The Keepers of the King's Peace

, called his relations together

preparations which precede all native intrigues, great or small, and partly because the lower river people are so far removed from the turbulent elements of the upper river that they a

had the

th Ko-boru, and they sat in a great circle about the headman's hut, alt

ge all large assemblies, "that a great shame has come to us, every one, because of Yoka-m'furi. For this Yoka is to Sandi as a brother, an

red the counci

alavers. Now, I tell you that Yoka-m'furi is an evil man, for he has left my daughter, and has found

four." He said this with proper significance, and the flat face of the melancholy girl by

wenty-four hours-"from sunrise to moonset" in her village is automatically divorced and freed from

ld me that I should call you all together, and that I and the chief of m

ke to Sandi and he spoke to me, and because of his cunning memory he will recall

and they took canoe and travelled for

stories of native feuds, when the unexpected dep

iled Sanders, "

ecognized a certain absence of encouragement in the Comm

autiful friends, Militini, who speak a word and set his terrible soldiers moving like leopards towards a kill, and Tibbetti, the young

l of the stoep and looke

a woman with many lovers and an evil tongue; and once there came to me Yoka

red Ko-boru, "such thin

if it is to be, Yoka will return. Also, if it is to be, he will not

will do no more angry things. Let hi

s finished," re

u made a plot. It was the first plot that had been h

s wanted?" asked the girl, as the crestfallen de

d I was being requested to restore a husband to a temperamental lady who

hing eyes were

!" she said, with

is my steersman-the best on the river, and a capital all-round man. Besides that," he went on seriously, "I regard them all as

he asked, after

do I

. "This is a healthy and a delightful s

an awkwa

but to a woman there is a note of interrogation behind every bachelor-especial

s rose

sh," he threatened, with that shy laugh of

ustice was on the side of Lieutenant Tibbetts, if one could

o the stoep, followed by Bones, who, to do him justice, did not adopt the at

dear?" asked the g

said Hamilton, "I t

is referrin' to me, dear

w, sir, that the paymaster is coming down from Administration to check 'em, and will you believe me, sir"-he glared at Bones, who immediatel

, "the matter in dispute being a trifle of thirty-nine dollars,

as one who exp

n, "he talks of taking Pat for an early

justice, sir and brother-officer. I offered to take the books wit

snarled Hamilton, sta

hty?" said Bon

rl, "I shan't go unless you

himself up

e said proudly, "put

y days through certain eccentricities of construction. Though she might not in justice be called the Wiggle any longer, yet the Wiggle

lf was the first to recognize this right. There were moments when he inferred that the Wiggle's arrival

tiny cabins amidships. Her internal works were open to the light of day, and her engineer lived in the engine-room

en of unusual power and diabolical tone, she was also fitted with a big motor-horn, both of which appendages were Bones's gift to his flagship. The motor-horn ma

and the current runs at anything from five to seven knots an hour. Bones was going up stream, and met the Bolalo Mission steame

nt all ways, from broadside on to stern first, for in those t

and which was warranted to receive messages from two hundred miles distant. There was also a book of instructions. Bones went to his hut with

ain about was that there ought to be a wire somewhere. So they stretched the aerial from the funnel to the fla

a week, and gave

said Hamilton. "It doesn

mind tellin' you that I've a queer feelin'-I can't explain what it is, excep

mining each part under a strong magnifying glass, he never succeeded either in transmitting or receiving a message, and the machine w

Wiggle; it was his very own ship, and

installed the little dynamo which-when it worked-lit the cabins and even supplied power for a miniature searchlight. It was Bones who had her painted Service grey, and would have added another funn

ver and the "ha-a-a-a-ha-a-a-a" of breakers, Bones came from his hut, crossed the parade-ground, and, making his way by the light of a lante

ater part of his life in the service of a professor of bacteriology. This professor was something of a purist, and the association with Ali Abid, plus a grounding in the elementary subject

he employed whenever he felt called upon to de

orning in the

tone to put the

... Get up, Ali

vi

ake h

tes him," Hamilton once said; "he simply could

ning was very cold, and he had been sleeping under

" said Bones, setting

isposition. Your preliminary instructions presupposed

ratched

e honourable lady for a trip? Didn't I tell you, you jolly old slacker, to have everyt

