. There was a suit of pyjamas of Hamilton's which had a stripe
very near, but not quite.

"O Ahmet," said Bones at last in desperation, "go to the storeman, and
let him bring all the paints he has so that I may show Bosambo a certain
colour."

They found the exact shade at last on a ten-pound tin of Aspinall
enamels, and Bosambo thought long.

"Lord," said he, "I think I know where I may find just such a crocodile
as you want."

Late that night Bones met Bosambo before his hut in a long and earnest
palaver, and an hour before dawn he went out with Bosambo and his
huntsmen, and was pulled to a certain creek in the Ochori land which is
notorious for the size and strength of its crocodiles.

II

No doubt but Hamilton had a serious task before him, for although the
grievance which he had to allay was limited to the restricted area over
which the spirit of M'zooba brooded, yet the people of the crocodile
had many sympathizers who resented as bitterly as the affected parties
this interference with what Downing Street called "local religious
customs."

A wholly unauthorized palaver was held in the forest which was attended
by delegations from the Akasava and the N'gombi, and spies brought the
news to Hamilton that the little witch doctors were going through the
villages carrying stories of desolation which had come as the result of
M'zooba's death.

The palaver Hamilton dispensed with some brusqueness. Twenty soldiers
and a machine gun were uninvited guests to the gathering, and the
meeting retired in disorder. Two of the witch doctors Hamilton's men
caught. One he flogged with all the village looking on, and the other he
sent to the Village of Irons for twelve months.

And all the time he spoke of the newer green one which was coming, which
his magic would invoke, and which would surely appear "tied by one leg"
to a stake near the pool, for all men to see.

He founded a sect of new-green-one worshippers (quite unwittingly). It
needed only the corporeal presence of his novel deity to wipe out the
feelings of distrust which violence had not wholly dispelled.

Day after day passed, but no word came from Bones, and Captain Hamilton
cursed his subordinate, his subordinate's relations, and all the cruelty
of fate which brought Bones into his command. Then, unexpectantly, the
truant arrived, arrived proud and triumphant in the early morning
before Hamilton was awake. He sneaked into the village so quietly that
even