Sanders of the River

beginning of time. Here is soft, sweet grass, and never a sign of nettle, or rank, evil weed. It is as God made it. Turn the soil with your

at all these long years has been sleeping out of sight-in twenty years, with careful cultiv

he primal sod; you may have had views of roses flouris

though of the wrong colour. He had large ideas on his duty to his fellows; he was inspired by

ioner Sanders with a letter of intr

rgeant, Abiboo, brought a card to him. It was a nice card, rounded at the corne

NNETH M

ary," and "missionary" might mean anything. He looked at the card again and frowned in his perplexity. Somehow the

he?" he

I kick him off?" Abiboo said this very naturally an

"is it thus you speak of God-

n," said Abiboo serenely; "but he is a

osquito boots over his pyj

said wrathfully, "but black mi

ide of the chair to display a silk sock. His finger-tips were touching, and he was gazing with

t his manners were easy, and

y to Sanders and e

d in faultless English, "I hav

d no small talk worth mentioning, "and stand

th a rapidity which will be incomprehensible to any who do not k

e. "I am taking the small towns and villages along the coast, ho

e had been something of a lion in Bayswater society, and where, too, his theologica

may not address the Kano folk nor the Houssas, beca

f-possession, the

into dark plac

the palaver is finished." He turned o

hought s

nd the retiring mis

k up the 'Kenneth

ro smil

by a good Christian white man, who brought me up and

showed h

such cases," he s

Sanders as though nothing had happened. Perhaps he expected to find the Commissioner a little as

the Administration," he sa

ionary, "work of succour and relief.

shortly; and with no other word

ifting of each other's goats, in all which matters they display an energy and an agility truly inexplicable. "He is an Akasava man-he points with his foot," is a prove

way to the river"; and the Akasava warrior, raising a

humour, it is regarded as the acme of mirth-p

deputation, arriving in two canoes in the middle of the night, and awaiting him when he came from his bath to the broad stoep of his h

eople," said the spokesman, "a

ness, "unless the Akasava country has shifted

crops have failed, and there is no fish in the river

rican native does not easily starve, and, moreover, the

l in the Akasava country, yet be more than sufficient in Isisi? Moreover, fish d

man shifte

another the planting season had passed; and, as for the fish, our young men

m our chief asking you to s

founded. For all the eccentric course his daily life took, there was a certain regularity even in its irregularity. Bu

hat you return swiftly to where you came from and carry my

an elder, wrinkled with age, a

less jaws, "that in other lands when men starve the

E

' eyes

ked quickly through the

p of rhinoceros-hide, and the deputation

considerable sign of amusement. That same night the Zaire left for the Akasava country, carry

er with your belongings. In the event of your refusing to comply with thi

rs, Commi

country," said Sanders, "is because you have

ou--" began

anders, "you are not going to work an

le were s

rs sm

," he said grimly, "and that I will take the first st

issionaries scattered up and down the river; for, strange as it may appear, a negro prea

arly well-fed community that had spent a whole week in digging out of the secret hiding-places

s, wickedly, "endet

ent from active life of the Reverend Kenneth McDolan were immediately traceable to his ingenious attempt to engineer a famine in Akasava. But he had sown a seed, the seed of an idea that somebody was responsible for

ion, he met, drifting with the stream, a canoe in which lay a pron

his track. Despite the warning, the man in the canoe made no effort to get out of his way, and since both were going with t

been unceremoniously hauled to the Zaire's side by a boat-hook,

are of the Akasava people; yet that is no reason why y

the man, "that the river is for us all, black and wh

ked his lips

nce I am quick and you are quick, I shall give you ten strokes

e a co

mischief

verend Kenneth McDolan. So far, however, no irreparable mischief had been done, but Sanders was not the kind of man to be caught nappin

became less satisfactory. The Akasava country is unfortunately placed, for it is the very centre terri

tribe to tribe, envoys that stole out from villages by dead of night, of cur

ame a

et journey. He sacrificed a goat and secured good omens; likewise

is chief headsman, and two of his wives, and reached the Akasava city at sunset

ithout a touch of pompousness, "I have c

nodded

with the little clou

for the greater part of an hour,

-naked man, who seemed to sleep, his head u

h the butt of his spear, but he only stirred sleepily, and, th

oor of the hut and went back to his canoe, and the chief of the Akasava stood o

o the river. Just outside the town he had to cross a

, and was armed, and the sleepe

are

ranger," s

e nearer and lo

," he said, and then th

e sentinel made a little sound like the noise a small river makes when it c

, and went on his way to the river. Under the bush he found a canoe, untied the nati

anding on his broad stoep, and before him was the spy, a lit

ety, and they go to make a gre

ah with his head upon his breast,

new their influence up and down the Liberian coast; he had some knowledge of the "silent ones" of Nigeria, and had met the "white faces" in the Kassai. And now the curse had come to his territory

ned to

telling Bosambo, the chief, that I will come to him-the palaver is

land wire running along the seashore, and when it worked it was a great blessing. Fortunately it was in good order now, but there

his message

st Tigili. I will support you with four hundred men and a

nistr

red men and a gunboat more or less would make no difference. There was a hope that one tribe would rise before the other; he could deal with the Akasava; he could deal with the Isisi plus the Akasava;

his walk, and stood still, thinking profoundly, with his head upon

is known is that the Akasava, the N'Gombi, the Isisi, and the Boleki folk w

was

Commissioner away, and though men ran up and down the bank no other sign of him

s, and instantly the lo-koli beat sharply, and the headmen of the villages c

love. But now that he is dead, and there is none to say 'Yea' or 'Nay' to us, the time of which I have spoken to you secretly has come; therefore let us take up our arms a

age which is near to the Ochori border, "is it wise

what he said; besides which," he said, as a thought struck him, "last night I had a dream and saw Sandi; he

r time wa

the great fire of the Akasava burnt redly on the sandy beach to the e

f mustered six hundred spears and three sco

the chief of the Ochori. When rains came in the time of kidding, he who is a foreigner and of no human origin brought many evil persons with him and destro

f-mast. The exact significance of this was lost on the Akasava. Gingerly the little craft felt its way to the sandy strip of beach, a plank was thrust forth, and along it came, very dapper and white, his

ched the debarquement, the chief of the Akasava b

"you do me great honour that you gather your young men to welcome

esmeared with cam-wood, and his was the leisurely step

d by the unexpected vision, followed him, "I perceive that each man has a killi

recovering his wits, "for we go hu

nes of men fastened about their ne

, as he continued his inspection, a

d-there came a spy who told us-that the Ochor

is this story, for I have come straight from the Ochori city, and there I saw nothing but

d in well-simula

Akasava, "perhaps men have told u

e say that I am dead; and, lo! the news has gone around that there is

h the river turn to fire and consume my inmost stomach, though e

rinned in

long journey to the Great Forest, and there are many swamps to be crossed, many

eat Forest is a journey of two months, one to get there and one to return, and is moreover through the most

was broken b

urney in your honour, for if we go

shook

s eyes, but continued, "I will send with you a sergeant of Houssas, that he may carry back to me the story of your prowess"-the light died

ned, eagerly shuffling forward, till they ceased to be

chief, "we will

is face was set, and his eyes held a steely

till he spoke in little more than a whisper, "else your

kily, "though we are bad marche

weariness of the Akasava,

aid significantly; "with sore backs

sava friends, and found the village tenanted by women and old men, and Tigili, the king, in

e, lord?" asked

istled tho

uctions about you