"Bones": Being Further Adventures in Mr. Commissioner Sanders' CountryWallace, Edgar
History
"Bones": Being Further Adventures in Mr. Commissioner Sanders' Country
Wallace, Edgar
Africa -- History -- 1884-1918 -- Fiction; Great Britain -- Colonies -- Africa -- Administration -- Fiction; Short stories, English
Sanders sent three spies to locate him, and gave his attention to the
more immediate problem of his Right Honourable guest. Mr. Joseph Blowter
had decided to make a trip into the interior and the _Zaire_ had been
placed at his disposal. A heaven-sent riot in the bushland, sixty miles
west of the Residency, had relieved both Sanders and Hamilton from the
necessity of accompanying the visitor, and he departed by steamer with a
bodyguard of twenty armed Houssas; more than sufficient in these
peaceful times.
"What about Mimbimi?" asked Hamilton under his breath as they stood on a
little concrete quay, and watched the _Zaire_ beating out to midstream.
"Mimbimi is evidently a bushman," said Sanders briefly. "He will not
come to the river. Besides, he is giving the Ochori a wide berth, and it
is to the Ochori that our friend is going. I cannot see how he can
possibly dump himself into mischief."
Nevertheless, as a matter of precaution, Sanders telegraphed to the
Administration not only the departure, but the precautions he had taken
for the safety of the Minister, and the fact that neither he nor
Hamilton were accompanying him on his tour of inspection "to study on
the spot those problems with which he was so well acquainted."
"O.K." flashed Bob across the wires, and that was sufficient for
Sanders. Of Mr. Blowter's adventures it is unnecessary to tell in
detail. How he mistook every village for a city, and every city for a
nation, of how he landed wherever he could and spoke long and eloquently
on the blessing of civilization, and the glories of the British
flag--all this through an interpreter--of how he went into the question
of basket-making and fly-fishing, and of how he demonstrated to the
fishermen of the little river a method of catching fish by fly, and how
he did not catch anything. All these matters might be told in great
detail with no particular credit to the subject of the monograph.
In course of time he came to the Ochori land and was welcomed by Notiki,
who had taken upon himself, on the strength of his rout, the position of
chieftainship. This he did with one eye on the river, ready to bolt the
moment Bosambo's canoe came sweeping round the bend.
Now Sanders had particularly warned Mr. Blowter that under no
circumstances should he sleep ashore. He gave a variety of reasons, such
as the prevalence of Beri-Beri, the insidious spread of sleeping
sickness, the irritation of malaria-bearing mosquitoes, and of other
insects which it would be impolite to mention in the pages of a family
journal.
But Notiki had built a new hut as he said especially for his guest, and
Mr. Blowter, no doubt, honoured by the attention which was shown to him,
broke the restricting rule that Sanders had laid down, quitted the
comfortable cabin which had been his home on the river journey, and
slept in the novel surroundings of a native hut.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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