t his
god, as Kawa Kendi had done when summoning rain, he suddenly snatched at
the frame and flung it upon the floor with an oath, grabbed up a fountain
pen and began to write.

Indeed zu Pfeiffer was half insane with anger which he was disposed to
vent upon Lucille by proxy as the source of yet another trouble and
possibly official disgrace. He had not had a notion that Birnier could
have survived the gentle hands of the corporal until without warning came
that ivory disc with "Amantes--Amentes!" scribbled upon it, which not only
inferred that Birnier had escaped, but that he was near to him and
intended to champion these native dogs against the Imperial Government in
the person of himself.

The message had been made the more insulting by the note of exclamation at
the end implying derisive laughter. It had, as Birnier had calculated that
it would, struck zu Pfeiffer upon the most tender spot in his mental
anatomy, evoking a homicidal mania which dominated his consciousness. To
be cheated, to be swindled, to be sworn at, cursed, even to be beaten was
sufferable to a degree, but to be laughed at--zu Pfeiffer's haughty soul
exploded like a bomb at an impact. For a time he had been absolutely
incoherent with rage. His one impulse had been to rush out and tear
Birnier limb from limb. Well might the listening natives believe in the
mighty magic of the new King-God, that it should make the
Son-of-the-Earthquake to trumpet like a wounded cow elephant!

Then out of the dissolving acrid smoke of wounded pride begin to loom
arbitrary points. First, that Birnier would have complained, as he once
had threatened to do, to Washington, which would infuriate the authorities
in Berlin; and secondly, that he would have written to Lucille revealing
the attempt he had made upon the life of her husband as well as the things
he had said. How Birnier had escaped was immaterial, but the particular
fate that awaited Corporal Inyira was decided but futilely; for the bold
son of Banyala and his merry men were footing it to the south of lake
Tanganika, scared by day lest the long arm of the Eater-of-Men should
overtake them and haunted by the terror of seeing another illuminated
ghost by night.

As the jewelled hand glittered in the lamp-light came the mutter of a
distant drum on the moist darkness; zu Pfeiffer, abnormally irritable,
raised his head, scowled, and muttering that he would have to issue an
order to have the drums stopped, bent a