at Msala is forgotten? Do you think that all Loango,
even to the boatmen on the beach, ignores the fact that you are here in
Loango now because you are afraid to go through a savage country to
the Simiacine Plateau as you are pledged to do? You were afraid of the
small-pox once; there is something else that you are afraid of now. I do
not know what it is, but I will find out. Coward! Go! Leave the house at
once, before I call in the stable-boys to turn you out, and never dare
to speak to me again!"

Victor Durnovo recoiled before her, conscious all the while that she
had never been so beautiful as at that moment. But she was something far
above him--a different creation altogether. He never knew what drove him
from that room. It was the fear of something that he did not understand.

He heard her close the window after him as he walked away beneath the
trees.

She stood watching him--proud, cold, terrible in her womanly anger. Then
she turned, and suddenly sank down upon the sofa, sobbing.

But fortune decreed that she should have neither time to weep nor think.
She heard the approaching footsteps of her old servant, and when the
door was opened Jocelyn Gordon was reading a book, with her back turned
towards the window.

"That man Nala, miss, the paddle-maker, wants to see you."

"Tell him to go round to the verandah."

Jocelyn went out by the open window, and presently Nala came grinning
towards her. He was evidently very much pleased with himself--held
himself erect, and squinted more violently than usual.

"I have been to Msala," he said, with considerable dignity of manner.

"Yes, and what news have you?"

Nala squatted down on the chunam floor, and proceeded to unfold a leaf.
The operation took some time. Within the outer covering there was a
second envelope of paper, likewise secured by a string. Finally, the man
produced a small note, which showed signs of having been read more than
once. This he handed to Jocelyn with an absurd air of importance.

She opened the paper and read:

"To MARIE AT MSALA,--Send at once to Mr. Durnovo, informing him that
the tribes have risen and are rapidly surrounding the Plateau. He must
return here at once with as large an armed force as he can raise. But
the most important consideration is time. He must not wait for men from
elsewhere, but must pick up as many as he can in Loango and on the
way up to Msala. I reckon that we can hold out for four months without
outside