fell. + +"Yet, Lord Bosambo," said he, "if you come without your spearmen, but +with your counsellors only----" + +Bosambo looked at the limper, through half-closed eyes. "I carry spears +to a Dance of Rejoicing," he said significantly, "else I would not Dance +or Rejoice." + +M'fosa showed his teeth, and his eyes were filled with hateful fires. He +left the Ochori with bad grace, and was lucky to leave it at all, for +certain men of the country, whom he had put to torture (having captured +them fishing in unauthorized waters), would have rushed him but for +Bosambo's presence. + +His other invitation was more successful. Hamilton of the Houssas was at +the Isisi city when the deputation called upon him. + +"Here's a chance for you, Bones," he said. + +Lieutenant Tibbetts had spent a vain day, fishing in the river with a +rod and line, and was sprawling under a deck-chair under the awning of +the bridge. + +"Would you like to be the guest of honour at N'gori's little +thanksgiving service?" + +Bones sat up. + +"Shall I have to make a speech?" he asked cautiously. + +"You may have to respond for the ladies," said Hamilton. "No, my dear +chap, all you will have to do will be to sit round and look clever." + +Bones thought awhile. + +"I'll bet you're putting me on to a rotten job," he accused, "but I'll +go." + +"I wish you would," said Hamilton, seriously. "I can't get the hang of +M'fosa's mind, ever since you treated him with such leniency." + +"If you're goin' to dig up the grisly past, dear old sir," said a +reproachful Bones, "if you insist recalling events which I hoped, sir, +were hidden in oblivion, I'm going to bed." + +He got up, this lank youth, fixed his eyeglass firmly and glared at his +superior. + +"Sit down and shut up," said Hamilton, testily; "I'm not blaming you. +And I'm not blaming N'gori. It's that son of his--listen to this." + +He beckoned the three men who had come down from the Akasava as bearers +of the invitation. + +"Say again what your master desires," he said. + +"Thus speaks N'gori, and I talk with his voice," said the spokesman, +"that you shall cut down the devil-stick which Sandi planted in our +midst, for it brings shame to us, and also to M'fosa the son of our +master." + +"How may I do this?" asked Hamilton, "I, who am but the servant of +Sandi? For I remember well that he put the stick there to make a great +magic." + +"Now the magic is made," said the sullen headman; "for none of our +people have died the death since Sandi set it up." + +"And dashed lucky you've been," murmured Bones. + +"Go back to your master and tell him this," said Hamilton. "Thus says +M'ilitani, my lord Tibbetti will come on your feast day and you shall +honour him; as for the stick, it stands till Sandi says it shall not +stand. The palaver is finished." + +He paced up and down the deck when the men had gone, his hands behind +him, his brows knit in worry. + +"Four times have I been asked to cut down Sanders' pole," he mused +aloud. "I wonder what the idea is?" + +"The idea?" said Bones, "the idea, my dear old silly old fellow, isn't +it as plain as your dashed old nose? They don't want it!" + +Hamilton looked down at him. + +"What a brain you must have, Bones!" he said admiringly. "I often wonder +you don't employ it." + + +II + +By the Blue Pool in the forest there is a famous tree gifted with +certain properties. It is known in the vernacular of the land, and I +translate it literally, "The-tree-that-has-no-echo-and-eats-up-sound." +Men believe that all that is uttered beneath its twisted branches may be +remembered, but not repeated, and if one shouts in its deadening shade, +even they who stand no farther than a stride from its furthermost +stretch of branch or leaf, will hear nothing. + +Therefore is the Silent Tree much in favour for secret palaver, such as +N'gori and his limping son attended, and such as the Lesser Isisi came +to fearfully. + +N'gori, who might be expected to take a very leading part in the +discussion which followed the meeting, was, in fact, the most timorous +of those who squatted in the shadow of the huge cedar. + +Full of reservations, cautions, doubts and counsels of discretion was +N'gori till his son turned on him, grinning as his wont when in his +least pleasant mood. + +"O, my father," said he softly, "they say on the river that men who die +swiftly say no more than 'wait' with their last breath; now I tell you +that all my young men who plot secretly with me, are for chopping +you--but because I am like a god to them, they spare you." + +"My son," said N'gori uneasily, "this is a very high palaver, for many +chiefs have risen and struck at the Government, and always Sandi has +come with his soldiers, and there have been backs that have been sore +for the space of a moon, and necks that have been sore for this time," +he snapped finger, "and then have been sore no more." + +"Sandi has gone," said M'fosa. + +"Yet his fetish stands," insisted the old man; "all day and all night +his dreadful spirit watches us; for this we have all seen that the very +lightnings of M'shimba M'shamba run up that stick and do it no harm. +Also M'ilitani and Moon-in-the-Eye----" + +"They are fools," a counsellor broke in. + +"Lord M'ilitani is no fool, this I know," interrupted a fourth. + +"Tibbetti comes--and brings no soldiers. Now I tell you my mind that +Sandi's fetish is dead--as Sandi has passed from us, and this is the +sign I desire--I and my young men. We shall make a killing palaver in +the face of the killing stick, and if Sandi lives and has not lied to +us, he shall come from the end of the world as he said." + +He rose up from the ground. There was no doubt now who ruled the +Akasava. + +"The palaver is finished," he said, and led the way back to the city, +his father meekly following in the rear. + +Two days later Bones arrived at the city of the Akasava, bringing with +him no greater protection than a Houssa orderly afforded. + + +III + +On a certain night in September Mr. Commissioner Sanders was the guest +of the Colonial Secretary at his country seat in Berkshire. + +Sanders, who was no society man, either by training or by inclination, +would have preferred wandering aimlessly about the brilliantly lighted +streets of London, but the engagement was a long-standing one. In a +sense he was a lion against his will. His name was known, people had +written of his character and his sayings; he had even, to his own +amazement, delivered a lecture before the members of the Ethnological +Society on "Native Folk-lore," and had emerged from the ordeal +triumphantly. The guests of Lord Castleberry found Sanders a shy, silent +man who could not be induced to talk of the land he loved so dearly. +They might have voted him a bore, but for the fact that he so completely +effaced himself they had little opportunity for forming so definite a +judgment. + +It was on the second night of his visit to Newbury Grange that they had +cornered him in the billiard-room. It was the beautiful daughter of Lord +Castleberry who, with the audacity of youth, forced him, metaphorically +speaking, into a corner, from whence there was no escape. + +"We've been very patient, Mr. Sanders," she pouted; "we are all dying to +hear of your wonderful country, and Bosambo, and fetishes and things, +and you haven't said a word." + +"There is little to say," he smiled; "perhaps if I told you--something +about fetishes...?" + +There was a chorus of approval. + +Sanders had gained enough courage from his experience before the +Ethnological Society, and began to talk. + +"Wait," said Lady Betty; "let's have all these glaring lights out--they +limit our imagination." + +There was a click, and, save for one bracket light behind Sanders, the +room was in darkness. He was grateful to the girl, and well rewarded her +and the party that sat round on chairs, on benches around the edge of +the billiard-table, listening. He told them stories ... curious, +unbelievable; of ghost palavers, of strange rites, of mysterious +messages carried across the great space of forests. + +"Tell us about fetishes," said the girl's voice. + +Sanders smiled. There rose to his eyes the spectacle of a hot and weary +people bringing in a giant tree through the forest, inch by inch. + +And he told the story of the fetish of the Akasava. + +"And I said," he concluded, "that I would come from the end of the +world----" + +He stopped suddenly and stared straight ahead. In the faint light they +saw him stiffen like a setter. + +"What is wrong?" + +Lord Castleberry was on his feet, and somebody clicked on the lights. + +But Sanders did not notice. + +He was looking towards the end of the room, and his face was set and +hard. + +"O, M'fosa," he snarled, "O, dog!" + +They heard the strange staccato of the Bomongo tongue and wondered. + + * * * * * + +Lieutenant Tibbetts, helmetless, his coat torn, his lip bleeding, +offered no resistance when they strapped him to the smooth high pole. +Almost at his feet lay the dead Houssa orderly whom M'fosa had struck +down from behind. + +In a wide circle, their faces half revealed by the crackling fire which +burnt in the centre, the people of the Akasava city looked on +impressively. + +N'gori, the chief, his brows all wrinkled in terror, his shaking hands +at his mouth in a gesture of fear, was no more than a spectator, for his +masterful son limped from side to side, consulting his counsellors. + +Presently the men who had bound Bones stepped aside, their work +completed, and M'fosa came limping across to his prisoners. + +"Now," he mocked. "Is it hard for you this fetish stick which Sandi has +placed?" + +"You're a low cad," said Bones, dropping into English in his wrath. +"You're a low, beastly bounder, an' I'm simply disgusted with you." + +"What does he say?" they asked M'fosa. + +"He speaks to his gods in his own tongue," answered the limper; "for he +is greatly afraid." + +Lieutenant Tibbetts went on: + +"Hear," said he in fluent and vitriolic Bomongo--for he was using that +fisher dialect which he knew so much better than the more sonorous +tongue of the Upper River--"O hear, eater of fish, O lame dog, O +nameless child of a monkey!" + +M'fosa's lips went up one-sidedly. + +"Lord," said he softly, "presently you shall say no more, for I will cut +your tongue out that you shall be lame of speech ... afterwards I will +burn you and the fetish stick, so that you all tumble together." + +"Be sure you will tumble into hell," said Bones cheerfully, "and that +quickly, for you have offended Sandi's Ju-ju, which is powerful and +terrible." + +If he could gain time--time for some miraculous news to come to +Hamilton, who, blissfully unconscious of the treachery to his +second-in-command, was sleeping twenty miles downstream--unconscious, +too, of the Akasava fleet of canoes which was streaming towards his +little steamer. + +Perhaps M'fosa guessed his thoughts. + +"You die alone, Tibbetti," he said, "though I planned a great death for +you, with Bosambo at your side; and in the matter of ju-jus, behold! you +shall call for Sandi--whilst you have a tongue." + +He took from the raw-hide sheath that was strapped to the calf of his +bare leg, a short N'gombi knife, and drew it along the palm of his hand. + +"Call now, O Moon-in-the-Eye!" he scoffed. + +Bones saw the horror and braced himself to meet it. + +"O Sandi!" cried M'fosa, "O planter of ju-ju, come quickly!" + +"Dog!" + +M'fosa whipped round, the knife dropping from his hand. + +He knew the voice, was paralysed by the concentrated malignity in the +voice. + +There stood Sandi--not half a dozen paces from him. + +A Sandi in strange black clothing with a big white-breasted shirt ... +but Sandi, hard-eyed and threatening. + +"Lord, lord!" he stammered, and put up his hands to his eyes. + +He looked again--the figure had vanished. + +"Magic!" he mumbled, and lurched forward in terror and hate to finish +his work. + +Then through the crowd stalked a tall man. + +A rope of monkeys' tails covers one broad shoulder; his left arm and +hand were hidden by an oblong shield of hide. + +In one hand he held a slim throwing spear and this he balanced +delicately. + +"I am Bosambo of the Ochori," he said magnificently and unnecessarily; +"you sent for me and I have come--bringing a thousand spears." + +M'fosa blinked, but said nothing. + +"On the river," Bosambo went on, "I met many canoes that went to a +killing--behold!" + +It was the head of M'fosa's lieutenant, who had charge of the surprise +party. + +For a moment M'fosa looked, then turned to leap, and Bosambo's spear +caught him in mid-air. + +"Jolly old Bosambo!" muttered Bones, and fainted. + + * * * * * + +Four thousand miles away Sanders was offering his apologies to a +startled company. + +"I could have sworn I saw--something," he said, and he told no more +stories that night. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A FRONTIER AND A CODE + + +To understand this story you must know that at one point of Ochori +borderline, the German, French, and Belgian territories shoot three +narrow tongues that form, roughly, the segments of a half-circle. +Whether the German tongue is split in the middle by N'glili River, so +that it forms a flattened broad arrow, with the central prong the river +is a moot point. We, in Downing Street, claim that the lower angle of +this arrow is wholly ours, and that all the flat basin of the Field of +Blood (as they call it) is entitled to receive the shadow which a +flapping Union Jack may cast. + +If Downing Street were to send that frantic code-wire to "Polonius" to +Hamilton in these days he could not obey the instructions, for reasons +which I will give. As a matter of fact the code has now been changed, +Lieutenant Tibbetts being mainly responsible for the alteration. + +Hamilton, in his severest mood, wrote a letter to Bones, and it is worth +reproducing. + +That Bones was living a dozen yards from Captain Hamilton, and that they +shared a common mess-table, adds rather than distracts from the +seriousness of the correspondence. The letter ran: + + "The Residency, + "September 24th. + + "From Officer commanding Houssas detachment Headquarters, to + Officer commanding "B" company of Houssas. + + "Sir,-- + + "I have the honour to direct your attention to that paragraph of + King's regulations which directs that an officer's sole attention + should be concentrated upon executing the lawful commands of his + superior. + + "I have had occasion recently to correct a certain tendency on your + part to employing War Department property and the servants of the + Crown for your own special use. I need hardly point out to you that + such conduct on your part is subversive to discipline and directly + contrary to the spirit and letter of regulations. More especially + would I urge the impropriety of utilizing government telegraph + lines for the purpose of securing information regarding your + gambling transactions. Matters have now reached a very serious + crisis, and I feel sure that you will see the necessity for + refraining from these breaches of discipline. + + "I have the honour to be, sir, + "Your obedient servant, + "P. G. Hamilton, 'Captain.'" + +When two white men, the only specimen of their race and class within a +radius of hundreds of miles, are living together in an isolated post, +they either hate or tolerate one another. The exception must always be +found in two men of a similar service having similar objects to gain, +and infused with a common spirit of endeavour. + +Fortunately neither Lieutenant Tibbetts nor his superior were long +enough associated to get upon one another's nerves. + +Lieutenant Tibbetts received this letter while he was shaving, and came +across the parade ground outrageously attired in his pyjamas and his +helmet. Clambering up the wooden stairs, his slippers flap-flapping +across the broad verandah, he burst into the chief's bedroom, +interrupting a stern and frigid Captain Hamilton in the midst of his +early morning coffee and roll. + +"Look here, old sport," said Bones, indignantly waving a frothy shaving +brush at the other, "what the dooce is all this about?" + +He displayed a crumpled letter. + +"Lieutenant Tibbetts," said Hamilton of the Houssas severely, "have you +no sense of decency?" + +"Sense of decency, my dear old thing!" repeated Bones. "I am simply full +of it. That is why I have come." + +A terrible sight was Bones at that early hour with the open pyjama +jacket showing his scraggy neck, with his fish mouth drooping dismally, +his round, staring eyes and his hair rumpled up, one frantic tuft at +the back standing up in isolation. + +Hamilton stared at him, and it was the stern stare of a disciplinarian. +But Bones was not to be put out of countenance by so small a thing as an +icy glance. + +"There is no sense in getting peevish with me, old Ham," he said, +squatting down on the nearest chair; "this is what I call a stupid, +officious, unnecessary letter. Why this haughtiness? Why these crushing +inferences? Why this unkindness to poor old Bones?" + +"The fact of it is, Bones," said Hamilton, accepting the situation, "you +are spending too much of your time in the telegraph station." + +Bones got up slowly. + +"Captain Hamilton, sir!" he said reproachfully, "after all I have done +for you." + +"Beyond selling me one of your beastly sweepstake tickets for five +shillings," said Hamilton, unpleasantly; "a ticket which I dare say you +have taken jolly good care will not win a prize, I fail to see in what +manner you have helped me. Now, Bones, you will have to pay more +attention to your work. There is no sense in slacking; we will have +Sanders back here before we know where we are, and when he starts nosing +round there will be a lot of trouble. Besides, you are shirking." + +"Me!" gasped Bones, outraged. "Me--shirking? You forget yourself, sir!" + +Even Bones could not be dignified with a lather brush in one hand and a +half-shaven cheek, testifying to the hastiness of his departure from +his quarters. + +"I only wish to say, sir," said Bones, "that during the period I have +had the honour to serve under your command I have settled possibly more +palavers of a distressingly ominous character than the average +Commissioner is called upon to settle in the course of a year." + +"As you have created most of the palavers yourself," said Hamilton +unkindly, "I do not deny this. In other words, you have got yourself +into more tangles, and you've had to crawl out more often." + +"It is useless appealing to your better nature, sir," said Bones. + +He saluted with the hand that held the lather brush, turned about like +an automaton, tripped over the mat, recovered himself with an effort, +and preserving what dignity a man can preserve in pink-striped pyjamas +and a sun helmet, stalked majestically back to his quarters. Half-way +across he remembered something and came doubling back, clattering into +Hamilton's room unceremoniously. + +"There is one thing I forgot to say," he said, "about those sweepstake +tickets. If I happen to be killed on any future expedition that you may +send me, you will understand that the whole of my moveable property is +yours, absolutely. And I may add, sir," he said at the doorway with one +hand on the lintel ready to execute a strategic flank movement out of +range, "that with this legacy I offer you my forgiveness for the +perfectly beastly time you have given me. Good morning, sir." + +There was a commanding officer's parade of Houssas at noon. It was not +until he stalked across the square and clicked his heels together as he +reported the full strength of his company present that Hamilton saw his +subordinate again. + +The parade over, Bones went huffily to his quarters. + +He was hurt. To be told he had been shirking his duty touched a very +tender and sensitive spot of his. + +In preparation for the movement which he had expected to make he had +kept his company on the move for a fortnight. For fourteen terrible days +in all kinds of weather, he had worked like a native in the forest; with +sham fights and blank cartridge attacks upon imaginary positions, with +scaling of stockades and building of bridges--all work at which his soul +revolted--to be told at the end he had shirked his work! + +Certainly he had come down to headquarters more often perhaps than was +necessary, but then he was properly interested in the draw of a +continental sweepstake which might, with any kind of luck, place him in +the possession of a considerable fortune. Hamilton was amiable at lunch, +even communicative at dinner, and for him rather serious. + +For if the truth be told he was desperately worried. The cause was, as +it had often been with Sanders, that French-German-Belgian territory +which adjoins the Ochori country. All the bad characters, not only the +French of the Belgian Congo, but of the badly-governed German lands--all +the tax resisters, the murderers, and the criminals of every kind, but +the lawless contingents of every nation, formed a floating nomadic +population in the tree-covered hills which lay beyond the country +governed by Bosambo. + +Of late there had been a larger break-away than usual. A strong force of +rebellious natives was reported to be within a day's march of the Ochori +boundary. This much Hamilton knew. But he had known of such occurrences +before; not once, but a score of times had alarming news come from the +French border. + +He had indeed made many futile trips into the heart of the Ochori +country. + +Forced marches through little known territory, and long and tiring waits +for the invader that never came, had dulled his senses of apprehension. +He had to take a chance. The Administrator's office would warn him from +time to time, and ask him conventionally to make his arrangements to +meet all contingencies and Sanders would as conventionally reply that +the condition of affairs on the Ochori border was engaging his most +earnest attention. + +"What is the use of worrying about it now?" asked Bones at dinner. + +Hamilton shook his head. + +"There was a certain magic in old Sanders' name," he said. + +Bones' lips pursed. + +"My dear old chap," he said, "there is a bit of magic in mine." + +"I have not noticed it," said Hamilton. + +"I am getting awfully popular as a matter of fact," said Bones +complacently. "The last time I was up the river, Bosambo came ten miles +down stream to meet me and spend the day." + +"Did you lose anything?" asked Hamilton ungraciously. + +Bones thought. + +"Now you come to mention it," he said slowly, "I did lose quite a lot of +things, but dear old Bosambo wouldn't play a dirty trick on a pal. I +know Bosambo." + +"If there is one thing more evident than another," said Hamilton, "it is +that you do not know Bosambo." + +Hamilton was wakened at three in the next morning by the telegraph +operator. It was a "clear the line" message, coded from headquarters, +and half awake he went into Sanders' study and put it into plain +English. + +"Hope you are watching the Ochori border," it ran, "representations from +French Government to the effect that a crossing is imminent." + +He pulled his mosquito boots on over his pyjamas, struggled into a coat +and crossed to Lieutenant Tibbetts' quarters. + +Bones occupied a big hut at the end of the Houssa lines, and Hamilton +woke him by the simple expedient of flashing his electric hand lamp in +his face. + +"I have had a telegram," he said, and Bones leapt out of bed wide awake +in an instant. + +"I knew jolly well I would draw a horse," he said exultantly. "I had a +dream----" + +"Be serious, you feather-minded devil." + +With that Hamilton handed him the telegram. + +Bones read it carefully, and interpreted any meanings into its +construction which it