ostrated himself and lay still.
Then Jeekie strode up and down among them shouting out:

"Little Bonsa has come back and brought to you, Man-eaters, a fat
offering, an offering of the dwarf-people whom you hate, of the
treacherous dwarf-people who when you walk the ancient forest path,
murder you with their poisoned arrows. Praise Little Bonsa who delivers
you from your foes, and hearken to her bidding. Send on messengers to
the Asiki saying that Little Bonsa comes home again from across the
Black Water bringing the White Preacher, whom she led away in the day of
their fathers. Say to them that the Asiki must send out a company that
Little Bonsa and the Magician with whom she ran away, may be escorted
back to her house with the state which has been hers from the beginning
of time. Say to them also that they must prepare a great offering of
pure gold out of their store, as much gold as fifty strong men can
carry, not one handful less, to be given to the White Magician who
brings back Small Swimming Head, for if they withhold such an offering,
he and Little Bonsa will vanish never to be seen again, and curses
and desolation will fall upon their land. Rise and obey, Chief of the
Ogula."

Then the man scrambled to his feet and answered:

"It shall be done, O Priest of the Yellow God. To-morrow at the dawn
swift messengers will start for the Gold House of the Asiki. To-night
they cannot leave, as we are all very hungry and must eat."

"What must you eat?" asked Jeekie suspiciously.

"O Priest," answered the chief with a deprecatory gesture, "when first
we saw you we hoped that it would be the white man and yourself, for we
have never tasted white man. But now we fear that you will not consent
to this, and as you are holy and the guardian of the god, we cannot eat
you without your own consent. Therefore fat dwarf must be our food, of
which, however, there will be plenty for you as well as us."

"You dog!" exclaimed Jeekie in a voice of furious indignation. "Do you
think that white men and their high-born companions, such as myself,
were made to fill your vile stomachs? I tell you that a meal of the
deadly Bean would agree better with you, for if you dare so much as to
look on us, or on any of the white race with hunger, agony shall seize
your vitals and you and all your tribe shall die as though by poison.
Moreover, we do not touch the flesh of men, nor will we see it eaten.
It is our '_orunda_,' it is consecrate to us,