"What the dooce is all this about hey?" demanded Lieutenant Tibbetts fiercely, and Iberi, doubly uneasy at the sound of an unaccustomed language, stood on one leg in his embarra.s.sment.
"Lord, the thief Bosambo" he began, and told the story.
"Lord," he concluded humbly, "I say all this though Bosambo is your relation since you have secretly married his sister"s cousin."
Whereupon Bones went very red and stammered and spluttered in such a way that the chief knew for sure that Bosambo had spoken the truth.
Bones, as I have said before, was no fool. He confirmed Bosambo"s order for the evacuation of the island, but left a Houssa guard to hold it.
Then he hurried north to the Ochori.
Bosambo formed his royal procession, but there was no occasion for it, for Bones was in no processional mood.
"What the dooce do you mean, sir?" demanded a glaring and threatening Bones, his helmet over his neck, his arms akimbo. "What do you mean, sir, by saying I"m married to your infernal aunt?"
"Sah," said Bosambo, virtuous and innocent, "I no savvy you I no compreney, sah! You lib for my house I give you fine t"ings. I make um moosic, sah"
"You"re a jolly old rotter, Bosambo!" said Bones, shaking his finger in the chief"s face. "I could punish you awfully for telling wicked stories, Bosambo. I"m disgusted with you, I am indeed."
"Lord who never sleeps," began Bosambo, humbly.
"Hey?"
Bones stared at the other in amazement, suspicion, hope, and gratification in his face.
"O, Bosambo," said he mildly, and speaking in the native tongue, "why do you call me by that name?"
Now, Bosambo in his innocence had used a phrase (M"wani-m"wani) which signifies "the sleepless one," and also stands in the vernacular for "busy-body," or one who is eternally concerned with other people"s business.
"Lord," said Bosambo, hastily, "by this name are you known from the mountains to the sea. Thus all men speak of you, saying: "This is he who does not sleep but watches all the time.""
Bones was impressed, he was flattered, and he ran his finger between the collar of his uniform jacket and his scraggy neck as one will do who is embarra.s.sed by praise and would appear unconcerned under the ordeal.
"So men call me, Bosambo," said he carelessly, "though my lord M"ilitani does not know this therefore in the day when M"ilitani comes, speak of me as M"wani-m"wani M"wani-m"wani that he may know of whom men speak when they say "the sleepless one."" that he may know of whom men speak when they say "the sleepless one.""
Everybody knows that Cala cala Cala cala great chiefs had stored against the hour of their need certain stocks of ivory. great chiefs had stored against the hour of their need certain stocks of ivory.
Dead ivory it is called because it had been so long cut, but good cow ivory, closer in grain than the bull elephant brought to the hunter, more turnable, and of greater value.
There is no middle island on the river about which some legend or buried treasure does not float.
Hamilton, hurrying forward to the support of his second-in-command, stopped long enough to interview two sulky chiefs.
"What palaver is this?" he demanded of Iberi, "that you carry your spears to a killing? For is not the river big enough for all, and are there no burying-places for your old men that you should fight so fiercely?"
"Lord," confessed Iberi, "upon that island is a treasure which has been hidden from the beginning of time, and that is the truth N"Yango!"
Now, no man swears by his mother unless he is speaking straightly, and Hamilton understood.
"Never have I spoken of this to the Chief of the Isisi," Iberi went on, "nor he to me, yet we know because of certain wise sayings that the treasure stays and young men of our houses have searched very diligently though secretly. Also Bosambo knows, for he is a cunning man, and when we found he had put his warriors to the seeking we fought him, lord, for though the treasure may be Isisi or Akasava, of this I am sure it is not of the Ochori."
Hamilton came to the Ochori city to find a red-eyed Bones stalking majestically up and down the beach.
"What is the matter with you?" demanded Hamilton. "Fever?"
"Not at all," replied Bones, huskily; but with a fine carelessness.
"You look as if you hadn"t had a sleep for months," said Hamilton.
Bones shrugged his shoulders.
"Dear old fellow," said he, "it isn"t for nothing that I"m called "the sleepless one" don"t make sceptical noises, dear old officer, but pursue your inquiries among the indigenous natives, especially Bosambo an hour is all I want just a bit of a snooze and a bath and I"m bright an" vigilant."
"Take your hour," said Hamilton briefly. "You"ll need it."
His interview with Bosambo was short and, for Bosambo, painful. Nevertheless he unbent in the end to give the chief a job after his heart.
Launch and steamer turned their noses down the stream, and at sunset came to the island. In the morning, Hamilton conducted a search which extended from sh.o.r.e to sh.o.r.e and he came upon the cairn unexpectedly after a two hours" search. He uncovered two tons of ivory, wrapped in rotten native cloth.
"There will be trouble over this," he said, thoughtfully, surveying the yellow tusks. "I"ll go down stream to the Isisi and collect information, unless these beggars can establish their claim we will bag this lot for government."