could not possibly bear. + +"What are you going to do?" he asked. + +"There is only one thing to do," said Hamilton. "We shall have to take +all the men we can possibly muster, and go north at daybreak." + +"Spoken like a jolly old Hannibal," said Bones heartily, and smacked his +superior on the back. A shrill bugle call aroused the sleeping lines, +and Hamilton went back to his quarters to make preparations for the +journey. In the first grey light of dawn he flew three pigeons to +Bosambo, and the message they carried about their red legs was brief. + +"Take your fighting regiments to the edge of Frenchi land; presently I +will come with my soldiers and support you. Let no foreigner pass on +your life and on your head." + +When the rising sun tipped the tops of the palms with gold, and the wild +world was filled with the sound of the birds, the _Zaire_, her decks +alive with soldiers, began her long journey northward. + +Just before the boat left, Hamilton received a further message from the +Administrator. It was in plain English, some evidence of Sir Robert +Sanleigh's haste. + + "Confidential: This matter on the Ochori border extremely delicate. + Complete adequate arrangements to keep in touch with me." + +For one moment Hamilton conceived the idea of leaving Bones behind to +deal with the telegram and come along. A little thought, however, +convinced him of the futility of this method. For one thing he would +want every bit of assistance he could get, and although Bones had his +disadvantages he was an excellent soldier, and a loyal and gallant +comrade. + +It might be necessary for Hamilton to divide up his forces; in which +case he could hardly dispense with Lieutenant Tibbetts, and he explained +unnecessarily to Bones: + +"I think you are much better under my eye where I can see what you're +doing." + +"Sir," said Bones very seriously, "it is not what I do, it is what I +think. If you could only see my brain at work----" + +"Ha, ha!" said Hamilton rudely. + +For at least three days relations were strained between the two +officers. Bones was a man who admitted at regular intervals that he was +unduly sensitive. He had explained this disadvantage to Hamilton at +various times, but the Houssa stolidly refused to remember the fact. + +Most of the way up the river Hamilton attended to his business +navigation--he knew the stream very well--whilst Bones, in a cabin which +had been rigged up for him in the after part of the ship, played +Patience, and by a systematic course of cheating himself was able to +accomplish marvels. They found the Ochori city deserted save for a +strong guard, for Bosambo had marched the day previous; sending a war +call through the country. + +He had started with a thousand spears, and his force was growing in +snowball fashion as he progressed through the land. The great road which +Notiki, the northern chief, had started by way of punishment was +beginning to take shape. Bosambo had moved with incredible swiftness. + +Too swift, indeed, for a certain Angolian-Congo robber who had headed a +villainous pilgrimage to a land which, as he had predicted, flowed with +milk and honey; was guarded by timorous men and mainly populated by slim +and beautiful maidens. The Blue Books on this migration gave this man's +name as Kisini, but he was in fact an Angolian named Bizaro--a composite +name which smacks suspiciously of Portuguese influence. + +Many times had the unruly people and the lawless bands which occupied +the forest beyond the Ochori threatened to cross into British territory. +But the dangers of the unknown, the awful stories of a certain white +lord who was swift to avenge and monstrously inquisitive had held them. +Year after year there had grown up tribes within tribes, tiny armed +camps that had only this in common, that they were outside the laws +from which they had fled, and that somewhere to the southward and the +eastward were strong forces flying the tricolour of France or the yellow +star of the Belgian Congo, ready to belch fire at them, if they so much +as showed their flat noses. + +It would have needed a Napoleon to have combined all the conflicting +forces, to have lulled all the mutual suspicions, and to have moulded +these incompatible particles into a whole; but, Bizaro, like many +another vain and ambitious man, had sought by means of a great palaver +to produce a feeling of security sufficiently soothing to the nerves and +susceptibilities of all elements, to create something like a nationality +of these scattered remnants of the nations. + +And though he failed, he did succeed in bringing together four or five +of the camps, and it was this news carried to the French Governor by +spies, transmitted to Downing Street, and flashed back again to the +Coast, which set Hamilton and his Houssas moving; which brought a +regiment of the King's African Rifles to the Coast ready to reinforce +the earlier expedition, and which (more to the point) had put Bosambo's +war drums rumbling from one end of the Ochori to the other. + +Bizaro, mustering his force, came gaily through the sun-splashed aisles +of the forest, his face streaked hideously with camwood, his big +elephant spear twirled between his fingers, and behind him straggled his +cosmopolitan force. + +There were men from the Congo and the French Congo; men from German +lands; from Angola; wanderers from far-off Barotseland, who had drifted +on to the Congo by the swift and yellow Kasai. There were hunters from +the forests of far-off Bongindanga where the _okapi_ roams. For each +man's presence in that force there was good and sinister reason, for +these were no mere tax-evaders, poor, starved wretches fleeing from the +rule which _Bula Matadi_[4] imposed. There was a blood price on almost +every head, and in a dozen prisons at Boma, at Brazaville, and +Equatorville, and as far south as St. Paul de Loduda, there were +leg-irons which had at some time or other fitted their scarred ankles. + +[Footnote 4: The stone breaker, the native name for the Congo +Government.] + +Now there are four distinct physical features which mark the border line +between the border land and the foreign territory. Mainly the line is a +purely imaginary one, not traceable save by the most delicate +instruments--a line which runs through a tangle of forest. + +But the most noticeable crossing place is N'glili.[5] + +[Footnote 5: Probably a corruption of the word "English."] + +Here a little river, easily fordable, and not more than a dozen spear +lengths across flows from one wood into another. Between the two woods +is a clear space of thick grass and shrub. In the spring of the year the +banks of the stream are white with arum-lilies, and the field beyond, +at a later period, is red with wild anemone. + +The dour fugitives on the other side of the stream have a legend that +those who safely cross the "Field of Blood"--so they call the +anemone-sprinkled land beyond--without so much as crushing a flower may +claim sanctuary under the British flag. + +So that when Bizaro sighted the stream, and the two tall trees that +flanked the ford, from afar off and said: "To-day we will walk between +the flowers," he was signifying the definite character of his plans. + +"Master," said one of the more timid of his muster, when they had halted +for a rest in sight of the promised land, "what shall we do when we come +to these strange places?" + +"We shall defeat all manner of men," said Bizaro optimistically. +"Afterwards they shall come and sue for peace, and they shall give us a +wide land where we may build us huts and sow our corn. And they also +will give us women, and we shall settle in comfort, and I will be chief +over you. And, growing with the moons, in time I shall make you a great +nation." + +They might have crossed the stream that evening and committed themselves +irrevocably to their invasion. Bizaro was a criminal, and a lazy man, +and he decided to sleep where he was--an act fatal to the smooth +performance of his enterprise, for when in the early hours of the +morning he marched his horde to the N'glili river he found two thousand +spears lining the opposite bank, and they were under a chief who was at +once insolent and unmoved by argument. + +"O chief," said Bosambo pleasantly, "you do not cross my beautiful +flowers to-day." + +"Lord," said Bizaro humbly, "we are poor men who desire a new land." + +"That you shall have," said Bosambo grimly, "for I have sent my warriors +to dig big holes wherein you may take your rest in this land you +desire." + +An unhappy Bizaro carried his six hundred spears slowly back to the land +from whence he had come and found on return to the mixed tribes that he +had unconsciously achieved a miracle. For the news of armed men by the +N'glili river carried terror to these evil men--they found themselves +between two enemies and chose the force which they feared least. + +On the fourth day following his interview with Bosambo, Bizaro led five +thousand desperate men to the ford and there was a sanguinary battle +which lasted for the greater part of the morning and was repeated at +sundown. + +Hamilton brought his Houssas up in the nick of time, when one wing of +Bosambo's force was being thrust back and when Bizaro's desperate +adventurers had gained the Ochori bank. Hamilton came through the +clearing, and formed his men rapidly. + +Sword in hand, in advance of the glittering bayonets, Bones raced +across the red field, and after one brief and glorious melee the invader +was driven back, and a dropping fire from the left, as the Houssas shot +steadily at the flying enemy, completed the disaster to Bizaro's force. + +"That settles _that_!" said Hamilton. + +He had pitched his camp on the scene of his exploit, the bivouac fires +of the Houssas gleamed redly amongst the anemones. + +"Did you see me in action?" asked Bones, a little self-consciously. + +"No, I didn't notice anything particularly striking about the fight in +your side of the world," said Hamilton. + +"I suppose you did not see me bowl over a big Congo chap?" asked Bones, +carelessly, as he opened a tin of preserved tongue. "Two at once I +bowled over," he repeated. + +"What do you expect me to do?" asked Hamilton unpleasantly. "Get up and +cheer, or recommend you for the Victoria Cross or something?" + +Bones carefully speared a section of tongue from the open tin before he +replied. + +"I had not thought about the Victoria Cross, to tell you the truth," he +admitted; "but if you feel that you ought to recommend me for something +or other for conspicuous courage in the face of the enemy, do not let +your friendship stand in the way." + +"I will not," said Hamilton. + +There was a little pause, then without raising his eyes from the task in +hand which was at that precise moment the covering of a biscuit with a +large and generous layer of marmalade, Bones went on. + +"I practically saved the life of one of Bosambo's headmen. He was on the +ground and three fellows were jabbing at him. The moment they saw me +they dropped their spears and fled." + +"I expect it was your funny nose that did the trick," said Hamilton +unimpressed. + +"I stood there," Bones went on loftily ignoring the gratuitous insult, +"waiting for anything that might turn up; exposed, dear old fellow, to +every death-dealing missile, but calmly directing, if you will allow me +to say so, the tide of battle. It was," he added modestly, "one of the +bravest deeds I ever saw." + +He waited, but Hamilton had his mouth full of tongue sandwich. + +"If you mention me in dispatches," Bones went on suggestively. + +"Don't worry--I shan't," said Hamilton. + +"But if you did," persisted Lieutenant Tibbetts, poising his sticky +biscuit, "I can only say----" + +"The marmalade is running down your sleeve," said Hamilton; "shut up, +Bones, like a good chap." + +Bones sighed. + +"The fact of it is, Hamilton," he was frank enough to say, "I have been +serving so far without hope of reward and scornful of honour, but now I +have reached the age and the position in life where I feel I am entitled +to some slight recognition to solace my declining years." + +"How long have you been in the army?" asked Hamilton, curiously. + +"Eighteen months," replied Bones; "nineteen months next week, and it's a +jolly long time, I can tell you, sir." + +Leaving his dissatisfied subordinate, Hamilton made the round of the +camp. The red field, as he called it, was in reality a low-lying meadow, +which rose steeply to the bank of the river on the one side and more +steeply--since it first sloped downward in that direction--to the Ochori +forest, two miles away. He made this discovery with a little feeling of +alarm. He knew something of native tactics, and though his scouts had +reported that the enemy was effectually routed, and that the nearest +body was five miles away, he put a strong advance picquet on the other +side of the river, and threw a wide cordon of sentries about the camp. +Especially he apportioned Abiboo, his own sergeant, the task of watching +the little river which flowed swiftly between its orderly banks past the +sunken camp. For two days Abiboo watched and found nothing to report. + +Not so the spies who were keeping watch upon the moving remnants of +Bizaro's army. + +They came with the news that the main body had mysteriously disappeared. +To add to Hamilton's anxiety he received a message by way of +headquarters and the Ochori city from the Administrator. + + "Be prepared at the first urgent message from myself to fall back + on the Ochori city. German Government claim that whole of country + for two miles north of river N'glili is their territory. Most + delicate situation. International complications feared. Rely on + your discretion, but move swiftly if you receive orders." + +"Leave this to me," said Bones when Hamilton read the message out; "did +I ever tell you, sir, that I was intended for the diplomatic +service----" + + * * * * * + +The truth about the Ochori border has never been thoroughly exposed. If +you get into your mind the fact that the Imperialists of four nations +were dreaming dreams of a trans-African railway which was to tap the +resources of the interior, and if you remember that each patriotic +dreamer conceived a different kind of railway according to his +nationality and that they only agreed upon one point, namely, that the +line must point contiguous with the Ochori border, you may understand +dimly some reason for the frantic claim that that little belt of +territory, two miles wide, was part of the domain of each and every one +of the contestants. + +When the news was flashed to Europe that a party of British Houssas were +holding the banks of the N'glili river, and had inflicted a loss upon a +force of criminals, the approval which civilization should rightly have +bestowed upon Captain Hamilton and his heroic lieutenant was tempered +largely by the question as to whether Captain Hamilton and his Houssas +had any right whatever to be upon "the red field." And in consequence +the telegraph lines between Berlin and Paris and Paris and London and +London and Brussels were kept fairly busy with passionate statements of +claims couched in the stilted terminology of diplomacy. + +England could not recede from the position she had taken. This she said +in French and in German, and in her own perfidious tongue. She stated +this uncompromisingly, but at the same time sent secret orders to +withdraw the force that was the bone of contention. This order she soon +countermanded. A certain speech delivered by a too voluble Belgian +minister was responsible for the stiffening of her back, and His +Excellency the Administrator of the territory received official +instructions in the middle of the night: "Tell Hamilton to stay where he +is and hold border against all comers." + +This message was re-transmitted. + +Now there is in existence in the British Colonial Service, and in all +branches which affect the agents and the servants of the Colonial +Office, an emergency code which is based upon certain characters in +Shakespearean plays. + +I say "there is"; perhaps it would be better and more to the point if I +said "there was," since the code has been considerably amended. + +Thus, be he sub-inspector or commissioner, or chief of local native +police who receives the word "Ophelia," he knows without consulting any +book that "Ophelia" means "unrest of natives reported in your district, +please report"; or if it be "Polonius" it signifies to him--and this he +knows without confirming his knowledge--that he must move steadily +forward. Or if it be "Banquo" he reads into it, "Hold your position till +further orders." And "Banquo" was the word that the Administrator +telegraphed. + + * * * * * + +Sergeant Abiboo had sat by the flowing N'glili river without noticing +any slackening of its strength or challenging of its depth. + +There was reason for this. + +Bizaro, who was in the forest ten miles to the westward, and working +moreover upon a piece of native strategy which natives the world over +had found successful, saw that it was unnecessary to dam the river and +divert the stream. + +Nature had assisted him to a marvellous degree. He had followed the +stream through the forest until he reached a place where it was a +quarter of a mile wide, so wide and so newly spread that the water +reached half-way up the trunks of the sodden and dying trees. + +Moreover, there was a bank through which a hundred men might cut a +breach in a day or so, even though they went about their work most +leisurely, being constitutionally averse to manual labour. + +Bizaro was no engineer, but he had all the forest man's instincts of +water-levels. There was a clear run down to the meadows beyond that, as +he said, he "smelt." + +"We will drown these dogs," he said to his headman, "and afterwards we +will walk into the country and take it for our own." + +Hamilton had been alive to the danger of such an attack. He saw by +certain indications of the soil that this great shallow valley had been +inundated more than once, though probably many years had passed since +the last overflow of water. Yet he could not move from where he had +planted himself without risking the displeasure of his chief and without +also risking very serious consequences in other directions. + +Bosambo, frankly bored, was all for retiring his men to the comforts of +the Ochori city. + +"Lord, why do we sit here?" he asked, "looking at this little stream +which has no fish and at this great ugly country, when I have my +beautiful city for your lordship's reception, and dancing folk and great +feasts?" + +"A doocid sensible idea," murmured Bones. + +"I wait for a book," answered Hamilton shortly. "If you wish to go, you +may take your soldiers and leave me." + +"Lord," said Bosambo, "you put shame on me," and he looked his reproach. + +"I am really surprised at you, Hamilton," murmured Bones. + +"Keep your infernal comments to yourself," snapped his superior. "I tell +you I must wait for my instructions." + +He was a silent man for the rest of the evening, and had settled himself +down in his canvas chair to doze away the night, when a travel-stained +messenger came from the Ochori and he brought a telegram of one word. + +Hamilton looked at it, he looked too with a frown at the figures that +preceded it. + +"And what you mean," he muttered, "the Lord knows!" + +The word, however, was sufficiently explicit. A bugle call brought the +Houssas into line and the tapping of Bosambo's drums assembled his +warriors. + +Within half an hour of the receipt of the message Hamilton's force was +on the move. + +They crossed the great stretch of meadow in the darkness and were +climbing up towards the forest when a noise like thunder broke upon +their ears. + +Such a roaring, crashing, hissing of sound came nearer and nearer, +increasing in volume every second. The sky was clear, and one swift +glance told Hamilton that it was not a storm he had to fear. And then it +came upon him, and he realized what this commotion meant. + +"Run!" he cried, and with one accord naked warriors and uniformed +Houssas fled through the darkness to the higher ground. The water came +rushing about Hamilton's ankles, one man slipped back again into the +flood and was hauled out again by Bones, exclaiming loudly his own act +lest it should have escaped the attention of his superior, and the party +reached safety without the loss of a man. + +"Just in time," said Hamilton grimly. "I wonder if the Administrator +knew this was going to happen?" + +They came to the Ochori by easy marches, and Hamilton wrote a long wire +to headquarters sending it on ahead by a swift messenger. + +It was a dispatch which cleared away many difficulties, for the disputed +territory was for everlasting under water, and where the "red field" had +blazed brilliantly was a calm stretch of river two miles wide filled +with strange silent brown objects that floated and bobbed to the +movement of the tide. These were the men who in their folly had loosened +the waters and died of their rashness. Most notable of these was Bizaro. + +There was a shock waiting for Hamilton when he reached the Ochori city. +The wire from the Administrator was kindly enough and sufficiently +approving to satisfy even an exigent Bones. "But," it ran, "why did you +retire in face of stringent orders to remain? I wired you 'Banquo.'" + +Hamilton afterwards learnt that the messenger carrying this important +dispatch had passed his party in their retirement through the forest. + +"Banquo," quoted Hamilton in amazement. "I received absolute +instructions to retire." + +"Hard cheese," said Bones, sympathetically. "His dear old Excellency +wants a good talking to; but are you sure, dear old chap, that you +haven't made a mistake." + +"Here it is," he said, "but I must confess that I don't understand the +numbers." + +He handed it to Bones. It read: + + "Mercutio 17178." + +Bones looked at it a moment, then gasped. He reached out his hand +solemnly and grasped that of the astounded Hamilton. + +"Dear old fellow," he said in a broken voice, "Congratulate me, I have +drawn a runner!" + +"A runner?" + +"A runner, dear old sport," chortled Bones, "in the Cambridgeshire! You +see I've got a ticket number seventeen, seventeen eight in my pocket, +dear old friend! If Mercutio wins," he repeated solemnly, "I will stand +you the finest dinner that can be secured this side of Romano's." