Sanders of the River

o be the son of his father; otherwise I am fr

competitive merit could hope to contend with, and when the stories of atrocities in the district of Lukati began to leak out and questions were asked in Parliament, George opened his expensively-bound

nstructing him in a subject on which he was so thoroughly conversant, promised; but the Courier and Echo office did not see him, and the librarian of the newspaper, who had prepared a really valuable dossier of newspaper cuttings, pamphlets, maps, and health

se of the Hon. George Tackle as an awful warning to all newspaper proprie

lty against natives, and that the Commissioner of the district was responsible for the whippings and the torture. He th

he visited the district and left it tranquil, and for Carter, his deputy, whom he left beh

le, and the whole-hearted way they were taking up and supporting the new régime, the chief of the

village with his hands in his coat pockets and his big white helmet

Olari, "I have brought

trange warriors carrying their shields and

er n

ttle black fetish that my father carries in his poc

"that I have not got the fetish with me-if they w

Carter, and the six warriors sprang forward tog

was sitting on his broad verandah at headquarters when the dusty messenger came. He rose with pursed lips and fro

r chap!" was al

ning documents, inspecting Houssas, attending dinner parties, as though Carter had never

hundred thousand pounds to avenge the death of a subordinate official. Of this fact Sanders was well aware, so he employed his time in collecting and authenticating the names of Carter's assassins. Wh

shame upon me," he said; "but principa

tch-doctor; "a very bad spell, and upon thes

ottles of square-face and a piece of prope

n a whisper, and the men muttered the news

e chief, i

women, and came out of his hut in

also were six men who helped in the slaying of Carter. That they did not die was no fault of the wit

ns were cheap at the price, and that it would give him gre

ant, was taken ill. There was no evidence of fever

oo had offended the witch-doctor Kelebi, and t

as into the bush and int

for believing you to be a f

y magic cannot cross mountains, otherwis

cerned with magic nearer at hand, and I must tell y

tically, "under those circu

de back to headquarters, to find his

environment in which Sanders spent the greater part of his life, and because you will appreci

There was a steamer lying three miles out (only in five fathoms of water at that), and Sanders, through his glasses, recognised her as the Elder Dempster boat that brought the monthly mail. Since there were no let

the spectacle of the Hon. George being carrie

e pith helmet, smoothed the creases from his immacula

-George Tackle." He smiled, as though to say m

moniously for him. He felt t

governor is the proprietor of the Courier and Echo, and so he thought I'd better

ning on him. "I gather that you are a

act

ve come to i

and all that," said t

he treatment of the nativ

man made an ind

, being somewhat embarrassed by the realisation that the man,

newspapers," sai

eorge eagerly, "we can make it all

tle overdone, but he held out his hand. "Well

Tackle was fra

, "where-how--Hang it al

er

my kit is on sho

ght I'd p

I did t

on your neck an

xactly

folding his napkin, "I'm not s

said the Hon. G

ibility. You can pitch your tent just wherever you li

to the Administrator," sai

grandmother's maiden aunt

sisi Bassam, and chuckled. George would go straight to the Administrator, and w

on of atrocities in his district, and he was puzzled to account for the rumours that had brought th

rd who has just gone from here," was his command

vil you were driving at. An overwhelming curiosity directs me to invite you to s

ad this with a sel

e Elder Dempster captain, "is to show 'em you'l

nothing. Once more the special correspondent's mountain of baggage was embarked in

r the side of his bridge, watched the s

-share of the trouble he's going to find for five hundred of the best. Is that ble

uniformed policemen awaiting him on the smooth beach to handle h

nders awkwardly; but the magna

," he said,

s display. Still more so was he when the correspo

ncerned if I pursued an independent investigation. I shall endeavour as far as po

aid Sanders rudely and impa

ask you two questions. Where are these

of Lukati," sai

nders. "Who was the

book. "You understand that I'd really much rather not discuss the ma

nders, and hi

o of Ma

d!" said

ases, and with every one a line

s finished the Comm

u which will save you a great

n't," said George, in h

ers; and went away whi

e put it to the

he fact from you-there is O'Neill, in charge of the Houssas; the doctor, Kennedy, the cha

friends

rsonal f

gravely, "perhaps it would be

ish," sai

cruited from the neighbouring villages, the Hon. Geor

t parting, "and I must warn you that the Government wi

rge knowingly, "but I am not to b

ort; "but the last traveller who was 'chopped' in the bush

at the end of the third day's march came to the villag

which was one of the first mistakes he made, for he should have sent for the chief to call upon him; and if he

the doctor's house, engaged, through the medium of the interpreter he had bro

preter, "that I am a great white chi

od man?" as

the recollection of San

George eagerly. "Doe

ned the witch-doctor with relish, but t

, wagging his head warningly; neverthel

, respected native

a man to be drowned, the man's name I forget; on another occasion he burned a worthy native alive for refusing to guide him and

e to time he comes demanding money and crops, and if he does not rece

tatement, for Sanders finds no little difficulty in c

s head when he

said, "look

d that aged villain looked surprised, an

sh him somet'ing," s

sh

present-bo

the knowledge that he is rendering a service to humanity

ply, which the interpreter very wisel

s?" asked the captain of

ting a death-roll by the side of which the records of the Gre

is he

-and I am worried"; a

en good crops, and good crops mean idleness, and idleness means mischief. Also there had been devil

oodily; "and the chances point to rebellion--What do you say? Shall we

te to advise you. If things go wrong you'll get the kic

d forty men,"

ims," sugges

ugle blared through the Houssas' lines, and Sanders

ad no idea that he was anything bu

ers' brutality-stories which, as George wrote, "if true, must of necessi

meant, I am not

d intended to stay at the most three days, but ther

s interpreter-as big a fool as himself-could not interpret omens. George knew nothing of the significance of a dance in which no less than six witch-doctors took part, or the history of the tumble-down hut that

ellency that the natives maintain the

uty Commissioner; and the natives, with their sup

t he detected in his host a certain scarcely-veiled insolence of ton

e to Olari daily from long distances, and once he was awakened in the middle of the night by screams. He jumped out of bed and pushed aside the fly of his tent to see half a dozen naked women dragged through the st

nterview) he paraded his four Houssas and such of hi

ve still much to tell you of the devilishness of Sandi. Moreover," said the chief, "to-night there is to be a great dance in

go," said Olari, "for you a

as if by magic, twenty travel-stained Houssas. They stood at attention for a moment, then o

face went a dirty grey. Sanders strolled leisurely along toward the group. He was uns

ently; and the chi

d Sanders, "you have

before me, and his father," s

?" asked Sanders, speaking

ri; "he died of the sicknes

g his head, "surely you also s

round for a w

to the other in perplexity, and he flu

"save me from this

as a Houssa servant reached out his hand to the chief, the son of the h

isgivings and fears concerning the chief, "I should

sharply; and the Houssa gripped Olari

e Tackle, in impotent wrath. "What are you going t

t the Houssas caught

ent-this was a month after, and he was going

ved in the nick of time, you would have done all the suffering-they were

England ring with your infamy. The condition

affairs in the district of Lukati, he did not even trouble to find out where Lukati was. As you have been told, gentlemen of the jury, there are no less than four Lukatis in West Africa, the one in Togoland being the district in which it was intended the defendant should go. How he came to mistake Lukati of British West Africa for

s nine thousand seven h