now I have sent them to their
villages, and at the next moon they should have burnt their fine
war-knives, but for a certain happening. We folk of Morjaba have no
enemies, and we do good to all. Moreover, lord, as you know, we have
amongst us many folk of the Isisi, of the Akasava and the N'gombi, also
men from the Great King's land beyond the High Rocks, and the little
folk from The-Land-beyond-the-Swamp. Therefore, who shall attack us
since we have kinsmen of all amongst us?"

Sanders regarded the jovial king with a sad little smile.

"Have I done well by all men?" he asked quietly. "Have I not governed
the land so that punishment comes swiftly to those who break the law?
Yet, S'kobi, do not the Akasava and the Isisi, the N'gombi and the Lower
River folk take their spears against me? Now I tell you this which I
have discovered. In all beasts great and little there are mothers who
have young ones and fathers who fight that none shall harass the
mother."

"Lord, this is the way of life," said S'kobi.

"It is the way of the Bigger Life," said Sanders, "and greatly the way
of man-life. For the women bring children to the land and the men sit
with their spears ready to fight all who would injure their women. And
so long as life lasts, S'kobi, the women will bear and the men will
guard; it is the way of Nature, and you shall not take from men the
desire for slaughter until you have dried from the hearts of women the
yearning for children."

"Lord," said S'kobi, a fat man and easily puzzled, "what shall be the
answer to this strange riddle you set me?"

"Only this," said Sanders rising, "I wish peace in this land, but there
can be no peace between the leopard who has teeth and claws and the
rabbit who has neither tooth nor claw. Does the leopard fight the lion
or the lion the leopard? They live in peace, for each is terrible in
his way, and each fears the other. I tell you this, that you live in
love with your neighbours not because of your kindness, but because of
your spears. Call them back to your city, S'kobi."

The chief's large face wrinkled in a frown.

"Lord," he said, "that cannot be, for these men have marched away from
my country to find a people who will feed them, for they are too proud
to dig the ground."

"Oh, damn!" said Sanders in despair, and went back the way he came,
feeling singularly helpless.

The Odyssey of the discarded army of the Morjaba has yet to be written.
Paradoxically enough, it