Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1920-06-28
Within it's bounds were two acacia
trees. .thicklY fronden. W~ide.snread-

Wltnln us DoOnds were TWO acacia
trees, thickly fronded, widespread
ing. Around the court, thirty high
peaked huts stood like sentinels. Be-
hind the huts, other but far smaller
structures swarmed-chicken houses,
strongly withed. granaries on four
stills. pigeon cotes, a stockaded cat
But what puzzled her were the
Africans themselves. A fying-ma-
chine had dropped in their midst and
discharged two fair, if not exception
al. specimens of a white and dominant
race, yet the blacks continued their
various occupations neutrality-suspicious.
apparently unperturbed. There were
derous wooden mortars. They con-
tinued to pound. There were other
women doing various things-break-
ing up tire-wood. sweeping out huts
with punches Of brush for brooms,
cooking, nursing babes, languidly
watching naked children al play.
Whatever their occupation, they
made no sudden move of variation;
even their tongues kept still.
a~cacias there was a veritable con-
course Of men. Their black bodies,
clothed only in clouts of game pelts
or dirty loincloths, were like a blot
of ink Against the surrounding glare.
They sat for the most part on their
heels smoking white. slow-burning
cheroots. Two only could be said to
be working. They were very old and
sat with their backs against the trunk
straight u before them and at their
sides neat bundles of stripped palm
leaves. They were weaving baskets.
The men. at least, were not ton,ue-
tied. They seemed to be going
through some oral ceremony. First
one and then another would take the
cheroot from his lips and make a
single remark: then the rest would
all grunt In unison Inc with a deep
chested expelling of all the breath in
their bodies that gave almost the ef-
feet Of an explosion.
1t annoyed Andrea that her COM
panion seemed to share the stole calm,
of the natives in what, to her mind,
ought to have been an occasion Of
which excitement and chatter. It
never occurred to her that he was un.
moved because he could understand
what the men were saying and was
merely bored.
At the moment the wheels Of tho
1ying-machine had struck the ground
the apparently interminable and, to
Andrea, meaningless. chant had been
started by the native chief, a wizened
figure distinguished in dress from his
companions only by the ebony-black
ring of polished wax that he wore like
a halo of darkness on his close
cropped and grizzled head.
This was the liturgy got under way
by the chief with a single word anil
carried on to its logical end BY ali
the others in the gathering under the
acacia tree:
"M'sungo!"
Huh" grunted thirty threats.
THE M'sungo arrives"
Huh"
"The M,sungo has ONE hhs ship
has landed from the air."
"Huh!"
1T has rushed across the c,Aal.."
Huh"
two huts' held out their arms and
stopped It,"
HUH"
The medicine Of the M'sunso i.
Huh! HUH"
Never before has the ship descend
ed within the craal."
"Huh!"
Never before has it brought with
it a white female"
"The M'sungo's hair is straight like
a dogs nut the " OF the white f.
male is like a river that winds beneath
the SUM-"
Huh"
1t was at this point that Andrea's
companion stopped suddenly his ! Apid
striding. For the first time it &C.
CURED . to her that perhaps he was
listening. The chant continued.
Her eyes are like a midday sky"
HUH"
"Her cheeks are like flowers; they
have the likeness Of much paint"
"Huh!"
''She has no figure"
"Huh!" MAJ
"She is all clothes.s ~.
HUH" T1na.s17T
Expensive to keep"
HUH"
The ship has landed In the craal
because she has no legs"
Aat that the white mar threw up
his head and clapped his hands nee.
The chief grunted; silence fell. He
spat 70 a st4S and spike deliberate