Evening star., 1926-02-14

| he anXiously inquired what he was to
! do. | told him that all those whom he
loved must leave the village before
nightfall, as. provoked by the old chief
! | had decided to destroy it-I would
not do SO myself. but order my ele-
! phant to do it.
What elephant?
Come and see,
! l WENT into the tent. wound up the
toy uesS than d foot high and
| when it walked along d wooden case,
| Simpson raised the flap of the tent
and the clock work toy appeared be
/ fore the highly-eXcited chief.
One look was enough for him. He
( tore off toward the stockade As he
went he shrieked: Il am going To
! fetch the chickens-I am bringing <
them back
Half an hour later kenge was a
different place. The Rambala were
| sitting in the same place, unmoved.
apparently Indifferent. From the
StoCkade the shrill voice OF Buya was
audible: he tried to take advantage
# the victory by buying a chicken
for himself at less than the market
price: he got il. Simpson and l were
sitting in our deck chairs, the stolen
d
our feet, listening to the supplication
of the old chief, who implored us to
accept porters. as many as we liked,
for the earliest possible date.
| told him | was in no hurry, so he
whispered that he wanted us to go
because he was afraid his people
might become hostile. At this
smiled. and waved my hand toward
the tent whore he knew the mysteri-
ouS elephant was waiting for a signal
I" destroy the community. He at once
retracted what he had said: of course
there was no question of his people
being hostile to such great men as
Simpson and me, but he had always
understood that we were keen TO leave
his village, nay the Bakongo country,
and he knew of an excellent MuShilele
chief who would welcome us with
open arms
After time I condescended to send
Nayuyu To this chief the next day
and arrange about our coming. He
beat the ground with his fists and
thanked me most humbly. lie was GO
ing 10 tell me some more. but | dis
missed him haughtily. 7 have never
seen a man who resembled a beaten
dog as much as this old SCoundrel
who was SO arrogant before.
Mayuyu came back from the Bashi-
lele village and reported that the chief
seemed very friendly, 50 | ordered
mind you, ordered, not asked-the old
chief to have the porters ready for
the day after the next. | chose that
day because | had decided to send
our Bambala next night to the Bashi
lele with our iron and such goods as
might be easily pilfered, and not to
trust the Bakongo with them. This
cost me a great deal of anxiety after
ward.
The Bambala, led by Mayuyu, start
ed at l O'Clock in the morning so
quietly that the villagers knew
nothing Of their departure. They were
expected to be back at about 10 or
on the lookout for them: at II we
went to meet them. Nothing was in
sight
Then we passed the most terrible
time l have ever known.
We knew that Badjok slave traders
We're in the region. and we at once
thought they might have kidnapped
our men. Neither of us imagined any
mischief on the part of the Bakongo;
they had been oyerawed, we were in
the village, and If they had killed our
men they would not hesitate to do
the same to us before the news
reached us. No, it must have been
the Badjok.
One long hour followed another and
still there was no news. We could
not talk or work; We just waited. If
the Badjok had got our men, what
could we do? We were not far from
the frontier and knew nothing Of the
country. AS evening approached
told Simpson that we would have to
leave everything in Kenge and start
at nightfall in pursuit. though we did
not know In what direction! At any
rate, If the Badjok hurt one hair on
the head of the Bambala we would
kill, kill, till we were killed ourselves.
1t was then that I learned how a
civilized man can revert To aNa zer1.