The Keepers of the King's Peace. Edgar Wallace

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      He waved a sad farewell as the Zaire passed round the bend of the river, and looked, as he desired to look, a melancholy figure with his huge pipe in his mouth and his hands thrust dejectedly into his trousers pockets.

      Once out of sight he became his own jovial self.

      "Lieutenant Ali," he said, "get out my log and put it in old Sanders' cabin, make me a cup of tea and keep her jolly old head east, east by north."

      "Ay, ay, sir," said Ali in excellent English.

      The "log" which Bones kept was one of the secret documents which never come under the eye of the superior authorities. There were such entries as—

      "Wind N.N.W. Sea calm. Hostile craft sighted on port bow, at 10.31 a.m. General Quarters sounded 10.32. Interrogated Captain of the hostile craft and warned him not to fish in fair-way. Sighted Cape M'Gooboori 12.17, stopped for lunch and wood."

      What though Cape M'Gooboori was the village of that name and the "calm sea" was no more than the placid bosom of the Great River? What though Bones's "hostile craft" was a dilapidated canoe, manned by one aged and bewildered man of the Isisi engaged in spearing fish? Bones saw all things through the rosy spectacles of adventurous youth denied its proper share of experience.

      At sunset the Zaire came gingerly through the shoals that run out from the Isongo beach, and Bones went ashore to conduct his investigations. It chanced that the evening had been chosen by M'lama, the witch, for certain wonderful manifestations, and the village was almost deserted.

      In a wood and in a place of green trees M'lama sat tossing her sheep shanks, and a dense throng of solemn men and women squatted or sat or tiptoed about her—leaving her a respectable space for her operations. A bright fire crackled and glowed at her side, and into this, from time to time, she thrust little sticks of plaited straw and drew them forth blazing and spluttering until with a quick breath she extinguished the flame and examined the grey ash.

      "Listen, all people," she said, "and be silent, lest my great ju-ju strike you dead. What man gave me this?"

      "It was I, M'lama," said an eager woman, her face wrinkled with apprehension as she held up her brown palm.

      The witch peered forward at the speaker.

      "O F'sela!" she chanted, "there is a man-child for thee who shall be greater than chiefs; also you will suffer from a sickness which shall make you mad."

      "O ko!"

      Half dismayed by the promise of her own fate; half exalted by the career the witch had sketched for her unborn son, the woman stared incredulously, fearfully at the swaying figure by the fire.

      Again a plaited stick went into the fire, was withdrawn and blown out, and the woman again prophesied.

      And sometimes it was of honours and riches she spoke, and sometimes—and more often—of death and disaster. Into this shuddering group strode Bones, very finely clad in white raiment yet limp withal, for the night was close and the way had been long and rough.

      The sitters scrambled to their feet, their knuckles at their teeth, for this was a moment of great embarrassment.

      "Oh, M'lama," said Bones agreeably, and spoke in the soft dialect of the Isisi by-the-River, "prophesy for me!"

      She looked up sullenly, divining trouble for herself.

      "Lord," she said, with a certain smooth venom, "there is a great sickness for you—and behold you will go far away and die, and none shall miss you."

      Bones went very red, and shook an indignant forefinger at the offending prophetess.

      "You're a wicked old storyteller!" he stammered. "You're depressin' the people—you naughty girl! I hate you—I simply loathe you!"

      As he spoke in English she was not impressed.

      "Goin' about the country puttin' people off their grub, by Jove!" he stormed; "tellin' stories … oh, dash it, I shall have to be awfully severe with you!"

      Severe he was, for he arrested her, to the relief of her audience, who waited long enough to discover whether or not her ju-ju would strike him dead, and being obviously disappointed by her failure to provide this spectacle, melted away.

      Close to the gangway of the Zaire she persuaded one of her Houssa guard to release his hold. She persuaded him by the simple expedient of burying her sharp white teeth in the fleshy part of his arm—and bolted. They captured her half mad with panic and fear of her unknown fate, and brought her to the boat.

      Bones, fussing about the struggling group, dancing with excitement, was honourably wounded by the chance contact of his nose with a wild and whirling fist.

      "Put her in the store cabin!" he commanded breathlessly. "Oh, what a wicked woman!"

      In the morning as the boat got under way Ali came to him with a distressing story.

      "Your Excellency will be pained to hear," he said, "that the female prisoner has eradicated her costume."

      "Eradicated … ?" repeated the puzzled Bones, gently touching the patch of sticking-plaster on his nose.

      "In the night," explained this former slave of science, "the subject has developed symptoms of mania, and has entirely dispensed with her clothes—to wit, by destruction."

      "She's torn up her clothes?" gasped Bones, his hair rising and Ali nodded.

      Now, the dress of a native woman varies according to the degree in which she falls under missionary influence. Isongo was well within the sphere of the River Mission, and so M'lama's costume consisted of a tight-fitting piece of print which wound round and round the body in the manner of a kilt, covering the figure from armpit to feet.

      Bones went to the open window of the prison cabin, and steadfastly averting his gaze, called—

      "M'lama!"

      No reply came, and he called again.

      "M'lama," he said gently, in the river dialect, "what shall Sandi say to this evil that you do?"

      There was no reply, only a snuffling sound of woe.

      "Oh, ai!" sobbed the voice.

      "M'lama, presently we shall come to the Mission house where the God-men are, and I will bring you clothing—these you will put on you," said Bones, still staring blankly over the side of the ship at the waters which foamed past her low hull; "for if my lord Sandi see you as I see you—I mean as I wouldn't for the world see you, you improper person," he corrected himself hastily in English—"if my lord Sandi saw you, he would feel great shame. Also," he added, as a horrible thought made him go cold all over, "also the lady who comes to my lord Militini—oh, lor!"

      These last two words were in English.

      Fortunately there was a Jesuit settlement near by, and here Bones stopped and interviewed the stout and genial priest in charge.

      "It's curious how they all do it," reflected the priest, as he led the way to his storehouse. "I've known 'em to tear up their clothes СКАЧАТЬ