e there came a night of bright moonlight when the whole Ochori
nation went forth and planted that post.

Then, I believe, the people of the Ochori, having invested the post
with qualities which it did not possess, went back to their homes and
forgot all about it. Yet if they forgot there were nations who regarded
the devil sign with some awe, and certainly Mimbimi, the newly-arisen
ranger of the forest, who harried the Akasava and the Isisi, and even
the N'gombi-Isisi, must have had full faith in its potency, for he never
moved beyond that border. Once, so legend said, he brought his terrible
warriors to the very edge of the land and paid homage to the innocent
sign-post which Sanders had set up and which announced no more, in plain
English, than trespassers will be prosecuted. Having done his _devoir_
he retired to his forest lair. His operations were not to go without an
attempted reprisal. Many parties went out against him, notably that
which Tumbilimi the chief of Isisi led. He took a hundred picked men to
avenge the outrage which this intruder had put upon him in daring to
summons him to palaver.

Now Sugini was an arrogant man, for had he not routed the army of
Bosambo? That Bosambo was not in command made no difference and did not
tarnish the prestige in Tumbilimi's eyes, and though the raids upon his
territory by Mimbimi had been mild, the truculent chief, disdaining the
use of his full army, marched with his select column to bring in the
head and the feet of the man who had dared violate his territory.

Exactly what happened to Tumbilimi's party is not known; all the men who
escaped from the ambush in which Mimbimi lay give a different account,
and each account creditable to themselves, though the only thing which
stands in their favour is that they did certainly save their lives.
Certainly Tumbilimi, he of the conquering spears, came back no more, and
those parts which he had threatened to detach from his enemy were in
fact detached from him and were discovered one morning at the very gates
of his city for his horrified subjects to marvel at. When warlike
discussions arose, as they did at infrequent intervals, it was the
practice of the people to send complaints to Sanders and leave him to
deal with the matter. You cannot, however, lead an army against a dozen
guerrilla chiefs with any profit to the army as we once discovered in a
country somewhat south of Sanders' domains. Had Mimbimi's sphere of
operations