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE SOUL OF THE NATIVE WOMAN + + +Mail day is ever a day of supreme interest for the young and for the +matter of that for the middle-aged, too. Sanders hated mail days because +the bulk of his correspondence had to do with Government, and Government +never sat down with a pen in its hand to wish Sanders many happy returns +of the day or to tell him scandalous stories about mutual friends. + +Rather the Government (by inference) told him scandalous stories about +himself--of work not completed to the satisfaction of Downing Street--a +thoroughfare given to expecting miracles. + +Hamilton had a sister who wrote wittily and charmingly every week, and +there was another girl ... Still, two letters and a bright pink paper or +two made a modest postbag by the side of Lieutenant Tibbetts' mail. + +There came to Bones every mail day a thick wad of letters and parcels +innumerable, and he could sit at the big table for hours on end, +whistling a little out of tune, mumbling incoherently. He had a trick of +commenting upon his letters aloud, which was very disconcerting for +Hamilton. Bones wouldn't open a letter and get half-way through it +before he began his commenting. + +"... poor soul ... dear! dear! ... what a silly old ass ... ah, would +you ... don't do it, Billy...." + +To Hamilton's eyes the bulk of correspondence rather increased than +diminished. + +"You must owe a lot of money," he said one day. + +"Eh!" + +"All these...!" Hamilton opened his hand to a floor littered with +discarded envelopes. "I suppose they represent demands...." + +"Dear lad," said Bones brightly, "they represent popularity--I'm +immensely popular, sir," he gulped a little as he fished out two dainty +envelopes from the pile before him; "you may not have experienced the +sensation, but I assure you, sir, it's pleasing, it's doocidly +pleasing!" + +"Complacent ass," said Hamilton, and returned to his own correspondence. + +Systematically Bones went through his letters, now and again consulting +a neat little morocco-covered note-book. (It would appear he kept a very +careful record of every letter he wrote home, its contents, the date of +its dispatch, and the reply thereto.) He had reduced letter writing to a +passion, spent most of his evenings writing long epistles to his +friends--mostly ladies of a tender age--and had incidentally acquired a +reputation in the Old Country for his brilliant powers of narrative. + +This, Hamilton discovered quite by accident. It would appear that +Hamilton's sister had been on a visit--was in fact on the visit when she +wrote one letter which so opened Hamilton's eyes--and mentioned that she +was staying with some great friends of Bones'. She did not, of course, +call him "Bones," but "Mr. Tibbetts." + +"I should awfully like to meet him," she wrote, "he must be a very +interesting man. Aggie Vernon had a letter from him yesterday wherein he +described his awful experience lion-hunting. + +"To be chased by a lion and caught and then carried to the beast's lair +must have been awful! + +"Mr. Tibbetts is very modest about it in his letter, and beyond telling +Aggie that he escaped by sticking his finger in the lion's eye he says +little of his subsequent adventure. By the way, Pat, Aggie tells me that +you had a bad bout of fever and that Mr. Tibbetts carried you for some +miles to the nearest doctor. I wish you wouldn't keep these things so +secret, it worries me dreadfully unless you tell me--even the worst +about yourself. I hope your interesting friend returned safely from his +dangerous expedition into the interior--he was on the point of leaving +when his letter was dispatched and was quite gloomy about his +prospects...." + +Hamilton read this epistle over and over again, then he sent for Bones. + +That gentleman came most cheerfully, full of fine animal spirits, +and---- + +"Just had a letter about you, Bones," said Hamilton carelessly. + +"About me, sir!" said Bones; "from the War Office--I'm not being +decorated or anything!" he asked anxiously. + +"No--nothing so tragic; it was a letter from my sister, who is staying +with the Vernons." + +"Oh!" said Bones going suddenly red. + +"What a modest devil you are," said the admiring Hamilton, "having a +lion hunt all to yourself and not saying a word about it to anybody." + +Bones made curious apologetic noises. + +"I didn't know there were any lions in the country," pursued Hamilton +remorselessly. "Liars, yes! But lions, no! I suppose you brought them +with you--and I suppose you know also, Bones, that it is considered in +lion-hunting circles awfully rude to stick your finger into a lion's +eye? It is bad sportsmanship to say the least, and frightfully painful +for the lion." + +Bones was making distressful grimaces. + +"How would you like a lion to stick his finger in _your_ eye?" asked +Hamilton severely; "and, by the way, Bones, I have to thank you." + +He rose solemnly, took the hand of his reluctant and embarrassed second +and wrung. + +"Thank you," said Hamilton, in a broken voice, "for saving my life." + +"Oh, I say, sir," began Bones feebly. + +"To carry a man eighty miles on your back is no mean accomplishment, +Bones--especially when I was unconscious----" + +"I don't say you were unconscious, sir. In fact, sir----" floundered +Lieutenant Tibbetts as red as a peony. + +"And yet I was unconscious," insisted Hamilton firmly. "I am still +unconscious, even to this day. I have no recollection of your heroic +effort, Bones, I thank you." + +"Well, sir," said Bones, "to make a clean breast of the whole +affair----" + +"And this dangerous expedition of yours, Bones, an expedition from which +you might never return--that," said Hamilton in a hushed voice, "is the +best story I have heard for years." + +"Sir," said Bones, speaking under the stress of considerable emotion, "I +am clean bowled, sir. The light-hearted fairy stories which I wrote to +cheer, so to speak, the sick-bed of an innocent child, sir, they have +recoiled upon my own head. _Peccavi, mea culpi_, an' all those jolly old +expressions that you'll find in the back pages of the dictionary." + +"Oh, Bones, Bones!" chuckled Hamilton. + +"You mustn't think I'm a perfect liar, sir," began Bones, earnestly. + +"I don't think you're a perfect liar," answered Hamilton, "I think +you're the most inefficient liar I've ever met." + +"Not even a liar, I'm a romancist, sir," Bones stiffened with dignity +and saluted, but whether he was saluting Hamilton, or the spirit of +Romance, or in sheer admiration was saluting himself, Hamilton did not +know. + +"The fact is, sir," said Bones confidentially, "I'm writing a book!" + +He stepped back as though to better observe the effect of his words. + +"What about?" asked Hamilton, curiously. + +"About things I've seen and things I know," said Bones, in his most +impressive manner. + +"Oh, I see!" said Hamilton, "one of those waistcoat pocket books." + +Bones swallowed the insult with a gulp. + +"I've been asked to write a book," he said; "my adventures an' all that +sort of thing. Of course they needn't have happened, really----" + +"In that case, Bones, I'm with you," said Hamilton; "if you're going to +write a book about things that haven't happened to you, there's no limit +to its size." + +"You're bein' a jolly cruel old officer, sir," said Bones, pained by the +cold cynicism of his chief. "But I'm very serious, sir. This country is +full of material. And everybody says I ought to write a book about +it--why, dash it, sir, I've been here nearly two months!" + +"It seems years," said Hamilton. + +Bones was perfectly serious, as he had said. He did intend preparing a +book for publication, had dreams of a great literary career, and an +ultimate membership of the Athenaeum Club belike. It had come upon him +like a revelation that such a career called him. The week after he had +definitely made up his mind to utilize his gifts in this direction, his +outgoing mail was heavier than ever. For to three and twenty English and +American publishers, whose names he culled from a handy work of +reference, he advanced a business-like offer to prepare for the press a +volume "of 316 pages printed in type about the same size as enclosed," +and to be entitled: + + MY WILD LIFE AMONGST CANNIBALS. + + BY + + AUGUSTUS TIBBETTS, Lieutenant of Houssas. + + Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; Fellow of the Royal + Asiatic Society; Member of the Ethnological Society and Junior Army + Service Club. + +Bones had none of these qualifications, save the latter, but as he told +himself he'd jolly soon be made a member if his book was a howling +success. + +No sooner had his letters been posted than he changed his mind, and he +addressed three and twenty more letters to the publishers, altering the +title to: + + THE TYRANNY OF THE WILDS. + + Being Some Observations on the Habits and Customs + of Savage Peoples. + + BY + + AUGUSTUS TIBBETTS (LT.). + + With a Foreword by Captain Patrick Hamilton. + +"You wouldn't mind writing a foreword, dear old fellow?" he asked. + +"Charmed," said Hamilton. "Have you a particular preference for any +form?" + +"Just please yourself, sir," said a delighted Bones, so Hamilton covered +two sheets of foolscap with an appreciation which began: + +"The audacity of the author of this singularly uninformed work is to be +admired without necessarily being imitated. Two months' residence in a +land which offered many opportunities for acquiring inaccurate data, has +resulted in a work which must stand for all time as a monument of +murderous effort," etc. + +Bones read the appreciation very carefully. + +"Dear old sport," he said, a little troubled, as he reached the end; +"this is almost uncomplimentary." + +You couldn't depress Bones or turn him from his set purpose. He scribed +away, occupying his leisure moments with his great work. His normal +correspondence suffered cruelly, but Bones was relentless. Hamilton sent +him north to collect the hut tax, and at first Bones resented this +order, believing that it was specially designed to hamper him. + +"Of course, sir," he said, "I'll obey you, if you order me in accordance +with regulations an' all that sort of rot, but believe me, sir, you're +doin' an injury to literature. Unborn generations, sir, will demand an +explanation----" + +"Get out!" said Hamilton crossly. + +Bones found his trip a blessing that had been well disguised. There were +many points of interest on which he required first-hand information. He +carried with him to the _Zaire_ large exercise books on which he had +pasted such pregnant labels as "Native Customs," "Dances," "Ju-jus," +"Ancient Legends," "Folk-lore," etc. They were mostly blank, and +represented projected chapters of his great work. + +All might have been well with Bones. More virgin pages might easily have +been covered with his sprawling writing and the book itself, converted +into honest print, have found its way, in the course of time, into the +tuppenny boxes of the Farringdon book-mart, sharing its soiled +magnificence with the work of the best of us, but on his way Bones had a +brilliant inspiration. There was a chapter he had not thought of, a +chapter heading which had not been born to his mind until that flashing +moment of genius. + +Upon yet another exercise book, he pasted the label of a chapter which +was to eclipse all others in interest. Behold then, this enticing +announcement, boldly printed and ruled about with double lines: + + "THE SOUL OF THE NATIVE WOMAN." + +It was a fine chapter title. It was sonorous, it had dignity, it was +full of possibilities. "The Soul of the Native Woman," repeated Bones, +in an ecstasy of self-admiration, and having chosen his subject he +proceeded to find out something about it. + +Now, about this time, Bosambo of the Ochori might, had he wished and had +he the literary quality, have written many books about women, if for no +other reason than because of a certain girl named D'riti. + +She was a woman of fifteen, grown to a splendid figure, with a proud +head and a chin that tilted in contempt, for she was the daughter of +Bosambo's chief counsellor, grand-daughter of an Ochori king, and +ambitious to be wife of Bosambo himself. + +"This is a mad thing," said Bosambo when her father offered the +suggestion; "for, as you know, T'meli, I have one wife who is a thousand +wives to me." + +"Lord, I will be ten thousand," said D'riti, present at the interview +and bold; "also, Lord, it was predicted at my birth that I should marry +a king and the greater than a king." + +"That is me," said Bosambo, who was without modesty; "yet, it cannot +be." + +So they married D'riti to a chief's son who beat her till one day she +broke his thick head with an iron pot, whereupon he sent her back to her +father demanding the return of his dowry and the value of his pot. + +She had her following, for she was a dancer of fame and could twist her +lithe body into enticing shapes. She might have married again, but she +was so scornful of common men that none dare ask for her. Also the +incident of the iron pot was not forgotten, and D'riti went swaying +through the village--she walked from her hips, gracefully--a straight, +brown, girl-woman desired and unasked. + +For she knew men too well to inspire confidence in them. By some weird +intuition which certain women of all races acquire, she had probed +behind their minds and saw with their eyes, and when she spoke of men, +she spoke with a conscious authority, and such men, who were within +earshot of her vitriolic comments, squirmed uncomfortably, and called +her a woman of shame. + +So matters stood when the _Zaire_ came flashing to the Ochori city and +the heart of Bones filled with pleasant anticipation. + +Who was so competent to inform him on the matter of the souls of native +women as Bosambo of the Ochori, already a crony of Bones, and admirable, +if for no other reason, because he professed an open reverence for his +new master? At any rate, after the haggle of tax collection was +finished, Bones set about his task. + +"Bosambo," said he, "men say you are very wise. Now tell me something +about the women of the Ochori." + +Bosambo looked at Bones a little startled. + +"Lord," said he, "who knows about women? For is it not written in the +blessed Sura of the Djin that women and death are beyond +understanding?" + +"That may be true," said Bones, "yet, behold, I make a book full of wise +and wonderful things and it would be neither wise nor wonderful if there +was no word of women." + +And he explained very seriously indeed that he desired to know of the +soul of native womanhood, of her thoughts and her dreams and her high +desires. + +"Lord," said Bosambo, after a long thought, "go to your ship: presently +I will send to you a girl who thinks and speaks with great wisdom--and +if she talks with you, you shall learn more things than I can tell you." + +To the _Zaire_ at sundown came D'riti, a girl of proper height, hollow +backed, bare to the waist, with a thin skirting of fine silk cloth which +her father had brought from the Coast, wound tightly about her, yet not +so tightly that it hampered her swaying, lazy walk. She stood before a +disconcerted Bones, one small hand resting on her hip, her chin (as +usual) tilted down at him from under lashes uncommonly long for a +native. + +Also, this Bones saw, she was gifted with more delicate features than +the native woman can boast as a rule. The nose was straight and narrow, +the lips full, yet not of the negroid type. She was in fact a pure +Ochori woman, and the Ochori are related dimly to the Arabi tribes. + +"Lord, Bosambo the King has sent me to speak about women," she said +simply. + +"Doocidly awkward," said Bones to himself, and blushed. + +"O, D'riti," he stammered, "it is true I wish to speak of women, for I +make a book that all white lords will read." + +"Therefore have I come," she said. "Now listen, O my lord, whilst I tell +you of women, and of all they think, of their love for men and of the +strange way they show it. Also of children----" + +"Look here," said Bones, loudly. "I don't want any--any--private +information, my child----" + +Then realizing from her frown that she did not understand him, he +returned to Bomongo. + +"Lord, I will say what is to be said," she remarked, meekly, "for you +have a gentle face and I see that your heart is very pure." + +Then she began, and Bones listened with open mouth ... later he was to +feel his hair rise and was to utter gurgling protests, for she spoke +with primitive simplicity about things that are never spoken about at +all. He tried to check her, but she was not to be checked. + +"Goodness, gracious heavens!" gasped Bones. + +She told him of what women think of men, and of what men _think_ women +think of them, and there was a remarkable discrepancy if she spoke the +truth. He asked her if she was married. + +"Lord," she said at last, eyeing him thoughtfully, "it is written that I +shall marry one who is greater than chiefs." + +"I'll bet you will, too," thought Bones, sweating. + +At parting she took his hand and pressed it to her cheek. + +"Lord," she said, softly, "to-morrow when the sun is nearly down, I will +come again and tell you more...." + +Bones left before daybreak, having all the material he wanted for his +book and more. + +He took his time descending the river, calling at sundry places. + +At Ikan he tied up the _Zaire_ for the night, and whilst his men were +carrying the wood aboard, he settled himself to put down the gist of his +discoveries. In the midst of his labours came Abiboo. + +"Lord," said he, "there has just come by a fast canoe the woman who +spoke with you last night." + +"Jumping Moses!" said Bones, turning pale, "say to this woman that I am +gone----" + +But the woman came round the corner of the deck-house, shyly, yet with a +certain confidence. + +"Lord," she said, "behold I am here, your poor slave; there are +wonderful things about women which I have not told you----" + +"O, D'riti!" said Bones in despair, "I know all things, and it is not +lawful that you should follow me so far from your home lest evil be said +of you." + +He sent her to the hut of the chief's wife--M'lini-fo-bini of Ikan--with +instructions that she was to be returned to her home on the following +morning. Then he went back to his work, but found it strangely +distasteful. He left nothing to chance the next day. + +With the dawn he slipped down the river at full speed, never so much as +halting till day began to fail, and he was a short day's journey from +headquarters. + +"Anyhow, the poor dear won't overtake me to-day," he said--only to find +the "poor dear" had stowed herself away on the steamer in the night +behind a pile of wood. + + * * * * * + +"It's very awkward," said Hamilton, and coughed. + +Bones looked at his chief pathetically. + +"It's doocid awkward, sir," he agreed dismally. + +"You say she won't go back?" + +Bones shook his head. + +"She said I'm the moon and the sun an' all sorts of rotten things to +her, sir," he groaned and wiped his forehead. + +"Send her to me," said Hamilton. + +"Be kind to her, sir," pleaded the miserable Bones. "After all, sir, the +poor girl seems to be fond of me, sir--the human heart, sir--I don't +know why she should take a fancy to me." + +"That's what I want to know," said Hamilton, briefly; "if she _is_ mad, +I'll send her to the mission hospital along the Coast." + +"You've a hard and bitter heart," said Bones, sadly. + +D'riti came ready to flash her anger and eloquence at Hamilton; on the +verge of defiance. + +"D'riti," said Hamilton, "to-morrow I send you back to your people." + +"Lord, I stay with Tibbetti who loves women and is happy to talk of +them. Also some day I shall be his wife, for this is foretold." She shot +a tender glance at poor Bones. + +"That cannot be," said Hamilton calmly, "for Tibbetti has three wives, +and they are old and fierce----" + +"Oh, lord!" wailed Bones. + +"And they would beat you and make you carry wood and water," Hamilton +said; he saw the look of apprehension steal into the girl's face. "And +more than this, D'riti, the Lord Tibbetti is mad when the moon is in +full, he foams at the mouth and bites, uttering awful noises." + +"Oh, dirty trick!" almost sobbed Bones. + +"Go, therefore, D'riti," said Hamilton, "and I will give you a piece of +fine cloth, and beads of many colours." + +It is a matter of history that D'riti went. + +"I don't know what you think of me, sir," said Bones, humbly, "of course +I couldn't get rid of her----" + +"You didn't try," said Hamilton, searching his pockets for his pipe. +"You could have made her drop you like a shot." + +"How, sir?" + +"Stuck your finger in her eye," said Hamilton, and Bones swallowed hard. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE STRANGER WHO WALKED BY NIGHT + + +Since the day when Lieutenant Francis Augustus Tibbetts rescued from the +sacrificial trees the small brown baby whom he afterwards christened +Henry Hamilton Bones, the interests of that young officer were to a very +large extent extremely concentrated upon that absorbing problem which a +famous journal once popularized, "What shall we do with our boys?" + +As to the exact nature of the communications which Bones made to England +upon the subject, what hairbreadth escapes and desperate adventure he +detailed with that facile pen of his, who shall say? + +It is unfortunate that Hamilton's sister--that innocent purveyor of home +news--had no glimpse of the correspondence, and that other recipients of +his confidence are not in touch with the writer of these chronicles. +Whatever he wrote, with what fervour he described his wanderings in the +forest no one knows, but certainly he wrote to some purpose. + +"What the dickens are all these parcels that have come for you for?" +demanded his superior officer, eyeing with disfavour a mountain of +brown paper packages be-sealed, be-stringed, and be-stamped. + +Bones, smoking his pipe, turned them over. + +"I don't know for certain," he said, carefully; "but I shouldn't be +surprised if they aren't clothes, dear old officer." + +"Clothes?" + +"For Henry," explained Bones, and cutting the string of one and tearing +away its covering revealed a little mountain of snowy garments. Bones +turned them over one by one. + +"For Henry," he repeated; "could you tell me, sir, what these things are +for?" + +He held up a garment white and small and frilly. + +"No, sir, I can't," said Hamilton stiffly, "unless like the ass that you +are you have forgotten to mention to your friends that Henry is a +gentleman child." + +Bones looked up at the blue sky and scratched his chin. + +"I may have called him 'her,'" he confessed. + +There were, to be exact, sixteen parcels and each contained at least one +such garment, and in addition a very warm shawl, "which," said Hamilton, +"will be immensely useful when it snows." + +With the aid of his orderly, Bones sorted out the wardrobe and the +playthings (including many volumes of the +Oh-look-at-the-rat-on-the-mat-where-is-the-cat? variety), and these he +carried to his hut with such dignity as he could summon. + +That evening, Hamilton paid his subordinate a visit. Henry, pleasingly +arrayed in a pair of the misdirected garments with a large bonnet on his +head, and seated on the floor of the quarters contentedly chewing Bones' +watch, whilst Bones, accompanying himself with his banjo, was singing a +song which was chiefly remarkable for the fact that he was ignorant of +the tune and somewhat hazy concerning the words. + + "Did you ever take a tum-ty up the Nile, + Did you ever dumpty dupty in a camp, + Or dumpty dumpty on m--m---- + Or play it in a dumpty dumpty swamp." + +He rose, and saluted his senior, as Hamilton came in. + +"Exactly what is going to happen when Sanders comes back?" asked +Hamilton, and the face of Bones fell. + +"Happen, sir? I don't take you, sir--what _could_ happen--to whom, sir?" + +"To Henry," said Hamilton. + +Henry looked up at that moment with a seraphic smile. + +"Isn't he wonderful, sir?" asked Bones in hushed ecstasy; "you won't +believe what I'm going to tell you, sir--you're such a jolly old +sceptic, sir--but Henry knows me--positively recognizes me! And when you +remember that he's only four months old--why, it's unbelievable." + +"But what will you do when Sanders comes--really, Bones, I don't know +whether I ought to allow this as it is." + +"If exception is taken to Henry, sir," said Bones firmly, "I resign my +commission; if a gentleman is allowed to keep a dog, sir, he is surely +allowed to keep a baby. Between Henry and me, sir, there is a bond +stronger than steel. I may be an ass, sir, I may even be a goop, but +come between me an' my child an' all my motherly instincts--if you'll +pardon the paradox--all my paternal--that's the word--instincts are +aroused, and I will fight like a tiger, sir----" + +"What a devil you are for jaw," said Hamilton; "anyway, I've warned you. +Sanders is due in a month." + +"Henry