The Mena weekly star., 1920-04-08
CHAPTER xi.

MacCloster's craal was a master piece of ingenuity. In It's center rose the stupendous caia that had aston ished Andrea even from u mile away. Around the monster hut was an im- passable bona or barrier of thorns pierced by single entrance: outside the bona, in the form of ring, came braced 2 large shade tree. indispensa- ble 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 archcd entrance at each point of the compass.
 Aside from the repulsive fundamen- tai idea of the enterprise. MacCloster's establishment was astonishingly moral. It was true that he had con- tracted for over a hundred and eighty wives fin strict accordance with native law but 1t was equally true that he 1 allotted this army of consorts. without exception, to veritabie husbands of his own choosing. The only point Of | divergence from native custom was that he demended no payment of oboio from these drones and us 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 1t 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 fin his life and that 10 earn the sum with which to acquire the mate who will not only thencefortb support him but eventually bring him investment
 As a consequence, MacCloster 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 I the preparation of food and wood and water fetching and then to the culti- vation of the enormous shambas which produced corn and miliet In great abundance for the lucky mem bers of the close corporation.
 That there was subtle poison at work somewhere in this social cos mography was evidenced by the fact that while there was always a long waiting list of recruits for the estab- Iishment there was also q tendency on the part of many natives to face star vation rather than accept the ques- tionable intrusion of the white man in the intimate structure of their family life. It 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 constant demand in ex- ! cess of the supply of marriageable girls; on the contrary, while 1t puzzled
 
 the easy enforcement of strict dis eipline. In all matters that affected 1 the internni life of the strange camp. he was sole arblter beyond any cavil- ling, and . martinet.
 Andrea could have taken req sonably calm interest m all the details hat crowded to her attention during hei rapid progress into the heart Of Ma, iosters stronghold had if not been for an incident that revivified all her fear and repugnance 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 the impossible by undergoing de- basing transformation
 His eyes had fallen on a group of carriers. newly arrived. and the crew of his freight boat. The negroes were squatting in a circle on guard, waiting to make delivery to their master of various cases. Some of them evident ly contained cloth. cutlery and knick. knacks dear to the native heart, but one, at least, brazenly proclaimed in deeply burnt stenciling it's contents to be gin. It was on this small square box that MacClosters eyes were riv- eted He turned and spoke to Andrea In an oily tone that for some inexplica- bic reason froze her blood. II was as though he had suddenly assumed q