Part 35 (1/2)

”Why you are lonely, I cannot tell,” he said; ”but certainly you did right to leave your father's legions This is a great matter, which needs a palaver of older men”

And he ordered the lo-koli to be sounded and the elders of the village to be asse their own carved stools, and sat about the thatched shelter, where the chief sat in his presidency

Again Iions of warriors as countless as the sand of the river's beach; and the trustful Isisi listened and believed

”And I need this,” said Ie of the river, in such a place that no path passes ht of reat hater ofNature had made for him, and in a hut erected by his new-found friends Other hospitalities he refused

”I have no wish for wives,” he stated, ”being full of dom from evil men who are my father's councillors”

Lonely he was in very truth, for none saw hio hunting by night and to sleep away the hot days Sometimes, when the red ball of the sun dropped down behind the trees on the western bank of the river, the villagers saw the straight, blue filsilently through the thin edge of the forest on his way to a kill

They called him the Silent One, and he enjoyed a little fame

More than this, he enjoyed the confidence of his hosts The Isisi country is within reach of the Foreign River, dohich strangely-shaped boats coht full of people who are chained neck to neck, and the officials of French West Africa-which adjoins the Isisi country-receive stories of raids and of burnings which they have not the facilities for investigating, for the Isisi border is nearly six hundred h a wilderness

Iht have filled him with aiven to e fro woht shi+ppings of hurew to know the white-robed Arabs who handled the whip so deftly

One night as he stood watching all these things, El Mahht and saw that he was of a strange people

”What ani, ”I ae people-the N'Gombi”

”That is a lie,” said the slaver, ”for you have not the face marks of the N'Gombi; you are a half-bred Arab,” and he addressed hiani shook his head

”He does not understand,” said the slaver to his lieutenant; ”find out where this ht ill take him, for he is worth money”

He spoke in Arabic, and his subordinate nodded

When the slaver ca, and he was hunting every tiht to O'Fasi

Sanders did not go to O'Fasi for sixhappened which by any stretch of ie

He was due to ood, the fish plentiful, the rains gentle, and there had been no sickness All these facts you rey rey, I on his shoulders all that was ht

When he saw a little fire before his hut and achin on knee, he twirled those spears of his cheerfully and went on, for he was afraid of no man