he commanded the messenger to
summon the white man to his presence.

To Bakahenzie the unexpected arrival of another white was an unforeseen
potentiality of force which might be utilized to his own benefit; so
thought Marufa, which was in effect exactly the same reaction as Zalu
Zako's. Therefore Bakahenzie immediately protested upon the ground that no
stranger could be allowed to approach the Son-of-the-Snake, or even the
village, who had not been purified according to custom. When Zalu Zako
demurred he retorted:

"Hath not one white man who was permitted to enter our country without the
demon being exorcised wreaked disaster upon us? Wouldst thou then destroy
us utterly?"

Zalu Zako was silent. Much as he would have desired to browbeat
Bakahenzie, much as his confidence in the powers of the chief witch-doctor
had waned in his estimation, yet there remained sufficient to overawe him
when the matter was put to a crucial test. Bakahenzie would, so he stated,
go himself to see the new white man, thus unselfishly taking upon his
person the whole risk of the lasting magic of a stranger unpurified. But
Marufa had no intention of allowing Bakahenzie to obtain a monopoly of
this possible new ally. Unlike Zalu Zako he was not burdened with awe and
had confidence in his own magic to overcome any evil that Bakahenzie might
seek to work against him. So when he announced that he would accompany
Bakahenzie, that distressed wizard was too conscious of his dwindling
prestige to object.

CHAPTER 15

Just after sun-up next morning as Birnier was seated at the door of his
tent reading his _Melancholy_ and drinking his coffee, a startled "clk"
caused him to glance round. He saw Bakuma rise suddenly from the fire and
disappear. The next moment materialized out of the miasma of the morning
the figures of Bakahenzie and Marufa, followed by a file of warriors.

Portentously Bakahenzie stalked to the fire and squatted down without even
a murmur to Mungongo busy with the breakfast. Bakahenzie remembered
Infunyana very well, but nevertheless designedly Birnier ignored him in
return. So they sat, the two wizards taking snuff with grave concern
almost at the feet of the white who continued to smoke and to read.

The sign boded ill, for the insistence upon the punctilious etiquette
inferred that Bakahenzie was disposed to be suspicious, if not directly
hostile. And indeed the warriors' description of