will be five," murmured Bones. + +"Oh, blow Henry!" said Hamilton. + +Bones rose and pointed to the door. + +"May I ask you, sir," he said, "not to use that language before the +child? I hate to speak to you like this, sir, but I have a +responsible----" + +He dodged out of the open door and the loaf of bread which Hamilton had +thrown struck the lintel and rolled back to Henry's eager hands. + +The two men walked up and down the parade ground whilst Fa'ma, the wife +of Ahmet, carried the child to her quarters where he slept. + +"I'm afraid I've got to separate you from your child," said Hamilton; +"there is some curious business going on in the Lombobo, and a stranger +who walks by night, of which Ahmet the Spy writes somewhat +confusingly." + +Bones glanced round in some apprehension. + +"Oblige me, old friend," he entreated, "by never speakin' of such things +before Henry--I wouldn't have him scared for the world." + + +II + +Bosambo of the Ochori was a light sleeper, the lighter because of +certain stories which had reached him of a stranger who walks by night, +and in the middle of the night he suddenly became wide awake, conscious +that there was a man in his hut of whose coming the sentry without was +ignorant. + +Bosambo's hand went out stealthily for his short spear, but before he +could reach it, his wrist was caught in a grip of steel, strong fingers +gripped his throat, and the intruder whispered fiercely, using certain +words which left the chief helpless with wonder. + +"I am M'gani of the Night," said the voice with authoritative hauteur, +"of me you have heard, for I am known only to chiefs; and am so high +that chiefs obey and even devils go quickly from my path." + +"O, M'gani, I hear you," whispered Bosambo, "how may I serve you?" + +"Get me food," said the imperious stranger, "after, you shall make a bed +for me in your inner room, and sit before this house that none may +disturb me, for it is to my high purpose that no word shall go to +M'ilitani that I stay in your territory." + +"M'gani, I am your dog," said Bosambo, and stole forth from the hut like +a thief to obey. + +All that day he sat before his hut and even sent away the wife of his +heart and the child M'sambo, that the rest of M'gani of the N'gombi +should not be disturbed. + +That night when darkness had come and the glowing red of hut fires grew +dimmer, M'gani came from the hut. + +Bosambo had sent away the guard and accompanied his guest to the end of +the village. + +M'gani, with only a cloak of leopard skin about him, twirling two long +spears as he walked, was silent till he came to the edge of the city +where he was to take farewell of his host. + +"Tell me this, Bosambo, where are Sandi's spies that I may avoid them?" + +And Bosambo, without hesitation, told him. + +"M'gani," said he, at parting, "where do you go now? tell me that I may +send cunning men to guard you, for there is a bad spirit in this land, +especially amongst the people of Lombobo, because I have offended B'limi +Saka, the chief." + +"No soldiers do I need, O Bosambo," said the other. "Yet I tell you this +that I go to quiet places to learn that which will be best for my +people." + +He turned to go. + +"M'gani," said Bosambo, "in the day when you shall see our lord Sandi, +speak to him for me saying that I am faithful, for it seems to me, so +high a man are you that he will listen to your word when he will listen +to none other." + +"I hear," said M'gani gravely, and slipped into the shadows of the +forest. + +Bosambo stood for a long time staring in the direction which M'gani had +taken, then walked slowly back to his hut. + +In the morning came the chief of his councillors for a hut palaver. + +"Bosambo," said he, in a tone of mystery, "the Walker-of-the-Night has +been with us." + +"Who says this?" asked Bosambo. + +"Fibini, the fisherman," said the councillor, "for this he says, that +having toothache, he sat in the shadow of his hut near the warm fire and +saw the Walker pass through the village and with him, lord, one who was +like a devil, being big and very ugly." + +"Go to Fibini," said a justly annoyed Bosambo, "and beat him on the feet +till he cries--for he is a liar and a spreader of alarm." + +Yet Fibini had done his worst before the bastinado (an innovation of +Bosambo's) had performed its silencing mission, and Ochori mothers +shepherded their little flocks with greater care when the sun went down +that night, for this new terror which had come to the land, this black +ghost with the wildfire fame was reputed especially devilish. In a week +he had become famous--so swift does news carry in the territories. + +Men had seen him passing through forest paths, or speeding with +incredible swiftness along the silent river. Some said that he had no +boat and walked the waters, others that he flew like a bat with millions +of bats behind him. One had met him face to face and had sunk to the +ground before eyes "that were very hot and red and thrusting out little +lightnings." + +He had been seen in many places in the Ochori, in the N'gombi city, in +the villages of the Akasava, but mainly his hunting ground was the +narrow strip of territory which is called Lombobo. + +B'limi Saka, the chief of the land, himself a believer in devils, was +especially perturbed lest the Silent Walker should be a spy of +Government, for he had been guilty of practices which were particularly +obnoxious to the white men who were so swift to punish. + +"Yet," said he to his daughter and (to the disgust of his people, who +despised women) his chief councillor, "none know my heart save you, +Lamalana." + +Lamalana, with her man shoulders and her flat face, peered at her +grizzled father sideways. + +"Devils hear hearts," she said huskily, "and when they talk of killings +and sacrifices are not all devils pleased? Now I tell you this, my +father, that I wait for sacrifices which you swore by death you would +show me." + +B'limi Saka looked round fearfully. Though the ferocity of this chief +was afterwards revealed, though secret places in the forest held his +horrible secret killing-houses, yet he was a timid man with a certain +affection of his eyes which made him dependent upon the childless widow +who had been his strength for two years. + +The Lombobo were the cruellest of Sanders' people; their chiefs the most +treacherous. Neither akin to the N'gombi, the Isisi, the Akasava nor the +Ochori, they took on the worst attributes of each race. + +Seldom in open warfare did they challenge the Administration, but there +was a long tale of slain and mutilated enemies who floated face +downwards in the stream; of disappearance of faithful servants of +Government, and of acts of cannibalism which went unidentified and +unpunished. + +For though all the tribes, save the Ochori, had been cannibals, yet by +fire and rope, tempered with wisdom, had the Administration brought +about a newer era to the upper river. + +But reformation came not to the Lombobo. A word from Sanders, a +carelessly expressed view, and the Lombobo people would have been swept +from existence--wiped ruthlessly from the list of nations, but that was +not the way of Government, which is patient and patient and patient +again till in the end, by sheer heavy weight of patience, it crushes +opposition to its wishes. + +They called Lamalana the barren woman, the Drinker of Life, but she had +at least drunken without ostentation, and if she murdered with her own +large hands, or staked men and women from a sheer lust of cruelty, there +were none alive to speak against her. + +Outside the town of Lombobo[6] was a patch of beaten ground where no +grass grew, and this place was called "wa boma," the killing ground. + +[Footnote 6: The territories are invariably named after the principal +city, which is sometimes, perhaps, a little misleading.--E. W.] + +Here, before the white men came, sacrifices were made openly, and it was +perhaps for this association and because it was, from its very openness, +free from the danger of the eavesdropper, that Lamalana and her father +would sit by the hour, whilst he told her the story of ancient +horrors--never too horrible for the woman who swayed to and fro as she +listened as one who was hypnotized. + +"Lord," said she, "the Walker of the Night comes not alone to the +Lombobo; all people up and down the river have seen him, and to my mind +he is a sign of great fortune showing that ghosts are with us. Now, if +you are very brave, we will have a killing greater than any. Is there no +hole in the hill[7] which Bosambo dug for your shame? And, lord, do not +the people of the Ochori say that this child M'sambo is the light of his +father's life? O ko! Bosambo shall be sorry." + +[Footnote 7: _See_ "The Right of Way."] + +Later they walked in the forest speaking, for they had no fear of the +spirits which the last slanting rays of the dying sun unlocked from the +trees. And they talked and walked, and Lombobo huntsmen, returning +through the wood, gave them a wide berth, for Lamalana was possessed of +an eye which was notoriously evil. + +"Let us go back to the city," said Lamalana, "for now I see that you are +very brave and not a blind old man." + +"There will be a great palaver and who knows but M'ilitani will come +with his soldiers?" + +She laughed loudly and hoarsely, making the silent forest ring with +harsh noise. + +"O ko!" she said, then laughed no more. + +In the centre of the path was a man; in the half light she saw the +leopard skin and the strange belt of metal about his waist. + +"O Lamalana," he said softly, "laugh gently, for I have quick ears and I +smell blood." + +He pointed to the darkening forest path down which they had come. + +"Many have been sacrificed and none heard them," he said, "this I know +now. Let there be an end to killing, for I am M'gani, the Walker of the +Night, and very terrible." + +"Wa!" screamed Lamalana, and leapt at him with clawing hands and her +white teeth agrin. Then something soft and damp struck her face--full in +the mouth like a spray of water, and she fell over struggling for her +breath, and rose gasping to her feet to find the Walker had gone. + + +III + +Before Bosambo's hut Bones sat in a long and earnest conversation, and +the subject of his discourse was children. For, alarmed by the ominous +suggestion which Bones had put forward, that his superior should be +responsible for the well-being of Henry in the absence of his +foster-parent, Hamilton had yielded to the request that Henry should +accompany Bones on his visit to the north. + +And now, on a large rug before Bosambo and his lord, there sat two small +children eyeing one another with mutual distrust. + +"Lord," said Bosambo, "it is true that your lordship's child is +wonderful, but I think that M'sambo is also wonderful. If your lordship +will look with kind eyes he will see a certain cunning way which is +strange in so young a one. Also he speaks clearly so that I understand +him." + +"Yet," contested Bones, "as it seems to me, Bosambo, mine is very wise, +for see how he looks to me when I speak, raising his thumb." + +Bones made a clucking noise with his mouth, and Henry turned frowningly, +regarded his protector with cool indifference, and returned to his +scrutiny of the other strange brown animal confronting him. + +"Now," said Bones that night, "what of the Walker?" + +"Lord, I know of him," said Bosambo, "yet I cannot speak for we are +blood brothers by certain magic rites and speeches; this I know, that he +is a good man as I shall testify to Sandi when he comes back to his own +people." + +"You sit here for Government," said Bones, "and if you don't play the +game you're a jolly old rotter, Bosambo!" + +"I know 'um, I no speak 'um, sah," said Bosambo, "I be good fellah, sah, +no Yadasi fellah, sah--I be Peter feller, cut 'em ear some like, sah!" + +"You're a naughty old humbug," said Bones, and went to bed on the +_Zaire_ leaving Henry with the chief's wife.... + +In the dark hours before the dawn he led his Houssas across the beach, +revolver in hand, but came a little too late. The surprise party had +been well planned. A speared sentry lay twisting before the chief's hut, +and Bosambo's face was smothered in blood. Bones took in the situation. + +"Fire on the men who fly to the forest," he said, but Bosambo laid a +shaking hand upon his arm. + +"Lord," he said, "hold your fire, for they have taken the children, and +I fear the woman my wife is stricken." + +He went into the hut, Bones following. + +The chief's wife had a larger hut than Bosambo's own, communicating with +her lord's through a passage of wicker and clay, and the raiders had +clubbed her to silence, but Bones knew enough of surgery to see that she +was in no danger. + +In ten minutes the fighting regiments of the Ochori were sweeping +through the forest, trackers going ahead to pick up the trail. + +"Let all gods hear me," sobbed Bosambo, as he ran, "and send M'gani +swiftly to M'sambo my son." + + +IV + +"Now this is very wonderful," said Lamalana, "and it seems, O my father, +no matter for a small killing, but for a sacrifice such as all men may +see." + +It was the hour following the dawn when the world was at its sweetest, +when the chattering weaver birds went in and out of their hanging nests +gossiping loudly, and faint perfumes from little morning flowers gave +the air an unusual delicacy. + +All the Lombobo people, the warriors and the hunters, the wives and the +maidens, and even the children of tender years, lined the steep slopes +of the Cup of Sacrifice. For Lamalana, deaf and blind to reason, knew +that her hour was short, and that with the sun would come a man terrible +in his anger ... and the soldiers who eat up opposition with fire. + +"O people!" she cried. + +She was stripped to the waist, stood behind the Stone of Death as though +it were a counter, and the two squirming infants under her hands were so +much saleable stock: "Here we bring terror to all who hate us, for one +of these is the heart of Bosambo and the other is more than the heart of +the-man-who-stands-for-Sandi----" + +"O woman!" + +The intruder had passed unnoticed, almost it seemed by magic, through +the throng, and now he stood in the clear space of sacrifice. And there +was not one in the throng who had not heard of him with his leopard skin +and his belt of brass. + +He was as black as the strange Ethiopians who came sometimes to the land +with the Arabi traders, his muscular arms and legs were dull in their +blackness. + +There was a whisper of terror--"The Walker of the Night!--" and the +people fell back ... a woman screamed and fell into a fit. + +"O woman," said M'gani, "deliver to me these little children who have +done no evil." + +Open-mouthed the half-demented daughter of B'limi Saka stared at him. + +He walked forward, lifted the children in his two arms and went slowly +through the people, who parted in terror at his coming. + +He turned at the top of the basin to speak. + +"Do no wickedness," said he; then he gently stooped to put the children +on the ground, for mouthing and bellowing senseless sounds Lamalana came +furiously after him, her long, crooked knife in her hand. He thrust his +hand into the leopard skin as for a weapon, but before he could withdraw +it, a man of Lombobo, half in terror, fell upon and threw his arms about +M'gani. + +"Bo'ma!" boomed the woman, and drew back her knife for the stroke.... + +Bones, from the edge of the clearing, jerked up the rifle he carried and +fired. + + * * * * * + +"What man is this?" asked Bones. + +Bosambo looked at the stranger. + +"This is M'gani," he said, "he who walks in the night." + +"The dooce it is!" said Bones, and fixing his monocle glared at the +stranger. + +"From whence do you come?" he asked. + +"Lord, I come from the Coast," said the man, "by many strange ways, +desiring to arrive at this land secretly that I might learn the heart of +these people and understand." Then, in perfect English, "I don't think +we've ever met before, Mr. Tibbetts--my name is Sanders." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +A RIGHT OF WAY + + +The Borders of Territories may be fixed by treaty, by certain +mathematical calculations, or by arbitrary proclamation. In the +territories over which Sanders ruled they were governed as between tribe +and tribe by custom and such natural lines of demarkation as a river or +a creek supplied. + +In forest land this was not possible, and there had ever been between +the Ochori and the Lombobo a feud and a grievance, touched-up border +fights, for hereabouts there is good hunting. Sanders had tried many +methods and had hit upon the red gum border as a solution to a great +difficulty. For some curious reason there were no red gum trees in the +northern fringe of the forest for five miles on the Ochori side of the +great wood; it was innocent of this beautiful tree and Sanders' fiat had +gone forth that there should be no Ochori hunting in the red gum lands, +and that settled the matter and Sanders hoped for good. + +But Bosambo set himself to enlarge his borders by a single expedient. +Wherever his hunters came upon a red gum tree they cut it down. B'limi +Saka, the chief of the sullen Lombobo, retaliated by planting red gum +saplings on the country between the forest and the river--a fact of +which Bosambo was not aware until he suddenly discovered a huge wedge of +red gum driven into his lawful territory. A wedge so definite as to cut +off nearly a thousand square miles of his territory, for beyond this +border lay the lower Ochori country. + +"How may I reach my proper villages?" he asked Sanders, who had known +something of the comedy which was being enacted. + +"You shall have canoes at the place of the young gum trees and shall row +to a place beyond them," Sanders had said. "I have given my word that +the red gum lands are the territory of B'limi Saka, and since you have +only your cunning to thank--Oh, cutter of trees--I cannot help you!" + +Bosambo would have made short work of the young saplings, but B'limisaka +established a guard not to be forced without bloodshed, and Bosambo +could do no more in that way of reprisal than instruct his people to +hurl insulting references to B'limisaka's as they passed the forbidden +ground. + +For the maddening thing was that the slip of filched territory was less +than a hundred yards wide and men of the Lombobo, who went out by night +to widen it, never came out alive--for Bosambo also had a guard. + +Sometimes the minion spies of Government would come to headquarters +with a twist of rice paper stuck in a quill, the quill inserted in the +lobes of the ear in very much the same place as the ladies wore their +earrings in the barbarous mid-Victorian period, and on the rice paper +with the briefest introduction would be inserted, in perfect Arabic, +scraps of domestic news for the information of the Government. + +Sometimes news would carry from mouth to mouth and a weary man would +squat before Hamilton and recite his lesson. + +"Efobi of the Isisi has stolen goats, and because he is the brother of +the chief's wife goes unpunished; T'mara of the Akasava has put a curse +upon the wife of O'femo the headman, and she has burnt his hut; N'kema +of the Ochori will not pay his tax, saying that he is no Ochori man, but +a true N'gombi; Bosambo's men have beaten a woodman of B'limi Saka, +because he planted trees on Ochori land; the well folk are on the edge +of the N'gomb forest, building huts and singing----" + +"How long do they stay?" interrupted Hamilton. + +"Lord, who knows?" said the man. + +"Ogibo of the Akasava has spoken evilly of his king and mightily of +himself----" + +"Make a note of that, Bones." + +"Make a note of which, sir?" + +"Ogibo--he looked like a case of sleep-sickness the last time I was in +his village--go on." + +"Ogibo also says that the father of his father was a great chief and was +lord of all the Akasava----" + +"That's sleeping sickness all right," said Hamilton bitterly. "Why the +devil doesn't he wait till Sanders is back before he goes mad?" + +"Drop him a line, sir," suggested Bones, "he's a remarkable feller--dash +it all, sir, what the dooce is the good of bein' in charge of the +district if you can't put a stop to that sort of thing?" + +"What talk is there of spears in this?" asked Hamilton of the spy. + +"Lord, much talk--as I know, for I serve in this district." + +"Go swiftly to Ogibo, and summon him to me for a high _lakimbo_,[8]" +said Hamilton; "my soldiers shall carry you in my new little ship that +burns water[9]--fly pigeons to me that I may know all that happens." + +[Footnote 8: Palaver.] + +[Footnote 9: The motor-launch.] + +"On my life," said the spy, raised his hand in salute and departed. + +"These well people you were talkin' about, sir," asked Bones, "who are +they?" + +But Hamilton could give no satisfactory answer to such a question, and, +indeed, he would have been more than ordinarily clever had he been able +to. + +The wild territories are filled with stubborn facts, bewildering +realities, and extraordinary inconsequences. Up by the N'gombi lands +lived a tribe who, for the purposes of office classification, were known +as "N'gombi (Interior)," but who were neither N'gombi nor Isisi, nor of +any known branch of the Bantu race, but known as "the people of the +well." They had remarkable legends, sayings which they ascribed to a +mythical Idoosi; also they have a song which runs: + + O well in the forest! + Which chiefs have digged; + No common men touched the earth, + But chiefs' spears and the hands of kings. + +Now there is no doubt that both the sayings of Idoosi and the song of +the well have come down from days of antiquity, and that Idoosi is none +other than the writer of the lost book of the Bible, of whom it is +written: + + "Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not + written in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy + of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the vision of Idoo the + seer?"[10].... + +[Footnote 10: Chronicles II., ix. 29.] + +And is not the Song of the Well identical with that brief extract from +the Book of Wars of the Lord--lost to us for ever--which runs: + + "Spring up, O well: sing ye unto it: The well, which the princes + digged, Which the nobles of the people delved, With the sceptre ... + with their staves."