d Ali, "yo

thfully, "why the dick

irium, hallucinations, highly imaginative, which dissipate when the subject

his face into

tell me I dreamt

rvation compels complete acq

ildish," s

ole up to the dark Residency. He had solemnly promised Sanders th

ers of the Akasava had many curious implements to show her. Breakfa

d Hamilton had offered to make a chalk mark on the sash,

sorry for," he warned Bones. "If you return without straightenin

ng the wooden verandah. To make doubly sure, he

"Sh, Bones! Not so much n

room, the left was Sanders's, the right was Patricia's. He went carefully to the right wi

ones?" growled

s ga

he whispered agitatedl

and rapped smartly. Then he

ak, and turned his

d, in his loudest whisper. "Arise, fo

voice rag

as you, you

ones, "awfully sorry! Go to

vil!" said a

e window; here he could make no m

" he said; "time

and again Bones confron

rated Bones, "how the

night, you goop! Pat sleeps at the other end of the buildin

Bones, on his dignity, "for the i

his dressing-tabl

aid Bones, "an' don't fo

ncy, when the girl, who had been up and dressed for a quarter o

you gave me the dickens of a fright! Well, let's get

s of two pyjamaed figures that stood on the stoe

when you're coming b

Bones, betwe

e two men had accepted the unexpected call with the curious readiness which natives show on such occ

dy for his lord's attention, and there was every promise of a happy and a profitabl

ing or bad-tempered squawk of a bird, a faint fragrance of burning gumwood from the fishing villages

forest, clearly revealing the outlines of the straight-stemmed trees. There is just this interregnum of pearl greyness, a sort of hush-light, which lasts whilst a man counts twenty, before the silver lances of the sun

is hand to the east with the air of on

s the broad river, right ahead of the boat, a flock of parroquets was flying, screeching their rauc

wonderful?"

at the birds,

ity they can't talk till you teach 'em! They're awful bad e

look,

he river, and two majestic flamingos standing at

nformative Bones. "The flesh is fishy

oul, Bones?" she

s asked, in astonishment.

ccounts, and she was left to enjoy the splendour of the day, to watch the iron-red waters piling up against the Wiggle's bows, to feel the

Abid was a methodical and clerkly man, and unearthed th

eved. "You're a jolly old accounta

application, omit vision of intricate detail.

Bones, "but get the state

ut shy and solemn bachelors who adopted whole nations of mu

inies of the water, and a promenade back and forward from one side of the launch to the other. Bones called this "pacing the bridge," and invariably carried h

" she said. "And is

ey re-embarked, the capita of the vill

spear-heads, gruesome execution knives, elep

d the girl, as the Wiggle turned her nose homew

f, and the real Bones, kindly, thoughtful, considerate, an'-if I may use the word withou

counts, like a good boy," sh

accurate statement, whilst Ali himself slept contentedly on the top of the cabin. Even the engineer dozed at his post, and only one man was wide awake and watch

ll boats, even the Zaire, must pass so close beneath the overhanging boughs of a great lime that the boughs brush their very funnels. Fortunately, the current is never strong here, for the passage is a shallow one. Yoka felt the boat slowing as he reached shoal w

gh, "between sunrise and moonset is no

ith his head on his hands, with his eyes shut, and his mouth o

imes he looked at the steam gauge, sometimes he kicked open the furnace door and chucked in a few billets of wo

imself, and came blinking into the s

--" said Bones.

ea. There was no sign of land of any description. The low-lying

houlder of the sleeping girl

voice trembled, "we're alone on this

riousness of the si

t at Bones's call, and accepted the disappea

I don't think I'm wrong in sayin' that the east is opposite to the

g a coast boy, elected to speak

ed Bones, t

ne. I look um. I se

own heavily

say?" Pat as

nes. "The horrid old bunkers are empty,

she cried, in

s had re

with a line?" he said. "It c

who prevented

oximity of land presupposes research. The subject should assist rather than retard re

ilton, that you've got to keep

orded, for at that precise moment the s.s

gle's little boiler, and one log

nt, but again Ali

s upon steamer or launch certain scientific appa

ttered Bones. "Good

e the gangway of the s.s. Paretta, anticipat

nchor when Sanders brough

p, looking for all the world like a humming bird under the win

ton. "O Yoka, take the Zaire to

ring marks which indicated his strenuous experience, for he had fought hi

also a day,"

und his sister and a debonair and complacent Bones waiting

jolly old paymaster"-he saluted the other officer-"an' found corr

pped his han

the girl, "they wouldn't have seen

es nonchalantly. "It was a mere no

s to work?" asked Ha

steam to get up to the ship, so I burnt the dashed t