arch amongst the reeds and bushes
growing at the edge of the lake for the canoe of which we had been told
by the Kalubi. What if there were none? How could we cross that
wide stretch of deep water? Presently Hans, who, following certain
indications which caught his practised eye, had cast away to the left,
held up his hand and whistled. We ran to him.

"Here it is, Baas," he said, and pointed to something in a tiny
bush-fringed inlet, that at first sight looked like a heap of dead
reeds. We tore away at the reeds, and there, sure enough, was a canoe of
sufficient size to hold twelve or fourteen people, and in it a number of
paddles.

Another two minutes and we were rowing across that lake.

We came safely to the other side, where we found a little landing-stage
made of poles sunk into the lake. We tied up the canoe, or rather I did,
for nobody else remembered to take that precaution, and presently were
on a path which led through the cultivated fields to the house. Here I
insisted upon going first with the rifle, in case we should be suddenly
attacked. The silence and the absence of any human beings suggested to
me that this might very well happen, since it would be strange if we had
not been seen crossing the lake.

Afterwards I discovered why the place seemed so deserted. It was owing
to two reasons. First, it was now noontime, an hour at which these poor
slaves retired to their huts to eat and sleep through the heat of the
day. Secondly, although the "Watcher," as she was called, had seen
the canoe on the water, she concluded that the Kalubi was visiting the
Mother of the Flower and, according to practice on these occasions,
withdrew herself and everybody else, since the rare meetings of the
Kalubi and the Mother of the Flower partook of the nature of a religious
ceremony and must be held in private.

First we came to the little enclosure that was planted about with palms
and, as I have described, screened with mats. Stephen ran at it and,
scrambling up the wall, peeped over the top.

Next instant he was sitting on the ground, having descended from the
wall with the rapidity of one shot through the head.

"Oh! by Jingo!" he ejaculated, "oh! by Jingo!" and that was all I could
get out of him, though it is true I did not try very hard at the time.

Not five paces from this enclosure stood a tall reed fence that
surrounded the house. It had a gate also of reeds, which was a little
ajar. Creeping up to it very c