The Oakley herald. [volume] (Oakley, Idaho) 1908-1961, 1920-03-26
CHAPTER XII.

MacCloster's craal was a master
piece of ingenuity. In its center rose
the stupendous Gaia that had aston
ished Andrea even from a mile away.
Around the monster hut was an i'm
passable bona or barrier of thorns
pierced by a single entrance; outside
the bona, in the form Of a ring, came
an enormous beaten court which en-
braced large shade tree, indispensa-
BILE as a nucleus for pow-wows and
mems gossip. Around the beaten circle
were three thickly serrated rows of
huts and their dependent outhouses.
Enclosing the entire human beehive
was stockade Of giant cactus with an
arched entrance at each point of the
compass.
Aside from the repulsive fundamen-
tai idea of the enterprise MacCloster's
establishment was astonishingly
moral. 1t was true that he had con-
tracted for over q hundred and eighty
wives In strict accordance with native
law but 1t was equally true that he
allotted this army of consorts, without
exception, to veritable husbands of
his own choosing. The only point of
divergence from native custom was
| that he demanded no payment of obolo
from these drones and as a, conse-
quence retained the right Of disposal
of their female offspring.
This innovation would have struck
at the root of the Africans conception
| of vested interests had it not been for
the giant singers canny astuteness in
| facilitating to the drones the purchase
of one wife each in their own right,
| thus killing two birds with one stone ;
for the native male normally works
but once in his life and that to earn
| the sum with which to acquire the
mate who will not only thenceforth
| support him but eventually bring him
return of two or three fold on his
| investment.
AS a consequence, Manchester never
| lacked boatboys, machilla carriers,
| ivory hunters or porters and controlled
as well an army of women and girls
whose spare time was applied first to
| the preparation of food and wood and
water fetching and then to the cult
walton of the enormous shambas
which produced corn and millet in
great abundance for the lucky men,
bers of the close corporation.
That there was subtle poison at
work somewhere in this social cos
| biography was evidenced by the fact
| that while there was always a long
waiting list of recruits for the estab
| lishment there was also a tendency on
| the part of many natives to face star
| walton rather than accept the ques-
| tionable intrusion of the white man in
the intimate structure of their family
| life. 1t was further evidenced by an
| abnormal apathy which seemed to
| possess MacCloster's people in direct
proportion to their increasing well-fed
and lazy sickness.
| This, however, was a phenomenon
| that did not trouble him so long as
there was a constant demand in ex-
cess of the supply of manageable
girls; on the contrary, while it puzzled
him, he welcomed it as making toward
| tuC easy endorsement VI Il Sllltl NlS-
| cipline. In all matters that affected
the internal life of the strange camp,
he was sole arbiter beyond any cavil-
ling, and a martinez.
Andrea could have taken rea-
sonably calm interest in all the details
that crowded to her attention during
her rapid progress into the heart of
MacClosters stronghold had it not
been for an incident that revivified all
her fear and repugnanee toward the
man and which occurred as they en-
tered the ring court. Manchester, strid-
| ing ahead of her, suddenly paused and
his horrible face apparently achieved
! basing transformation.