Part 24 (1/2)

Elebi was known to Sanders as a native evangelist of the tornado type, a thunderous, voluble sub-minister of the service; he had, in his ecstatic moments, made many converts But there were days of reaction, when Elebi sulked in his mud hut, and reviewed Christianity calion You could not work yourself to a frenzy in it, and then have done with the thing for a week Youfro irkso undone that which you would rather do

”Religion is prison,” grued his broad, black shoulders

In his hut he was in the habit of discarding his European coat for the loin cloth and the blanket, for Elebi was a savage-an i on the River of Devils, he had worked himself up to such a pitch of enthusiastic fervour that he had sed Sanders had him arrested, whipped, and fined a thousand rods Hereafter Elebi had figured in certain English nificently, and his punishe persecution

But the ivory lay buried three days'that sht Three days beyond the river, branching off at a place where there were two graves, the country was reputably full of devils, and Elebi shuddered at the thought; but, being a elist, and, moreover, the proud possessor of a copy of the Epistle to the Roue), he had little to fear He had more to fear froht be expected to range the lands of the Secret River, when the rains had coone

It was supposed that Elebi had one wife, conforirl who ca bowl of fish in her hands was not the wife that the nised as such

”Sikini,” he said, ”I a a journey by canoe”

”In the blessed service?” asked Sikini, who had come under the influence of theof a fire is like a woue,” quoted Elebi; ”and it is easier to keep the lid on a boiling pot than a secret in a woer-tips, and the girl laughed, for she was his favourite wife, and knew that in course of time the information would come to her

”Sikini,” said the man suddenly, ”you know that I have kept you when the Blood Taker would have me put you away”

(Arburt had athe blood of his flock for signs of trynosomiasis)

”You know that for your sake I lied to hi: 'There shall be but one wife in irl nodded, eyeing hi beyond the Secret River, three days' raves”

”What do you seek?” she asked

”There are many teeth in that country,” he said; ”dead ivory that the people brought with the one who is a Breaker of Stones[4] I shall come back rich, and buy many wives who shall wait upon you and serve you, and then I will no longer be Christian, but orshi+p the red fetish asthoughtfully

He told her s that he had not revealed to Arburt-of how the ivory cauarded it, of thebefore the mission lo-koli sounded, he had slipped away in his canoe; and Arburt, when the news caar-for Arburt was huers to arrest Elebi, for it is not a good thing that treasure-hunting natives should go wandering through a strange country, such excursions , to Sanders at any rate, solemn official correspondence, which his soul loathed

Who would follow the fortunes of Elebi must paddle in his wake as far as Okau, where the Barina meets the Lapoi, must take the left river path, past the silent pool of the White Devil, round be reached Here the forest has been destroyed for the sport of the Great Ones; the shore is streith tree trunks, carelessly uprooted and as carelessly tossed aside by the gae or bush; it is a flatof mud, with the marks of pads where the elephant has passed

Elebi drew his canoe up the bank, carefully lifted his cooking-pot, full of living fire, and es and scraps of dead wood Then hepanther caht, and Elebi rose and replenished the fire In the ht for the creek that led to the Secret River, and found it hidden by the hippo grass

Elebi had athered in the village of Tao-to the infinite ee-for Elebi's friends laid hands upon whatsoever they desired, being strangers and well are three to one One, O'Sako, did the chief hold in greatest dread, for he said little, but stalked tragically through the untidy street of Taht, curved execution knife in the crook of his left arleamed in its nakedness, and his muscular arms were devoid of ornamentation His thick hair was plastered with clay till it was like a European woola dust

Once only he condescended to address his host

”You shall find ainst the Lord Elebi's arrival, and they shall lead us to the land of the Secret River”

”But, o to the Secret River, because of the devils”

”Threemen swift of foot, with eyes like the N'Gombi, and mouths silent as the dead”