palisaded village
of thatched huts set in a clearing in the jungle close beside
a placid river. At their approach the villagers came pouring out,
and Usanga advanced with two of his warriors to palaver with the
chief. The experiences of the day had so shaken the nerves of the
black sergeant that he was ready to treat with these people rather
than take their village by force of arms, as would ordinarily have
been his preference; but now a vague conviction influenced him
that there watched over this part of the jungle a powerful demon
who wielded miraculous power for evil against those who offended
him. First Usanga would learn how these villagers stood with this
savage god and if they had his good will Usanga would be most
careful to treat them with kindness and respect.

At the palaver it developed that the village chief had food,
goats, and fowl which he would be glad to dispose of for a proper
consideration; but as the consideration would have meant parting
with precious rifles and ammunition, or the very clothing from their
backs, Usanga began to see that after all it might be forced upon
him to wage war to obtain food.

A happy solution was arrived at by a suggestion of one of his
men--that the soldiers go forth the following day and hunt for the
villagers, bringing them in so much fresh meat in return for their
hospitality. This the chief agreed to, stipulating the kind and
quantity of game to be paid in return for flour, goats, and fowl,
and a certain number of huts that were to be turned over to the
visitors. The details having been settled after an hour or more
of that bickering argument of which the native African is so fond,
the newcomers entered the village where they were assigned to huts.

Bertha Kircher found herself alone in a small hut to the palisade
at the far end of the village street, and though she was neither
bound nor guarded, she was assured by Usanga that she could not
escape the village without running into almost certain death in the
jungle, which the villagers assured them was infested by lions of
great size and ferocity. "Be good to Usanga," he concluded, "and
no harm will befall you. I will come again to see you after the
others are asleep. Let us be friends."

As the brute left her the girl's frame was racked by a convulsive
shudder as she sank to the floor of the hut and covered her face
with her hands. She realized now why the women had not been left
to guard her. It was the work