hese spears he marched into the Isisi forest,
burning and slaying whenever he came upon a little village which offered
no opposition. Thus he took to himself the air and title of conqueror
with as little excuse as a flamboyant general ever had.

Had it occurred on the river, this warlike expedition must have
attracted the attention of Sanders. The natural roadway of the territory
is a waterway. It is only when operations are begun against the internal
tribes who inhabit the bush, and whose armies can move under the cloak
of the forest (and none wiser) that Sanders found himself at a
disadvantage.

Tukili himself heard nothing of the army that was being led against him
until it was within a day's march of his gates. Then he sallied forth
with a force skilled in warfare and practised in the hunt. The combat
lasted exactly ten minutes and all that was left of Notiki's spears made
the best of their way homeward, avoiding, as far as possible, those
villages which they had visited en route with such disastrous results to
the unfortunate inhabitants.

Now it is impossible that one conqueror shall be sunk to oblivion
without his victor claiming for himself the style of his victim. Tukili
had defeated his adversary, and Tukili was no exception to the general
rule, and from being a fairly well-disposed king, amiable--too amiable
as we have shown--and kindly, and just, he became of a sudden a menace
to all that part of Sanders' territory which lies between the French
land and the river.

It was such a situation as this as only Bosambo might deal with, and
Sanders heartily cursed his absent chief and might have cursed him with
greater fervour had he had an inkling of the mission to which Bosambo
had appointed himself.

III

His Excellency the Administrator of the period had his office at a
prosperous city of stone which we will call Koombooli, though that is
not its name.

He was a stout, florid man, patient and knowledgeable. He had been sent
to clear up the mess which two incompetent administrators made, who had
owed their position rather to the constant appearance of their friends
and patrons in the division lobbies than to their acquaintance with the
native mind, and it is eloquent of the regard in which His Excellency
was held that, although he was a Knight Commander of St. Michael and St.
George, a Companion of a Victorian Order, a Commander of the Bath, and
the son of a noble house, he was known familiarly along t