her?" I urged.

"Very little," he answered. "In every part of the land, from the great
black waters to the Niger and far beyond, even to the sun-scorched
country of the Maghrib, her fame is known to all men. She is rich, mighty
and mysterious. Her power is dreaded throughout the forests and the
grass-plains, and it is said that in her wrath her voice is so terrible
that even the mountains quake with fear."

"By what means do her fighting-men come forth from her unapproachable
land?" I inquired, remembering that we were travelling by the secret way
known only to herself and Omar.

"I know not," he replied. "The manner in which the hosts of Mo appear and
disappear have, from time immemorial, formed a subject of speculation
among our people. That they have appeared on the Ashanti border and
sacked and burned many towns in retaliation for some outrages committed
by the Ashantis upon our people is well-known, but by what route they
came or returned is a mystery. Some say they came like flocks of birds
through the air; others declare that they can transfer themselves from
one place to another and become invisible at will. Neither of these
theories I myself believe, for I am convinced that between the land of Mo
and the Great Salt Road there exists a secret means of communication, so
that the armies of the Naya can appear so suddenly and unexpectedly as to
escape the vigilance of their enemy's scouts. Many are the battles they
have fought and great the slaughter. In the slave-land of Samory they
engaged twelve moons ago the pick of the Arab army, and defeated them
with appalling loss. It is said, too, that they carry some of the strange
guns made by your people, the white men."

"You mean Maxims," I said.

"I know not their name, nor have I ever seen one," he answered. "I have
heard, however, from a Sofa who fought against the English in the last
war, that the weapons are so light that a man can easily carry one, and
that when fired they shed streams of bullets like water from a spout. A
single gun is equal to the fire of two hundred men. Truly you white men
possess many marvels."

"Yes," I said, smiling at his unbounded admiration for the weapon. "But
is it not strange that the Naya should also possess similar marvels?"

"No. Everything is strange in the land of the Great White Queen. It is
said to be a country full of amazing mysteries. Many are the
extraordinary stories related by my people of the wonders of Mo; wond