on ensued. The village and the temporary camp of grass huts
buzzed and hummed. Zalu Zako dashed out, sword and spear in hand, and in
the glow of the awakened fires harangued the warriors, urged that they
should make a swift detour through the forest and attack the white man as
he entered the village. Bakahenzie supported this plan of campaign. MYalu,
stung by the recollection of the loss of many tusks to the invader,
incontinently abandoned Yabolo and pressed for a frontal attack. Yabolo
contended that they send an envoy to make terms, but not very insistently.
In spite of the assurance of Sakamata, he was suspicious of the new god's
gentle ways. Marufa, the wise, collected those of his household who had
remained with him, and quietly made his way to the forest.

But Zalu Zako's martial spirit was overcome by the clamour of those who
would flee before worse befell, crying that the white god,
Eyes-in-the-hands, would eat them all up with the terrible monsters who
coughed flames and death; others screeched that the uniformed devils were
spirits of the night and therefore invincible; for always they came in the
dark. So they hesitated, shouted and argued. Then came a scout screaming
that the enemy was upon them, corroborated by a vicious cough.

A pom-pom shell landed in the midst of the crowded village. Zalu Zako,
Bakahenzie and their small following were nearly swept away in the rush of
five thousand odd warriors in flight. From the forest they watched with
awestruck eyes the burning of the village.

CHAPTER 13

On the morning on which zu Pfeiffer burned the village of Yagonyana,
Birnier was encamped upon the southern boundary of Wongolo. By his "coup
de superstition" had he recovered all his equipment except several bottles
of brandy, some canned goods and two and a half pairs of pyjamas; also the
field boots. The noble Inyira, son of Banyala, and his merry men never
attempted to recapture their prisoners; no one save the Eater-of-Men in
person could have persuaded them to return to that camp even had they had
their rifles.

After Birnier had dressed his own foot and the charred feet of his men,
had had a good drink and a better meal, he had sought to address the
balance of his mind through a medium designed for the cure of melancholy,
but efficacious for many other ills, _The Anatomy of Melancholy_. He
opened the one big volume which had been his companion throughout his
tr