assent. Bakahenzie began again to mutter incantations. He had, he knew,
averted the immediate danger for at least another sun, or perhaps two. Now
was there only to wait and see. But Bakahenzie, as all great men, had the
distinct vein of luck that follows the bold. Even as they squatted there,
thoroughly worked up for the reception of a miracle, came a rustle among
the leaves. Every head turned as one to see once more the mystic gleam of
eyes in the gloom as the voice of Marufa cried:

"Let there be a new fire!"

From the cavern of the undergrowth emerged a white man bearing upon his
shoulders a burden which, as he staggered into the gleam of the fires, was
seen to be in form and in shape that of the burned idol. Then did
Bakahenzie leap to his feet and in one stroke recover his lead and fetter
his most dangerous enemy by proclaiming in a loud voice:

"Behold! The bearer of the Burden of the World even as Bakahenzie hath
prophesied!"

And as Birnier set down the idol, from warrior and wizard, with the chief
witch-doctor's declaration, "That which is and must be, shall be," echoing
in their ears, came the deep grunt of acceptance of the new King-God of
the lost Usakuma, the Incarnation of the Unmentionable One.

CHAPTER 22

In the humid heat of the forenoon the small hills of Fort Eitel, as zu
Pfeiffer had renamed the Place of Kings, in the centre of the rased banana
plantations, resembled scabby pimples upon a shaven patch of a green head
seething with a verminous activity.

Across the ford of the river came a puckered-faced Bakuma in the train of
carriers and slaves of MYalu, who with Yabolo was coming to make obeisance
to Eyes-in-the-hands, under the protection of Sakamata. To Bakuma there
was no joy in the prospect of the sight of her old home; the bitter taste
of the oleander was in her mouth as she trudged despondently with downcast
head.

But the breast of MYalu was filled with the song of the cricket. The
terrors that had haunted him throughout the journey, of being overtaken by
the magic of Bakahenzie or his emissaries, for the sacrilege of stealing
the Bride of the Banana, began to evaporate at the approach to his village
where now dwelt a new god more powerful than any, from whom he was about
to gain protection, honours, and incidentally the ivory, which his anxious
eyes pictured still within his hut. But when they broke from the outer
banana plantation a might