in Hamilton and his Houssas
had any right whatever to be upon "the red field." And in consequence
the telegraph lines between Berlin and Paris and Paris and London and
London and Brussels were kept fairly busy with passionate statements of
claims couched in the stilted terminology of diplomacy.

England could not recede from the position she had taken. This she said
in French and in German, and in her own perfidious tongue. She stated
this uncompromisingly, but at the same time sent secret orders to
withdraw the force that was the bone of contention. This order she soon
countermanded. A certain speech delivered by a too voluble Belgian
minister was responsible for the stiffening of her back, and His
Excellency the Administrator of the territory received official
instructions in the middle of the night: "Tell Hamilton to stay where he
is and hold border against all comers."

This message was re-transmitted.

Now there is in existence in the British Colonial Service, and in all
branches which affect the agents and the servants of the Colonial
Office, an emergency code which is based upon certain characters in
Shakespearean plays.

I say "there is"; perhaps it would be better and more to the point if I
said "there was," since the code has been considerably amended.

Thus, be he sub-inspector or commissioner, or chief of local native
police who receives the word "Ophelia," he knows without consulting any
book that "Ophelia" means "unrest of natives reported in your district,
please report"; or if it be "Polonius" it signifies to him--and this he
knows without confirming his knowledge--that he must move steadily
forward. Or if it be "Banquo" he reads into it, "Hold your position till
further orders." And "Banquo" was the word that the Administrator
telegraphed.

* * * * *

Sergeant Abiboo had sat by the flowing N'glili river without noticing
any slackening of its strength or challenging of its depth.

There was reason for this.

Bizaro, who was in the forest ten miles to the westward, and working
moreover upon a piece of native strategy which natives the world over
had found successful, saw that it was unnecessary to dam the river and
divert the stream.

Nature had assisted him to a marvellous degree. He had followed the
stream through the forest until he reached a place where it was a
quarter of a mile wide, so wide and so newly spread that the water
reached half-way up the trunks