es confidently. "I've found a
new worm nest in the plantation. Jolly little fellers they are, too."

"What are we doing to-day, Bones?" repeated Hamilton ominously.

Bones puckered his brows.

"Deep-sea fishin', dear old officer and comrade," he repeated, "an'
after dinner a little game of tiddly-winks--Bones _v._ jolly old
Hamilton's sister, for the championship of the River an' the Sanders
Cup."

Hamilton breathed deeply, but was patient.

"Your King and your country," he said, "pay you seven and eightpence per
diem----"

"Oh," said Bones, a light dawning, "you mean _work_?"

"Strange, is it not," mused Hamilton, "that we should
consider----Hullo!"

They followed the direction of his eyes.

A white bird was circling groggily above the plantation, as though
uncertain where to alight. There was weariness in the beat of its wings,
in the irregularity of its flight. Bones leapt over the rail of the
verandah and ran towards the square. He slowed down as he came to a
place beneath the bird, and whistled softly.

Bones's whistle was a thing of remarkable sweetness--it was his one
accomplishment, according to Hamilton, and had neither tune nor rhyme.
It was a succession of trills, rising and falling, and presently, after
two hesitating swoops, the bird rested on his outstretched hand. He came
back to the verandah and handed the pigeon to Sanders.

The Commissioner lifted the bird and with gentle fingers removed the
slip of thin paper fastened to its leg by a rubber band.

Before he opened the paper he handed the weary little servant of the
Government to an orderly.

"Lord, this is Sombubo," said Abiboo, and he lifted the pigeon to his
cheek, "and he comes from the Ochori."

Sanders had recognized the bird, for Sombubo was the swiftest, the
wisest, and the strongest of all his messengers, and was never
dispatched except on the most critical occasions.

He smoothed the paper and read the letter, which was in Arabic.

"From the servant of God Bosambo, in the Ochori City, to Sandi,
where-the-sea-runs.

"There have come three white men from the L'Mandi country, and they
have crossed the mountains. They sit with the Akasava in full
palaver. They say there shall be no more taxes for the People of
the River, but there shall come a new king greater than any. And
every man shall have goats and salt and free hunting. They say the
Akasava shall be given all the Ochori country,