ank youth, fixed his eyeglass firmly and glared at his
superior.

"Sit down and shut up," said Hamilton, testily; "I'm not blaming you.
And I'm not blaming N'gori. It's that son of his--listen to this."

He beckoned the three men who had come down from the Akasava as bearers
of the invitation.

"Say again what your master desires," he said.

"Thus speaks N'gori, and I talk with his voice," said the spokesman,
"that you shall cut down the devil-stick which Sandi planted in our
midst, for it brings shame to us, and also to M'fosa the son of our
master."

"How may I do this?" asked Hamilton, "I, who am but the servant of
Sandi? For I remember well that he put the stick there to make a great
magic."

"Now the magic is made," said the sullen headman; "for none of our
people have died the death since Sandi set it up."

"And dashed lucky you've been," murmured Bones.

"Go back to your master and tell him this," said Hamilton. "Thus says
M'ilitani, my lord Tibbetti will come on your feast day and you shall
honour him; as for the stick, it stands till Sandi says it shall not
stand. The palaver is finished."

He paced up and down the deck when the men had gone, his hands behind
him, his brows knit in worry.

"Four times have I been asked to cut down Sanders' pole," he mused
aloud. "I wonder what the idea is?"

"The idea?" said Bones, "the idea, my dear old silly old fellow, isn't
it as plain as your dashed old nose? They don't want it!"

Hamilton looked down at him.

"What a brain you must have, Bones!" he said admiringly. "I often wonder
you don't employ it."

II

By the Blue Pool in the forest there is a famous tree gifted with
certain properties. It is known in the vernacular of the land, and I
translate it literally, "The-tree-that-has-no-echo-and-eats-up-sound."
Men believe that all that is uttered beneath its twisted branches may be
remembered, but not repeated, and if one shouts in its deadening shade,
even they who stand no farther than a stride from its furthermost
stretch of branch or leaf, will hear nothing.

Therefore is the Silent Tree much in favour for secret palaver, such as
N'gori and his limping son attended, and such as the Lesser Isisi came
to fearfully.

N'gori, who might be expected to take a very leading part in the
discussion which followed the meeting, was, in fact, the most timorous
of those who squatted in the shadow of the huge cedar.

Full of reservations, cautions, doubts a