uire. Perhaps it was his way of going home to his own country?
At any rate, these were his brothers, and he transferred his absurd
affection to them. They returned it in a way. Carlier slapped him on the
back, and recklessly struck off matches for his amusement. Kayerts was
always ready to let him have a sniff at the ammonia bottle. In short,
they behaved just like that other white creature that had hidden itself
in a hole in the ground. Gobila considered them attentively. Perhaps
they were the same being with the other--or one of them was. He couldn't
decide--clear up that mystery; but he remained always very friendly. In
consequence of that friendship the women of Gobila's village walked
in single file through the reedy grass, bringing every morning to the
station, fowls, and sweet potatoes, and palm wine, and sometimes a goat.
The Company never provisions the stations fully, and the agents required
those local supplies to live. They had them through the good-will of
Gobila, and lived well. Now and then one of them had a bout of fever,
and the other nursed him with gentle devotion. They did not think much
of it. It left them weaker, and their appearance changed for the worse.
Carlier was hollow-eyed and irritable. Kayerts showed a drawn, flabby
face above the rotundity of his stomach, which gave him a weird aspect.
But being constantly together, they did not notice the change that took
place gradually in their appearance, and also in their dispositions.

Five months passed in that way.

Then, one morning, as Kayerts and Carlier, lounging in their chairs
under the verandah, talked about the approaching visit of the steamer,
a knot of armed men came out of the forest and advanced towards the
station. They were strangers to that part of the country. They were
tall, slight, draped classically from neck to heel in blue fringed
cloths, and carried percussion muskets over their bare right shoulders.
Makola showed signs of excitement, and ran out of the storehouse (where
he spent all his days) to meet these visitors. They came into the
courtyard and looked about them with steady, scornful glances. Their
leader, a powerful and determined-looking negro with bloodshot eyes,
stood in front of the verandah and made a long speech. He gesticulated
much, and ceased very suddenly.

There was something in his intonation, in the sounds of the long
sentences he used, that startled the two whites. It was like a
reminiscence of something