[11] + +[Footnote 11: Numbers xxi. 17.] + +Some men say that the People of the Well are one of the lost tribes, but +that is an easy solution which suggests itself to the hasty-minded. +Others say that they are descendants of the Babylonian races, or that +they came down from Egypt when Rameses II died, and there arose a new +dynasty and a Pharaoh who did not know the wise Jewish Prime Minister +who ruled so wisely, who worshipped in the little temple at Karnac, and +whose statue you may see in Cairo with a strange Egyptian name. We know +him better as "Joseph"--he who was sold into captivity. + +Whatever they were, this much is known, to the discomfort of everybody, +that they were great diggers of wells, and would, on the slightest +excuse, spend whole months, choosing, for some mad reason, the top of +hills for their operations, delving in the earth for water, though the +river was less than a hundred yards away. + +Of all the interesting solutions which have been offered with the object +of identifying the People of the Well, none are so interesting as that +which Bones put forward at the end of Hamilton's brief sketch. + +"My idea, dear old officer," he said profoundly, "that all these +Johnnies are artful old niggers who've run away from their wives in +Timbuctoo--and for this reason----" + +"Oh, shut up!" said Hamilton. + +Two nights later the bugles were ringing through the Houssa lines, and +Bones, sleepy-eyed, with an armful of personal belongings, was racing +for the _Zaire_, for Ogibo of the Akasava had secured a following. + + +II + +The chief Ogibo who held the law and kept the peace for his master, the +King of the Akasava, was bitten many times by the tsetse on a hunting +trip into the bad lands near the Utur forest. Two years afterwards, of a +sudden, he was seized with a sense of his own importance, and proclaimed +himself paramount chief of the Akasava, and all the lands adjoining. And +since it is against nature that any lunatic should be without his +following, he had no difficulty in raising all the spears that were +requisite for his immediate purpose, marched to Igili, the second most +important town in the Akasava kingdom, overthrew the defensive force, +destroyed the town, and leaving half his fighting regiment to hold the +conquered city he moved through the forest toward the Akasava city +proper. He camped in the forest, and his men spent an uncomfortable +night, for a thunderstorm broke over the river, and the dark was filled +with quick flashes and the heavens crashed noisily. There was still a +rumbling and a growling above his head when he assembled his forces in +the grey dawn, and continued his march. He had not gone half an hour +before one of his headmen came racing up to where he led his force in +majesty. + +"Lord," said he, "do you hear no sound?" + +"I hear the thunder," said Ogibo. + +"Listen!" said the headman. + +They halted, head bent. + +"It is thunder," said Ogibo, as the rumble and moan of the distant storm +came to him. Then above the grumble of the thunder came a sharper note, +a sound to be expressed in the word "blong!" + +"Lord," said the headman, "that is no thunder, rather is it the +fire-thrower of M'ilitani." + +So Ogibo in his wrath turned back to crush the insolent white men who +had dared attack the garrison he had left behind to hold Igili. + +Bones with a small force was pursuing him, totally unaware of the +strength that Ogibo mustered. A spy brought to the chief news of the +smallness of the following force. + +"Now," said Ogibo, "I will show all the world how great a chief I am, +for my bravery I will destroy all these soldiers that are sent against +me." + +He chose his ambush well--though he had need to send scampering with +squeals of terror half a hundred humble aliens who were at the moment of +interruption digging a foolish well on the top of the hill where Ogibo +was concealing his shaking force. + +Bones with his Houssas saw how the path led up a tolerably steep +hill--one of the few in the country--and groaned aloud, for he hated +hills. + +He was half-way up at the head of his men, when Ogibo on the summit gave +the order, "Boma!" said he, which means kill, and three abreast, shields +locked and spears gripped stomach high, the rebels charged down the +path. Bones saw them coming and slipped out his revolver. There was no +room to manoeuvre his men, the path was fairly narrow, dense +undergrowth masked each side. + +He heard the yell, saw above the bush, which concealed the winding way, +the dancing head-dresses of the attackers, and advanced his pistol arm. +The rustle of bare feet on the path, a louder roar than ever--then +silence. + +Bones waited, a Houssa squeezed on either side of him, but the onrushing +enemy did not appear, and only a faint whimper of sound reached him. + +"Lord! they go back!" gasped his sergeant; and Bones saw to his +amazement a little knot of men making their frantic way up the hill. + +At first he suspected an ambush within an ambush, but it was unlikely; +he could never be more at Ogibo's mercy than he had been. + +Cautiously he felt his way up the hill path, a revolver in each hand. + +He rounded a sharp corner of the path and saw.... + +A great square chasm yawned in the very centre of the pathway, the +bushes on either side were buried under the earth which the diggers of +wells had flung up, and piled one on the other, a writhing, struggling +confusion of shining bodies, were Ogibo's soldiers to the number of a +hundred, with a silent Ogibo undermost, wholly indifferent to his +embarrassing position, for his neck was broken. + +Hamilton came up in the afternoon and brought villagers to assist at the +work of rescue and afterwards he interviewed the chief of the shy and +timid Well-folk. + +"O chief," said Hamilton, "it is an order of Sandi that you shall dig no +wells near towns, and yet you have done this." + +"Bless his old heart!" murmured Bones. + +"Lord, I break the law," said the man, simply, "also I break all custom, +for to-day, by your favour, I cross the river, I and my people. This we +have never done since time was." + +"Whither do you go?" + +The chief of the wanderers, an old man remarkably gifted--for his beard +was long and white, and reached to his waist--stuck his spear head down +in the earth. + +"Lord, we go to a place which is written," he said; "for Idoosi has +said, 'Go forth to the natives at war, they that fight by the river; on +the swift water shall you go, even against the water'--many times have +we come to the river, master, but ever have we turned back; but now it +seems that the prophecy has been fulfilled, for there are bleeding men +in these holes and the sound of thunders." + +The People of the Well crossed to the Isisi, using the canoes of the +Akasava headmen, and made a slow progress through territory which gave +them no opportunity of exercising their hobby, since water lay less than +a spade's length beneath the driest ground. + +"Poor old Sanders," said Hamilton ruefully, when he was again on the +_Zaire_, "I've so mixed up his people that he'll have to get a new map +made to find them again." + +"You might tell me off to show him round, sir," suggested Bones, but +Hamilton did not jump at the offer. + +He was getting more than a little rattled. Sanders was due back in a +month, and it seemed that scarcely a week passed but some complication +arose that further entangled a situation which was already too full of +loose and straying threads for his liking. + +"I suppose the country is settled for a week at any rate," he said with +a little sigh of relief--but he reckoned without his People of the Well. + +They moved, a straggling body of men and women, with their stiff walk +and their doleful song, a wild people with strange, pinched faces and +long black hair, along the river's edge. + +A week's journeyings brought them to the Ochori country and to Bosambo, +who was holding a most important palaver. + +It was held on Ochori territory, for the forbidden strip was by this +time so thickly planted with young trees that there was no place for a +man to sit. + +"Lord," said Bosambo, "if you will return me the land which you have +stolen, so that I may pass unhindered from one part of my territory to +the other, I will give you many islands on the river." + +"That is a foolish palaver," said B'limisaka; "for you have no islands +to give." + +"Now I tell you, B'limisaka," said Bosambo, "my young men are crying out +against you, for, as you know, you have planted your trees on the high +ground, and my people, taking to their canoes, must climb down to the +water's edge a long way, so that it wearies their legs, soon, I fear, I +shall not hold them, for they are very fierce and full of arrogance." + +"Lord," said B'limisaka, significantly, "my young men are also fierce." + +The palaver was dispersing, and the last of the Lombobo councillors were +disappearing in the forest, when the Diggers of the Well came through +the forbidden territory to the place where Bosambo sat. + +"We are they of whom you have heard, O my Lord," said the old man, who +led them, "also we carry a book for you." + +He unwound the cloth about his thin middle, and with many fumblings +produced a paper which Bosambo read. + + "From M'ilitani, by Ogibo's village in the Akasava. + + "To Bosambo--may God preserve him! + + "I give this to the chief of Well diggers that you shall know they + are favoured by me, being simple people and very timid. Give them a + passage through your territory, for they seek a holy land, and find + them high places for the digging of holes, for they seek truth. Now + peace on your house, Bosambo." + + "On my ship, by channel of rocks." + +"Lord, it is true," said the old chief, "we seek a shining thing that +will stay white when it is white, and black when it is black, and the +wise Idoosi has said, 'Go down into the earth for truth, seek it in the +deeps of the earth, for it lies in secret places, in centre of the world +it lies.'" + +Bosambo thought long and rapidly, then there came to him the bright +light of an inspiration. + +"What manner of holes do you dig, old man?" + +"Lord, we dig them deep, for we are cunning workers, and do not fear +death as common men do; also we dig them straightly--into the very heart +of hills we dig them." + +Bosambo looked at the sloping ground covered with hateful gum. + +"Old man," said he softly, "here shall you dig, you and your people, for +in the heart of this hill is such a truth as you desire--my young men +shall bring you food and build huts for you, and I will place one who is +cunning in the way of hills to show you the way." + +The old man's eyes gleamed joyously, and he clasped the ankles of his +magnanimous host. + +"Lord," said he humbly, "now is the prophecy fulfilled, for it was said +by the great Idoosi, 'You shall come to a land where the barbarian +rules, and he shall be to you as a brother!'" + +"Nigger," said Bosambo in his vile English--yet with a certain hauteur, +"you shall dig 'um tunnel--you no cheek 'um, no chat 'um, you lib for +dear tunnel one time." + +He watched them as, singing the song of the well, they went to work, +women, men, and even little children undermining the Chief B'limisaka's +territory and creating for Bosambo the right of way for which his soul +craved. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE GREEN CROCODILE + + +_Cala cala_, as they say, seven brothers lived near the creek of the +Green One. It was not called the creek of the Green One in those far-off +days, for the monstrous thing had no existence. + +And the seven brothers had seven wives who were sisters, and it would +appear from the legend that these seven wives were unfaithful to their +husbands, and upon a certain night in the full of the moon, the brothers +returning from an expedition into the forest, discovered the extent of +their infamy, and they tied the sisters together, the wrists of one to +the ankles of the other, and they led them to the stream, and no sooner +had they disappeared beneath the black waters than there was almighty +splashing and bubbling of water, and there came crawling from the place +where the unfaithful wives had sunk so terrible a monster that the seven +brothers fled in fear. + +This was the Green One, with his long ugly snout, cold, vicious eyes, +and his great clawed feet. Some say that these women had been changed by +magic into the Crocodile of the Pool, and many people believe this and +speak of the Green One in the plural. + +Certain it is, that this terrible crocodile lived through the ages--none +hunting her, she was left in indisputable possession of the flat +sand-bank wherein to lay her eggs, and ranged the sandy shore of the +creek undisturbed. + +She was regarded with awe; sacrifices, living and dead, were offered to +her from time to time, and sometimes a cripple or two was knocked on the +head and left by the water's edge for her pleasure. She was indeed a +veritable scavenger of crime for the neighbouring villages about, and +earned some sort of respect, for, as the saying went: + +"Sandi does not speak the language of the Green One." + +Sometimes M'zooba would go afield, leaving the quietude of the creek and +the pool, which was her own territory, for the more adventurous life of +the river, and here one day she lay, the whole of her body submerged and +only her wicked eyes within an eighth of an inch of the water's surface, +when a timorous young roebuck came picking a cautious way through the +forest across the open plantations to the water's edge. He stopped from +time to time apprehensively, trembling in every limb at the slightest +sound, looking this way and that, then taking a few more steps and again +searching the cruel world for danger before he reached the water's edge. + +Then, after a final look round, he lowered his soft muzzle to the cool +waters. Swift as lightning the Green One flashed her long snout out of +the water, and gripped the tender head of the buck. Ruthlessly she +pulled, dragging the struggling deer after her till first its neck and +then its shoulders, then finally the last frantic waving stump of its +white tail went under the dark waters. + +Out in midstream a white little boat was moving steadily up the river +and on the awning-shaded bridge an indignant young man witnessed the +tragedy. The Green One had her larder under a large shelving rock half a +dozen feet beneath the water. Into this cavity her long hard nose flung +her dead victim, and her four powerful hands covered the entrance to the +water cave with sand and rock. More than satisfied with her morning's +work, the Green One came to the surface of the water to bask in the +glowing warmth of the morning sunlight. + +She took a survey upon the world, made up of low-lying shores and a hot +blue sky. She saw a river, broad and oily, and a strange white object +which she had seen often before smoking towards her. + +And that was the last thing she ever saw; for Bones, on the bridge of +the _Zaire_, squinted along the sights of his Express and pressed the +trigger. Struck in the head by an explosive bullet, the Green One went +out in a flurry of stormy water. + +"Thus perish all rotten old crocodiles," said Bones, immensely pleased +with himself, and he placed the rifle on the rack. + +"What the devil are you shooting at, so early in the morning?" asked +Hamilton. + +He came out in his pyjamas, sun helmet on his head, pliant mosquito +boots reaching to his knees. + +"A crocodile, sir," said Bones. + +"Why waste good ammunition on crocodiles?" asked Hamilton; "was it +something exceptional?" + +"A tremendous chap, sir," said the enthusiastic Bones, "some fifty feet +long, and as green as----" + +"As green!" repeated Hamilton quickly, "where are we?" + +He looked with a swift glance along the shore for landmarks. + +"I hope to goodness you have not shot old M'zooba," he said. + +"I don't know your friend by name," said Bones, "but why shouldn't I +shoot him?" + +"Because, you silly ass," said Hamilton, "she is a sort of sacred +crocodile." + +"She was never so sacred as she is now, sir, for: + +"She's flapping her wings in the crocodile heaven," said Bones, +flippantly; "for I'm one of those dead shots--once I draw a bead on an +animal----" + +"Get out a canoe and set the woodmen to dive for the Green One," said +Hamilton to his orderly, for a shot crocodile invariably sinks to the +bottom and can only be recovered by diving. + +They brought it to the surface, and Hamilton groaned. + +"It is M'zooba," he said in resigned exasperation. "Oh, Bones, what an +ass you are!" + +Bones said nothing, but walked to the stern of the ship and lowered the +blue ensign to half-mast--a piece of impertinence which Hamilton did not +discover till a long time afterwards. + +Now whatever might be the desire or wish of Hamilton, and however much +he might on ordinary occasions depend upon the loyalty of his warders +and his men, in this matter of the green crocodile he was entirely at +their mercy, for he could not call them together asking them to speak no +death of the Green One without magnifying the importance of Lieutenant +Tibbetts' rash act. The only attitude he could adopt was to treat the +Green One and her untimely end as something which was in the day's work +neither to be lamented nor acclaimed, and when, at the first village, a +doleful deputation, comprising a worried chief and a sulky witch doctor, +called upon him to bemoan the tragedy, he treated the matter with great +joviality. + +"For what is a crocodile more or less in this river?" he asked. + +"Lord, this was no crocodile," said the witch doctor, "but a very +reverend ghost, and it has been our Ju-ju for many years, bringing us +good crops and fair weather for our goodness, and has eaten up all the +devils and sickness which came to our villages. Now it is gone nothing +but ill fortune can come to us." + +"Bugobo," said Hamilton, "you talk like a foolish one, for how may a +crocodile who does not leave the water, and moreover is evil and old, a +stealer of women and children and dangerous to your goats, how can this +thing bring good fortune to any people?" + +"How can the river run, lord?" replied the man, "and yet it does." + +Hamilton thought for a moment. + +"Now I tell you this, and you shall say to all people who ask you, that +by my magic I will bring another green one to this stream, greater and +larger than the one who has gone, and she shall be ju-ju for all men." + +"And now," he said to Bones, when the deputation had left, "it is up to +you to go out and find a nice, respectable crocodile to take the place +of the lady you have so light-heartedly destroyed." + +Bones gasped. + +"Dear old feller," he said feebly, "the habits and customs of fauna of +this land are entirely beyond me. I will fetch you a crocodile, sir, +with the greatest of pleasure, although as far as I know there is +nothing laid down in the King's regulations of the warrants for pay and +promotion defining the catching of crocodiles as part of an officer's +duty." + +Hamilton made no further move towards replacing the lost Spirit of the +Pool until he learnt that his offer had been taken very seriously, and +that the coming of the great new Green One to the pool, was a subject of +discussion up and down the river. + +Now here is a fact which official records go to substantiate. Although +the "Reports of the Territories" take no cognizance of ghosts and +spirits and other occult influence, dealing rather with such mundane +facts as the condition of crops and the discipline of the races, yet the +reports of that particular year in this one district made gloomy reading +both for Hamilton and for the Administrator in his far-off stone house. + +Though the crops throughout the whole of the country were good that +Hamilton was apprehensive about the consequences--for men fight better +with a full larder behind them--yet in this immediate neighbourhood of +the pool, within its sphere of influence, so to speak, the crops failed +miserably, and the fish which haunt the shallow stream beneath the big +stream near the channel took it into their silly heads to migrate to +other distant waters. Here, then, was the consequence of Bones' murder +demonstrated to a most alarming extent. There was a blight in the +potatoes; the maize crop, for some unaccountable reason, was a meagre +one; there were three unexpected cases of sleeping sickness followed by +madness in an interior village, and, crowning disaster of all, one of +those sudden storms which sweep across the river came upon the village, +and lightning struck the huts. + +"My son," said Hamilton, when they brought the news to him, "you have +got to go out and find a green crocodile, quick." + +So Bones went up the river with the naphtha launch, leaving to Hamilton +the delicate task of finding a natural explanation for all the horrors +which had come upon the unfortunate people. + +Green crocodiles are rare even on the great river which had half a +million other kinds of crocodiles to its credit, for green is both a +sign of age, and by common report indicative of cannibalistic +tendencies. + +In whatever veneration the Green One of the Pool might be held, such +respect did not extend to other parts of the river, where the green ones +were sought out and slain in their early youth. Bones spent an exciting +seven days chasing, lassoing and, at tunes in self-defence, shooting at +great reptiles without getting any nearer to the object of his search. + +"Ahmet," said he, in despair, "it seems that there are no green +crocodiles on this river." + +"Lord, there are very few," admitted the man; "for the people kill green +crocodiles owing to their evil influence." + +At every village there was news for Bones which lightened his heart. +Some one had seen such a monster, it lived in a pool or lorded some +creek, generally only get-at-able in a canoe; and here Bones, with his +Houssas, would wait smoking furiously, with baited lines cunningly laid +from thick underbrush or some tethered goat, bleating invitingly on the +banks. But never once did the hunter catch so much as a glimpse of +green. There were yellow crocodiles, grey crocodiles, crocodiles the +colour of the sand, or the dark brown bed of the river, but nothing +which by any stretch of imagination could be called green. + +And urgent messages came to Bones. The _Zaire_ itself, in charge of +Abiboo, came steaming up carrying a letter filled with unnecessary +abuse, for Hamilton was getting rattled by the extraordinary +manifestations which he received every day of the potency of this slain +monster. Bones sent the sergeant back in the launch with an +insubordinate message, and commandeered the _Zaire_ with her superior +accommodation for himself. + +"There is only one thing to do," he said, "and that is to consult jolly +old Bosambo." + +So he put the head of the _Zaire_ to the Ochori country, and on the +second day arrived at the city. + +"Lord," said Bosambo, loftily, "crocodiles I have by thousands." + +"Green ones?" asked Bones anxiously. + +"Lord, of every colour," said Bosambo, "blue or green or red, even +golden crocodiles have I in my splendid river. But they will cost great +money because they are very cunning, and my hunters of crocodiles are +independent men who do not care to work." + +Bones dried up the flood of eloquence quickly. + +"O Bosambo," said he, "there is no money for this palaver, but a green +crocodile I must have because the evil people of the Lower Isisi say I +have put a spell on their land because I slew the Green One, M'zooba, +also this crocodile must I have before the moon is due. My Lord +M'ilitani has sent me many powerful messages to this effect." + +This was another matter, and Bosambo looked dubious. + +"Lord," said he, "what manner of green was this crocodile, for I never +saw it?" + +Bones looked round. + +Neither the green of the trees he saw, nor the green of the grass +underfoot, nor the green of the elephant grass growing strongly on the +river's edge, nor the tender green of the high trees above, nor the +tender green of the young Isisi palms; and yet the exact shade of green +it was necessary to secure. He ransacked all his books, turned over all +his possessions and Hamilton's too, in an endeavour to match the +crocodile. There was a suit of pyjamas of Hamilton's which had a stripe +very near, but not quite. + +"O Ahmet," said Bones at last in desperation, "go to the storeman, and +let him bring all the paints he has so that I may show Bosambo a certain +colour." + +They found the exact shade at last on a ten-pound tin of Aspinall +enamels, and Bosambo thought long. + +"Lord," said he, "I think I know where I may find just such a crocodile +as you want." + +Late that night Bones met Bosambo before his hut in a long and earnest +palaver, and an hour before dawn he went out with Bosambo and his +huntsmen, and was pulled to a certain creek in the Ochori land which is +notorious for the size and strength of its crocodiles. + + +II + +No doubt but Hamilton had a serious task before him, for although the +grievance which he had to allay was limited to the restricted area over +which the spirit of M'zooba brooded, yet the people of the crocodile +had many sympathizers who resented as bitterly as the affected parties +this interference with what Downing Street called "local religious +customs." + +A wholly unauthorized palaver was held in the forest which was attended +by delegations from the Akasava and the N'gombi, and spies brought the +news to Hamilton that the little witch doctors were going through the +villages carrying stories of desolation which had come as the result of +M'zooba's death. + +The palaver Hamilton dispensed with some brusqueness. Twenty soldiers +and a machine gun were uninvited guests to the gathering, and the +meeting retired in disorder. Two of the witch doctors Hamilton's men +caught. One he flogged with all the village looking on, and the other he +sent to the Village of Irons for twelve months. + +And all the time he spoke of the newer green one which was coming, which +his magic would invoke, and which would surely appear "tied by one leg" +to a stake near the pool, for all men to see. + +He founded a sect of new-green-one worshippers (quite unwittingly). It +needed only the corporeal presence of his novel deity to wipe out the +feelings of distrust which violence had not wholly dispelled. + +Day after day passed, but no word came from Bones, and Captain Hamilton +cursed his subordinate, his subordinate's relations, and all the cruelty +of fate which brought Bones into his command. Then, unexpectantly, the +truant arrived, arrived proud and triumphant in the early morning +before Hamilton was awake. He sneaked into the village so quietly that +even the Houssa sentry who dozed across the threshold of Hamilton's hut +was not aware of his return; and silently, with fiercely whispered +injunctions, so that the surprise should be all the more complete, Bones +landed his unruly cargo, its feet chained, his great muzzle lassoed and +bound with raw hide, its powerful and damaging tail firmly fixed between +two planks of wood (a special idea for which Bones was responsible). +Then Lieutenant Tibbetts went to the hut of his chief and woke him. + +"So here you are, are you?" said Hamilton. + +"I am here," said Bones with trembling pride, so that Hamilton knew his +subordinate had been successful; "according to your instructions, sir, I +have captured the green crocodile. He is of monstrous size, and vastly +superior to your partly-worn lady friend. Also," he said, "as per your +instructions, conveyed to me in your letter dated the twenty-third +instant, I have fastened same by right leg in the vicinity of the pool; +at least," he corrected carefully, "he was fastened, but owing to +certain technical difficulties he slipped cable, so to speak, and is +wallowing in his native element." + +"You are not rotting, Bones, are you?" asked Hamilton, busy with his +toilet. + +"Perfectly true and sound, sir, I never rot," said Bones stiffly; "give +me a job of work to do, give me a task, put me upon my metal, sir, and +with the assistance of jolly old Bosambo----" + +"Is Bosambo in this?" + +Bones hesitated. + +"He assisted me very considerably, sir," he said; "but, so to speak, the +main idea was mine." + +The chief's drum summoned the villages to the palaver house, but the +news had already filtered through the little township, and a crowd had +gathered waiting eagerly to hear the message which Hamilton had to give +them. + +"O people," he said, addressing them from the hill of palaver, "all I +have promised you I have performed. Behold now in the pool--and you +shall come with me to see this wonder--is one greater than M'zooba, a +vast and splendid spirit which shall protect your crops and be as +M'zooba was, and better than was M'zooba. All this I have done for you." + +"Lord Tibbetti has done for you," prompted Bones, in a hoarse whisper. + +"All this have I done for you," repeated Hamilton firmly, "because I +love you." + +He led the way through the broad, straggling plantation to the great +pool which begins in a narrow creek leading from the river and ends in a +sprawl of water to the east of the village. + +The whole countryside stood about watching the still water, but nothing +happened. + +"Can't you whistle him and make him come up or something?" asked +Hamilton. + +"Sir," said an indignant Bones, "I am no crocodile tamer; willing as I +am to oblige you, and clever as I am with parlour tricks, I have not +yet succeeded in inducing a crocodile to come to heel after a week's +acquaintance." + +But native people are very patient. + +They stood or squatted, watching the unmoved surface of the water for +half an hour, and then suddenly there was a stir and a little gasp of +pleasurable apprehension ran through the assembly. + +Then slowly the new one came up. He made for a sand-bank, which showed +above the water in the centre of the pool; first his snout, then his +long body emerged from the water, and Hamilton gasped. + +"Good heavens, Bones!" he said in a startled whisper, and his +astonishment was echoed from a thousand throats. + +And well might he be amazed at the spectacle which the complacent Bones +had secured for him. + +For this great reptile was more than green, he was a green so vivid that +it put the colours of the forest to shame. A bright, glittering green +and along the centre of his broad back one zig-zag splash of orange. + +"Phew," whistled Hamilton, "this is something like." + +The roar of approval from the people was unmistakable. The crocodile +turned his evil head and for a moment, as it seemed to Bones, his eyes +glinted viciously in the direction of the young and enterprising +officer. And Bones admitted after to a feeling of panic. + +Then with a malignant "woof!" like the hoarse, growling bark of a dog, +magnified a hundred times, he slid back into the water, a great living +streak of vivid green and disappeared to the cool retreat at the bottom +of the pool. + +"You have done splendidly, Bones, splendidly!" said Hamilton, and +clapped him on the back; "really you are a most enterprising devil." + +"Not at all, sir," said Bones. + +He ate his dinner on the _Zaire_, answering with monosyllables the +questions which Hamilton put to him regarding the quest and the place of +the origin of this wonderful beast. It was after dinner when they were +smoking their cigars in the gloom as the _Zaire_ was steaming across its +way to the shore where a wooding offered an excuse for a night's stay, +and Bones gave voice to his thoughts. + +And curiously enough his conversation did not deal directly or +indirectly with his discovery. + +"When was this boat decorated last, sir?" he asked. + +"About six months before Sanders left," replied Hamilton in surprise; +"just why do you ask?" + +"Nothing, sir," said Bones, and whistled light-heartedly. Then he +returned to the subject. + +"I only asked you because I thought the enamel work in the cabin and all +that sort of thing has worn very well." + +"Yes, it is good wearing stuff," said Hamilton. + +"That green paint in the bathroom is rather _chic_, isn't it? Is that +good wearing stuff?" + +"The enamel?" smiled Hamilton. "Yes, I believe that is very good +wearing. I am not a whale on domestic matters, Bones, but I should +imagine that it would last for another year without showing any sign of +wear." + +"Is it waterproof at all?" asked Bones, after another pause. + +"What do you mean?" + +"I mean would it wash off if a lot of water were applied to it?" + +"No, I should not imagine it would," said Hamilton, "what makes you +ask?" + +"Oh, nothing!" said Bones carelessly and whistled, looking up to the +stars that were peeping from the sky; and the inside of Lieutenant +Tibbetts was one large expansive grin. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +HENRY HAMILTON BONES + + +Lieutenant Francis Augustus Tibbetts of the Houssas was at some +disadvantage with his chief and friend. Lieutenant F. A. Tibbetts might +take a perfectly correct attitude, might salute on every possible +occasion that a man could salute, might click his heels together in the +German fashion (he had spent a year at Heidelberg), might be stiffly +formal and so greet his superior that he contrived to combine a dutiful +recognition with the cut direct, but never could he overcome one fatal +obstacle to marked avoidance--he had to grub with Hamilton. + +Bones was hurt. Hamilton had behaved to him as no brother officer should +behave. Hamilton had spoken harshly and cruelly in the matter of a +commission with which he had entrusted his subordinate, and with which +the aforesaid subordinate had lamentably failed to cope. + +Up in the Akasava country a certain wise man named M'bisibi had +predicted the coming of a devil-child who should be born on a night when +the moon lay so on the river and certain rains had fallen in the +forest. + +And this child should be called "Ewa," which is death; and first his +mother would die and then his father; and he would grow up to be a +scourge to his people and a pestilence to his nation, and crops would +wither when he walked past them, and the fish in the river would float +belly up in stinking death, and until Ewa M'faba himself went out, +nothing but ill-fortune should come to the N'gombi-Isisi. + +Thus M'bisibi predicted, and the word went up and down the river, for +the prophet was old and accounted wise even by Bosambo of the Ochori. + +It came to Hamilton quickly enough, and he had sent Bones post-haste to +await the advent of any unfortunate youngster who was tactless enough to +put in an appearance at such an inauspicious moment as would fulfil the +prediction of M'bisibi. + +And Bones had gone to the wrong village, and that in the face of his +steersman's and his sergeant's protest that he was going wrong. +Fortunately, by reliable account, no child had been born in the village, +and the prediction was unfulfilled. + +"Otherwise," said Hamilton, "its young life would have been on your +head." + +"Yes, sir," said Bones. + +"I didn't tell you there were two villages called Inkau," Hamilton +confessed, "because I didn't realize you were chump enough to go to the +wrong one." + +"No, sir," agreed Bones, patiently. + +"Naturally," said Hamilton, "I thought the idea of saving the lives of +innocent babes would have been sufficient incentive." + +"Naturally, sir," said Bones, with forced geniality. + +"I've come to one conclusion about you, Bones," said Hamilton. + +"Yes, sir," said Bones, "that I'm an ass, sir, I think?" + +Hamilton nodded--it was too hot to speak. + +"It was an interestin' conclusion," said Bones, thoughtfully, "not +without originality--when it first occurred to you, but as a conclusion, +if you will pardon my criticism, sir, if you will forgive me for +suggestin' as much--in callin' me an ass, sir: apart from its bein' +contrary to the spirit an' letter of the Army Act--God Save the +King!--it's a bit low, sir." And he left his superior officer without +another word. For three days they sat at breakfast, tiffin and dinner, +and neither said more than: + +"May I pass you the bread, sir?" + +"Thank you, sir; have you the salt, sir?" + +Hamilton was so busy a man that he might have forgotten the feud, but +for the insistence of Bones, who never lost an opportunity of reminding +his No. 1 that he was mortally hurt. + +One night, dinner had reached the stage where two young officers of +Houssas sat primly side by side on the verandah sipping their coffee. +Neither spoke, and the seance might have ended with the conventional +"Good night" and that punctilious salute which Bones invariably gave, +and which Hamilton as punctiliously returned, but for the apparition of +a dark figure which crossed the broad space of parade ground +hesitatingly as though not certain of his way, and finally came with +dragging feet through Sanders' garden to the edge of the verandah. + +It was the figure of a small boy, very thin; Hamilton could see this +through the half-darkness. + +The boy was as naked as when he was born, and he carried in his hand a +single paddle. + +"O boy," said Hamilton, "I see you." + +"Wanda!" said the boy in a frightened tone, and hesitated, as though he +were deciding whether it would be better to bolt, or to conclude his +desperate enterprise. + +"Come up to me," said Hamilton, kindly. + +He recognized by the dialect that the visitor had come a long way, as +indeed he had, for his old canoe was pushed up amongst the elephant +grass a mile away from headquarters, and he had spent three days and +nights upon the river. He came up, an embarrassed and a frightened lad, +and stood twiddling his toes on the unaccustomed smoothness of the big +stoep. + +"Where do you come from, and why have you come?" asked Hamilton. + +"Lord, I have come from the village of M'bisibi," said the boy; "my +mother has sent me because she fears for her life, my father being away +on a great hunt. As for me," he went on, "my name is Tilimi-N'kema." + +"Speak on, Tilimi the Monkey," said Hamilton, "tell me why the woman +your mother fears for her life." + +The boy was silent for a spell; evidently he was trying to recall the +exact formula which had been dinned into his unreceptive brain, and to +repeat word for word the lesson which he had learned parrotwise. + +"Thus says the woman my mother," he said at last, with the blank, +monotonous delivery peculiar to all small boys who have been rehearsed +in speech, "on a certain day when the moon was at full and the rain was +in the forest so that we all heard it in the village, my mother bore a +child who is my own brother, and, lord, because she feared things which +the old man M'bisibi had spoken she went into the forest to a certain +witch doctor, and there the child was born. To my mind," said the lad, +with a curious air of wisdom which is the property of the youthful +native from whom none of the mysteries of life or death are hidden, "it +is better she did this, for they would have made a sacrifice of her +child. Now when she came back, and they spoke to her, she said that the +boy was dead. But this is the truth, lord, that she had left this child +with the witch doctor, and now----" he hesitated again. + +"And now?" repeated Hamilton. + +"Now, lord," said the boy, "this witch doctor, whose name is Bogolono, +says she must bring him rich presents at the full of every moon, because +her son and my brother is the devil-child whom M'bisibi has predicted. +And if she brings no rich presents he will take the child to the +village, and there will be an end." + +Hamilton called his orderly. + +"Give this boy some chop," he said; "to-morrow we will have a longer +palaver." + +He waited till the man and his charge were out of earshot, then he +turned to Bones. + +"Bones," he said, seriously, "I think you had better leave unobtrusively +for M'bisibi's village, find the woman, and bring her to safety. You +will know the village," he added, unnecessarily, "it is the one you +didn't find last time." + +Bones left insubordinately and made no response. + + * * * * * + + +II + +Bosambo, with his arms folded across his brawny chest, looked curiously +at the deputation which had come to him. + +"This is a bad palaver," said Bosambo, "for it seems to me that when +little chiefs do that which is wrong, it is an ill thing; but when great +kings, such as your master Iberi, stand at the back of such wrongdoings, +that is the worst thing of all, and though this M'bisibi is a wise man, +as we all know, and indeed the only wise man of your people, has brought +out this devil-child, and makes a killing palaver, then M'ilitani will +come very quickly with his soldiers and there will be an end to little +chiefs and big chiefs alike." + +"Lord, that will be so," said the messenger, "unless all chiefs in the +land stand in brotherhood together. And because we know Sandi loves you, +and M'ilitani also, and that Tibbetti himself is as tender to you as a +brother, M'bisibi sent this word saying, 'Go to Bosambo, and say +M'bisibi, the wise man, bids him come to a great and fearful palaver +touching the matter of several devils. Tell him also that great evil +will come to this land, to his land and to mine, to his wife and the +wives of his counsellors, and to his children and theirs, unless we make +an end to certain devils.'" + +Bosambo, chin on clenched fist, looked thoughtfully at the other. + +"This cannot be," said he in a troubled voice; "for though I die and all +that is wonderful to me shall pass out of this world, yet I must do no +thing which is unlawful in the eyes of Sandi, my master, and of the +great ones he has left behind to fulfil the law. Say this to M'bisibi +from me, that I think he is very wise and understands ghosts and +such-like palavers. Also say that if he puts curses upon my huts I will +come with my spearmen to him, and if aught follows I will hang him by +the ears from a high tree, though he sleeps with ghosts and commands +whole armies of devils; this palaver is finished." + +The messenger carried the word back to M'bisibi and the council of the +chiefs and the eldermen who sat in the palaver house, and old as he was +and wise by all standards, M'bisibi shivered, for, as he explained, that +which Bosambo said would he do. For this is peculiar to no race or +colour, that old men love life dearer than young. + +"Bogolono, you shall bring the child," he said, turning to one who sat +at his side, string upon string of human teeth looped about his neck and +his eyes circled with white ashes, "and it shall be sacrificed according +to the custom, as it was in the days of my fathers and of their +fathers." + +They chose a spot in the forest, where four young trees stood at corners +of a rough square. With their short bush knives they lopped the tender +branches away, leaving four pliant poles that bled stickily. With great +care they drew down the tops of these trees until they nearly met, +cutting the heads so that there was no overlapping. To these four ends +they fastened ropes, one for each arm and for each ankle of the devil +child, and with other ropes they held the saplings to their place. + +"Now this is the magic of it," said M'bisibi, "that when the moon is +full to-night we shall sacrifice first a goat, and then a fowl, casting +certain parts into the fire which shall be made of white gum, and I will +make certain marks upon the child's face and upon his belly, and then I +will cut these ropes so that to the four ends of the world we shall cast +forth this devil, who will no longer trouble us." + +That night came many chiefs, Iberi of the Akasava, Tilini of the Lesser +Isisi, Efele (the Tornado) of the N'gombi, Lisu (the Seer) of the Inner +Territories, but Lilongo[12] (as they called Bosambo of the Ochori), did +not come. + +[Footnote 12: "Lilongo" is from the noun "balongo"--blood, and means +literally "he-who-breaks-blood-friendships."--E. W.] + + * * * * * + + +III + +Bones reached the village two hours before the time of sacrifice and +landed a force of twenty Houssas and a small Maxim gun. The village was +peaceable, and there was no sign of anything untoward. Save this. The +village was given over to old people and children. M'bisibi was an +hour--two hours--four hours in the forest. He had gone +north--east--south--none knew whither. + +The very evasiveness of the replies put Bones into a fret. He scouted +the paths and found indications of people having passed over all three. + +He sent his gun back to the _Zaire_, divided his party into three, and +accompanied by half a dozen men, he himself took the middle path. + +For an hour he trudged, losing his way, and finding it again. He came +upon a further division of paths and split up his little force again. + +In the end he found himself alone, struggling over the rough ground in a +darkness illuminated only by the electric lamp he carried, and making +for a faint gleam of red light which showed through the trees ahead. + +M'bisibi held the child on his outstretched hands, a fat little child, +with large, wondering eyes that stared solemnly at the dancing flames, +and sucked a small brown thumb contentedly. + +"Behold this child, oh chiefs and people," said M'bisibi, "who was born +as I predicted, and is filled with devils!" + +The baby turned his head so that his fat little neck was all rolled and +creased, and said "Ah!" to the pretty fire, and chuckled. + +"Even now the devils speak," said M'bisibi, "but presently you shall +hear them screaming through the world because I have scattered them," +and he made his way to the bowed saplings. + +Bones, his face scratched and bleeding, his uniform torn in a dozen +places, came swiftly after him. + +"My bird, I think," said Bones, and caught the child unscientifically. + +Picture Bones with a baby under his arm--a baby indignant, outraged, +infernally uncomfortable, and grimacing a yell into being. + +"Lord," said M'bisibi, breathing quickly, "what do you seek?" + +"That which I have," said Bones, waving him off with the black muzzle of +his automatic Colt. "Tomorrow you shall answer for many crimes." + +He backed quickly to the cover of the woods, scenting the trouble that +was coming. + +He heard the old man's roar. + +"O people ... this white man will loose devils upon the land!" + +Then a throwing spear snicked the trunk of a tree, and another, for +there were no soldiers, and this congregation of exorcisers were mad +with wrath at the thought of the evil which Tibbetti was preparing for +them. + +"Snick!" + +A spear struck Bones' boot. + +"Shut your eyes, baby," said Bones, and fired into the brown. Then he +ran for his life. Over roots and fallen trees he fell and stumbled, his +tiny passenger yelling desperately. + +"Oh, shut up!" snarled Bones, "what the dickens are you shouting +about--hey? Haven't I saved your young life, you ungrateful little +devil?" + +Now and again he would stop to consult his illuminated compass. That the +pursuit continued he knew, but he had the dubious satisfaction of +knowing, too, that he had left the path and was in the forest. + +Then he heard a faint shot, and another, and another, and grinned. + +His pursuers had stumbled upon a party of Houssas. + +From sheer exhaustion the baby had fallen asleep. Babies were +confoundedly heavy--Bones had never observed the fact before, but with +the strap of his sword belt he fashioned a sling that relieved him of +some of the weight. + +He took it easier now, for he knew M'bisibi's men would be frightened +off. He rested for half an hour on the ground, and then came a snuffling +leopard walking silently through the forest, betraying his presence +only by the two green danger-lamps of his eyes. + +Bones sat up and flourished his lamp upon the startled beast, which +growled in fright, and went scampering through the forest like the great +cat that he was. + +The growl woke Bones' charge, and he awoke hungry and disinclined to +further sleep without that inducement and comfort which his nurse was in +no position to offer, whereupon Bones snuggled the whimpering child. + +"He's a wicked old leopard!" he said, "to come and wake a child at this +time of the night." + +The knuckle of Bones' little finger soothed the baby, though it was a +poor substitute for the nutriment it had every right to expect, and it +whimpered itself to sleep. + +Lieutenant Tibbetts looked at his compass again. He had located the +shots to eastward, but he did not care to make a bee-line in that +direction for fear of falling upon some of the enemy, whom he knew would +be, at this time, making their way to the river. + +For two hours before dawn he snatched a little sleep, and was awakened +by a fierce tugging at his nose. He got up, laid the baby on the soft +ground, and stood