formation
of the column; and such was the fact, for they were fleeing from the
white man's soldiers who had so harassed them for rubber and ivory that
they had turned upon their conquerors one day and massacred a white
officer and a small detachment of his black troops.

For many days they had gorged themselves on meat, but eventually a
stronger body of troops had come and fallen upon their village by night
to revenge the death of their comrades.

That night the black soldiers of the white man had had meat a-plenty,
and this little remnant of a once powerful tribe had slunk off into the
gloomy jungle toward the unknown, and freedom.

But that which meant freedom and the pursuit of happiness to these
savage blacks meant consternation and death to many of the wild
denizens of their new home.

For three days the little cavalcade marched slowly through the heart of
this unknown and untracked forest, until finally, early in the fourth
day, they came upon a little spot near the banks of a small river,
which seemed less thickly overgrown than any ground they had yet
encountered.

Here they set to work to build a new village, and in a month a great
clearing had been made, huts and palisades erected, plantains, yams and
maize planted, and they had taken up their old life in their new home.
Here there were no white men, no soldiers, nor any rubber or ivory to
be gathered for cruel and thankless taskmasters.

Several moons passed by ere the blacks ventured far into the territory
surrounding their new village. Several had already fallen prey to old
Sabor, and because the jungle was so infested with these fierce and
bloodthirsty cats, and with lions and leopards, the ebony warriors
hesitated to trust themselves far from the safety of their palisades.

But one day, Kulonga, a son of the old king, Mbonga, wandered far into
the dense mazes to the west. Warily he stepped, his slender lance ever
ready, his long oval shield firmly grasped in his left hand close to
his sleek ebony body.

At his back his bow, and in the quiver upon his shield many slim,
straight arrows, well smeared with the thick, dark, tarry substance
that rendered deadly their tiniest needle prick.

Night found Kulonga far from the palisades of his father's village, but
still headed westward, and climbing into the fork of a great tree he
fashioned a rude platform and curled himself for sleep.

Three miles to the west slept the tribe of Kerchak.

Early th