He left Bones and one orderly on the island.
"I shall be gone two days," he said. "I must send the launch to bring Iberi to me; keep your eyes peeled."
"Sir," said Bones, blinking and suppressing a yawn with difficulty, "you can trust the sleepless one."
He had his tent pitched before the cairn, and in the shade of a great gum he seated himself in his canvas chair...
He looked up and struggled to his feet. He was half dead with weariness, for the whole of the previous night, while Bosambo snored in his hut, Bones, pinching himself, had wandered up and down the street of the city qualifying for his t.i.tle.
Now, as he rose unsteadily to his feet, it was to confront Bosambo Bosambo with four canoes grounded on the sandy beach of the island.
"h.e.l.lo, Bosambo!" yawned Bones.
"O Sleepless One," said Bosambo humbly, "though I came in silence yet you heard me, and your bright eyes saw me in the little-light."
"Little-light" it was, for the sun had gone down.
"Go now, Bosambo," said Bones, "for it is not lawful that you should be here."
He looked around for Ahmet, his orderly, but Ahmet was snoring like a pig.
"Lord, that I know," said Bosambo, "yet I came because my heart is sad and I have sorrow in my stomach. For did I not say that you had married my aunt?"
"Now listen whilst I tell you the full story of my wickedness, and of my aunt who married a white lord"
Bones sat down in his chair and laid back his head, listening with closed eyes.
"My aunt, O Sleepless One," began Bosambo, and Bones heard the story in fragments. "...Coast woman...great lord...fine drier of cloth..."
Bosambo droned on in a monotonous tone, and Bones, open-mouthed, his head rolling from side to side, breathed regularly.
At a gesture from Bosambo, the man who sat in the canoe slipped lightly ash.o.r.e. Bosambo pointed to the cairn, but he himself did not move, nor did he check his fluent narrative.
Working with feverish, fervent energy, the men of Bosambo"s party loaded the great tusks in the canoes. At last all the work was finished and Bosambo rose.
"Wake up, Bones."
Lieutenant Tibbetts stumbled to his feet glaring and grimacing wildly.
"Parade all correct, sir," he said, "the mail boat has just come in, an" there"s a jolly old salmon for supper."
"Wake up, you dreaming devil," said Hamilton.
Bones looked around. In the bright moonlight he saw the Zaire Zaire moored to the shelving beach, saw Hamilton, and turned his head to the empty cairn. moored to the shelving beach, saw Hamilton, and turned his head to the empty cairn.
"Good Lord!" he gasped.
"O Sleepless One!" said Hamilton softly, "O bright eyes!"
Bones went blundering to the cairn, made a closer inspection, and came slowly back.
"There"s only one thing for me to do, sir," he said, saluting. "As an officer an" a gentleman, I must blow my brains out."
"Brains!" said Hamilton scornfully.
"As a matter of fact I sent Bosambo to collect the ivory which I shall divide amongst the three chiefs it"s perished ivory, anyhow; and he had my written authority to take it, but being a born thief he preferred to steal it; you"ll find it stacked in your cabin, Bones."
"In my cabin, sir!" said an indignant Bones; "there isn"t room in my cabin, sir. How the d.i.c.kens am I going to sleep?"
Endnotes [Note: Where supported by the reading device, access keys are 1-9, and then a,b etc. where needed (sometimes needing Ctrl, Alt, Cmd etc.)]
[1] Allamandi German territory. Allamandi German territory.
[2] That which I call the Akasava proper is the very small, dominant clan of a tribe which is loosely called "Akasava," but is really Bowongo. That which I call the Akasava proper is the very small, dominant clan of a tribe which is loosely called "Akasava," but is really Bowongo.
[3] "Book" means any written thing. A note is a book. "Book" means any written thing. A note is a book.
[4] The stone breaker, the native name for the Congo Government. The stone breaker, the native name for the Congo Government.
[5] Probably a corruption of the word "English." Probably a corruption of the word "English."
[6] The territories are invariably named after the princ.i.p.al city, which is sometimes, perhaps, a little misleading. EW. The territories are invariably named after the princ.i.p.al city, which is sometimes, perhaps, a little misleading. EW.
[7] See See A Right of Way A Right of Way (chapter viii). (chapter viii).
[8] Palaver. Palaver.
[9] The motor launch. The motor launch.
[10] Chronicles II, ix. 29. Chronicles II, ix. 29.
[11] Numbers, xxi. 17. Numbers, xxi. 17.
[12] "Lilongo" is from the noun "balongo" blood, and means literally "he-who-breaks-blood-friendships." EW. "Lilongo" is from the noun "balongo" blood, and means literally "he-who-breaks-blood-friendships." EW.
Series Information Dates given are for year of first publication.
"Lieutenant Bones" Series These t.i.tles can be read as a series, or randomly as standalone novels
Bones Bones .
1915 1915.
The Keepers of the King"s Peace The Keepers of the King"s Peace .