izzled Sergeant Schneider, who
was to take over the station with fifty of the least competent men,
pending the arrival of an officer, which again would depend upon the
success of the expedition. In zu Pfeiffer's manner was evident the
controlled excitement of a boy on the eve of a house match, and indeed for
him it was the game for which he was bred and lived, "das Kriegspiel."
Perpetually his long fingers caressed the sentry moustaches; an unusual
glitter was in his blue eyes.

The personality of Birnier had been apparently wiped from his mind as a
spoor in the sand by rain; indeed in addition to the competing excitement
of the expedition, the previous night's alcoholic and sentimental debauch
had served to exhaust the emotions stimulated by jealousy. To him had
appeared an obstruction in his emotional life in the shape of the husband
of the woman whom he adored; therefore, according to his nature and
training, he had endeavoured to remove that obstacle as swiftly and as
efficiently as possible. Superlative confidence in himself, reflected in
his pride of family and nationality, the apotheosis of which was the
Kaiser, enabled him to devote all his energies to the business in hand,
never doubting that his interpretation of native psychology would ensure
the extinction of his adversary.

Beyond the mere joy of the game of war was present the fundamental impulse
to win the approval of the All Highest by gaining another place in the sun
as well as the half-suppressed conviction that such a distinction would
naturally further his suit in love. In the orbit of these two poles
revolved the life actions of zu Pfeiffer.

That evening zu Pfeiffer dined as leisurely and as sumptuously as usual;
drank his port and smoked his cigar while his servants packed the last of
his kitchen battery. Then at the first green of the moon he gave the order
to march.

The three companies of askaris fell in, marched down to the bayou and
embarked without fuss or confusion, each group under a non-commissioned
officer to the appointed canoe.

The launch laboured busily out of the bayou past misty reed-girt islands
into the indolent waters of the great lake, dragging after her the fleet
of forty odd canoes. A cigar under the awning of the tiny poop suggested a
great firefly in the blue shadows, where lounged zu Pfeiffer with his
favourite brandy and seltzer at his elbow.

Resembling an enormous water-fowl leading a strange black brood, the
lau