in the door.

"The man is here, Excellence." Zu Pfeiffer nodded.

"Forward, quick marrch," commanded the sergeant in a muffled bark.
"Halttt!"

"Very good, sergeant, you may wait."

Schultz saluted and retired without. The tall powerfully built native in
uniform stood as if he had a bayonet beneath his chin. There was a slight
nervousness about the blues of the eyes as he squinted in the attempt to
look straight ahead and to watch the Kommandant at the same time. One
nostril was slit, in the lobes of the ears were three can keys, and the
temples were tattooed with tribal scars.

"Corporal Inyira!" said zu Pfeiffer sharply. The black body twitched at
the voice. "You are to leave to-morrow for Dar-es-salaam and you will take
as a prisoner a white man who has been taking your tribe as slaves and
selling them to the Abyssinians. The Bwana Mkubwa protects you from these
evil white men and Arabs. You know that?" sharply.

"Bwana!"

"Very good. You know what would happen to you if you were sold as a slave?
You have had many brothers who have been sold to the Abyssinians?"

"Bwana! Many, Bwana!"

"Very good. Now listen! This white man is very bad. He leaves with you
to-morrow morning for Dar-es-salaam, but--he is never to arrive there. I
give him to you. You may do what you like with him, but never let me see
him again. You have my protection. Understand?"

"Bwana!"

The rubber lips pouted in the emphatic utterance.

"These are your secret orders. But you are not to tell them to any man,
woman, or child here; you may tell your men when you are gone. If you
disobey I will cut out your tongue and give you three hundred lashes.
Understand?"

"Bwana!"

"This man is the enemy of the Bwana Mkubwa. His enemies are your enemies.
His goods are yours. Begone!"

The black hand came up jerkily to the black forehead, shot away out and
down; the polished calves moved like the eccentrics of an engine, and
Corporal Inyira melted into the shadows.

"Sergeant Schultz!"

To smart heel taps on the verandah entered the sergeant.

"You will see that Corporal Inyira and the escort leave before daybreak;
moreover, that he talks with no one before he leaves."

"Excellence."

"Take a drink, sergeant."

With legs as stiff as his sjambok, Sergeant Schultz obeyed the order;
lifted the glass and drank.

"You may go! Good night, sergeant."

"Excellence, good night!"

As zu Pfeiffer shifted from the chair-arm to the seat his m