d do me an awful favour--you see, sir, I've got his career
to consider----"

"What on earth----" began Sanders.

"Henry Hamilton Bones, sir," said Bones tremulously. "You'd set him up
for life, sir. I must think of the child, hang it all! I know I'm a
jolly old rotter to put my spoke in----"

Sanders gently released the frenzied grip of his lieutenant, and faced
the wondering palaver.

"Know all people that this day I give to you as king one whom you shall
call M'songuri, which means in your tongue 'The Young and the Wise,' and
who is called in my tongue N'risu M'ilitani Tibbetti, and this one is a
child and well beloved by my lord Tibbetti, being to him as a son, and
by M'ilitani and by me, Sandi."

He raised his hand in challenge.

"Wa! Whose men are you?" he cried.

"M'songuri!"

The answer came in a deep-throated growl, and the assembly leapt to its
feet.

"Wa! Who rules this land?"

"M'songuri!"

They locked arms and stamped first with the right foot and then with the
left, in token of their acceptance.

"Take your king," said Sanders, "and build him a beautiful hut, and his
spirit shall dwell with you. This palaver is finished."

Bones was speechless all the way down river. At irregular intervals he
would grip Sanders's hand, but he was too full for speech.

Hamilton and his sister met the law-givers on the quay.

"You're back sooner than I expected you, sir," said Hamilton. "Did Bones
behave?"

"Like a little gentleman," said Sanders.

"Oh, Bones," Patricia broke in eagerly, "Henry has cut another tooth."

Bones's nod was grave and even distant.

"I will go and see His Majesty," he said. "I presume he is in the
palace?"

Hamilton stared after him.

"Surely," he asked irritably, "Bones isn't sickening for measles again?"

CHAPTER VIII

THE TAMER OF BEASTS

Native folk, at any rate, are but children of a larger growth. In the
main, their delinquencies may be classified under the heading of
"naughtiness." They are mischievous and passionate, and they have a
weakness for destroying things to discover the secrets of volition. A
too prosperous nation mystifies less fortunate people, who demand of
their elders and rulers some solution of the mystery of their rivals'
progress. Such a ruler, unable to offer the necessary explanation, takes
his spears to the discovery, and sometimes discovers too much for his
happiness.

The village of Jumburu stands on the edge of the bush countr