ed towards the store. Kayerts followed him mechanically, thinking
about the incredible desertion of the men. On the ground before the door
of the fetish lay six splendid tusks.

"What did you give for it?" asked Kayerts, after surveying the lot with
satisfaction.

"No regular trade," said Makola. "They brought the ivory and gave it to
me. I told them to take what they most wanted in the station. It is
a beautiful lot. No station can show such tusks. Those traders wanted
carriers badly, and our men were no good here. No trade, no entry in
books: all correct."

Kayerts nearly burst with indignation. "Why!" he shouted, "I believe you
have sold our men for these tusks!" Makola stood impassive and silent.
"I--I--will--I," stuttered Kayerts. "You fiend!" he yelled out.

"I did the best for you and the Company," said Makola, imperturbably.
"Why you shout so much? Look at this tusk."

"I dismiss you! I will report you--I won't look at the tusk. I forbid
you to touch them. I order you to throw them into the river. You--you!"

"You very red, Mr. Kayerts. If you are so irritable in the sun, you
will get fever and die--like the first chief!" pronounced Makola
impressively.

They stood still, contemplating one another with intense eyes, as if
they had been looking with effort across immense distances. Kayerts
shivered. Makola had meant no more than he said, but his words seemed to
Kayerts full of ominous menace! He turned sharply and went away to the
house. Makola retired into the bosom of his family; and the tusks, left
lying before the store, looked very large and valuable in the sunshine.

Carlier came back on the verandah. "They're all gone, hey?" asked
Kayerts from the far end of the common room in a muffled voice. "You did
not find anybody?"

"Oh, yes," said Carlier, "I found one of Gobila's people lying dead
before the huts--shot through the body. We heard that shot last night."

Kayerts came out quickly. He found his companion staring grimly over
the yard at the tusks, away by the store. They both sat in silence for
a while. Then Kayerts related his conversation with Makola. Carlier said
nothing. At the midday meal they ate very little. They hardly exchanged
a word that day. A great silence seemed to lie heavily over the station
and press on their lips. Makola did not open the store; he spent the day
playing with his children. He lay full-length on a mat outside his door,
and the youngsters sat on his chest and cl