with arms akimbo, and his monocle firmly fixed, +surveying his noisy companion. + +"What the dooce are you making all this row about?" he asked +indignantly. "Have a little patience, young feller, exercise a little +_suaviter in modo_, dear old baby!" + +But still the fat little morsel on the ground continued his noisy +monologue, protesting in a language which is of an age rather than of a +race, against the cruelty and the thoughtlessness and the distressing +lack of consideration which his elder and better was showing him. + +"I suppose you want some grub," said Bones, in dismay; and looked round +helplessly. + +He searched the pocket of his haversack, and had the good fortune to +find a biscuit; his vacuum flask had just half a cup of warm tea. He fed +the baby with soaked biscuit and drank the tea himself. + +"You ought to have a bath or something," said Bones, severely; but it +was not until an hour later that he found a forest pool in which to +perform the ablution. + +At three o'clock in the afternoon, as near as he could judge, for his +watch had stopped, he struck a path, and would have reached the village +before sundown, but for the fact that he again missed the path, and +learnt of this fact about the same time he discovered he had lost his +compass. + +Bones looked dismally at the wide-awake child. + +"Dear old companion in arms," he said, gloomily, "we are lost." + +The baby's face creased in a smile. + +"It's nothing to laugh about, you silly ass," said Bones. + + +IV + +"Master, of our Lord Tibbetti I do not know," said M'bisibi sullenly. + +"Yet you shall know before the sun is black," said Hamilton, "and your +young men shall find him, or there is a tree for you, old man, a quick +death by _Ewa_!" + +"I have sought, my lord," said M'bisibi, "all my hunters have searched +the forest, yet we have not found him. A certain devil-pot is here." + +He fumbled under a native cloth and drew forth Bones' compass. + +"This only could we find on the forest path that leads to Inilaki." + +"And the child is with him?" + +"So men say," said M'bisibi, "though by my magic I know that the child +will die, for how can a white man who knows nothing of little children +give him life and comfort? Yet," he amended carefully, since it was +necessary to preserve the character of the intended victim, "if this +child is indeed a devil child, as I believe, he will lead my lord +Tibbetti to terrible places and return himself unharmed." + +"He will lead you to a place more terrible," said M'ilitani, +significantly, and sent a nimble climber into the trees to fasten a +block and tackle to a stout branch, and thread a rope through. + +It was so effective that M'bisibi, an old man, became most energetically +active. _Lokali_ and swift messengers sent his villages to the search. +Every half-hour the Hotchkiss gun of the _Zaire_ banged noisily; and +Hamilton, tramping through the woods, felt his heart sink as hour after +hour passed without news of his comrade. + +"I tell you this, lord," said the headman, who accompanied him, "that I +think Tibbetti is dead and the child also. For this wood is filled with +ghosts and savage beasts, also many strong and poisonous snakes. See, +lord!" He pointed. + +They had reached a clearing where the grass was rich and luxuriant, +where overshadowing branches formed an idealic bower, where heavy white +waxen flowers were looped from branch to branch holding the green boughs +in their parasitical clutch. Hamilton followed the direction of his +eyes. In the middle of the clearing a long, sinuous shape, dark brown, +and violently coloured with patches of green and vermillion, that was +swaying backward and forward, hissing angrily at some object before it. + +"Good God!" said Hamilton, and dropped his hand on his revolver, but +before it was clear of his holster, there came a sharp crack, and the +snake leapt up and fell back as a bullet went snip-snapping through the +undergrowth. Then Hamilton saw Bones. Bones in his shirtsleeves, +bareheaded, his big pipe in his mouth, who came hurriedly through the +trees pistol in hand. + +"Naughty boy!" he said, reproachfully, and stooping, picked up a +squalling brown object from the ground. "Didn't Daddy tell you not to +go near those horrid snakes? Daddy spank you----" + +Then he caught sight of the amazed Hamilton, clutched the baby in one +hand, and saluted with the other. + +"Baby present and correct, sir," he said, formally. + + * * * * * + +"What are you going to do with it?" asked Hamilton, after Bones had +indulged in the luxury of a bath and had his dinner. + +"Do with what, sir?" asked Bones. + +"With this?" + +Hamilton pointed to a crawling morsel who was at that moment looking up +to Bones for approval. + +"What do you expect me to do, sir?" asked Bones, stiffly; "the mother is +dead and he has no father. I feel a certain amount of responsibility +about Henry." + +"And who the dickens is Henry?" asked Hamilton. + +Bones indicated the child with a fine gesture. + +"Henry Hamilton Bones, sir," he said grandly. "The child of the +regiment," he went on; "adopted by me to be a prop for my declining +years, sir." + +"Heaven and earth!" said Hamilton, breathlessly. + +He went aft to recover his nerve, and returned to become an unseen +spectator to a purely domestic scene, for Bones had immersed the +squalling infant in his own india-rubber bath, and was gingerly cleaning +him with a mop. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +BONES AT M'FA + + +Hamilton of the Houssas coming down to headquarters met Bosambo by +appointment at the junction of the rivers. + +"O Bosambo," said Hamilton, "I have sent for you to make a _likambo_ +because of certain things which my other eyes have seen and my other +ears have heard." + +To some men this hint of report from the spies of Government might bring +dismay and apprehension, but to Bosambo, whose conscience was clear, +they awakened only curiosity. + +"Lord, I am your eyes in the Ochori," he said with truth, "and God knows +I report faithfully." + +Hamilton nodded. He was yellow with fever, and the hand that filled the +briar pipe shook with ague. All this Bosambo saw. + +"It is not of you I speak, nor of your people, but of the Akasava and +the N'gombi and the evil little men who live in the forest--now is it +true that they speak mockingly of my lord Tibbetti?" + +Bosambo hesitated. + +"Lord," said he, "what dogs are they, that they should speak of the +mighty? Yet I will not lie to you, M'ilitani: they mock Tibbetti, +because he is young and his heart is pure." + +Hamilton nodded again, and stuck out his jaw in troubled meditation. + +"I am a sick man," he said, "and I must rest, sending Tibbetti to watch +the river, because the crops are good and there is fish for all men, and +because the people are prosperous, for, Bosambo, in such times there is +much boastfulness, and the tribes are ripe for foolish deeds deserving +to appear wonderful in the eyes of woman." + +"All this I know, M'ilitani," said Bosambo, "and because you are sick, +my heart and my stomach are sore. For though I do not love you as I love +Sandi, who is more clever than you, yet I love you well enough to +grieve. And Tibbetti also----" + +He paused. + +"He is young," said Hamilton, "and not yet grown to himself--now you, +Bosambo, shall check men who are insolent to his face, and be to him as +a strong right hand." + +"On my head and my life," said Bosambo, "yet, lord M'ilitani, I think +that his day will find him, for it is written in the Sura of the Djin +that all men are born three times, and the day will come when Bonzi will +be born again." + +He was in his canoe before Hamilton realized what he had said. + +"Tell me, Bosambo," said he, leaning over the side of the _Zaire_, +"what name did you call my lord Tibbetti?" + +"Bonzi," said Bosambo, innocently, "for such I have heard you call him." + +"Oh, dog of a thief!" stormed Hamilton. "If you speak without respect of +Tibbetti, I will break your head." + +Bosambo looked up with a glint in his big, black eyes. + +"Lord," he said, softly, "it is said on the river 'speak only the words +which high ones speak, and you can say no wrong,' and if you, who are +wiser than any, call my lord 'Bonzi'--what goat am I that I should not +call him 'Bonzi' also?" + +Hamilton saw the canoe drift round, saw the flashing paddles dip +regularly, and the chant of the Ochori boat song came fainter and +fainter as Bosambo's state canoe began its long journey northward. + +Hamilton reached headquarters with a temperature of 105, and declined +Bones' well-meant offers to look after him. + +"What you want, dear old officer," said Bones, fussing around, "is +careful nursin'. Trust old Bones and he'll pull you back to health, sir. +Keep up your pecker, sir, an' I'll bring you back so to speak from the +valley of the shadow--go to bed an' I'll have a mustard plaster on your +chest in half a jiffy." + +"If you come anywhere near me with a mustard plaster," said Hamilton, +pardonably annoyed, "I'll brain you!" + +"Don't you think!" asked Bones anxiously, "that you ought to put your +feet in mustard and water, sir--awfully good tonic for a feller, sir. +Bucks you up an' all that sort of thing, sir; uncle of mine who used to +take too much to drink----" + +"The only chance for me," said Hamilton, "is for you to clear out and +leave me alone. Bones--quit fooling: I'm a sick man, and you've any +amount of responsibility. Go up to the Isisi and watch things--it's +pretty hard to say this to you, but I'm in your hands." + +Bones said nothing. + +He looked down at the fever-stricken man and thrust his hands in his +pockets. + +"You see, old Bones," said Hamilton, and now his friend heard the +weariness and the weakness in his voice, "Sanders has a hold on these +chaps that I haven't quite got ... and ... and ... well, you haven't got +at all. I don't want to hurt your feelings, but you're young, Bones, and +these devils know how amiable you are." + +"I'm an ass, sir," muttered Bones, shakily, "an' somehow I understand +that this is the time in my jolly old career when I oughtn't to be an +ass.... I'm sorry, sir." + +Hamilton smiled up at him. + +"It isn't for Sanders' sake or mine or your own, Bones--but for--well, +for the whole crowd of us--white folk. You'll have to do your best, old +man." + +Bones took the other's hand, snivelled a bit despite his fierce effort +of restraint, and went aboard the _Zaire_. + + * * * * * + +"Tell all men," said B'chumbiri, addressing his impassive relatives, +"that I go to a great day and to many strange lands." + +He was tall and knobby-kneed, spoke with a squeak at the end of his +deeper sentences, and about his tired eyes he had made a red circle with +camwood. Round his head he had twisted a wire so tightly that it all but +cut the flesh: this was necessary, for B'chumbiri had a headache which +never left him day or night. + +Now he stood, his lank body wrapped in a blanket, and he looked with +dull eyes from face to face. + +"I see you," he said at last, and repeated his motto which had something +to do with monkeys. + +They watched him go down the street towards the beech where the easiest +canoe in the village was moored. + +"It is better if we go after him and put out his eyes," said his elder +brother; "else who knows what damage he will do for which we must pay?" + +Only B'chumbiri's mother looked after him with a mouth that drooped at +the side, for he was her only son, all the others being by other wives +of Mochimo. + +His father and his uncle stood apart and whispered, and presently when, +with a great waving of arms, B'chumbiri had embarked, they went out of +the village by the forest path and ran tirelessly till they struck the +river at its bend. + +"Here we will wait," panted the uncle, "and when B'chumbiri comes we +will call him to land, for he has the sickness _mongo_." + +"What of Sandi?" asked the father, who was no gossip. + +"Sandi is gone," replied the other, "and there is no law." + +Presently B'chumbiri came sweeping round the bend, singing in his poor, +cracked voice about a land and a people and treasures ... he turned his +canoe at his father's bidding, and came obediently to land.... + +Overhead the sky was a vivid blue, and the water which moved quickly +between the rocky channel of the Lower Isisi caught something of the +blue, though the thick green of elephant grass by the water's edge and +the overhanging spread of gum trees took away from the clarity of +reflection. + +There was, too, a gentle breeze and a pleasing absence of flies, so that +a man might get under the red and white striped awning of the _Zaire_ +and think or read or dream dreams, and find life a pleasant experience, +and something to be thankful for. + +Such a day does not often come upon the river, but if it does, the deep +channel of the Isisi focuses all the joy of it. Here the river runs as +straight as a canal for six miles, the current swifter and stronger +between the guiding banks than elsewhere. There are rocks, charted and +known, for the bed of the river undergoes no change, the swift waters +carry no sands to choke the fairway, navigation is largely a matter of +engine power and rule of thumb. Going slowly up stream a little more +than two knots an hour, the _Zaire_ was for once a pleasure steamer. Her +long-barrelled Hotchkiss guns were hidden in their canvas jackets, the +Maxims were lashed to the side of the bridge out of sight, and +Lieutenant Augustus Tibbetts, who sprawled in a big wicker-work chair +with an illustrated paper on his knees, a nasal-toned phonograph at his +feet, and a long glass of lemon squash at his elbow, had little to do +but pass the pleasant hours in the most pleasant occupation he could +conceive, which was the posting of a diary, which he hoped on some +future occasion to publish. + +A shout, quick and sharp, brought him to his feet, a stiffly +outstretched hand pointed to the waters. + +"What the dooce----" demanded Bones indignantly, and looked over the +side.... He saw the pitiful thing that rolled slowly in the swift +current, and the homely face of Bones hardened. + +"Damn," he said, and the wheel of the _Zaire_ spun, and the little boat +came broadside to the stream before the threshing wheel got purchase on +the water. + +It was Bones' sinewy hand that gripped the poor arm and brought the body +to the side of the canoe into which he had jumped as the boat came +round. + +"Um," said Bones, seeing what he saw; "who knows this man?" + +"Lord," said a wooding man, "this is B'chumbiri who was mad, and he +lived in the village near by." + +"There will we go," said Bones, very gravely. + +Now all the people of M'fa knew that the father of B'chumbiri and his +uncle had put away the tiresome youth with his headache and his silly +talk, and when there came news that the _Zaire_ was beating her way to +the village there was a hasty _likambo_ of the eldermen. + +"Since this is neither Sandi nor M'ilitani who comes," said the chief, +an old man, N'jela ("the Bringer"), "but Moon-in-the-Eye, who is a +child, let us say that B'chumbiri fell into the water so that the +crocodiles had him, and if he asks us who slew B'chumbiri--for it may be +that he knows--let none speak, and afterwards we will tell M'ilitani +that we did not understand him." + +With this arrangement all agreed; for surely here was a palaver not to +be feared. + +Bones came with his escort of Houssas. + +From the dark interiors of thatched huts men and women watched his thin +figure going up the street, and laughed. + +Nor did they laugh softly. Bones heard the chuckles of unseen people, +divined that contempt, and his lips trembled. He felt an immense +loneliness--all the weight of government was pressed down upon his head, +it overwhelmed, it smothered him. + +Yet he kept a tight hold upon himself, and by a supreme effort of will +showed no sign of his perturbation. + +The palaver was of little value to Bones; the village was blandly +innocent of murder or knowledge of murder. More than this, all men +stoutly swore that the thing that lay upon the foreshore for +identification, surrounded by a crowd of frowning and frightened little +boys lured by the very gruesomeness of the spectacle, was unknown, and +laughed openly at the suggestion that it was B'chumbiri, who (said they) +had gone a Journey into the forest. + +There was little short of open mockery and defiance when they pointed +out certain indications that went to prove that this man was not of the +Akasava, but of the higher Isisi. + +So Bones' visit was fruitless. + +He dismissed the palaver and walked back to his ship, and worked the +river, village by village, with no more satisfactory result. That night +in the little town of M'fa there was a dance and a jubilation to +celebrate the cunning of a people who had outwitted and overawed the +lords of the land, but the next day came Bosambo, who had established a +system of espionage more far-reaching, and possibly more effective, than +the service which the Government had instituted. + +Liberties they might take with Bones; but they sat discomforted in +palaver before this alien chief, swathed in monkey tails, his shield in +one hand, and his bunch of spears in the other. + +"All things I know," said Bosambo, when they told him what they had to +tell, "and it has come to me that you have spoken lightly of Tibbetti, +who is my friend and my master, and is well beloved of Sandi. Also they +tell me that you smiled at him. Now I tell you there will come a day +when you will not smile, and that day is near at hand." + +"Lord," said the chief, "he made with us a foolish palaver, believing +that we had put away B'chumbiri." + +"And he shall return to that foolish palaver," said Bosambo grimly, "and +if he goes away unsatisfied, behold I will come, and I will take your +old men, and I will hang them by hooks into a tree and roast their feet. +For if there is no Sandi and no law, behold I am Sandi and I law, doing +the will of a certain bearded king, Togi-tani." + +He left the village of M'fa a little unhappy for the space of a day, +when, native-like, they forgot all that he had said. + +In the meantime, up and down the river went Bones, palavers which lasted +from sunrise to sunset being his portion. + +He had in his mind one vital fact, that for the honour of his race and +for the credit of his administration he must bring to justice the man +who slew the thing which he had found in the river. Chiefs and elders +met him with scarcely concealed scorn, and waited expectantly to hear +his strong, foreign language. But in this they were disappointed, for +Bones spoke nothing but the language of the river, and little of it. + +He went on board the _Zaire_ on the ninth night after his discovery, +dispirited and sick at heart. + +"It seems to me, Ahmet," he said to the Houssa sergeant who stood +waiting silently by the table where his meagre dinner was laid, "that no +man speaks the truth in this cursed land, and that they do not fear me +as they fear Sandi." + +"Lord, it is so," said Ahmet; "for, as your lordship knows, Sandi was +very terrible, and then, O Tibbetti, he is an older man, very wise in +the ways of these people, and very cunning to see their heart. All great +trees grow slowly, O my lord! and that which springs up in a night dies +in a day." + +Bones pondered this for a while, then: + +"Wake me at dawn," he said. "I go back to M'fa for the last palaver, and +if this palaver be a bad one, be sure you shall not see my face again +upon the river." + +Bones spoke truly, his resignation, written in his sprawling hand, lay +enveloped and sealed in his cabin ready for dispatch. He stopped his +steamer at a village six miles from M'fa, and sent a party of Houssas to +the village with a message. + +The chief was to summon all eldermen, and all men responsible to the +Government, the wearers of medals and the holders of rights, all landmen +and leaders of hunters, the captains of spears, and the first headmen. +Even to the witch doctors he called together. + +"O soldier!" said the chief, dubiously, "what happens to me if I do not +obey his commands? For my men are weary, having hunted in the forest, +and my chiefs do not like long palavers concerning law." + +"That may be," said Ahmet, calmly. "But when my lord calls you to +palaver you must obey, otherwise I take you, I and my strong men, to the +Village of Irons, there to rest for a while to my lord's pleasure." + +So the chief sent messengers and rattled his _lokali_ to some purpose, +bringing headmen and witch doctors, little and great chiefs, and +spearmen of quality, to squat about the palaver house on the little hill +to the east of the village. + +Bones came with an escort of four men. He walked slowly up the cut steps +in the hillside and sat upon the stool to the chief's right; and no +sooner had he seated himself than, without preliminary, he began to +speak. And he spoke of Sanders, of his splendour and his power; of his +love for all people and his land, and also M'ilitani, who these men +respected because of his devilish blue eyes. + +At first he spoke slowly, because he found a difficulty in breathing, +and then as he found himself, grew more and more lucid and took a larger +grasp of the language. + +"Now," said he, "I come to you, being young in the service of the +Government, and unworthy to tread in my lord Sandi's way. Yet I hold the +laws in my two hands even as Sandi held them, for laws do not change +with men, neither does the sun change whatever be the land upon which +it shines. Now, I say to you and to all men, deliver to me the slayer of +B'chumbiri that I may deal with him according to the law." + +There was a dead silence, and Bones waited. + +Then the silence grew into a whisper, from a whisper into a babble of +suppressed talk, and finally somebody laughed. Bones stood up, for this +was his supreme moment. + +"Come out to me, O killer!" he said softly, "for who am I that I can +injure you? Did I not hear some voice say _g'la_, and is not _g'la_ the +name of a fool? O, wise and brave men of the Akasava who sit there +quietly, daring not so much as to hit a finger before one who is a +fool!" + +Again the silence fell. Bones, his helmet on the back of his head, his +hands thrust into his pockets, came a little way down the hill towards +the semi-circle of waiting eldermen. + +"O, brave men!" he went on, "O, wonderful seeker of danger! Behold! I, +_g'la_, a fool, stand before you and yet the killer of B'chumbiri sits +trembling and will not rise before me, fearing my vengeance. Am I so +terrible?" + +His wide open eyes were fixed upon the uncle of B'chumbiri, and the old +man returned the gaze defiantly. + +"Am I so terrible?" Bones went on, gently. "Do men fear me when I walk? +Or run to their huts at the sound of my puc-a-puc? Do women wring their +hands when I pass?" + +Again there was a little titter, but M'gobo, the uncle of B'chumbiri, +grimacing now in his rage, was not amongst the laughers. + +"Yet the brave one who slew----" + +M'gobo sprang to his feet. + +"Lord," he said harshly, "why do you put all men to shame for your +sport?" + +"This is no sport, M'gobo," answered Bones quickly. "This is a palaver, +a killing palaver. Was it a woman who slew B'chumbiri? so that she is +not present at this palaver. Lo, then I go to hold council with women!" + +M'gobo's face was all distorted like a man stricken with paralysis. + +"Tibbetti!" he said, "I slew B'chumbiri--according to custom--and I will +answer to Sandi, who is a man, and understands such palavers." + +"Think well," said Bones, deathly white, "think well, O man, before you +say this." + +"I killed him, O fool," said M'gobo loudly, "though his father turned +woman at the last--with these hands I cut him, using two knives----" + +"Damn you!" said Bones, and shot him dead. + + * * * * * + +Hamilton, so far convalescent that he could smoke a cigarette, heard the +account without interruption. + +"So there you are, sir," said Bones at the side. "An' I felt like a +jolly old murderer, but, dear old officer, what was I to do?" + +Still Hamilton said nothing, and Bones shifted uncomfortably. + +"For goodness gracious sake don't sit there like a bally old owl," he +said, fretfully. "Was I wrong?" + +Hamilton smiled. + +"You're a jolly old commissioner, sir," he mimicked, "and for two pins +I'd mention you in dispatches." + +Bones examined the piping of his khaki jacket and extracted the pins. