sly, "what happens to me if I do not
obey his commands? For my men are weary, having hunted in the forest,
and my chiefs do not like long palavers concerning law."

"That may be," said Ahmet, calmly. "But when my lord calls you to
palaver you must obey, otherwise I take you, I and my strong men, to the
Village of Irons, there to rest for a while to my lord's pleasure."

So the chief sent messengers and rattled his _lokali_ to some purpose,
bringing headmen and witch doctors, little and great chiefs, and
spearmen of quality, to squat about the palaver house on the little hill
to the east of the village.

Bones came with an escort of four men. He walked slowly up the cut steps
in the hillside and sat upon the stool to the chief's right; and no
sooner had he seated himself than, without preliminary, he began to
speak. And he spoke of Sanders, of his splendour and his power; of his
love for all people and his land, and also M'ilitani, who these men
respected because of his devilish blue eyes.

At first he spoke slowly, because he found a difficulty in breathing,
and then as he found himself, grew more and more lucid and took a larger
grasp of the language.

"Now," said he, "I come to you, being young in the service of the
Government, and unworthy to tread in my lord Sandi's way. Yet I hold the
laws in my two hands even as Sandi held them, for laws do not change
with men, neither does the sun change whatever be the land upon which
it shines. Now, I say to you and to all men, deliver to me the slayer of
B'chumbiri that I may deal with him according to the law."

There was a dead silence, and Bones waited.

Then the silence grew into a whisper, from a whisper into a babble of
suppressed talk, and finally somebody laughed. Bones stood up, for this
was his supreme moment.

"Come out to me, O killer!" he said softly, "for who am I that I can
injure you? Did I not hear some voice say _g'la_, and is not _g'la_ the
name of a fool? O, wise and brave men of the Akasava who sit there
quietly, daring not so much as to hit a finger before one who is a
fool!"

Again the silence fell. Bones, his helmet on the back of his head, his
hands thrust into his pockets, came a little way down the hill towards
the semi-circle of waiting eldermen.

"O, brave men!" he went on, "O, wonderful seeker of danger! Behold! I,
_g'la_, a fool, stand before you and yet the killer of B'chumbiri sits
trembling and will not rise before me, fearing my v