unged into the river."

"Thou wast not frightened of the crocodiles?"

"Nay; for I have a mighty charm against all river beasts, enchanted by
Bakahenzie, the greatest of magicians."

"Ehh!" commented Birnier, contorting his swollen lips in the dark, "would
that I had such an one! Thinkest thou that the men did as they were
bidden?"

"Who knows what is in the heart of a goat?" returned Mungongo
contemptuously, for they were of another tribe.

"Ah, listen!"

The mutter of the hand-drum grew swifter as a high tenor chanted to the
accompaniment of the abdominal grunting and the laryngeal shrilling:

"We have come from afar from the Place of the waters!
From the place where dwells the mighty Eater-of-Men!
Hard was the road as the hills of Kilimanjaro!
Hot was the sun as the wrath of Inyira the bold!
The son of Banyala!
Ough! {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Ough!
E-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-h!

But strong are we still as the trunk of an elephant!
For have we not walked in the shade of a great chief!
Blacker and fiercer than the male rhinoceros!
Swifter and more terrible than the mother of whelps?
The son of Banyala!
Ough! {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Ough!
E-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-h!

What hath he given us to tickle our spears?
A dainty white dog whose meat is so tender!
Fattened and groomed by the Eater-of-Men!
A gift from the great Chief to his ally and friend.
The son of Banyala!
Ough! {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Ough!
E-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-h!

We will tickle his white flesh with the tongue of our spears!
Our women shall pluck out his hair and his manhood!
He shall dance to our liking in the midst of the fire!
His girl screams for mercy shall lave hungry ears of ----!
The son of Banyala!
Ough! {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Ough!
E-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-h!

Great was the gift of the great Eater-of-Men!
A white slave so sleek to dance the dance of the ants!
Eh! We'll slit up his nostrils and pull out his hairs!
A white slave and four black ones to wait on one great chief!
The son of Banyala!
Ough! {~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Ough!
E-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-h!

"Those children of folly have not obeyed," whispered Birnier. "The time is
come.{~HORIZONTAL ELLIPSIS~} Wait here for me, O Mungongo. I go to take my