cond imperative demand Bakahenzie
soothed the angry god by commanding a slave to run to fetch water from
without. But even then Birnier had the parched felicity of waiting while
the High Priest solemnly exorcised the gourd of water which, as all food,
could not be permitted to pass the lips of the King-God without the
prescribed incantations.

However, within quite a reasonable time the sacred prisoner was
accommodated with the possession of his goods, magic and culinary. The
bungalow of the Kommandant, Birnier gathered, was to be converted into the
temple after the ceremony of purification, and the idol was to stand in
front in the place occupied by its predecessor at the coronation of the
late Kawa Kendi.

All that day were Bakahenzie and Marufa and the wizards working hard at
the various ceremonies of purification of those who had slain, the
consecration of the Holy Hill, and the exorcising of the evil spirits
attached thereto by the residence of the Son-of-the-Earthquake. Meanwhile
Birnier and Mungongo were left to themselves within the enclosure to
listen to the chanting and thrumming of the drums. Birnier had much to do
in compiling his notes and reflections; Mungongo nothing save to prepare
their meals and attend the Sacred Fires.

Exactly what had happened Birnier did not know and could not extract from
Bakahenzie, who adopted his usual effective method of ignoring every
direct question. Before they had left the place in the forest he had
informed Birnier that the commands of the spirit of Tarum through the
magic ear had been performed, but with what restrictions, modifications,
or embroideries, Birnier had no means of ascertaining. His definite
knowledge was that Zalu Zako, together with other chiefs and a vast crowd
of warriors, were to remain in the forest where zu Pfeiffer was to be led
into ambush by the power of the magic which he had sent, the American
flag, an idea which certainly tickled Birnier's sense of humour
considerably, particularly as it appealed to him, if successful, as an
ideal case of poetic justice.

That zu Pfeiffer's fort had fallen was obvious, although what the
disposition of his forces had been and of how the assault had been
carried, Birnier had no idea. But of one thing he was reasonably sure, and
that was that his analysis of zu Pfeiffer's reactions and the
psychological effect upon the natives of having the idol reinstated in the
Place of Kings, had been entirely correct. After