e older of the
two murmured, "One moment, please."

Alhaji Mohammadu paused, his face dark in scowl again.

The spokesman said agreeably, "It is true that your people, and
particularly your Hausa serfs, have no understanding of international
finance nor of national corruption methods such as the taking of _dash_.
However, they are susceptible to other proof." The other man raised his
voice. "John!"

From an inner room came another stranger, making their total number
three. He was grinning and in one hand held a contraption which boasted
a conglomeration of lenses, switches, microphones, wires and triggers.
"Got it perfectly," he said. You'd think it had all been rehearsed.

While the Emir and his counselor stared in amazement, the spokesman of
the strangers said, "How long before you can project?"

"Almost immediately."

The other young man left the room and returned with what was obviously a
movie projector. He set it up at one end of the table, pointed at a
white wall, and plugged it in to a convenient outlet.

Before the Emir had managed to control himself beyond the point of
saying any more than, "What is all this?" the cameraman had brought a
magazine of film from his instrument and inserted it in the projector.

The photographer said conversationally, to the hulking potentate, "You'd
be amazed at the advances in cinema these past few years. Film speed,
immediate development, portable sound equipment. You'd be amazed."

Someone flicked out the greater part of the room's light. The projector
buzzed and on the wall was thrown a re-enactment of everything that had
been said and done in the room for the past ten minutes.

When it was over, the lights went on again.

The spokesman said conversationally, "I assume that if this film were
shown throughout the villages, even your Hausa serfs would be convinced
that throughout your reign you have systematically robbed them."

Emir Alhaji Mohammadu, the Galadima Dawakin, Kudo of Kano, his face in
shock, turned and stumbled from the room.

* * * * *

The gymkhana, or fantasia as it is called in nearby Morocco, was under
full swing before Abd-el-Kader and the camel- and horse-mounted warriors
of his Ouled Touameur clan came dashing in, rifles held high and with
great firing into the air. The Ouled Touameur were the noblest clan of
the Ouled Allouch tribe of the Berazga division of the Chaambra nomad
confederation--the noblest and t