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE MAN WHO DID NOT SLEEP + + +No doubt whatever but that Lieutenant Tibbetts of the Houssas had a +pretty taste for romance. It led him to exercise certain latent powers +of imagination and to garnish his voluminous correspondence with details +of happenings which had no very solid foundation in fact. + +On one occasion he had called down the heavy sarcasm of his superior +officer by a reference to lions--a reference which Hamilton's sister had +seen and, in the innocence of her heart, had referred to in a letter to +her brother. + +Whereupon Bones swore to himself that he would carefully avoid +corresponding with any person who might have the remotest acquaintance +with the remotest of Hamilton's relatives. + +Every mail night Captain Hamilton underwent a cross-examination which at +once baffled and annoyed him. + +Picture a great room, the walls of varnished match-boarding, the bare +floor covered in patches by skins. There are twelve windows covered +with fine mesh wire and looking out to the broad verandah which runs +round the bungalow. The furniture is mainly wicker work, a table or two +bearing framed photographs (one has been cleared for the huge gramophone +which Bones has introduced to the peaceful life of headquarters). There +are no pictures on the walls save the inevitable five--Queen Victoria, +King Edward, Queen Alexandra, and in a place of honour above the door +the King and his Consort. + +A great oil lamp hangs from the centre of the boarded ceiling, and under +this the big solid table at either side of which two officers write +silently and industriously, for the morrow brings the mail boat. + +Silent until Bones looked up thoughtfully. + +"Do you know the Gripps, of Beckstead, dear old fellow?" + +"No." + +"None of your people know 'em?" hopefully. + +"No--how the dickens do I know?" + +"Don't get chuffy, dear old chap." + +Then would follow another silence, until---- + +"Do you happen to be acquainted with the Lomands of Fife?" + +"No." + +"I suppose none of your people know 'em?" + +Hamilton would put down his pen, resignation on his face. + +"I have never heard of the Lomands--unless you refer to the Loch +Lomonds; nor to the best of my knowledge and belief are any of my +relations in blood or in law in any way acquainted with them." + +"Cheer oh!" said Bones, gratefully. + +Another ten minutes, and then: + +"You don't know the Adamses of Oxford, do you, sir?" + +Hamilton, in the midst of his weekly report, chucked down his pen. + +"No; nor the Eves of Cambridge, nor the Serpents of Eton, nor the Angels +of Harrow." + +"I suppose----" began Bones. + +"Nor are my relations on speaking terms with them. They don't know the +Adamses, nor the Cains, nor the Abels, nor the Moseses, nor the Noahs." + +"That's all I wanted to know, sir," said an injured Bones. "There's no +need to peeve, sir." + +Step by step Bones was compiling a directory of people to whom he might +write without restraint, providing he avoided mythical lion hunts and +confined himself to anecdotes which were suggestively complimentary to +himself. + +Thus he wrote to one pal of his at Biggestow to the effect that he was +known to the natives as "The-Man-Who-Never-Sleeps," meaning thereby that +he was a most vigilant and relentless officer, and the recipients of +this information, fired with a sort of local patriotism, sent the +remarkable statement to the _Biggestow Herald and Observer and Hindhead +Guardian_, thereby upsetting all Bones' artful calculations. + +"What the devil does 'Man-Who-Never-Sleeps' mean?" asked a puzzled +Hamilton. + +"Dear old fellow," said Bones, incoherently, "don't let's discuss it ... +I can't understand how these things get into the bally papers." + +"If," said Hamilton, turning the cutting over in his hand, "if they +called you 'The-Man-Who-Jaws-So-Much-That-Nobody-Can-Sleep,' I'd +understand it, or if they called you +'The-Man-Sleeps-With-His-Mouth-Open-Emitting-Hideous-Noises,' I could +understand it." + +"The fact is, sir," said Bones, in a moment of inspiration, "I'm an +awfully light sleeper--in fact, sir, I'm one of those chaps who can get +along with a couple of hours' sleep--I can sleep anywhere at any +time--dear old Wellin'ton was similarly gifted--in fact, sir, there are +one or two points of resemblance between Wellington and I, which you +might have noticed, sir." + +"Speak no ill of the dead," reproved Hamilton; "beyond your eccentric +noses I see no points of resemblance." + +It was on a morning following the dispatch of the mail that Hamilton +took a turn along the firm sands to settle in his mind the problem of a +certain Middle Island. + +Middle Islands, that is to say the innumerable patches of land which +sprinkle the river in its broad places, were a never-ending problem to +Sanders and his successor. Upon these Middle Islands the dead were laid +to rest--from the river you saw the graves with fluttering ragged flags +of white cloth planted about them--and the right of burial was a matter +of dispute when the mainland at one side of the river was Isisi land, +and Akasava the other. Also some of the larger Middle Islands were +colonized. + +Hamilton had news of a coming palaver in relation to one of these. + +Now, on the river, it is customary for all who desire inter-tribal +palavers to announce their intention loudly and insistently. And if +Sanders had no objection he made no move, if he did not think the +palaver desirable he stopped it. It was a simple arrangement, and it +worked. + +Hamilton came back from his four-mile constitutional satisfied in his +mind that the palaver should be held. Moreover, they had, on this +occasion, asked permission. He could grant this with an easy mind, being +due in the neighbourhood of the disputed territory in the course of a +week. + +It seemed that an Isisi fisherman had been spearing in Akasava waters, +and had, moreover, settled, he and his family to the number of forty, on +Akasava territory. Whereupon an Akasava fishing community, whose rights +the intruder had violated, rose up in its wrath and beat Issmeri with +sticks. + +Then the king of the Isisi sent a messenger to the king of Akasava +begging him to stay his hand "against my lawful people, for know this, +Iberi, that I have a thousand spears and young men eager for fire." + +And Iberi replied with marked unpleasantness that there were in the +Akasava territory two thousand spears no less inclined to slaughter. + +In a moment of admirable moderation, significant of the change which Mr. +Commissioner Sanders had wrought in these warlike peoples, they accepted +Hamilton's suggestion--sent by special envoy--and held a "small +palaver," agreeing that the question of the disputed fishing ground +should be settled by a third person. + +And they chose Bosambo, paramount and magnificent chief of the Ochori, +as arbitrator. Now, it was singularly unfortunate that the question was +ever debatable. And yet it was, for the fishing ground in question was +off one of the many Middle Islands. In this case the island was occupied +by Akasava fishermen on the one shore and by the intruding Isisi on the +other. If you can imagine a big "Y" and over it a little "o" and over +that again an inverted "Y" thus "+" and drawing this you prolong the +four prongs of the Y's, you have a rough idea of the topography of the +place. To the left of the lower "Y" mark the word "Isisi," to the right +the word "Akasava" until you reach a place where the two right hand +prongs meet, and here you draw a line and call all above it "Ochori." +The "o" in the centre is the middle island--set in a shallow lake +through which the river (the stalk, of the Y's) runs. + +Bosambo came down in state with ten canoes filled with counsellors and +bodyguard. He camped on the disputed ground, and was met thereon by the +chiefs affected. + +"O, Iberi and T'lingi!" said he, as he stepped ashore, "I come in peace, +bringing all my wonderful counsellors, that I may make you as brothers, +for as you know I have a white man's way of knowing all their magic, and +being a brother in blood to our Lord Tibbetti, Moon-in-the-Eye." + +"This we know, Bosambo," said Iberi, looking askance at the size of +Bosambo's retinue, "and my stomach is proud that you bring so vast an +army of high men to us, for I see that you have brought rich food for +them." + +He saw nothing of the sort, but he wanted things made plain at the +beginning. + +"Lord Iberi," said Bosambo, loftily, "I bring no food, for that would +have been shameful, and men would have said: 'Iberi is a mean man who +starves the guests of his house.' But only one half of my wise people +shall sit in your huts, Iberi, and the other half will rest with T'lingi +of the Akasava, and feed according to law. And behold, chiefs and +headmen, I am a very just man not to be turned this way or that by the +giving of gifts or by kindness shown to my people. Yet my heart is so +human and so filled with tenderness for my people, that I ask you not to +feed them too richly or give them presents of beauty, lest my noble mind +be influenced." + +Whereupon his forces were divided, and each chief ransacked his land for +delicacies to feed them. + +It was a long palaver--too long for the chiefs. + +Was the island Akasava or Isisi? Old men of either nation testified with +oaths and swearings of death and other high matters that it was both. + +From dawn to sunset Bosambo sat in the thatched palaver house, and on +either side of him was a brass pot into which he tossed from time to +time a grain of corn. + +And every grain stood for a successful argument in favour of one or the +other of the contestants--the pot to the right being for the Akasava, +and that to the left for the Isisi. + +And the night was given up to festivity, to the dancing of girls and the +telling of stories and other noble exercises. + +On the tenth day Iberi met T'lingi secretly. + +"T'lingi," said Iberi, "it seems to me that this island is not worth the +keeping if we have to feast this thief Bosambo and search our lands for +his pleasure." + +"Lord Iberi," agreed his rival, "that is also in my mind--let us go to +this robber of our food and say the palaver shall finish to-morrow, for +I do not care whether the island is yours or mine if we can send Bosambo +back to his land." + +"You speak my mind," said Iberi, and on the morrow they were blunt to +the point of rudeness. + +Whereupon Bosambo delivered judgment. + +"Many stories have been told," said he, "also many lies, and in my +wisdom I cannot tell which is lie and which is truth. Moreover, the +grains of corn are equal in each pot. Now, this I say, in the name of +my uncle Sandi, and my brother Tibbetti (who is secretly married to my +sister's cousin), that neither Akasava nor Isisi shall sit in this +island for a hundred years." + +"Lord, you are wise," said the Akasava chief, well satisfied, and Iberi +was no less cheered, but asked: "Who shall keep this island free from +Akasava or Isisi? For men may come and there will be other palavers and +perhaps fighting?" + +"That I have thought of," said Bosambo, "and so I will raise a village +of my own people on this island, and put a guard of a hundred men--all +this I will do because I love you both--the palaver is finished." + +He rose in his stately way, and with his drums beating and the bright +spearheads of his young men a-glitter in the evening sunlight, embarked +in his ten canoes, having expanded his territory without loss to himself +like the Imperialist he was. + +For two days the chiefs of the Akasava and the Isisi were satisfied with +the justice of an award which robbed them both without giving an +advantage to either. Then an uneasy realization of their loss dawned +upon them. Then followed a swift exchange of messages and Bosambo's +colonization scheme was unpleasantly checked. + +Hamilton was on the little lake which is at the end of the N'gini River +when he heard of the trouble, and from the high hills at the far end of +the lake sent a helio message staring and blinking across the waste. + +Bones, fishing in the river below Ikan, picked up the instructions, and +went flying up the river as fast as the new naphtha launch could carry +him. + +He arrived in time to cover the shattered remnants of Bosambo's fleet as +they were being swept northward from whence they came. + +Bones went inshore to the island, the water jacket of a Maxim gun +exposed over the bow, but there was no opposition. + +"What the dooce is all this about--hey?" demanded Lieutenant Tibbetts +fiercely, and Iberi, doubly uneasy at the sound of an unaccustomed +language, stood on one leg in his embarrassment. + +"Lord, the thief Bosambo----" he began, and told the story. + +"Lord," he concluded humbly, "I say all this though Bosambo is your +relation since you have secretly married his sister's cousin." + +Whereupon Bones went very red and stammered and spluttered in such a way +that the chief knew for sure that Bosambo had spoken the truth. + +Bones, as I have said before, was no fool. He confirmed Bosambo's order +for the evacuation of the island, but left a Houssa guard to hold it. + +Then he hurried north to the Ochori. + +Bosambo formed his royal procession, but there was no occasion for it, +for Bones was in no processional mood. + +"What the dooce do you mean, sir?" demanded a glaring and threatening +Bones, his helmet over his neck, his arms akimbo. "What do you mean, +sir, by saying I'm married to your infernal aunt?" + +"Sah," said Bosambo, virtuous and innocent, "I no savvy you--I no +compreney, sah! You lib for my house--I give you fine t'ings. I make um +moosic, sah----" + +"You're a jolly old rotter, Bosambo!" said Bones, shaking his finger in +the chief's face. "I could punish you awfully for telling wicked +stories, Bosambo. I'm disgusted with you, I am indeed." + +"Lord who never sleeps," began Bosambo, humbly. + +"Hey?" + +Bones stared at the other in amazement, suspicion, hope, and +gratification in his face. + +"O, Bosambo," said he mildly, and speaking in the native tongue, "why do +you call me by that name?" + +Now, Bosambo in his innocence had used a phrase (_M'wani-m'wani_) which +signifies "the sleepless one," and also stands in the vernacular for +"busy-body," or one who is eternally concerned with other people's +business. + +"Lord," said Bosambo, hastily, "by this name are you known from the +mountains to the sea. Thus all men speak of you, saying: 'This is he who +does not sleep but watches all the time.'" + +Bones was impressed, he was flattered, and he ran his finger between the +collar of his uniform jacket and his scraggy neck as one will do who is +embarrassed by praise and would appear unconcerned under the ordeal. + +"So men call me, Bosambo," said he carelessly "though my lord M'ilitani +does not know this--therefore in the day when M'ilitani comes, speak of +me as _M'wani-m'wani_ that he may know of whom men speak when they say +'the sleepless one.'" + +Everybody knows that _Cala cala_ great chiefs had stored against the +hour of their need certain stocks of ivory. + +Dead ivory it is called because it had been so long cut, but good cow +ivory, closer in grain than the bull elephant brought to the hunter, +more turnable, and of greater value. + +There is no middle island on the river about which some legend or buried +treasure does not float. + +Hamilton, hurrying forward to the support of his second-in-command, +stopped long enough to interview two sulky chiefs. + +"What palaver is this?" he demanded of Iberi, "that you carry your +spears to a killing? For is not the river big enough for all, and are +there no burying-places for your old men that you should fight so +fiercely?" + +"Lord," confessed Iberi, "upon that island is a treasure which has been +hidden from the beginning of time, and that is the truth--N'Yango!" + +Now, no man swears by his mother unless he is speaking straightly, and +Hamilton understood. + +"Never have I spoken of this to the Chief of the Isisi," Iberi went on, +"nor he to me, yet we know because of certain wise sayings that the +treasure stays and young men of our houses have searched very diligently +though secretly. Also Bosambo knows, for he is a cunning man, and when +we found he had put his warriors to the seeking we fought him, lord, for +though the treasure may be Isisi or Akasava, of this I am sure it is not +of the Ochori." + +Hamilton came to the Ochori city to find a red-eyed Bones stalking +majestically up and down the beach. + +"What is the matter with you?" demanded Hamilton. "Fever?" + +"Not at all," replied Bones, huskily; but with a fine carelessness. + +"You look as if you hadn't had a sleep for months," said Hamilton. + +Bones shrugged his shoulders. + +"Dear old fellow," said he, "it isn't for nothing that I'm called 'the +sleepless one'--don't make sceptical noises, dear old officer, but +pursue your inquiries among the indigenous natives, especially +Bosambo--an hour is all I want--just a bit of a snooze and a bath and +I'm bright an' vigilant." + +"Take your hour," said Hamilton briefly. "You'll need it." + +His interview with Bosambo was short and, for Bosambo, painful. +Nevertheless he unbent in the end to give the chief a job after his +heart. + +Launch and steamer turned their noses down the stream, and at sunset +came to the island. In the morning, Hamilton conducted a search which +extended from shore to shore and he came upon the cairn unexpectedly +after a two hours' search. He uncovered two tons of ivory, wrapped in +rotten native cloth. + +"There will be trouble over this," he said, thoughtfully, surveying the +yellow tusks. "I'll go downstream to the Isisi and collect information, +unless these beggars can establish their claim we will bag this lot for +government." + +He left Bones and one orderly on the island. + +"I shall be gone two days," he said. "I must send the launch to bring +Iberi to me; keep your eyes peeled." + +"Sir," said Bones, blinking and suppressing a yawn with difficulty, "you +can trust the sleepless one." + +He had his tent pitched before the cairn, and in the shade of a great +gum he seated himself in his canvas chair.... He looked up and struggled +to his feet. He was half dead with weariness, for the whole of the +previous night, while Bosambo snored in his hut, Bones, pinching +himself, had wandered up and down the street of the city qualifying for +his title. + +Now, as he rose unsteadily to his feet, it was to confront +Bosambo--Bosambo with four canoes grounded on the sandy beach of the +island. + +"Hello, Bosambo!" yawned Bones. + +"O Sleepless One," said Bosambo humbly, "though I came in silence yet +you heard me, and your bright eyes saw me in the little-light." + +"Little-light" it was, for the sun had gone down. + +"Go now, Bosambo," said Bones, "for it is not lawful that you should be +here." + +He looked around for Ahmet, his orderly, but Ahmet was snoring like a +pig. + +"Lord, that I know," said Bosambo, "yet I came because my heart is sad +and I have sorrow in my stomach. For did I not say that you had married +my aunt?" + +"Now listen whilst I tell you the full story of my wickedness, and of my +aunt who married a white lord----" + +Bones sat down in his chair and laid back his head, listening with +closed eyes. + +"My aunt, O Sleepless One," began Bosambo, and Bones heard the story in +fragments. "... Coast woman ... great lord ... fine drier of cloth...." + +Bosambo droned on in a monotonous tone, and Bones, open-mouthed, his +head rolling from side to side, breathed regularly. + +At a gesture from Bosambo, the man who sat in the canoe slipped lightly +ashore. Bosambo pointed to the cairn, but he himself did not move, nor +did he check his fluent narrative. + +Working with feverish, fervent energy, the men of Bosambo's party loaded +the great tusks in the canoes. At last all the work was finished and +Bosambo rose. + + * * * * * + +"Wake up, Bones." + +Lieutenant Tibbetts stumbled to his feet glaring and grimacing wildly. + +"Parade all correct, sir," he said, "the mail boat has just come in, an' +there's a jolly old salmon for supper." + +"Wake up, you dreaming devil," said Hamilton. + +Bones looked around. In the bright moonlight he saw the _Zaire_ moored +to the shelving beach, saw Hamilton, and turned his head to the empty +cairn. + +"Good Lord!" he gasped. + +"O Sleepless One!" said Hamilton softly, "O bright eyes!" + +Bones went blundering to the cairn, made a closer inspection, and came +slowly back. + +"There's only one thing for me to do, sir," he said, saluting. "As an +officer an' a gentleman, I must blow my brains out." + +"Brains!" said Hamilton scornfully. + + * * * * * + +"As a matter of fact I sent Bosambo to collect the ivory which I shall +divide amongst the three chiefs--it's perished ivory, anyhow; and he had +my written authority to take it, but being a born thief he preferred to +steal it; you'll find it stacked in your cabin, Bones." + +"In my cabin, sir!" said an indignant Bones; "there isn't room in my +cabin, sir. How the dickens am I going to sleep?" + + + THE END + + + + + POPULAR NOVELS + + BY + + EDGAR WALLACE + + PUBLISHED BY + + WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED. + + _In Various Editions_. + + SANDERS OF THE RIVER + BONES + BOSAMBO OF THE RIVER + BONES IN LONDON + THE KEEPERS OF THE KING'S PEACE + THE COUNCIL OF JUSTICE + THE DUKE IN THE SUBURBS + THE PEOPLE OF THE RIVER + DOWN UNDER DONOVAN + PRIVATE SELBY + THE ADMIRABLE CARFEW + THE MAN WHO BOUGHT LONDON + THE JUST MEN OF CORDOVA + THE SECRET HOUSE + KATE, PLUS TEN + LIEUTENANT BONES + THE ADVENTURES OF HEINE + JACK O' JUDGMENT + THE DAFFODIL MYSTERY + THE NINE BEARS + THE BOOK OF ALL POWER + MR. JUSTICE MAXELL + THE BOOKS OF BART + THE DARK EYES OF LONDON + CHICK + SANDI, THE KING-MAKER + THE THREE OAK MYSTERY + THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE FROG + BLUE HAND + GREY TIMOTHY + A DEBT DISCHARGED + THOSE FOLK OF BULBORO' + THE MAN WHO WAS NOBODY + THE GREEN RUST + THE FOURTH PLAGUE + THE RIVER OF STARS + + _Made and Printed in Great Britain by_ + WARD, LOCK & CO., LIMITED, LONDON. + + TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES + +Every effort has been made to remain true to the original text; minor +changes have been made to regularize spelling and hyphenation within the +book. The _ character has been used to indicate that the enclosed +word(s) were originally typeset as italic font; on line 7136, where an +inverted "Y" was present in the original text, this character has been +replaced with a "+". + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bones, by Edgar Wallace + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BONES *** + +***** This file should be named 24450.txt or 24450.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/4/5/24450/ + +Produced by D Alexander and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +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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